Daily Micro-Tapering Support Group

[[Be...]]

maya thank you so much for getting back to me on the k board..i am just so confused on what to do..i dont want to mess up a mt that is working for me..yet i need to get lower..and i dont know if someone can taper .001 alternating doses when they are lower..if i knew i could just keep that pace all the way off then it wouldnt be so bad and i could mentally deal with it..but with being at almost 2mgs now its a long way at this pace..

 

i hope some of the people get back to me and let me know at what mg they started their mt ..since you said you dont know of anyone who started mt at the high dose that i did..

 

thanks for the help my friend

 

deep

 

Deep, please read my post to you on KK.

 

I've done alternating doses. I don't think it's possible to see the great variability that happens in MT tapering. It may change as we go along. Sometimes we speed it up, sometimes we slow it down. I started of with 8 cuts per month, eventually found that 12 was doable on avg, then did 16 more recently, and now slowing down. So, my opinion is that we do what we can do, while being calculated and accepting of process. Pushing the river, pushing beyond the ability to heal only makes things harder, IMO. The 21 cuts per month that SG57 suggested is a good starting point to seeing if anything has changed, and what is possible now. Please try to focus on the present; it is in fact all the time we have anyway.

Bennie

[[an...]]

Often what people do is only liquify a small portion of the dose and keep the rest in pill form to use less liquid, but in your case I think .5mg A is the smallest pill, so you would need to liquify all of the A, although you might be able to get away with liquifying half of it.  Have you checked with the pharmacy that they won't/can't do a .01mg/ml solution?  Another way to get the liquid down would be to up the strength.  For example, a .02mg/ml solution would cut the amount of liquid in half and a .03mg/ml solution would reduce it by two thirds.  You'd still get decent accuracy out of these strengths.

 

If you used a .125mg/ml solution you still could taper it, it just would not be as accurate.  The smallest cut you can possibly make on a 1ml syringe is .01ml (maybe).  This would be .00125mg A.  The accuracy would not be too great and it might be tedious for your eyes, but it would probably work.  It would be similar to the accuracy you'd get by filing a pill and weighing it on a .001g scale....actually a little better.

 

So none of this is black and white.  And of coarse you are also on V and crossing to all V would make all this easy.

Thanks again SG. I wish I could finish the crossover to Valium it would be so much easier.  I was initially on just Ativan for chemo nausea. When I tried to stop it I got sick, hospitalized for four days  w severe heart rhythm issues. Drs blamed chemo and radiation. I found Ashton Manuel and begged to crossover to Valium. Things got much worse during crossover attempt and my heart rate was extremely high and unmanaged once again. I'm currently on three heart meds (only in my 30s!) At this point Drs said I need to be on these benzos for life. So crossing over is just not an option based on how poorly I reacted before. Soooo, have to deal with this as is. I am hoping to spread out my doses like was previously recommended on here.... but then I have to taper from both of these darn rat poisons.

 

Crossing to V can be improved by going slower and making smaller exchanges.  That might do the trick.  But you can also taper from where you are too.  Ativan can be tapered.

 

As SG said, Ativan can be tapered.  I am tapering it now-a daily liquid titration. The key is to go very slow and to not be afraid to hold when needed.  I have managed to decrease my dose from 0.75 mg/day to 0.27 mg/day since June 1. It has been rough with blood pressure spikes throughout, but this last 2 weeks I have experienced a large decrease in symptoms, especially the chemical anxiety and BP spikes. For the most part, I am feeling almost normal again.  It is strange because about 3 weeks ago, I was about to updose because symptoms were getting worse, and I need to be functional at work. You just never know with these drugs.

Anne

[[de...]]

bennie oh why do you and SG along with CD always have to be the voice of reason..but i am so thankful that i have you all to help me along the way..and I will just do the 21 cuts a month for now and be happy about it..

 

thanks for always picking me up my friend 

 

 

deep

[[Ma...]]

SG,

I switched 2mg every other day and then am now switching 3mg every other day. Tomorrow I will be at 1.75mg K and 20mg V. That is 36% of my dose. I know we said I would c/o 1mg and then go from there. I am still not noticing a difference really. If anything I feel a little better. It also is helping with my interdose wd. Should I hold for a week or two at 20mgs so the active metabolites can build up and I can know for sure how I will tolerate V? I thought we had discussed something like that before, but I might have misunderstood. I am also tired and foggy. I am thinking that I can tolerate V based on how it's going. As I am sure you know, I want to do a full c/o, if possible, or at least cross 2mgs of K to V. Also in Ashton's schedule of 3mg V to 60mg V, she starts cutting after week 2, which is after 20mg of V. Not messing up my c/o is what is most important to me. If I feel well enough, I would like to try cutting a little each week. Do you think that makes sense? Ashton felt that it was ok to cut in higher doses and that is was helpful so the person wasn't on such a high dose. She doesn't elaborate. She starts crossing .5mg K for 5mg V starting in week 3. I am not saying I will do that big of a cut and I definitely wouldn't start out that big. I don't want to be too ambitious and mess things up. Also I will have crossed to 20mg of V in 13 days. That is a little faster than Ashton because I started at 2.75mg not 3mg. Also if I continue to cross .15mg K for 3mg V every other day, I will be going faster than Ashton. I don't know if I should go back to 2mg. I tried adding to all 3 doses and it worked out. I am not willing to cross more than every other day. I really appreciate all your help!

