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Seeking Liquid tapering schedule assistance - ATIVAN


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Hello!

I am so confused by the daily micro-dosing calculators that I have seen.

 

Is there someone out there who can assist me in having an idea of what a very slow and steady taper schedule would look like for me? I’m going to be starting from .25 mg of Ativan taken 3 times per day.

 

I have recently been dry cutting my Ativan and I’ve had to re-up my dose as I was going WAY too quickly and suffering horrendous symptoms - debilitating anxiety, nausea and racing thoughts being a few of them which isn’t helping in trying to make heads or tales of the calculators ( such as Jim Hawk’s liquid taper)

 

I have access to a compounding pharmacy so once

stable, I’d like to try this again and take as long as necessary in order to try and at least be functional throughout the process.

 

Thanks to anyone in advance who may be able to offer assistance!  :)

 

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"... starting from .25 mg of Ativan taken 3 times per day. " 

 

I guess that means a total dose of .75mg/day?

 

If you get a compounded liquid, specify .1mg per ml.  Or you can easily dissolve your tablets to create a .1mg-1ml solution.

 

A conservative taper would be 5%/14 days.  That's about .003mg/day reduction

 

 

Assuming a .1mg=1ml solution, your schedule would be:

 

.75mg                        7.5ml

.747mg                      7.47ml

.744mg                      7.44ml

.741mg                      7.41ml

etc....

 

 

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Thank you Builder!

Yes, I’d be starting at .75 mg Ativan per day.

I’m still perplexed by the schedule...it would be 7.5ml and then holds at 7.47 ml? And that number is divided by my 3 doses so each dose goes down a bit or am I not understanding that correctly?

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Thank you Builder!

Yes, I’d be starting at .75 mg Ativan per day.

I’m still perplexed by the schedule...it would be 7.5ml and then holds at 7.47 ml? And that number is divided by my 3 doses so each dose goes down a bit or am I not understanding that correctly?

 

1)  .003mg/day reduction equates to 5.6%/14 days.  This is a conservative starting taper rate that seems to be safe for most folks.

 

2)  Put the full day's dose (per the schedule) in a standard measuring cup.  Top it up to 1 full cup with water.  Drink 1/3 cup for each dose.  Your 3 doses will all decrease proportionately.

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Hi Builder - I'd love your input...as I mentioned in previous post I started a dry taper a few weeks back and went way too quickly....dropping 1/4 of a .5 Ativan every week! In any event,I thought that since I had only started the Ativan at the end of March, that my system wouldn't be as affected. Also, as I was coming down I felt pretty good until last week when the bottom fell out and major anxiety, nausea twitching, etc, etc went through the roof. I bumped back up a little bit taking 1/2 of .5 three times per day, but am still VERY uncomfortable...would you suggest holding here and seeing if things stabilize, or am I ok to go back up to .5 mg 3 x per day, get some relief and then start micro liquid tapering properly?
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...would you suggest holding here and seeing if things stabilize, or am I ok to go back up to .5 mg 3 x per day, get some relief and then start micro liquid tapering properly?

 

I would hold for a week and see if things improve.  If not, then go back up and start again a a lower rate.

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Thank you for your advice! I'll try to stick it out - so hard when I know instant relief is at hand, but that said, I don't want to go back up if there's a chance that things will mellow out soon. So very grateful to have found this community.  :)
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Hello - Builder, I have another question for you if you are available....as I come up to the end of a week, it looks like I'm going to have to reverse taper some more as the withdrawal symptoms are unrelenting and intense. Right now I'm at .25mg of Ativan taken 3 times per day...in your opinion would you suggest bumping up all doses equally? Like should I try 3/4 of a .5 mg pill 3 times per day and see if that does the trick before doubling up to .5 right away?
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Hello - Builder, I have another question for you if you are available....as I come up to the end of a week, it looks like I'm going to have to reverse taper some more as the withdrawal symptoms are unrelenting and intense. Right now I'm at .25mg of Ativan taken 3 times per day...in your opinion would you suggest bumping up all doses equally? Like should I try 3/4 of a .5 mg pill 3 times per day and see if that does the trick before doubling up to .5 right away?

