Gram Scale FYI

[[...]]

Would a Gemini gram scale be good for tapering Remeron, a 7.5 mg pill? Those who have done it for Rem, what was your experience like? Accurate or not so much. I'm getting ready for a taper. Thanks.

 

Becky 

 

i tapered off remeron using the gram scale. not 100% accurate, but i thought it got the job done.  good way to taper remeron imo so go for it.  all the best wished to you.

 

take good care.

kian

 

How did you do it? Shave off pieces? How big were your cuts?

 

as bad as this sounds, i didn't really keep track of the dosage.  just the weight gradually doing down in weight, so i don't even know how big my cuts were.  they were farily small though.  and it took a long time.  and wheni got down to the lower doses at the end, i would lick my finger and just get a dab of powder on there and lick it off my finger.  that was about 1mg, then maybe a tad less, then i jumped.  i've not slept in along time so forgive me for not being able to explain better.

[[kc...]]

I am tapering off a daily 2 mg Ativan (3 months use) and what I did was take the average weight of 10 1 mg pills to get weight of one pill and then divided that by 2, 4, and 8 to get weights of a .5 mg, .25 mg, and .125 mg dose, wrote this down on a flash card, and that provides me my target weights for pretty much any doseage I will need in my taper. Avoids having to always have a calculator handy.

 

I will do same thing when I switch to .5 mg pills.

[[GA...]]

I am tapering off a daily 2 mg Ativan (3 months use) and what I did was take the average weight of 10 1 mg pills to get weight of one pill and then divided that by 2, 4, and 8 to get weights of a .5 mg, .25 mg, and .125 mg dose, wrote this down on a flash card, and that provides me my target weights for pretty much any doseage I will need in my taper. Avoids having to always have a calculator handy.

 

I will do same thing when I switch to .5 mg pills.

 

I'll be tapering off Ativan, too - after I taper off the Ambien.

 

I'm a bit confused with the math here. I find that 1 MG equals .001 grams. If it is a .001 scale, then is the least amount you can weigh 1 MG? How would you weigh half a milligram?

 

I've thought of maybe using a counterweight of some sort that will register and then adding the pill. Otherwise, would amounts under one milligram even register?

 

Thanks to you or anyone that can answer. I am considering ordering a scale if I think it will help at small dosages (under 1 MG).

[[GA...]]

I got the answer to my last question in a different thread. Due to binders and fillers that hold a pill together, the weight of a pill on a gram scale will be much more than the weight of the medicine in the pill. For example, a 2MG Ativan weighs 140 MG.

 

I have a sort of a "remnant" bottle full of discards from cuts; tiny little pieces of pills, little crumbs. I can take an amount that I can barely pinch between my fingers and get a weight from it. This will be invaluable when it gets down to low, low doses.

[[jr...]]

I am having a problem weighing less than .005 gram on my scale. has anyone else had this to occur? what can be done?i grind my pills to powder and weigh my doses for the day.

[[GA...]]

I am having a problem weighing less than .005 gram on my scale. has anyone else had this to occur? what can be done?i grind my pills to powder and weigh my doses for the day.

 

 

 

I can't weigh less than .005 on mine either. My suggestion would be to weigh, for example,.006 and if you wanted .003 put the powder on a sheet of paper and simple divide it in half. It's only an estimate but should be close.

[[jr...]]

I have come up with a solution to the gram scale weighing less than .005g. I have been using the included tray which in my case weighs 2.605g. If I want to weigh .004 which is my current dose, I add powder until it reaches 2.609. I have been grinding my pills into powder for some time now and weighing the doses, putting them in a juice jar and adding a squirt of water. I keep them in the refrig and take at the appointed time. The tray may not weigh the same everytime but just add your dose to the beginning weight. another thing I do is calibrate my scale before each use. I keep 6 doses in the fridge and i make them up 3x a day. hope this helps someone!

[[GA...]]