 

XO Maya

 

The magic words here are, "I am still not noticing a difference really. If anything I feel a little better. It also is helping with my interdose wd."  I love it.  I'd just keep going as you are.  Go by how you feel, and you seem to feel okay.

 

I would take Ashton with a grain of salt.  That is generic advice not specific to your case.  You are doing well, don't change that.  I do not know why she advises cutting during crossing and am not inclined to follow that blindly.

 

If you feel you want to hold to assess the V, that won't do any harm and may help you feel more confident in it, but otherwise I'd just keep going.  I see no reason to think you won't be able to cross it all and that this easy crossing won't continue.  This is going very well.

I have not had any sxs from the C/O except a couple times my heart has raced an hour after the dose that was crossed. It doesn't last long. I think that is just my body wondering where the K is and then it quickly adjusts to V. I will keep going by how I feel. I don't know if I would feel comfortable crossing more than 3mg of V every other day. Maybe I am paranoid, actually I definitely am, but that sounds too fast to me. Also Dr. Peart says if you feel tired the first 2-3 weeks, that is how you know it's working. I feel tired because I am not getting enough sleep, but not from V. I think meds usually don't affect me as strongly as others and that is probably why. K never made me sleepy, even in the beginning. Also I metabolize is quicker than most. I wish I had those naps you and others said I would have 

 

I take Ashton, as with most things, with a grain of salt. She only advised cutting in higher dose crosses. She felt they could handle it and it was helpful not to start tapering on such a high dose. I do not just follow whatever she says. You don't think I should try even a little cut a week? I don't want to mess up my c/o. If I can taper a little while crossing that would make me happy. I just wonder if I am still not having sxs maybe I can. I have been too ambitious while tapering a couple times and I also have been too paranoid at times. I want to find a balance. If cutting at all is a bad, I won't do it.

 

I want to hold, if this is something I should do. If there is not a good reason and it won't make a difference, I don't want to hold. I want as much K as possible out of my body. I feel like it is poisoning me, particularly my stomach. I know all Benzos are bad, but I feel K is the worst, for me at least. I really hope I can cross it all. I am still scared I won't and am preparing for the worst, just in case. Thank you so much! Your reassurance makes me feel a lot better!

 

I also have been dosing unevenly. I am dosing like this today and I also did yesterday:

D1 .5mg of K (it is cut into 2 .25mg pieces and I take one if I wake up) + 5mg V

D2 .26mg K

D3 .26mg K

D4 .26mg K + 6mg V

D5 .26K

D6 .35mg K + 6mg V

 

The reason I have left the first dose so high is I split it into two in case my stomach wakes me up early, like two days ago it woke me up after 4 hours sleep and I took half the am dose and went back to sleep for an hour. Yesterday my stomach woke me up after 5 hours sleep and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I took the whole thing at once. My sleep and my stomach are improving, but are still bad. Then I haven't cut the night dose because I am hoping the larger amount is helping with my sleep. Tomorrow I was going to cut doses 2-5 again for the cross. Also I don't know if trying to dose every four hours would be something to try again once I have 20mgs of V because maybe the interdose wd won't be too bad where I can't do it. It is very confusing for me with being tired and foggy and all the doses and changing them every other day. Thank you so much for your help!!!

 

 

[[...]]

I have not had any sxs from the C/O except a couple times my heart has raced an hour after the dose that was crossed. It doesn't last long. I think that is just my body wondering where the K is and then it quickly adjusts to V. I will keep going by how I feel. I don't know if I would feel comfortable crossing more than 3mg of V every other day. Maybe I am paranoid, actually I definitely am, but that sounds too fast to me. Also Dr. Peart says if you feel tired the first 2-3 weeks, that is how you know it's working. I feel tired because I am not getting enough sleep, but not from V. I think meds usually don't affect me as strongly as others and that is probably why. K never made me sleepy, even in the beginning. Also I metabolize is quicker than most. I wish I had those naps you and others said I would have 

 

I take Ashton, as with most things, with a grain of salt. She only advised cutting in higher dose crosses. She felt they could handle it and it was helpful not to start tapering on such a high dose. I do not just follow whatever she says. You don't think I should try even a little cut a week? I don't want to mess up my c/o. If I can taper a little while crossing that would make me happy. I just wonder if I am still not having sxs maybe I can. I have been too ambitious while tapering a couple times and I also have been too paranoid at times. I want to find a balance. If cutting at all is a bad, I won't do it.

