Tapering off Ativan Support Thread

[[ju...]]

Hi all, Just checking in . I'm doing fairly well. Just waiting  for the start up  anxiety from the increase in the Zoloft to simmer down a bit more before I do another cut in my Ativan taper. Wishing everyone well.

[[Sa...]]

Hi all, Just checking in . I'm doing fairly well. Just waiting  for the start up  anxiety from the increase in the Zoloft to simmer down a bit more before I do another cut in my Ativan taper. Wishing everyone well.

 

Hi Judy! that's good news! fairly well is ok, I'd take it! I hope the start up anxiety calms down for you soon.

 

Saga

[[Ki...]]

Thanks for checking in Judy - I'm hoping the anxiety settles down soon for you. You're doing great 

[[ju...]]

Thanks very much Saga and Kiddo!

[[Om...]]

Hey guys, tomorrow will be my first milestone, at 10% complete! However my first symptom did pop up. I got a horrible knot in my throat that lasted hours, making it difficult to swallow food. This happened the last 2 times I tried to taper and was the first symptom. At some points it got so bad I was gagging because it felt like something was lodged in my throat. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Sending love to you all. You are all in my prayers 

[[Sa...]]

Hey guys, tomorrow will be my first milestone, at 10% complete! However my first symptom did pop up. I got a horrible knot in my throat that lasted hours, making it difficult to swallow food. This happened the last 2 times I tried to taper and was the first symptom. At some points it got so bad I was gagging because it felt like something was lodged in my throat. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Sending love to you all. You are all in my prayers 

 

Omni you're doing great! I have heard of this sxs but not personally. It sounds awful. Just look at the positive if you can, you're down 10%...keep telling yourself it can't hurt you! it's only a sxs. That's  what I do when a sxs is bothering me. 

[[Ki...]]

Hi Omni - I get that sx frequently, for me it's related to being anxious. I get a really tight throat that feels like I can't swallow. It used to really scare me. Now when it happens I just take a deep breath and relax my shoulders and my throat stops constricting. It's a pretty common symptom, try not to give it to much of your time 

[[wa...]]

CAN ANYONE    HELP ME PLEASE ABOUT USING THE SCALE METHOD !    I got my scale.  My pill bottle says my pills are 0.5 mg.  I weighed my 0.5 mg pill ,it was 0.065 .      Each pill does not weigh exactly  the same.  Does this mean my pills are not giving me my correct dosage?  What would a 1/4 dose weigh , what a 1/8 weigh to get my correct dose ?

 

[[Ki...]]

Warrior - I'm glad your scale arrived. I never weighed my pills before I cut them, and that's precisely why. They never weigh the same amount and it was frustrating. So I simply broke off little pieces and put them in the dish until it weighed what I need it to. Perhaps that method will be easier for you and there is less math involved. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

[[Co...]]

CAN ANYONE    HELP ME PLEASE ABOUT USING THE SCALE METHOD !    I got my scale.  My pill bottle says my pills are 0.5 mg.  I weighed my 0.5 mg pill ,it was 0.065 .      Each pill does not weigh exactly  the same.  Does this mean my pills are not giving me my correct dosage?  What would a 1/4 dose weigh , what a 1/8 weigh to get my correct dose ?

 

 

Make sure you calibrate scale every time. You should buy a level and make sure surface is even. You should shield the area around scale to prevent ANY DRAFT (cardboard). You need to let scale heat up for at least a minute before weighing, and even when weighing you need to wait to let scale get accurate reading. You can prevent scale from shutting off by gently pressing the second button to the left. 0.50 pills should weigh approx the 100/1 weight/molecule potency. Always carry stress ball nearby In case sudden urge to launch scale across room (urge highly likely).

 

These scales are extremely sensitive, even your breathe can impact reading. Make sure you're steady and don't nudge table scale is on. It is important to always heat up scale before using, this can be difficult due to auto off function.

 

Have fun!

[[Co...]]

Warrior - I'm glad your scale arrived. I never weighed my pills before I cut them, and that's precisely why. They never weigh the same amount and it was frustrating. So I simply broke off little pieces and put them in the dish until it weighed what I need it to. Perhaps that method will be easier for you and there is less math involved. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

 

Kiddo, if you're not crushing pills into powder you should definitely NOT be using the bowl. Just my 2 cents

[[Ki...]]

