Im confused

[[br...]]

Im pretty confused could someone talk to me in very very simple terms.
I take 0.375mg which is 3/4ths of a tablet of 0.5mg split into three doses so 0.125mg morning, afternoon, night 

I need to cut 5% of 0.375mg of klonopin  

But I dont know how to do that accurately , 
Im confused do you take 5% off each daily dose or each weekly dose?
How do I accurately take off 5% , and where ? how do you know which 5% is off 0.375mg , 

Im sorry to ask but i need someone to explain this like you would a toddler, 


Back Story tapers:
I would shave off a piece of my klonopin hold it, than shave again after a week or two whenever i was feeling better, this is very very slow as im shaving minuscule amounts and having severe withdrawals, weve tried switching to other benzos and they havent worked, so i need to get off klonopin with what i have its been over 3 years of tapering so far and i want this done by december. 

 

[[Br...]]

Hi @[br...] - We'll be glad to help you.  The nuts and bolts of tapering can be confusing and intimidating.  I think a lot of us find it overwhelming during withdrawal because of cognitive fog too.  I know I did. 

There are various options for tapering that can make reductions a bit more precise and less of a guessing game.  One option is a dry taper which is what you're doing.  Another option is a liquid taper.  Assuming you want to continue with a dry taper you might find it helpful to get a jeweler's scale like this one: https://www.amazon.com/AWS-Portable-Precision-Digital-Milligram/dp/B0012TDNAM?th=1

Your aim is to reduce your daily dose by 5%.  A simple way to calculate your daily dose is to multiply your current doe of 0.375mg by .95 which equals 0.356mg.  Each of your three daily doses would be .119mg

As you probably know, we generally suggest making cuts every 10-14 days or better yet, when your symptoms feel manageable enough to make another cut.  Please remember, you are making a reduction of your most recent dose, not the original dose.

If you decide to get a scale remember there is a learning curve but you will get the hang of it with practice.  I suggest you start by getting an average pill weight by weighing 10 pills and dividing that number by 10.  There is some slight variation in pill weight but it's not worth getting concerned about.  

Another important point to remember is that the pills have filler in them so a "1mg" pill will weigh more than 1mg. You'll be concentrating on reducing by pill weight when using scale.

I've thrown a lot of information at you.  Please go slow and take it one step at a time.  And ask lots of questions!

[[br...]]

On 03/01/2024 at 08:53, [[B...] said:

Hi @[br...] - We'll be glad to help you.  The nuts and bolts of tapering can be confusing and intimidating.  I think a lot of us find it overwhelming during withdrawal because of cognitive fog too.  I know I did. 

There are various options for tapering that can make reductions a bit more precise and less of a guessing game.  One option is a dry taper which is what you're doing.  Another option is a liquid taper.  Assuming you want to continue with a dry taper you might find it helpful to get a jeweler's scale like this one: https://www.amazon.com/AWS-Portable-Precision-Digital-Milligram/dp/B0012TDNAM?th=1

Your aim is to reduce your daily dose by 5%.  A simple way to calculate your daily dose is to multiply your current doe of 0.375mg by .95 which equals 0.356mg.  Each of your three daily doses would be .119mg

As you probably know, we generally suggest making cuts every 10-14 days or better yet, when your symptoms feel manageable enough to make another cut.  Please remember, you are making a reduction of your most recent dose, not the original dose.

If you decide to get a scale remember there is a learning curve but you will get the hang of it with practice.  I suggest you start by getting an average pill weight by weighing 10 pills and dividing that number by 10.  There is some slight variation in pill weight but it's not worth getting concerned about.  

Another important point to remember is that the pills have filler in them so a "1mg" pill will weigh more than 1mg. You'll be concentrating on reducing by pill weight when using scale.

I've thrown a lot of information at you.  Please go slow and take it one step at a time.  And ask lots of questions!

Hey so that all makes sense and i have the scale but how do i figure out how much .119mg is in weight?

[[br...]]

So I weighed all my meds 0.375mg weighed  at 0.126 how i figure out how to take 5% off 0.126? 
I cant seem to find an online calcuator to do this my doctor is unsure and is on materinty leave now 

[[Fa...]]

Hi, @[br...].  I would recommend weighing your .5mg tablet first.  My understanding is that this tablet should weigh roughly .170.  Weigh this tablet first to confirm.

You are dosing roughly 3/4 of this tablet per day (or roughly .375mg).  Assuming your .5mg tablet weighs .170 - your total daily dose of .375mg should weigh roughly .128 (.375mg is 75% of .5mg and .128 is 75% of .170).

Once steady dosing at .128 pill weight and ready to proceed with a reduction, you would simply multiply .128 by .95 (95%) to obtain your desired new pill weight.  This equates to a new pill weight of  .122 for your total daily dosage and a 5% reduction in dose.

If you are spreading this total daily dose pill weight of .122 over 3 separate doses, your individual dose weights could be .041, .041 and .040 (totaling .122).  

Lastly, I have no experience dry cutting and weighing tablets.  My understanding is that weighing small doses can be more difficult - so perhaps you weigh .122 and use a razor blade and eyeball it to split your total daily dose into 3 pieces.

Hopefully someone with lived experience will stop by to confirm/critique my information and/or provide additional information/advice/suggestions.

[[Li...]]

I agree with @[Fa...] … to improve accuracy, it would be preferable for you to calculate your dose based on the weight of whole 0.5mg tablets not fragments of tablets.

Re: the math question you asked and getting math help when needed, here are three ideas for your consideration:

 

(1) Ask your voice assistant (e.g., Apple Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa) using natural language.  Example:

“Siri, what is 95% of 0.126?”

(2) Enter your question into the search bar of your search engine (e.g. Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo) using natural language. Example:

“What is 95% of 0.126?”

(3) Use one of the many online percentage calculators or apps.  Example:

Percentage Calculator
https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/math/percentage.php

 

[[br...]]

so after the 95% reduction than its 90% off? 

than you go from 90 to 85? is that how it works? 

full pill weight was 0.166 

[[Li...]]

@[br...]

For an exponential taper, reductions are calculated based on the current dose not the original, starting dose.

For example, assuming the following:

(1) original starting dose = 0.5mg

(2) dosage form and strength: 0.5mg tablets

(3) weight of tablet = 0.166

(4) trial reduction rate = 5% every two weeks

The first reduction would be 95% of 0.166

95% of 0.166 = 0.1577

If all went well with the first 5% reduction, the next reduction would be 95% of 0.1577.

95% of 0.1577 = 0.1498

Edit: typo

[[br...]]

sorry now im really confused, 

im not taking 0.166 that is the weight of the full pill as requested to be weighed in the comments above but i dont take the full pill. and havent in many years 

i take 0.375mg which is 0.126 weighted,  its 3/4 ths of the pill 

what im asking is is it always 95% everytime i taper? or does that number go down each time?

I really need very simplified explinations because i dont understand im confused, and i need tio be spoken too like a toddler, i need OFF these drugs but these long explainations  with a ton of math are too difficult for me to understand when i can only do basic math are too complex im sorry im so fucking stupid


and now im crying because i feel so stupid 

[[Li...]]

My apologies.  I thought you wanted an example using the pill weight you provided for the whole tablet.

Here’s the math using a starting pill weight of 0.126. 

Reduction 1:

0.126 x 0.95 = 0.1197

Reduction 2: 

0.1197 x 0.95  = 0.1137

Reduction 3:

0.1137 x 0.95 = 0.1080

etc.