 

I want to hold, if this is something I should do. If there is not a good reason and it won't make a difference, I don't want to hold. I want as much K as possible out of my body. I feel like it is poisoning me, particularly my stomach. I know all Benzos are bad, but I feel K is the worst, for me at least. I really hope I can cross it all. I am still scared I won't and am preparing for the worst, just in case. Thank you so much! Your reassurance makes me feel a lot better!

 

I also have been dosing unevenly. I am dosing like this today and I also did yesterday:

D1 .5mg of K (it is cut into 2 .25mg pieces and I take one if I wake up) + 5mg V

D2 .26mg K

D3 .26mg K

D4 .26mg K + 6mg V

D5 .26K

D6 .35mg K + 6mg V

 

The reason I have left the first dose so high is I split it into two in case my stomach wakes me up early, like two days ago it woke me up after 4 hours sleep and I took half the am dose and went back to sleep for an hour. Yesterday my stomach woke me up after 5 hours sleep and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I took the whole thing at once. My sleep and my stomach are improving, but are still bad. Then I haven't cut the night dose because I am hoping the larger amount is helping with my sleep. Tomorrow I was going to cut doses 2-5 again for the cross. Also I don't know if trying to dose every four hours would be something to try again once I have 20mgs of V because maybe the interdose wd won't be too bad where I can't do it. It is very confusing for me with being tired and foggy and all the doses and changing them every other day. Thank you so much for your help!!!

 

I think crossing and cutting produce the same situation - they create a benzo shortage.  We control the crossing rate to keep the shortage from getting too big.  When we add a cut on top of this we risk making the shortage too big and it seems to me to be the exact thing you would not want to do when crossing.  Without knowing more about Ashton's reasons for doing this I have to go with what makes sense to me, and to me they should never be combined.

[[Ma...]]

I have not had any sxs from the C/O except a couple times my heart has raced an hour after the dose that was crossed. It doesn't last long. I think that is just my body wondering where the K is and then it quickly adjusts to V. I will keep going by how I feel. I don't know if I would feel comfortable crossing more than 3mg of V every other day. Maybe I am paranoid, actually I definitely am, but that sounds too fast to me. Also Dr. Peart says if you feel tired the first 2-3 weeks, that is how you know it's working. I feel tired because I am not getting enough sleep, but not from V. I think meds usually don't affect me as strongly as others and that is probably why. K never made me sleepy, even in the beginning. Also I metabolize is quicker than most. I wish I had those naps you and others said I would have 

 

I take Ashton, as with most things, with a grain of salt. She only advised cutting in higher dose crosses. She felt they could handle it and it was helpful not to start tapering on such a high dose. I do not just follow whatever she says. You don't think I should try even a little cut a week? I don't want to mess up my c/o. If I can taper a little while crossing that would make me happy. I just wonder if I am still not having sxs maybe I can. I have been too ambitious while tapering a couple times and I also have been too paranoid at times. I want to find a balance. If cutting at all is a bad, I won't do it.

 

I want to hold, if this is something I should do. If there is not a good reason and it won't make a difference, I don't want to hold. I want as much K as possible out of my body. I feel like it is poisoning me, particularly my stomach. I know all Benzos are bad, but I feel K is the worst, for me at least. I really hope I can cross it all. I am still scared I won't and am preparing for the worst, just in case. Thank you so much! Your reassurance makes me feel a lot better!

 

I also have been dosing unevenly. I am dosing like this today and I also did yesterday:

D1 .5mg of K (it is cut into 2 .25mg pieces and I take one if I wake up) + 5mg V

D2 .26mg K

D3 .26mg K

D4 .26mg K + 6mg V

D5 .26K

D6 .35mg K + 6mg V

 

The reason I have left the first dose so high is I split it into two in case my stomach wakes me up early, like two days ago it woke me up after 4 hours sleep and I took half the am dose and went back to sleep for an hour. Yesterday my stomach woke me up after 5 hours sleep and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I took the whole thing at once. My sleep and my stomach are improving, but are still bad. Then I haven't cut the night dose because I am hoping the larger amount is helping with my sleep. Tomorrow I was going to cut doses 2-5 again for the cross. Also I don't know if trying to dose every four hours would be something to try again once I have 20mgs of V because maybe the interdose wd won't be too bad where I can't do it. It is very confusing for me with being tired and foggy and all the doses and changing them every other day. Thank you so much for your help!!!