Cosmic - why wouldn't I use the bowl? What would I put my pills in? You just tare the bowl and weigh your pills 

 

Warrior - like I said in a previous post....there are many ways to cut your pills and everyone has their own method. I don't do anything except break off pieces, weigh them and then put them in a container. I can't be bothered and I've never had a problem. You'll be fine. Just play around with it for a few days and you'll get the hang of it. 

[[Sa...]]

Warrior - I'm glad your scale arrived. I never weighed my pills before I cut them, and that's precisely why. They never weigh the same amount and it was frustrating. So I simply broke off little pieces and put them in the dish until it weighed what I need it to. Perhaps that method will be easier for you and there is less math involved. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

 

Kiddo, if you're not crushing pills into powder you should definitely NOT be using the bowl. Just my 2 cents

 

I'm with Kiddo, how else would you weigh the pills? Cosmic I thought you had enough pills, why are you crushing them into powder? I don't see any reason to complicate this any more than necessary.

[[Co...]]

Warrior - I'm glad your scale arrived. I never weighed my pills before I cut them, and that's precisely why. They never weigh the same amount and it was frustrating. So I simply broke off little pieces and put them in the dish until it weighed what I need it to. Perhaps that method will be easier for you and there is less math involved. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

 

Kiddo, if you're not crushing pills into powder you should definitely NOT be using the bowl. Just my 2 cents

 

I'm with Kiddo, how else would you weigh the pills? Cosmic I thought you had enough pills, why are you crushing them into powder? I don't see any reason to complicate this any more than necessary.

 

Thats a great question... Guess these benzos took a toll on my IQ

[[Co...]]

Cosmic - why wouldn't I use the bowl? What would I put my pills in? You just tare the bowl and weigh your pills 

 

Warrior - like I said in a previous post....there are many ways to cut your pills and everyone has their own method. I don't do anything except break off pieces, weigh them and then put them in a container. I can't be bothered and I've never had a problem. You'll be fine. Just play around with it for a few days and you'll get the hang of it. 

 

If you're using tiny pill pieces that are in tact, the bowl will only heighten the inaccuracies. The bowl itself weighs a significant amount over the weight of the pill. Generally you can test this by weighing the bowl itself which always reads different and sometimes never stabilizes. Just my opinion of course

[[Co...]]

Saga, did you weigh each dose? Aka in my case 0.05x3? You would cut off slices from 0.5 pill, and shave off until proper #?

[[Sa...]]

Saga, did you weigh each dose? Aka in my case 0.05x3? You would cut off slices from 0.5 pill, and shave off until proper #?

 

Yes Cosmic, I did exactly that, using the bowl. I needed to hold the pill with the tweezers in one hand , shave the pill with the other. Quite tedious when you get to the tiny pieces, but it's got to be easier than crushing and dealing with powder!

[[Co...]]

Saga, did you weigh each dose? Aka in my case 0.05x3? You would cut off slices from 0.5 pill, and shave off until proper #?

 

Tedious is an understatement. I just tried and it was very difficult. Just out of curiosity, why do you choose to use the bowl instead of just placing directly on platform?

 

Yes Cosmic, I did exactly that, using the bowl. I needed to hold the pill with the tweezers in one hand , shave the pill with the other. Quite tedious when you get to the tiny pieces, but it's got to be easier than crushing and dealing with powder!

[[wa...]]

I watched the youtube video someone posted on BB about how to use the scale. It says weigh your pill 0.5 first. Then if you want 1/2 dose  you divide that weight  by 2 to get the exact weight. If my 0.5 weighed 0.065, divide by 2 =0.0325 that would be 1/4 mg and divide by 2 again to get 1/8 mg would = .01625. Does that sound correct to everyone?

Cosmic is that how you  do it?  What are your doses ? I dose 4 times a day.  Could you break the doses down per time for me. Kiddo I know your dose must be lumped together ? so if your dosing 5 times a day you divide your dose you posted for the 23rd of July by 5 ? What do you take per doses?

Anyone else want to jump in on this. Do doctors approve of the use of scales ?

 

[[Co...]]

I watched the youtube video someone posted on BB about how to use the scale. It says weigh your pill 0.5 first. Then if you want 1/2 dose  you divide that weight  by 2 to get the exact weight. If my 0.5 weighed 0.065, divide by 2 =0.0325 that would be 1/4 mg and divide by 2 again to get 1/8 mg would = .01625. Does that sound correct to everyone?

