I know a lot has been said on Xanax already, but I'll chime in and share my initial experience. I usually suffer from anxiety and insomnia regularly, which makes this all the more interesting.
I got a bunch of 2 mg's the other night, and figured I'll just split off 1/4 a pill since it was my first time. So keep in mind I only downed .5 mg total.
Haha, now I've always been very sensitive to any drugs, that's a given... but this really did take me by surprise. In the first couple hours I was chilled out, sitting back on my sofa chair writing some poetry in a journal and sipping tea. I felt very relaxed but still in great control, could think and focus well, and my handwriting style even appeared more smooth and organized on the paper.
I decided to lay down in the bed to see how it would feel. Remember that I have major anxiety normally, and my mind is often swimming with bothersome thoughts. When I sleep sober, I rarely seem to have good REM sleep. Also I should mention that I'd only been awake for about 8 hrs at this point, so I wasn't really tired at all, and only expected a 15 minute nap at most.
However, the funniest thing happened. I felt so meditative and in control, that I just consciously decided to dream for awhile, and sure enough I was unconscious in the next moment. I remember a series of possibly a dozen dreams in a row, they were so vivid and real that it was alarming. They were rich in symbolism and emotion.
I woke up once, still felt groggy, and then crashed out again experiencing more dreams, each one weirder than the last.
The next time I awoke, 10 hours of sleeping had passed in total. I slept for 2 more hours, dreamed some more, and had to force myself out of bed after waking up again, since the bed still felt so comfortable. 12 hours had passed in total.
I'll say this. I've tried dozens of sleep medications, they only made me sick or failed altogether. Previous antidepressants or anti-anxiety meds did almost nothing for me. Everything I've heard about benzos like Xanax holds true so far. To me at least, it's a very powerful drug, and was euphoric as well.
People compare it to being drunk, but I disagree. I felt comfortably cohesive while awake on Xanax, relaxed but not disoriented at all. Sleeping while drunk or on other meds usually results in a bad quality of sleep for me. I don't seem to have good REM sleep when drunk. Xanax sleep induced so much dreaming.. there's no doubt it was high quality REM sleep.
I still feel relaxed now, into the next day. I can understand now why this medication gets abused, but I'm definitely not downing it again anytime soon. I've never been addicted to any drug in my life, and I'm not going to start now. ;p