 

I think crossing and cutting produce the same situation - they create a benzo shortage.  We control the crossing rate to keep the shortage from getting too big.  When we add a cut on top of this we risk making the shortage too big and it seems to me to be the exact thing you would not want to do when crossing.  Without knowing more about Ashton's reasons for doing this I have to go with what makes sense to me, and to me they should never be combined.

That makes a lot of sense. I am already removing K from my body and to taper could be too much. I will not taper now. Thank you! Did my dosing make sense? Would you do it differently? You don't think a hold after tomorrow is needed? I am sorry I get so paranoid about this whole situation and again the indecisiveness. I would really be lost without you.

[[...]]

I think crossing and cutting produce the same situation - they create a benzo shortage.  We control the crossing rate to keep the shortage from getting too big.  When we add a cut on top of this we risk making the shortage too big and it seems to me to be the exact thing you would not want to do when crossing.  Without knowing more about Ashton's reasons for doing this I have to go with what makes sense to me, and to me they should never be combined.

That makes a lot of sense. I am already removing K from my body and to taper could be too much. I will not taper now. Thank you! Did my dosing make sense? Would you do it differently? You don't think a hold after tomorrow is needed? I am sorry I get so paranoid about this whole situation and again the indecisiveness. I would really be lost without you.

 

Well, the hold is not useless - it would give you confidence in the V if you need that.  But I see no reason other than that to do it.  Feeling better when crossing, even if by a little, is about as good a result as could be hoped for.  It really is going well.

 

Your dosing looks good.  I forget how long the gap between D6 and D1 is, but the dose sizes at each end of the gap are about right to try to span it.  Given that you don't want to wake to dose, I would not do anything differently.  The V should begin to temper the gap anyway - it is getting to be a significant fraction of your total dose, so the K matters less.

[[Ma...]]

I think crossing and cutting produce the same situation - they create a benzo shortage.  We control the crossing rate to keep the shortage from getting too big.  When we add a cut on top of this we risk making the shortage too big and it seems to me to be the exact thing you would not want to do when crossing.  Without knowing more about Ashton's reasons for doing this I have to go with what makes sense to me, and to me they should never be combined.

That makes a lot of sense. I am already removing K from my body and to taper could be too much. I will not taper now. Thank you! Did my dosing make sense? Would you do it differently? You don't think a hold after tomorrow is needed? I am sorry I get so paranoid about this whole situation and again the indecisiveness. I would really be lost without you.

 

Well, the hold is not useless - it would give you confidence in the V if you need that.  But I see no reason other than that to do it.  Feeling better when crossing, even if by a little, is about as good a result as could be hoped for.  It really is going well.

 

Your dosing looks good.  I forget how long the gap between D6 and D1 is, but the dose sizes at each end of the gap are about right to try to span it.  Given that you don't want to wake to dose, I would not do anything differently.  The V should begin to temper the gap anyway - it is getting to be a significant fraction of your total dose, so the K matters less.

I will see how I feel, but I don't think I will hold. I didn't realize that is was as good a result as could be hoped for. I have no idea how I am supposed to be feeling. I know others feels sedated and take naps and I am not sedated or taking naps. I could use a nap. I am so glad you think it is going well. I am feeling a lot less paranoid. I am afraid if I expect it to go well, it won't. I know that's not rational. Tapering makes me irrational at times. It's hard.

 

The gap between dose 1 and 6 is usually  9 hours, unless I take half the .5mg of K from my first dose. Which, unfortunately, I have had to do from my stomach waking me. It has been happening less. The last couple days I have had less sleep than I need, but uninterrupted, so the difference has been more like 6-7 hours. I am really hoping my sleep goes back to 8-9 hrs again. I really need sleep during this taper and for most of it I was getting it. It is better than the 4 interrupted hours I was getting before. I am glad you think the dosing looks good. I do think that the higher am and pm doses are helpful because of that gap and sleep. I can tell the V is helping with the gap and that will only increase the more V I add. Thank you so much for all your help! I will continue to do what I am doing and adjust if needed. Hopefully, I won't have to bother you for awhile. I hope you are having a good day!

[[El...]]

Often what people do is only liquify a small portion of the dose and keep the rest in pill form to use less liquid, but in your case I think .5mg A is the smallest pill, so you would need to liquify all of the A, although you might be able to get away with liquifying half of it.  Have you checked with the pharmacy that they won't/can't do a .01mg/ml solution?  Another way to get the liquid down would be to up the strength.  For example, a .02mg/ml solution would cut the amount of liquid in half and a .03mg/ml solution would reduce it by two thirds.  You'd still get decent accuracy out of these strengths.

