K taper advice on inter dose w/d

[[Wi...]]

Hi, Everyone. 

I hope everyone is doing as well as possible considering the circumstances. 

I am back bc I had to hold for a five months. It may have been too long but I started a low dose of prozac to help with rumination and depression. I began tapering again on 9/18/2023 from .160 mg K to today at .120 mg K. I am stabilizing again and need to take another 5% dosage drop this month. I wonder how long dosage at morning, noon and night is going to be possible at this low weight/dose. Thank you for thoughts and your own experience. 

WPH

[[je...]]

Hi @[Wi...]

I don't have an answer for your question, but it's something I've been wondering about as well. I'll share some other thoughts with you, to do with as you please. The thing that's been on my mind, is split doses and the loss of therapeutic value. Ashton said between 0.5mg and 1mg Valium you start losing therapeutic value. I have been wondering what happens when you split your dose and the combined dose is above this value but individually it's less. How does that impact withdrawal? I only tapered from a single dose, so I have no experience with this whatsoever. There are obviously lots to consider such as half-lifes overlapping etc. (and I can't even begin to make sense of this on long half-lifes such as K). I have mentioned this concern quite a while ago to someone else on a thread (which I can't remember - but it was for a short half life drug). Then another person picked it up and combined her doses and reported back that she felt much better with fewer doses. I definitely am not saying it's cause and effect, it could've been a fluke or just happened to be where she was in her taper. 

Anyway, as I said, in the absence of being able to answer your question, I'm just sharing some thoughts. 

[[An...]]

.120 mgs K = approx. 2.4 mgs of valium.

How long have you been on the Prozac? I started Lexapro. It took approx. 6 weeks to become fully effective. I put my valium taper on hold during this time. After the positive therapeutic effects of the Lexapro took hold, I resumed my Valium taper.

If your total K = .120mgs divided by 3 doses = .04 mgs per dose.

.04 mgs of K = approx. .8 mgs of Valium

How are you doing this? Are you doing a dry microtaper using a precision scale? What size K tablets are you using? 

Jelly brought up an interesting point. Do you really need to dose multiple times per day when you get really low like this?

 

[[Wi...]]

Hi, thanks for both replies. I will address in order. Jelly Belly,  I wonder about so many of the same things, especially now at a little less than 3/4 a Klonopin a day, I am no longer at a dose that is very useful for very long, so I'm glad I am not alone, and really it isn't such a bad issue altogether since I am finally at a low dose, just not low enough to taper, and I sure want to be comfortable (this sentiment got me into this mess, this need to be comfortable, so I trade a few more months for the twenty something years I had when I think this med. might have been working better ( or maybe i was functioning , and am not functioning bc of the almost year and a half taper so far.  thank you for your thoughts.:)  AntiBenzo7, I know nothing at all about valium, only klonopin so I am sorry I wish I had a mind for equivalencies. I actually hurt myself when I became confused in mid November and accidently went to .120 instead of .128 (a full 3/4 K).  I take 10 mg of prozac since June and it took until August to feel okay, and it was another month until i could pull myself together enough to taper again. I use 1/2 mg K tablets and that was a huge and recent help, moving from 1 mg to 1/2 mg pills. I don't know if I need to but I feel better 3x a day, and now that I am so low, it is impossible without moving to a dose that does almost nothing helpful for me psychologically. I appreciate your reply. How about you? How long do you have?