Daily Micro-Tapering Support Group

[[bu...]]

 

 

 

 

So Builder, if someone is pulling a dose of say .0025mg, then they could just shoot it into a glass of orange juice or something? At such tiny doses, I just wasn't sure if that was feasible, if some of the dose would stay in the glass, etc. Hope that question makes sense. I met someone at my gym who's been doing a liquid taper for quite a while, and is now down to this small dose. I wasn't sure what to tell him.

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff

 

When you switch to liquid, it's actually easier to think about your dose in milliliters, because that's what you will actually measure up.

 

But the reality is what those  milliliters of liquid actually represent are milligrams of benzo.  So when you pull X milliiters from your jar, its really just some milligrams of medicine.

 

If you take a 5mg pill out of your pill bottle, it won't matter what you do next with that pill, as long as that 5mg gets to your mouth.  You could cut into quarters, and take each piece seperately, you could crush it and swallow the dry powder, you could mix it with 4 ozs of orange juice, or you could mix it with 12 ozs of soda.  You could crush it and mix it in ice cream, or stir it into your pudding.  Or you could just take it whole with a swallow of water, which is what almost everyone does anyway.  Its still 5 milligrams of medicine.

 

As long as that 5 milligrams gets to your mouth, it doesn't matter how it gets there,  or what it might be mixed with.

 

So the same is true if your using liquid.  If you have .1mg per ml solution and you measure up 50 milliters of liquid, you now have a 5 milligram dose.    You could now dilute that to 100ml, or 250ml, or any other volume, its still 5 milligrams of medicine.

 

[[ga...]]

So Builder, if someone is pulling a dose of say .0025mg, then they could just shoot it into a glass of orange juice or something? At such tiny doses, I just wasn't sure if that was feasible, if some of the dose would stay in the glass, etc. Hope that question makes sense. I met someone at my gym who's been doing a liquid taper for quite a while, and is now down to this small dose. I wasn't sure what to tell him.

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff

 

Hey, Jeff, the manufacturer told me I could mix my Xanax into something and then consume it. I would just tell your friend to make sure to drink the juice-benzo mixture, swish more liquid (such as water) in the container, and drink again. I always swish water in my jar and drink again after I drink my dose. Doesn't hurt to rinse the syringe by pulling water into it and squirting it into the juice bottle, too. That way you get every last bit.

 

Gard

[[bu...]]

So Builder, if someone is pulling a dose of say .0025mg, then they could just shoot it into a glass of orange juice or something? At such tiny doses, I just wasn't sure if that was feasible, if some of the dose would stay in the glass, etc. Hope that question makes sense. I met someone at my gym who's been doing a liquid taper for quite a while, and is now down to this small dose. I wasn't sure what to tell him.

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff

 

Hey, Jeff, the manufacturer told me I could mix my Xanax into something and then consume it. I would just tell your friend to make sure to drink the juice-benzo mixture, swish more liquid (such as water) in the container, and drink again. I always swish water in my jar and drink again after I drink my dose. Doesn't hurt to rinse the syringe by pulling water into it and squirting it into the juice bottle, too. That way you get every last bit.

 

Gard

 

Agreed.  With any liquid taper, you need to rinse all of your utensils after each dose, and drink the rinse.  Any liquid is going to leave a residue on any container or instrument, and there will be residual benzo left behind if you do not rinse and consume it.

[[li...]]

I started at 1.25 mg of klonopin 5 .25 dissolvable wafers) dissolved in 60 ml milk and did daily pulls from that for two years.  Now under 1 mg it seemed to make sense to drop to 4 .25 mg pills in 48 ml milk. I started that two days ago and my symptoms have been rough since then, but I also just got over being sick with a virus for ten days. Is it okay to drop pills and the corresponding percentage of milk? My doc has already been questioning why he is prescribing 1.25 mg a day when I am under 1 mg. and if he gets weirded out he will drop me. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks all!

[[Va...]]