 

If you used a .125mg/ml solution you still could taper it, it just would not be as accurate.  The smallest cut you can possibly make on a 1ml syringe is .01ml (maybe).  This would be .00125mg A.  The accuracy would not be too great and it might be tedious for your eyes, but it would probably work.  It would be similar to the accuracy you'd get by filing a pill and weighing it on a .001g scale....actually a little better.

 

So none of this is black and white.  And of coarse you are also on V and crossing to all V would make all this easy.

Thanks again SG. I wish I could finish the crossover to Valium it would be so much easier.  I was initially on just Ativan for chemo nausea. When I tried to stop it I got sick, hospitalized for four days  w severe heart rhythm issues. Drs blamed chemo and radiation. I found Ashton Manuel and begged to crossover to Valium. Things got much worse during crossover attempt and my heart rate was extremely high and unmanaged once again. I'm currently on three heart meds (only in my 30s!) At this point Drs said I need to be on these benzos for life. So crossing over is just not an option based on how poorly I reacted before. Soooo, have to deal with this as is. I am hoping to spread out my doses like was previously recommended on here.... but then I have to taper from both of these darn rat poisons.

 

Crossing to V can be improved by going slower and making smaller exchanges.  That might do the trick.  But you can also taper from where you are too.  Ativan can be tapered.

 

As SG said, Ativan can be tapered.  I am tapering it now-a daily liquid titration. The key is to go very slow and to not be afraid to hold when needed.  I have managed to decrease my dose from 0.75 mg/day to 0.27 mg/day since June 1. It has been rough with blood pressure spikes throughout, but this last 2 weeks I have experienced a large decrease in symptoms, especially the chemical anxiety and BP spikes. For the most part, I am feeling almost normal again.  It is strange because about 3 weeks ago, I was about to updose because symptoms were getting worse, and I need to be functional at work. You just never know with these drugs.

Anne

Thanks SG and Anne.

Anne, how many times a day do you dose?

[[an...]]

 

 

Thanks SG and Anne.

Anne, how many times a day do you dose?

 

I dose three times a day.

[[my...]]

Just an interested bystander....    Really, just now reading SG's advice to Maya...SG I hope you can see how much we all are indebted to you!!  I almost was going to post an SOS this morning as I had mathematically hit a wall trying to figure out my daily doses in grams...I kept staring at the paper and nothing made sense...until it did.  And all of a sudden it was easy. 

 

For me, since I haven't really gotten back to you on the gram scale modes, I am going to convert mg to grams..as most do on the site.  The other modes do jump around too much and as you say, the ounce mode, which I had been using, is too rough an approximation.  So I got the average weight of each .5 mg pill of K, as Bennie has suggested, which is about .172 grams.  I halved that for .25 mg which is approx. .0858 grams and then divided it by 8 (as 1/8 of .25 mg is .03125 mg. my current cut amount) then multiplied it by 7 to get my .03125 mg reduction for this mid-day dose.  And you know what?  Since I am weighing things anyhow...i've decided to make all three doses equal from now on, shaving off what I need - or adding shaved pieces - to arrive at an equal amount for each dose each day.  Then next cut, the same, and on and on until I may have to switch to a micro taper which now won't seem as daunting since I "get" the mg to gram conversion.

 

So...with deep thanks and continued optimism that one day - not soon - but within the next 8 to 9 months...I will have finally tapered off the "beast" of the benzos....

 

With wishes for a peaceful evening and night,

 

mana 

[[be...]]

Hi SG or others here:

 

I am getting kind of worried now with my dry micro taper off K. I used the percentage calculator here and found that this new 14-day batch of cuts will be 33.3%. For a month that will be even more than 66%. But except for dry eyes and fatigue days, I feel good. But I am now on .105 mg of K so I want to get down to .000 grams, or dust, before I jump. As this will be progressive, every 14 day drop will get higher. What should I do?  Slow it down? I'm afraid those cuts will catch up with me. I have 34 more cuts to do.Thank you very much.

Bets

[[Ul...]]

Gard,

I was just thinking of you! I am still struggling with stomach issues and sleep issues from my stomach waking me up. It's the 4th week of it and it is hard, but it has improved. Today I am on 17mg of V, a little over 30% of my dose. It is helping with interdose wd. I am hoping my c/o continues to go well. It is hard not tapering. How are you? I hope your new dosing is going well and you are feeling better. I also hope you found a good therapist. I will see my former therapist today. I think I have told you how he is always part of my care and life. I think of you often and hope things are well!

 

XO Maya 

 

 

Hi Gardener,

 

 

 

So sorry to hear about your stomach problems going on and on, Maya.    It does sound like your crossover is going pretty well. That's good news.

 

I'm still at 25mg L/day and cutting away at the X. Holding right now because symptoms are too rough, but plan to start up again soon, just at a slower pace. Slow and steady wins the race!