I have come up with a solution to the gram scale weighing less than .005g. I have been using the included tray which in my case weighs 2.605g. If I want to weigh .004 which is my current dose, I add powder until it reaches 2.609. I have been grinding my pills into powder for some time now and weighing the doses, putting them in a juice jar and adding a squirt of water. I keep them in the refrig and take at the appointed time. The tray may not weigh the same everytime but just add your dose to the beginning weight. another thing I do is calibrate my scale before each use. I keep 6 doses in the fridge and i make them up 3x a day. hope this helps someone!

 

 

Great idea!

[[Fa...]]

Thank you was going to start searching for this tomorrow you saved me some time.....although I have a lot of time right now to try and keep my mind occupied 

[[Ke...]]

Has anyone just weighed their current dose, then started tapering from that weight instead of worrying about mgs? I just can't wrap my head around everything everyone suggests.

So I weighed my existing weight at 0.066 grams.  So when I do my next cut, I will reduce from there.

Thanks k

[[GA...]]

Has anyone just weighed their current dose, then started tapering from that weight instead of worrying about mgs? I just can't wrap my head around everything everyone suggests.

So I weighed my existing weight at 0.066 grams.  So when I do my next cut, I will reduce from there.

Thanks k

 

 

Yes, that is exactly what I'm doing. It wasn't until I started reading this thread that I found that the pill weight and the medicine weight are two different things. For example the pill weight of a 2 milligram Ativan tablet is 140 milligrams. Quite a difference! So I'm going just by pill weight. Either way, I'm cutting around 10% or less with each cut.

[[ti...]]

I dont get it, i dont get the math, i doubt if i would have the pztience for all that cuttimg. Seriouxly, thrre is no easier esy? You have to be a chemist

Im so depressed

I cant do this

[[dr...]]

I dont get it, i dont get the math, i doubt if i would have the pztience for all that cuttimg. Seriouxly, thrre is no easier esy? You have to be a chemist

Im so depressed

I cant do this

 

Get pills compounded. It's worth it.

[[jr...]]

I dont get it, i dont get the math, i doubt if i would have the pztience for all that cuttimg. Seriouxly, thrre is no easier esy? You have to be a chemist

Im so depressed

I cant do this

 

pill size (example .5mg) divided by the pills weight (example .130 grams) equal the multiplier for all pills (example 3.85 g/mg) So let us say you are dosing 1 mg a day and wanted to cut 5% a month. 3.85 times 1mg =3.85 minus 5% (.1925)= 3.675. so divide the .1925 by 30 days and you get .006 per day. That is how much to reduce your 1 mg dose per day. if you dose 2x per day then take .003 by weight off each dose.Remember to go by weight and your constant (example 3.85)  will always be the same.

Give us your dose and pill weights and we will devise a schedule for you based on how much you want to reduce per month.

[[go...]]

I'm trying to finish off my taper of Xanax. My pills weigh 150grams. I'm down to 100grams at night. Would love a suggested taper that gets this done. I am cutting at about .0312 at this point, every 2 weeks.

 

Hope this makes sense.Thanks.

[[jr...]]

I'm trying to finish off my taper of Xanax. My pills weigh 150grams. I'm down to 100grams at night. Would love a suggested taper that gets this done. I am cutting at about .0312 at this point, every 2 weeks.

 

Hope this makes sense.Thanks.

 

 

Why dont you switch to liquid and do a daily taper?

[[go...]]

For me, the dry cutting is easier. Can you help make a taper schedule? My pills are the .25. and I am currently at .15.

 

Thanks!

[[jr...]]

If the dry cutting is easy , the liquid will be a breeze. Take two .25X and mix them with 4ml vodka and 46ml of water. you have a 50ml solution that is .01mg/ml. Your dose currently would be 15ml. (which is .15mg)This will last you three days. To reduce 10% a month that would be .15mg x 10%=.015 divided by 30 days =.0005mg. that would create a daily reduction of .05ml per day.get you a 10ml and a 1ml oral syringe at the drug store, usually for free.I would hold the 15ml for a week to get used to liquid. some have a ramp up in side effects when switching.