I started at 1.25 mg of klonopin 5 .25 dissolvable wafers) dissolved in 60 ml milk and did daily pulls from that for two years.  Now under 1 mg it seemed to make sense to drop to 4 .25 mg pills in 48 ml milk. I started that two days ago and my symptoms have been rough since then, but I also just got over being sick with a virus for ten days. Is it okay to drop pills and the corresponding percentage of milk? My doc has already been questioning why he is prescribing 1.25 mg a day when I am under 1 mg. and if he gets weirded out he will drop me. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks all!

Hi lizagal!  It’s so good to see you here!  —V

[[li...]]

Thanks Valley! I've thought of you so often in the last year and have read some of your posts. I know you wanted to be done by now, but I hope you're stable and functional. God bless!!

[[Ul...]]

 

 

 

 

So Builder, if someone is pulling a dose of say .0025mg, then they could just shoot it into a glass of orange juice or something? At such tiny doses, I just wasn't sure if that was feasible, if some of the dose would stay in the glass, etc. Hope that question makes sense. I met someone at my gym who's been doing a liquid taper for quite a while, and is now down to this small dose. I wasn't sure what to tell him.

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff

 

When you switch to liquid, it's actually easier to think about your dose in milliliters, because that's what you will actually measure up.

 

But the reality is what those  milliliters of liquid actually represent are milligrams of benzo.  So when you pull X milliiters from your jar, its really just some milligrams of medicine.

 

If you take a 5mg pill out of your pill bottle, it won't matter what you do next with that pill, as long as that 5mg gets to your mouth.  You could cut into quarters, and take each piece seperately, you could crush it and swallow the dry powder, you could mix it with 4 ozs of orange juice, or you could mix it with 12 ozs of soda.  You could crush it and mix it in ice cream, or stir it into your pudding.  Or you could just take it whole with a swallow of water, which is what almost everyone does anyway.  Its still 5 milligrams of medicine.

 

As long as that 5 milligrams gets to your mouth, it doesn't matter how it gets there,  or what it might be mixed with.

 

So the same is true if your using liquid.  If you have .1mg per ml solution and you measure up 50 milliters of liquid, you now have a 5 milligram dose.    You could now dilute that to 100ml, or 250ml, or any other volume, its still 5 milligrams of medicine.

 

Yep, that makes sense to me. Scott (my gym buddie) is/was concerned that his .25mL of liquid (.0025mg) that goes into several small pyrex bottles would "stick" to the wall of the bottle when taking the dose, thereby not getting the full dose into his mouth when it came time to take the doses throughout the day. He said he rinses the bottle and drinks additional water after each dose (puts water in the bottle to swish around and drink), but he notices residue on the bottle. Hope that makes sense, but yes, I get it....a dose is a dose. I told him that the residue he sees is probably filler from the prepared dose. It sounds like he's just had a bear of a time since getting below a quarter of a milligram with his taper. He was on two mg of K for several years, if I remember correctly.

 

You da man!! Thanks for your help and support.

 

Jeff

[[Va...]]

Thanks Valley! I've thought of you so often in the last year and have read some of your posts. I know you wanted to be done by now, but I hope you're stable and functional. God bless!!

Same here. Wondered how things were going. Looks like you’re going down slowly but surely. 

[[US...]]

Can someone please tell me what the safe daily amount of PG is?  I’m LT 3mg of Xanax and someone else here told me what I’m doing is way too much.  Since my plan is 6 months long...I want to be safe.  I make a 10 day batch which is 30mg Xanax-60ml PG- 240ml water.  I dose 4x a day.  I also dilute each dose with about an 100ml of water.  I understand that PG is used as a food additive and in daily products.  Please only helpful responses.  I already feel like I’ve angered someone with my endless concerns and questions.  Thank you in advance everyone...

[[Va...]]

Can someone please tell me what the safe daily amount of PG is?  I’m LT 3mg of Xanax and someone else here told me what I’m doing is way too much.  Since my plan is 6 months long...I want to be safe.  I make a 10 day batch which is 30mg Xanax-60ml PG- 240ml water.  I dose 4x a day.  I also dilute each dose with about an 100ml of water.  I understand that PG is used as a food additive and in daily products.  Please only helpful responses.  I already feel like I’ve angered someone with my endless concerns and questions.  Thank you in advance everyone...