 

Gard

 

 

Hi Gardener,

 

    Why do you think your sx's became rough again? I HATE Xanax. I'm feeling so trapped right now, and so depressed to tears. I did change my dose to 5 doses now in hopes of stabilizing. But it is still up and down. I feel trapped like you did awhile back, symptoms remain when I hold, or if I go forward. There was a time while MT when I would cut and then stabilize in a couple days and feel a window. Now that I am lower in dose that doesn't seem to work anymore. I am afraid going forward is going to increase the risk of protracted withdrawal. And holding will bring on worse tolerance w/d. There are no solutions it seems. Right now I feel hopeless. Even though I know this too will pass. I am sorry to unload on you, you surely don't need it. You can just ignore this and I'll understand.  Rose  PS and thanks for being here.

 

I can tell that I love you, Rose!!!  Hang tough, girl. May God be your peace...

 

Jeff

[[Mo...]]

Rose, I had the same on lower dose : before that time holding would pull me out of the woods.

But then I got below 2 mgr Valium . Not that it was all predictable before that but even. Ore up and down on lower doses, for me.

I felt trapped too.

I made sure not to cut too fast and too much , so that it was at least a little bit tolerable ( in my mind ) . But waves came on more often but lasted way way shorter.

It'll be ok.

 

There isn't a handbook for it so we got to all figure it out ourselves , but I'd say, be sensible and keep on going on. It gets better.

 

I feel kind of in- the - background - crappy. But overal WAY better than I did during all of my taper.

It all come.

Wishing your the best

[[ga...]]

Popping in to day I am having a small window, the first in weeks. And what am I doing with it? The bleepin' monster pile of laundry!

 

No time to say more. Need to catch up on whatever I can while my brain is semi-working. 

 

Hang tough everybody!

 

Gard

[[an...]]

Popping in to day I am having a small window, the first in weeks. And what am I doing with it? The bleepin' monster pile of laundry!

 

No time to say more. Need to catch up on whatever I can while my brain is semi-working. 

 

Hang tough everybody!

 

Gard

 

Hi Gardner,

 

I am glad to hear you are in a window.  Enjoy doing that laundry!!  I always try to catch up with housework when I am feeling good.  I actually do appreciate being able to do it. 

 

Have a great evening,

Anne

[[El...]]

Ok, finally think I'm ready to do this! It's taken so long to get a dr willing to help and one who believed me! I know everyone on here has faced this same ordeal! It's frustrating as it has delayed me getting on with my taper. But here here I go or so I hope!!!!!     

So I would love for someone to check my math.....

I was initially hoping to do the water/vodka method but my doctor  is not comfortable with me doing it that way so I am going to have to use a compound formula. He has been really flexible with me on most everything else so I want to try it his way first.

So I take .25 of Ativan twice daily. I also take Valium but am going to taper Ativan first per BB advice, and it makes sense. I have also had the recommendation on here to divide the dose in 4. So that would be .125mg A 4x a day. So would it make the most sense to request a compound rx of .125mg/1ml of Ativan to be dosed 4x a day? Then I would decrease as follows....

 

Day 1: .98ml  .100ml  .100ml  .100ml

Day 2: .98      .98      .100      .100

Day 3: .98      .98      .98        .100

Day 4: .98      .98      .98        .98

Day 5: .96      .98      .98        .98

 

Ok so you get the picture. Is this doable? Is this too slow/fast? Not sure if my math is right (I stink at math) but this would be a decrease of .0025 per day??? What % per month is this?

I feel like I am speaking Greek at this point, am I even doing this right? I am so clueless on this. help pretty please!

 

[[...]]

Hi SG or others here:

 

I am getting kind of worried now with my dry micro taper off K. I used the percentage calculator here and found that this new 14-day batch of cuts will be 33.3%. For a month that will be even more than 66%. But except for dry eyes and fatigue days, I feel good. But I am now on .105 mg of K so I want to get down to .000 grams, or dust, before I jump. As this will be progressive, every 14 day drop will get higher. What should I do?  Slow it down? I'm afraid those cuts will catch up with me. I have 34 more cuts to do.Thank you very much.

Bets

 

You're on .105mg K, but how much V are you on?

[[...]]

Ok, finally think I'm ready to do this! It's taken so long to get a dr willing to help and one who believed me! I know everyone on here has faced this same ordeal! It's frustrating as it has delayed me getting on with my taper. But here here I go or so I hope!!!!!     

So I would love for someone to check my math.....

I was initially hoping to do the water/vodka method but my doctor  is not comfortable with me doing it that way so I am going to have to use a compound formula. He has been really flexible with me on most everything else so I want to try it his way first.

