Jumping off is easier than tapering for most

[[Ma...]]

I came across a post on another benzo site I wanted to share with those who were having concerns about jumping.  The person making the post was getting ready to jump off after a long taper and asked whether the taper or jumping off and recovery were worse.  I read probably 20-25 responses and every one of them said their jump off and recovery were either better or no worse than the actual taper.  
   I know this isn’t true for everyone and there are lots of factors that go into how people adjust to life without Benzos but I found this very encouraging as I get ready to take my last dose tomorrow.  After a 2 day blip/wave of anxiety a couple weeks ago,  I’ve done a water taper down to basically zero and been feeling pretty good.  I think it’s gonna be ok.  🙏

[[Tr...]]

Hi @[Ma...], thank you so much for sharing the encouraging information from the other benzo site and the news that you are feeling pretty good! 

Did you switch to liquid Clonazepam for your liquid taper? 

I wish you a smooth and uneventful jump-off and a swift complete recovery! 

Please keep us posted how things are developing, as we need more reassurance and hope! 

 

Edited December 11, 2024 by [Tr...]

[[Bi...]]

All the best @[Ma...] - wonderful news on the jump. Wishing you the very best on the new path! 

[[Ma...]]

35 minutes ago, [[T...] said:

Hi @[Ma...], thank you so much for sharing the encouraging information from the other benzo site and the news that you are feeling pretty good! 

Did you switch to liquid Clonazepam for your liquid taper? 

I wish you a smooth and uneventful jump-off and a swift complete recovery! 

Please keep us posted how things are developing, as we need more reassurance and hope! 

I’m dissolving my pill in water, making a suspension and removing 1 mL a night.  After doing some reading, I feel like a taper to zero provides the best chance for a smooth landing because even when you jump at a higher dose like .025 or .05, there’s still a significant amount of drug in your body.  By taking it all the way to zero, there is so little drug remaining that it really shouldn’t be felt.  Last night for example the dose I took was .0069 mg (basically zero)

[[Tr...]]

Hi @[Ma...], many thanks for the swift reply! 

May I ask you some additional questions, because it's still not very clear to me how you operate:

1/ Do you dissolve the crumb with 0.033 mg Clonazepam in 10 ml water and then remove each consecutive night 1, 2, 3 ml of the suspension? 

2/ In what kind of container do you make the suspension with water and the pill crumb? I suppose the suspension should be well shaken and that you leave the pill crumb for some time to completely disperse. 

Thanks in advance for your reply!

Edited December 11, 2024 by [Tr...]

[[Li...]]

To avoid confusion on the part of future readers of this thread, might I encourage posters to use proper terminology?

Clonazepam (the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient or API) is ‘practically insoluble’ in water.  When you add water to a regular clonazepam tablet, the clonazepam in the tablet does not dissolve (as in ‘go into solution’). Instead, the tablet disperses (as in falls apart, disintegrates).  

As @[Ma...] and @[Tr...] have correctly noted, the resulting drug/water mixture is a suspension not a solution.  

In a suspension, the drug particles do not completely dissolve in the solvent or co-solvent. Instead, they are temporarily suspended in the liquid.  Like snowflakes in a snow globe after shaking, the snowflakes eventually settle to the bottom of the globe. This is why it is so important to ‘re-suspend’ the drug particles by shaking suspensions well before measuring the dose.

In a solution, the drug particles completely dissolve in the solvent or co-solvent. The resulting liquid is homogeneous - e.g. 1mL of a solution always contains exactly the same amount of drug, no shaking required.

 

 

[[Ma...]]

1 hour ago, [[T...] said:

Do you dissolve the crumb with 0.033 mg Clonazepam in 10 ml water and then remove each consecutive night 1, 2, 3 ml of the suspension?

This is exactly what I am doing.  I had 14 crumbs weighed out, each equal to .032.  Each night I dissolve the crumb in 14 mL of water and have removed 1 mL every night.  

[[Ma...]]

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

In a suspension, the drug particles do not completely dissolve in the solvent or co-solvent. Instead, they are temporarily suspended in the liquid.  Like snowflakes in a snow globe after shaking, the snowflakes eventually settle to the bottom of the globe. This is why it is so important to ‘re-suspend’ the drug particles by shaking suspensions well before measuring the dose.

Correct, thanks for the correction and this is an important point.  In addition to shaking it up and resuspending it, I always draw out the dose I need:

1. Quickly so it does not settle again and 

2. From the MIDDLE of the suspension

[[Li...]]

18 minutes ago, [[M...] said:

Correct, thanks for the correction and this is an important point.  In addition to shaking it up and resuspending it, I always draw out the dose I need:

1. Quickly so it does not settle again and 

2. From the MIDDLE of the suspension

You’re welcome, @[Ma...].  It is indeed an important point.  I’ve read far too many posts from individuals who get into trouble with water tapers because they do not understand the importance of shaking suspensions well before using.

Your points about how to measure a suspension (quickly, from the middle) are well-taken. 

Although it does not apply in your case, another point to bear in mind when using intact regular tablets as the source of the active ingredient in suspensions … compounding pharmacists typically grind the tablets into fine, evenly sized particles before adding the suspending vehicle via geometric dilution.

 

[[Tr...]]

1 hour ago, [[L...] said:

To avoid confusion on the part of future readers of this thread, might I encourage posters to use proper terminology?

Clonazepam (the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient or API) is ‘practically insoluble’ in water.  When you add water to a regular clonazepam tablet, the clonazepam in the tablet does not dissolve (as in ‘go into solution’). Instead, the tablet disperses (as in falls apart, disintegrates).  

Hello @[Li...], thank you so much for your explanations! I have put "disperse" instead of "dissolve" in my reply above. 

Edited December 11, 2024 by [Tr...]

[[Li...]]

You’re most welcome @[Tr...].  But all thanks go to you. Making this seemingly small but important change is yet another example of the admirable work you have been doing to support other members.