Are you taking your full dose in liquid?  I don't see any problem with it as I have used as much PG per day as you are indicating and haven't experienced any problems.  --V

[[US...]]

Yes, Valley Inn.  I’m doing liquid for the whole dose.  I’m not dry cutting at all.  So you’re using the same amount in 10 day batches with the same amount of water?  So 60ml PG with 240ml of water in a 10 day batch.  How long have you been using that amount of PG?  Thanks for responding 

[[Va...]]

Yes, Valley Inn.  I’m doing liquid for the whole dose.  I’m not dry cutting at all.  So you’re using the same amount in 10 day batches with the same amount of water?  So 60ml PG with 240ml of water in a 10 day batch.  How long have you been using that amount of PG?  Thanks for responding 

I’m using close to that amount. It does vary some depending on the liquid dose. I started LT over a year ago.  —V

[[ga...]]

USMC, I took my Xanax as a pharmaceutical liquid that was already made with PG as the solvent. Don't know how much PG it was, but the Xanax was 2mg/day. I'm a thin female. The doctor said I was at the max Xanax he would ever prescribe to someone my size when I switched to him to taper. So I guess I was consuming a fair amount of PG every day for over a year while on Xanax. I never noticed a thing.

 

Gard

[[US...]]

Thank you both so much for reassuring me.  Onward and upward!  Yes, I’m very thin too and my Dr had me up to 4mg XR at once plus Ativan!  Well I was about 125...now I’m down to around 112....having trouble putting together meals and snacks.  Everything has something in the NO list.  :tickedoff:

[[ga...]]

Thank you both so much for reassuring me.  Onward and upward!  Yes, I’m very thin too and my Dr had me up to 4mg XR at once plus Ativan!  Well I was about 125...now I’m down to around 112....having trouble putting together meals and snacks.  Everything has something in the NO list.  :tickedoff:

 

Oh, my. You have been through a lot. It's good you are getting off this stuff. 

[[Gr...]]

Hey I'm just curious as to what rate people are reducing.  I am currently doing .005mg each week, but I am thinking maybe I am going too slow.  Is there such a thing?    I am feeling *okay*.  I was counting out the weeks and even without any holds along the way, it will take me 22 more weeks.  So I would take half a year to go from .125mg of K to zero.  That just seems very long to me, and I'm not sure I need all that time. 

[[ga...]]

Green, I think people risk more by going too fast than too slow. I just did some math and, if I'm right, I'm doing 6%/month as of right now. I probably won't be able to keep that up as I get lower. I have been tapering for a long time and have maybe 2 years to go.

 

Gard

[[Su...]]

Hi there Green Cup,

I too am tapering very slowly..... About .001 Xanax daily for 5-6 days then hold for a day or two.  I haven't worked out how long it'll take me to get off this stuff as i think I'd be sad  .

But I had a good sleep last night, had a great day yesterday and am looking forward to today.... that's worth it for me.  When I went faster 

Even my sense of humour seems to be available to me -- was missing that at times 

:smitten:

SS

[[Ul...]]

Hey I'm just curious as to what rate people are reducing.  I am currently doing .005mg each week, but I am thinking maybe I am going too slow.  Is there such a thing?    I am feeling *okay*.  I was counting out the weeks and even without any holds along the way, it will take me 22 more weeks.  So I would take half a year to go from .125mg of K to zero.  That just seems very long to me, and I'm not sure I need all that time.

 

Like they say, you can't go too slow but you can definitely go too fast! I let sx determine my "speed". I'm going so slow that I'm practically in reverse, but I'm mega sensitive due to tapering as a result of the history in my signature. If you feel good by speeding up a little, then go for it. If not, then stick to what works as of now. If it ain't broke, then don't fix it 

 

Hang touch!

 

Jeff

[[Re...]]

Hey I'm just curious as to what rate people are reducing.  I am currently doing .005mg each week, but I am thinking maybe I am going too slow.  Is there such a thing?    I am feeling *okay*.  I was counting out the weeks and even without any holds along the way, it will take me 22 more weeks.  So I would take half a year to go from .125mg of K to zero.  That just seems very long to me, and I'm not sure I need all that time.