So I take .25 of Ativan twice daily. I also take Valium but am going to taper Ativan first per BB advice, and it makes sense. I have also had the recommendation on here to divide the dose in 4. So that would be .125mg A 4x a day. So would it make the most sense to request a compound rx of .125mg/1ml of Ativan to be dosed 4x a day? Then I would decrease as follows....

 

Day 1: .98ml  .100ml  .100ml  .100ml

Day 2: .98      .98      .100      .100

Day 3: .98      .98      .98        .100

Day 4: .98      .98      .98        .98

Day 5: .96      .98      .98        .98

 

Ok so you get the picture. Is this doable? Is this too slow/fast? Not sure if my math is right (I stink at math) but this would be a decrease of .0025 per day??? What % per month is this?

I feel like I am speaking Greek at this point, am I even doing this right? I am so clueless on this. help pretty please!

 

It is good to have a doc will work with you.

 

Your dose is .5mg A + 5mg V and you are spreading it out and tackling the A first.  Good.  Space them six hours apart.  Do you think you need to split the V into two doses?

 

As I said in the previous post, I think .125mg/ml is too strong, but it is doable.  If you instead did .100mg/ml the numbers would make more sense to you, i.e., the ml numbers and the mg numbers would be the same...just the decimal point would change.

 

The way you plan to do it by rotating through doses is fine and your cut rate is also fine.  You dose is equivalent to 10mgV and your cut is .0025mgA which is equivalent to .025mgV.  In a month you will have reduced by 7.5% which is a good place to begin.

 

Since you are cutting by .02ml a bright light and a magnifying glass may be very helpful to more accurately see the marks on the syringe barrel.

 

Good job sorting it all out.  You're on your way.

[[be...]]

Hi SG or others here:

 

I am getting kind of worried now with my dry micro taper off K. I used the percentage calculator here and found that this new 14-day batch of cuts will be 33.3%. For a month that will be even more than 66%. But except for dry eyes and fatigue days, I feel good. But I am now on .105 mg of K so I want to get down to .000 grams, or dust, before I jump. As this will be progressive, every 14 day drop will get higher. What should I do?  Slow it down? I'm afraid those cuts will catch up with me. I have 34 more cuts to do.Thank you very much.

Bets

 

SG:

 

70 mg of Valium.

 

You're on .105mg K, but how much V are you on?

[[...]]

Hi SG or others here:

 

I am getting kind of worried now with my dry micro taper off K. I used the percentage calculator here and found that this new 14-day batch of cuts will be 33.3%. For a month that will be even more than 66%. But except for dry eyes and fatigue days, I feel good. But I am now on .105 mg of K so I want to get down to .000 grams, or dust, before I jump. As this will be progressive, every 14 day drop will get higher. What should I do?  Slow it down? I'm afraid those cuts will catch up with me. I have 34 more cuts to do.Thank you very much.

Bets

 

SG:

 

70 mg of Valium.

 

You're on .105mg K, but how much V are you on?

 

When you figure percent it is percent of the total dose, not just the K dose.  I suspect you are calculating percent based only on K and as it approached zero the percent numbers are getting wacky, which is what happens at the end of a taper.

 

If you tell me your cut size and pill size I can size better.

[[be...]]

Hi SG or others here:

 

I am getting kind of worried now with my dry micro taper off K. I used the percentage calculator here and found that this new 14-day batch of cuts will be 33.3%. For a month that will be even more than 66%. But except for dry eyes and fatigue days, I feel good. But I am now on .105 mg of K so I want to get down to .000 grams, or dust, before I jump. As this will be progressive, every 14 day drop will get higher. What should I do?  Slow it down? I'm afraid those cuts will catch up with me. I have 34 more cuts to do.Thank you very much.

Bets

 

SG:

 

70 mg of Valium.

 

You're on .105mg K, but how much V are you on?

 

When you figure percent it is percent of the total dose, not just the K dose.  I suspect you are calculating percent based only on K and as it approached zero the percent numbers are getting wacky, which is what happens at the end of a taper.

 

If you tell me your cut size and pill size I can size better.

 

Yes SG: I was only counting my K, and not the V. That seems to be a trouble to me. Forgetting that. This is what my current batch of cuts will be. I use a 14-day cycle. The first day of the cut I was on .105 mg of K. The last and 14th day of my cut I will be on .07 mg.

[[...]]

When you figure percent it is percent of the total dose, not just the K dose.  I suspect you are calculating percent based only on K and as it approached zero the percent numbers are getting wacky, which is what happens at the end of a taper.

 

If you tell me your cut size and pill size I can size better.

 

Yes SG: I was only counting my K, and not the V. That seems to be a trouble to me. Forgetting that. This is what my current batch of cuts will be. I use a 14-day cycle. The first day of the cut I was on .105 mg of K. The last and 14th day of my cut I will be on .07 mg.

