Not recovering

[[An...]]

Do any of you guys stabilise? My last cut was 4 weeks ago and I am not stabilising at all. Do I keep going or do I hold. My doctor is cutting me off but I can figure something out. Do you cut when you are uncomfortable or do you hold till your more comfortable to make the next cut. 

[[An...]]

Hello I'm sorry to hear that you can't stabilize. From my own experience I know that there will always be symptoms, but it is important that you are stable enough to live your life as best you can.
When I feel really uncomfortable I don't make another cut, provided it doesn't last too long. But this is different for everyone. What is your taper method ? Maybe you can make your cut a few percent lower?
I hope you are going to receive responses from the other members.

 

[[Fa...]]

@[An...]  Four weeks is, for many, a typical 'cut and hold' timeline.  Anywhere between 2-4 weeks.  A hold is generally a longer amount of time.  For example, I cut every three weeks or so.  That is my 'taper schedule'.  So, anything beyond three weeks for me I would consider 'holding'.  Generally, holding exceeds your regular taper schedule.  Many will hold for an extra week...some hold for months.  It's individual.

Stabilization is another topic.  Stabilization does not infer that you will feel symptom free after a period of holding.  That is the best case scenario, but is more about assessing, based on history to date, if you feel as though you have recovered enough to move forward.  Moving through this, 'comfortable' is very subjective because everyone's baseline is very different.  Those that begin a taper in tolerance and very symptomatic may not ever reach a place of feeling 'comfortable'...but, going through a cut, you can see clearly when symptoms increase and begin to slowly ease again leaving you at your original 'baseline'...whatever that may be for you.

By strict definition, I never 'stabilize' after a cut.  But, I do get to a place where I know that I can manage an increase in symptoms if I were to make another cut.  You have to listen to your body...your gut feelings.  If you cut, do you feel that you will be able to handle an increase in symptoms from where you are right now?

Have you felt worse than you are feeling now within the last four weeks?  Were symptoms more severe within the last four weeks than they are now?  I log my symptoms everyday and assign a number out of 10...10 being the worst because I can't remember yesterday let alone two weeks ago.  To me, I would say that every day was awful.  But, when I look at my log, I can see that is not the case.  It's a really good idea to do...sounds like work, but when symptoms really do indicate where we are, it is valuable.  It can help to make decisions.

So, to answer the question simply...yes, I cut when I'm uncomfortable.  But, I cut when my discomfort is at a manageable level.  My level of discomfort when I cut will be different than another's level of discomfort.

I hope this helps in some way.

Warmly,

F