 

We're all unique.  Finding our own path is critical.  I'm someone who pushed too hard to cut.  I had several instances where I had really difficult withdrawal (as opposed to the regular withdrawal) from gabapentin.  I started thinking that 3 or 4 months was so far away and I was almost off so I was really motivated to push through.  I got down to 100mg of gabapentin divided into  two 50mg doses taken morning and night.  Then, suddenly it all went sideways.  That was at the beginning of October.  Eventually, I incrementally updosed to 180mg as the intensity of burning pain was not tolerable.  Now, here I am nearly 4 months later and I've only made it back down to 150mg and it's been very difficult. 

 

The whole point I am making is if you've been on it long enough to be considered a long-term user, then rushing a taper can have terrible consequences.  It seems to have for me. 

 

The reality is that before you know it, those next 5 or 6 months will have passed and you'll more than likely just ease right off the last of your meds without too much difficulty. 

 

Just my 2 cents based on my own experience.

 

-RST

[[Gr...]]

Thanks, everyone for your input.  I am really glad to see other people going really slow too.  When my doc heard I was at .120mg of clonazepam a day, she was like, "Oh, you're almost off" and I'm like yeah...sort of...and I'm just thinking inside my head, Nope.  It doesn't work that way.  Why doesn't it work that way?

 

I really feel a desire to rush things with my taper right now.  I've decided to change my hold period from 1 week, to 4 days and see how it goes. 

[[Su...]]

Thanks, everyone for your input.  I am really glad to see other people going really slow too.  When my doc heard I was at .120mg of clonazepam a day, she was like, "Oh, you're almost off" and I'm like yeah...sort of...and I'm just thinking inside my head, Nope.  It doesn't work that way.  Why doesn't it work that way?

 

I really feel a desire to rush things with my taper right now.  I've decided to change my hold period from 1 week, to 4 days and see how it goes.

 

Ya my doc said when I was down the 25 Xanax, "that's practically nothing!" 

Or don't we wish it were true! 

SS

[[ga...]]

Thanks, everyone for your input.  I am really glad to see other people going really slow too.  When my doc heard I was at .120mg of clonazepam a day, she was like, "Oh, you're almost off" and I'm like yeah...sort of...and I'm just thinking inside my head, Nope.  It doesn't work that way.  Why doesn't it work that way?

 

I really feel a desire to rush things with my taper right now.  I've decided to change my hold period from 1 week, to 4 days and see how it goes.

Making a small change rather than jumping sounds like a good plan to me. 

[[Li...]]

I'm on 5 mgs of Librium...the lowest dose you can get...been on it daily for 19 years.  Doc says I take such a low dose that I could just stop it and have no issues....I just laughed in his face..no joke....he thought I was crazy.  What a nut!  I kept telling him I was worried about not being able to find a doctor once he retires to support my VERY long taper and he asked me if I had thought about taking something else for my "condition" and I said, well what would that be?  so then he tells me..."What about Valium or Ativan?".  OMG...I was stunned.  I laughed all the way home.  He has no clue what the heck he's prescribing.  Anyway, thought I'd share! 

[[ga...]]

I'm on 5 mgs of Librium...the lowest dose you can get...been on it daily for 19 years.  Doc says I take such a low dose that I could just stop it and have no issues....I just laughed in his face..no joke....he thought I was crazy.  What a nut!  I kept telling him I was worried about not being able to find a doctor once he retires to support my VERY long taper and he asked me if I had thought about taking something else for my "condition" and I said, well what would that be?  so then he tells me..."What about Valium or Ativan?".  OMG...I was stunned.  I laughed all the way home.  He has no clue what the heck he's prescribing.  Anyway, thought I'd share! 

 

OMG. I don't know whether to    or  .

 

Ya know, Librium seems to be considered the benzo with lowest risk for addiction (according to the medical system which uses it to detox addicts) so I would think you'd be able to find a prescriber.