More questions on Ativan tapering by cutting pills

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Hi, I recently started a taper plan for Ativan. I was on about 1 mg several weeks ago and managed to get down to 0.75 mg the past five days. Nights are terrible - barely sleep.

 

Yesterday I started taking six doses of 0.125 mg and it felt better, although they were daytime doses and none during the sleep hours. Should I take a dose in the middle of the night, ie space it out over 24 hours if possible?

 

Also, is a microgram scale useful? I'm splitting pills and am not sure what to do when I get down to the very small doses. Doesn't seem like liquifying or compounding is in my future right now so I think I'm left with just cutting the tiny crumbs up and somehow spacing them out over the day. How does one do this properly, or should I just accept that some doses will be smaller than others during the day (ie inexact)?

 

 

 

[[La...]]

Hi, I recently started a taper plan for Ativan. I was on about 1 mg several weeks ago and managed to get down to 0.75 mg the past five days. Nights are terrible - barely sleep.

 

Yesterday I started taking six doses of 0.125 mg and it felt better, although they were daytime doses and none during the sleep hours. Should I take a dose in the middle of the night, ie space it out over 24 hours if possible?

 

Also, is a microgram scale useful? I'm splitting pills and am not sure what to do when I get down to the very small doses. Doesn't seem like liquifying or compounding is in my future right now so I think I'm left with just cutting the tiny crumbs up and somehow spacing them out over the day. How does one do this properly, or should I just accept that some doses will be smaller than others during the day (ie inexact)?

 

Hi. You wont need a microgram scale (very expensive analytic balance) to go down super super low. I dont remember exactly how much the ativan pills weigh (in total, filler + drug) but a milligram scale will get you there. There is a huge difference between scales, so if you are finding that your scale's sensitivity to weighing small amounts isnt cutting it, then you can always buy a better mg scale that goes down lower in a more reproducible fashion. Or you can go liquid. 

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The liquid thing confuses me. A local pharmacy told me that the liquid form comes in 1 ounce bottles at a concentration of 2mg/ml. How would you begin reducing from 0.75? The pharmacist told me that 0.5 ml = 1 mg. So therefore 0.375 ml = 0.75 mg. I guess I have to keep doing the math. And how do you dose? Are there droppers small enough to take you down to the tiny numbers?

 

[[Ju...]]

Here is a scale a lot of folks use:

 

[nobbc]http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM[/nobbc]

 

Just copy and paste the link in your browser to see the product.

 

I did not go the scale route, because Xanax comes in .25's that were easy to quarter to get a close to .0625mg cut.

[[ju...]]

The liquid thing confuses me. A local pharmacy told me that the liquid form comes in 1 ounce bottles at a concentration of 2mg/ml. How would you begin reducing from 0.75? The pharmacist told me that 0.5 ml = 1 mg. So therefore 0.375 ml = 0.75 mg. I guess I have to keep doing the math. And how do you dose? Are there droppers small enough to take you down to the tiny numbers?

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Are there any "Compounding Pharmacies" where you live? These are special pharmacies that compound liquids or pills to specified quantities. eg. You can get Ativan compounded into a soloution to whatever concentration works for you as to where you are in your taper. I have presently a 0.5mg/ml solution. The pharmacist gave me numerous syringes to draw it up and caps for them incase I need to transport them ( solution needs to be refridgerated and shaken before drawn up in syringe) You would need to ask the cost of it since all private insurance companies may not cover the cost of compounded liquid, but even if mine doesn't ( I haven't checked yet), its worth it to me to be precise with the tapering and not to have to worry about dealing with cutting pills and weighing them.

[[La...]]

The liquid thing confuses me. A local pharmacy told me that the liquid form comes in 1 ounce bottles at a concentration of 2mg/ml. How would you begin reducing from 0.75? The pharmacist told me that 0.5 ml = 1 mg. So therefore 0.375 ml = 0.75 mg. I guess I have to keep doing the math. And how do you dose? Are there droppers small enough to take you down to the tiny numbers?

 

Yes, your math is correct. You would use a 1 ml syringe with 0.01ml gradation (lines) on the side of the syringe barrel. The 2mg/ml liquid is almost certainly preformulated by the manufacturer, but a compounding pharmacy can make you a liquid on site at whatever concentration you like. 2mg/ml is ok, but once you get low in dose you might want to use a compounded liquid less than or equal to 0.5 mg/ml.