Day 12 of Taper - advice! New member

[[...]]

3 hours ago, [[v...] said:

hi all!

last night i had a brain fart and accidentally took hydroxyzine (20mg) instead of my nightly buspar. i know hydroxyzine crosses the BBB, but not sure if taking it once will do anything. i feel fine, but just wanted to understand more about the implications. let me know if you have any information about this! thank you all!

@[vo...], I haven't studied wether hydroxyzine crosses BBB but I know the med doesn't affect GABA receptors and that's the most important fact about it during benzo withdrawal. 

I think it's good if hydroxyzine can help you.  For me, it was a safe medication, which I took for quite a while when tapering. Then just stopped it overnight. The dose I was taking was more than 20 mg.

Just, if need be, don't take it too often, because it might lose its therapeutic effect.

Further smooth tapering to you!:)

[[vo...]]

hi all! 

 

i just refilled my prescription and it is a different manufacturer. it is advagen. i have been taking TEVA this whole time. i’ve heard it is not good to switch manufacturers and i do NOT want to mess up my taper. how do i go about this? my prescriber is out for the holidays. any advice??? 

 

@[Co...] @[...] @[Ro...]

 

thanks in advance!!

[[Ro...]]

11 minutes ago, [[v...] said:

hi all! 

i just refilled my prescription and it is a different manufacturer. it is advagen. i have been taking TEVA this whole time. i’ve heard it is not good to switch manufacturers and i do NOT want to mess up my taper. how do i go about this? my prescriber is out for the holidays. any advice??? 

@[Co...] @[...] @[Ro...]

thanks in advance!!

Hello,

As I'm sure you know already, you will have to weigh 10 tablets to figure out the new average weight.  Also, it's best not to do any reductions until you know that you have adjusted well to the new generic.  I think that's all you need to know.

[Colin]

14 minutes ago, [[v...] said:

hi all! 

i just refilled my prescription and it is a different manufacturer. it is advagen. i have been taking TEVA this whole time. i’ve heard it is not good to switch manufacturers and i do NOT want to mess up my taper. how do i go about this? my prescriber is out for the holidays. any advice??? 

@[Co...] @[...] @[Ro...]

thanks in advance!!

Yes, bioavailability can vary, and the product from some manufacturers is probably more reliable. But I would not worry about it too much. Having said this, if you have any of your previous prescription left, you might be able to mix part of one prescription with the other. This assumes that you take the same benzodiazepine at same dose (though you can work around a different dose), and same size of pill (again, you can work around this), and that they are not extended release or similar.

This approach would help if there is discrepancy between the delivered dose of the two brands. It would be akin to a taper.

[[Li...]]

17 minutes ago, [[v...] said:

i just refilled my prescription and it is a different manufacturer. it is advagen. i have been taking TEVA this whole time. i’ve heard it is not good to switch manufacturers and i do NOT want to mess up my taper. how do i go about this? my prescriber is out for the holidays. any advice??? 

Hello @[vo...].

@[Ro...] and @[Co...] have given you helpful suggestions on how to deal with this unexpected change in your generic manufacturer.

The good news is this is a temporary and fixable problem. My understanding is that Teva has resolved its supply issues and Teva clonazepam is now showing as available in the FDA Drug Shortages database.

To prevent this from happening again, here are steps you can take:

(1) Explain to your pharmacist that you have issues with generic changes (e.g. you are allergic to certain excipients so need to stay with one generic). Ask them if they would be willing to honor a DAW (Dispense As Written) order from your prescriber for a specific generic (in your case, Teva clonazepam).  If the pharmacist is unwilling to do this, find another pharmacist/pharmacy who is.

(2) Ask your prescriber to add a DAW (Dispense As Written) order to your prescription, specifying that it should only be filled with Teva. The National Drug Code for regular Teva tablets is: NDC 0093-0832

 

[[vo...]]

4 minutes ago, [[L...] said:

Hello @[vo...].

@[Ro...] and @[Co...] have given you helpful suggestions on how to deal with this unexpected change in your generic manufacturer.

The good news is this is a temporary and fixable problem. My understanding is that Teva has resolved its supply issues and Teva clonazepam is now showing as available in the FDA Drug Shortages database.

To prevent this from happening again, here are steps you can take:

(1) Explain to your pharmacist that you have issues with generic changes (e.g. you are allergic to certain excipients so need to stay with one generic). Ask them if they would be willing to honor a DAW (Dispense As Written) order from your prescriber for a specific generic (in your case, Teva clonazepam).  If the pharmacist is unwilling to do this, find another pharmacist/pharmacy who is.

(2) Ask your prescriber to add a DAW (Dispense As Written) order to your prescription, specifying that it should only be filled with Teva. The National Drug Code for regular Teva tablets is: NDC 0093-0832

this is SUPER helpful. should i take this generic for the time being or are you suggesting i do step 1 right now?

[[Li...]]

16 minutes ago, [[v...] said:

this is SUPER helpful. should i take this generic for the time being or are you suggesting i do step 1 right now?

I’m glad my suggestions were helpful. @[vo...].  You indicted your prescriber is out for the holidays, so my assumption is you will not be able to get a new Rx until they return.  Moreover, because clonazepam is a controlled substance, even if you could get a new Rx, I’d be surprised if your current pharmacist would be wiling to fill it b/c you just picked up a fill.

So, unless you have a 30 day supply of Teva clonazepam saved, yes, you will need to start taking the generic.  

You can then begin implementing Step 1.  The sooner you can find out if your current pharmacist would be willing to honor a DAW order for Teva, the better.  If they aren’t, you’ll have more time to find one who will.

[[vo...]]

thank you so much @[Li...]  

[[vo...]]

sound sensitivity 13 days into a cut…. it’s not that bad but noticeable. things are just louder. super manageable and not bad — i was planning on cutting again the day after christmas. should i still proceed? i feel the same otherwise

[[vo...]]

i’m at 0.5mg, down from 1mg. i am 64 days into my taper!

[[Tr...]]

Hi @[vo...], I am sorry that you have sound sensitivity! 

It seems that your nervous system is getting more sensitive as you go down. In this case the usual tactics are to hold until the bothering sxs subside and to make your next cut smaller. 

May I ask you to write down in a reply here + in the History of your profile how you have done your taper so far, so that we can get an idea about your taper rate. You can check my taper here as an example: 

https://benzobuddies.org/profile/338161-[tr...]/?tab=field_core_pfield_34

For example:

11/27/2024: 0.125 mg am + 0.151 mg pm = 0.276 mg TTL (-5.6%) 

12/15/2024: 0.125 mg am + 0.138 mg pm = 0.263 mg TTL (-4.8%) 

 I hope that you will feel better very soon! Merry Christmas!

Edited December 25, 2024 by [Tr...]