Day one=15ml

Day two= 14.95ml

Day Three= 14.90ml and so on

[[kc...]]

Hello - and HELP!

 

I think I have a dumb question for this group.  Watched the gram scale video and got confused. 

I'm tapering off clonazepam and am using a  gram scale, but am confused about the relationship between weight in grams and the equivalent in dosages.

 

Is .5 mg medication not the same as .5 mg weight?  Because my .5 mg pills weigh .166 grams on the scale.  Shouldn't a .5 mg pill weigh .5 mg???

 

How does one figure out what a milligram of medication weighs? 

 

[[jr...]]

Hello - and HELP!

 

I think I have a dumb question for this group.  Watched the gram scale video and got confused. 

I'm tapering off clonazepam and am using a  gram scale, but am confused about the relationship between weight in grams and the equivalent in dosages.

 

Is .5 mg medication not the same as .5 mg weight?  Because my .5 mg pills weigh .166 grams on the scale.  Shouldn't a .5 mg pill weigh .5 mg???

 

How does one figure out what a milligram of medication weighs?

 

.5mg divided by .166g =3.01mg/g. you can determine your dose in mgs by multiplying your dose in grams x 3.01

[[kc...]]

Ummm - thanks very much.  But still a little hazy on your reply - specifically "determining dose in mg by multiplying dose in grams x 3.01".

 

Actually, just weighed a few pills and noticed that each varies slightly... one is .166, the next .169, etc.  To determine weight I use two identical gram scales and average the weights (a tip from the forum). 

 

I have been cutting not by mg dosage, but by weight, and am now down to .75, or very slightly less than 1/2 of the pill. 

I'd like a more accurate way to cut by a few mg every few days.

 

How would I go about this?  My mind seems to shut down at the math. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[jr...]]

Ummm - thanks very much.  But still a little hazy on your reply - specifically "determining dose in mg by multiplying dose in grams x 3.01".

 

Actually, just weighed a few pills and noticed that each varies slightly... one is .166, the next .169, etc.  To determine weight I use two identical gram scales and average the weights (a tip from the forum). 

 

I have been cutting not by mg dosage, but by weight, and am now down to .75, or very slightly less than 1/2 of the pill. 

I'd like a more accurate way to cut by a few mg every few days.

 

How would I go about this?  My mind seems to shut down at the math.

 

 

The way I dry cut was to crush 10 pills into a fine powder and weigh my doses out on my scale. I would put the dose in a bottle and add water to drink it. You constant based on pill size and weight is 3.01. if your dose is .075g then you are taking .226mg. I cut my dose by .001g per day and held at times when I needed to. If you take your pill size (.5) and divide it by the average weight in grams (.166) that will give you a constant(3.01) you can use to convert your dose from grams to mgs. I just dont know how to explain it any better.

[[go...]]

Hi,

 

My pills weigh 152 grams...my pill is .25mg...here is my formula..if my  cut pill weighs 100gr....is 100/152 x .25...my dosage is then .164mg....substitute your pills values. Hope that helps. I  then created a small cheat sheet at each 10 gram weight so I had a chart for quick reference.

[[kc...]]

Thanks to all for your help.  Much appreciated!

 

[[kc...]]

Ah... actually, I have a Q for goingtobedone.  Do you mean that your .25 mg dose pill weighs 152 grams?

 

I'm still confused, because each of my .5 mg pills comes out to a different weight; as I wrote above, some pills weigh .164, some .167, some 168, etc.  Usually varies within a range of .164 to .168/9.

I'm assuming, however, that each contains precisely .5 mg of clonazepam. 

 

This seems to suggest that I'll need to weigh each pill individually before calculating the amount of dose per mg, then cut. 

 

Does this make sense to y'all?