Sorry you're going through this Scissel. I'm still not sure I am to be honest. I don't feel necessarily more anxious than I usually do. I think my heightened symptoms at the start might have been because I stopped Pantoprazole after 9 months. After a week I went to my pharmacist and asked them, and they told me that should be tapered down. And I googled it and it can cause worse anxiety and insomnia as well. So I've gone back on them but tapering them down and I feel a lot better already.
I haven't felt the need for Xanax at all. I never feel like I'm "craving" them so I don't think I became dependent on them. Although I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to take one once a week just to give my nervous system a break. But reading all the withdrawal stories has scared me out of that. I wouldn't even dare taking them on a weekly basis anymore now