Cosmic is that how you  do it?  What are your doses ? I dose 4 times a day.  Could you break the doses down per time for me. Kiddo I know your dose must be lumped together ? so if your dosing 5 times a day you divide your dose you posted for the 23rd of July by 5 ? What do you take per doses?

Anyone else want to jump in on this. Do doctors approve of the use of scales ?

 

Every time I've told my doctors or psychiatrists the dose I'm taking, and how I'm taking, I've either been laughed at or ridiculed. So generally no, doctors won't generally "approve"  of scale use. I dose 3x per day, so generally 0.05x3. 11am-6pm-1am. Thing is, my pills weigh exactly 100/1.

Therefore for a 0.5 pill all it needs to weigh on the scale is 0.015 to get my 0.15 total dose. I was crushing powder and eyeball dividing that 0.15 into 3 doses. I may change the way I do this shortly, more along the lines of what saga was doing.

[[Ki...]]

Warrior - if your doctor is supportive of a slow taper then I'm sure they would support an tool you use in order to successful. If they don't, too bad. It's not up to them. You don't need their permission. If we had been properly informed in the first place we wouldn't even be having these issues. But I digress 

 

I'm lost with all the scale questions and comments at the moment. I'm doing what works for me, there are so many variables. I wanted the quickest and easiest way and that's what I came up with. I can do three days worth of pills (25 doses) in less than 10 min.

 

My current dose is .63mg so I take:

.12 @ 7am

.13 @ 11am

.13 @ 230pm

.13 @ 6pm

.12 @ 11pm

 

Hope that helps 

[[Sa...]]

Ok, all the scale questions...this is my take on all of it. Keep it simple. It's a scale. Once you figure out how to use it don't mess with it too much. I never adjusted or did anything special to the scale every time. I simply had the number I needed to get for my dose.

 

I never once ever double checked weights etc. As long as the scale turned on and went to zero I was good to go. If the dose was the ballpark figure that was good enough for me.

 

You can drive yourself crazy trying to fine tune every part of the scale, but it's simply a tool. Use common sense and you're ok.

 

Kiddo has simplified her math enormously compared to what I was dealing with when I started. Again, keep it simple! 

 

Saga

[[wa...]]

Thanks Kiddo and Saga. I got it ! I was so screwed up in my head over using the scale I took a double dose at supper time 3/8 mg x 2 . Oh my what in the hell is wrong with me. Is there anything I should do to fix it. I tried to throw it up but did not work. How will that effect me? I take less at bedtime ,not I guess because its short acting. I feel like a fruit cake !

[[Co...]]

Ok, all the scale questions...this is my take on all of it. Keep it simple. It's a scale. Once you figure out how to use it don't mess with it too much. I never adjusted or did anything special to the scale every time. I simply had the number I needed to get for my dose.

 

I never once ever double checked weights etc. As long as the scale turned on and went to zero I was good to go. If the dose was the ballpark figure that was good enough for me.

 

You can drive yourself crazy trying to fine tune every part of the scale, but it's simply a tool. Use common sense and you're ok.

 

Kiddo has simplified her math enormously compared to what I was dealing with when I started. Again, keep it simple! 

 

Saga

 

Driving yourself crazy is an understatement. Just as an experiment I decided to attempt to cut off segments of the pills to get my current dose. Just out of curiosity I crushed those segmented pills to compare what I had been taking, and the new powder form looks like double the amount I've been taking. Driving me nuts.

 

I just spent and hour and a half on the scale trying to figure out what's the most efficient way. I came to the conclusion that at the doses I'm at its "impossible"  to get accurate doses every day. The margin of error for me is "at least"  + or - 0.02. Seems like I'm dosing anywhere from 0.16 to 0.12, when my target is 0.14. To be honest it's kinda making me insecure and making my head spin lol.

 

Feels like a dry cut is going to be much more inaccurate than I thought.

[[Sa...]]

Thanks Kiddo and Saga. I got it ! I was so screwed up in my head over using the scale I took a double dose at supper time 3/8 mg x 2 . Oh my what in the hell is wrong with me. Is there anything I should do to fix it. I tried to throw it up but did not work. How will that effect me? I take less at bedtime ,not I guess because its short acting. I feel like a fruit cake !

 

Warrior, don't worry about it!  Messing up one time is not an issue. If you can take less at bedtime, do it, if not, don't worry about it. A onetime deal is not a problem. We've all messed up before. Honestly