 

Okay, you drop .035mgK in 14 days.  That's .0025mg/day.  Your total dose is equivalent to 72.1mgV or 3.605mgK...take your pick.  Cutting .0025mgK a day is 2.1% a month.  That is extremely safe and slow.

[[El...]]

Ok, finally think I'm ready to do this! It's taken so long to get a dr willing to help and one who believed me! I know everyone on here has faced this same ordeal! It's frustrating as it has delayed me getting on with my taper. But here here I go or so I hope!!!!!     

So I would love for someone to check my math.....

I was initially hoping to do the water/vodka method but my doctor  is not comfortable with me doing it that way so I am going to have to use a compound formula. He has been really flexible with me on most everything else so I want to try it his way first.

So I take .25 of Ativan twice daily. I also take Valium but am going to taper Ativan first per BB advice, and it makes sense. I have also had the recommendation on here to divide the dose in 4. So that would be .125mg A 4x a day. So would it make the most sense to request a compound rx of .125mg/1ml of Ativan to be dosed 4x a day? Then I would decrease as follows....

 

Day 1: .98ml  .100ml  .100ml  .100ml

Day 2: .98      .98      .100      .100

Day 3: .98      .98      .98        .100

Day 4: .98      .98      .98        .98

Day 5: .96      .98      .98        .98

 

Ok so you get the picture. Is this doable? Is this too slow/fast? Not sure if my math is right (I stink at math) but this would be a decrease of .0025 per day??? What % per month is this?

I feel like I am speaking Greek at this point, am I even doing this right? I am so clueless on this. help pretty please!

 

It is good to have a doc will work with you.

 

Your dose is .5mg A + 5mg V and you are spreading it out and tackling the A first.  Good.  Space them six hours apart.  Do you think you need to split the V into two doses?

 

As I said in the previous post, I think .125mg/ml is too strong, but it is doable.  If you instead did .100mg/ml the numbers would make more sense to you, i.e., the ml numbers and the mg numbers would be the same...just the decimal point would change.

 

The way you plan to do it by rotating through doses is fine and your cut rate is also fine.  You dose is equivalent to 10mgV and your cut is .0025mgA which is equivalent to .025mgV.  In a month you will have reduced by 7.5% which is a good place to begin.

 

Since you are cutting by .02ml a bright light and a magnifying glass may be very helpful to more accurately see the marks on the syringe barrel.

 

Good job sorting it all out.  You're on your way.

 

Thanks SG. Yes, I do want to split the V. I plan on doing that after I split the A and transition to compounded A from tablet form. Just feel like too much to make all three changes at once.

if I  did the .1mg of Ativan per 1ml how would I get my dose of .125mg? I would have to draw up 1ml first and then draw up .25ml right? And then I would still be making cuts using the tiny syringe right? I'm not catching on to where the benefit is in doing the .1mg/ml is. Feel like there would be more room for error since I would be drawing up the liquid twice for one dose? Am I missing something?

 

[[...]]

It is good to have a doc will work with you.

 

Your dose is .5mg A + 5mg V and you are spreading it out and tackling the A first.  Good.  Space them six hours apart.  Do you think you need to split the V into two doses?

 

As I said in the previous post, I think .125mg/ml is too strong, but it is doable.  If you instead did .100mg/ml the numbers would make more sense to you, i.e., the ml numbers and the mg numbers would be the same...just the decimal point would change.

 

The way you plan to do it by rotating through doses is fine and your cut rate is also fine.  You dose is equivalent to 10mgV and your cut is .0025mgA which is equivalent to .025mgV.  In a month you will have reduced by 7.5% which is a good place to begin.

 

Since you are cutting by .02ml a bright light and a magnifying glass may be very helpful to more accurately see the marks on the syringe barrel.

 

Good job sorting it all out.  You're on your way.

 

Thanks SG. Yes, I do want to split the V. I plan on doing that after I split the A and transition to compounded A from tablet form. Just feel like too much to make all three changes at once.

if I  did the .1mg of Ativan per 1ml how would I get my dose of .125mg? I would have to draw up 1ml first and then draw up .25ml right? And then I would still be making cuts using the tiny syringe right? I'm not catching on to where the benefit is in doing the .1mg/ml is. Feel like there would be more room for error since I would be drawing up the liquid twice for one dose? Am I missing something?

 

The advantage would be that the drug dose and the liquid amount would use the same numbers so it would serve as a check for you each time you dose... .125mg would be 1.25ml, .100mg would be 1.00ml, .098mg would be .98ml...the numbers would always be there to help you double check your dose.  But yes it would cause you to pull up twice on the syringe for a while.  It can be done both ways...it's a matter of preference.