 

My advice is always go back to last dose where you were OK.

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Yah...that's the tricky part - because i didn't know what I was doing, I was reducing so quickly - hard to know where it was that I felt ok! I may have to just keep slowly adding back in and see where that point is - may be close to where I started given how quickly I was jumping down. :-(
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Hello Builder...I'm back again to pick your brain. I'm coming up to a week since I reversed tapered a bit and my symptoms are still over the top and affecting my daily activities. Is there any downside that you know of (other than the suffering of course) to holding at my current dose and waiting for symptoms to subside so that when I resume tapering down the road, I'll have less to come off of? Is it possible that these symptoms can ease up within a matter of weeks or could it be much longer?

 

My debate is whether I should struggle through or go back up to a dose where things are comfortable and then restart with a much better/slower/safer taper...the challenging bit is not knowing!! If I knew that things would be horrendous for a finite period of time, then life would be much easier...but I realize that is not the way it goes. I do believe though that tapering slowly and with minimal side effects is possible if done correctly and not the way I did.

 

 

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Hello Builder...I'm back again to pick your brain. I'm coming up to a week since I reversed tapered a bit and my symptoms are still over the top and affecting my daily activities. Is there any downside that you know of (other than the suffering of course) to holding at my current dose and waiting for symptoms to subside so that when I resume tapering down the road, I'll have less to come off of? Is it possible that these symptoms can ease up within a matter of weeks or could it be much longer?

 

My debate is whether I should struggle through or go back up to a dose where things are comfortable and then restart with a much better/slower/safer taper...the challenging bit is not knowing!! If I knew that things would be horrendous for a finite period of time, then life would be much easier...but I realize that is not the way it goes. I do believe though that tapering slowly and with minimal side effects is possible if done correctly and not the way I did.

 

That is almost certainly the most comfortable alternative, and in fact, will probably let you actually move forward faster. 

 

I hear folks say all the time, "but if I updose, I'm giving up all the progress I've made"

 

If you're miserable and non-functional, there no progress there to give up.  The sooner you get your sxs manageable, the sooner you can resume a sensible taper.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hello Builder! I have another question if you are available?...I am pleased to say that I have finally stabilized at .25mg Ativan 3 times per day after dropping too much too fast! I will stick here for awhile and then I'll begin a proper liquid taper and go slow!! I will get my prescription from the compound pharmacy and will adopt the slow 5% per 14 days way of doing things. Is there a calculator or spreadsheet link that you know of to help me with the math and for keeping track of the days/progress? Many thanks for all that you do.
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The "math" is just simple subtraction, like this:

 

.75mg                        7.5ml

.747mg                      7.47ml

.744mg                      7.44ml

.741mg                      7.41ml

etc....

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Thank you. I think I'm finally understanding the math now...it is not my forte! I'm looking at the schedule I've done up with this calculation and it would appear that it will take approx. 6 - 7 months to wean off. This is wild, given that I haven't even been on Ativan for that long, but knowing the power of it first hand now, I want to do whatever will mean little/no suffering!

 

It will be interesting to see how low I can go before 'jumping'....

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

"... starting from .25 mg of Ativan taken 3 times per day. " 

 

I guess that means a total dose of .75mg/day?

 

If you get a compounded liquid, specify .1mg per ml.  Or you can easily dissolve your tablets to create a .1mg-1ml solution.

 

A conservative taper would be 5%/14 days.  That's about .003mg/day reduction

 

 

Assuming a .1mg=1ml solution, your schedule would be:

 

.75mg                        7.5ml

.747mg                      7.47ml

.744mg                      7.44ml

.741mg                      7.41ml

etc....

 

Hello again Builder :-) I've been holding at .25mg of Ativan (.5mg pills cut in two) three times per day since I last reached out to you. I have just picked up Ativan in the compounded liquid form as per your suggestion of being made up to .1mg/1 ml...

 

I'm curious to know whether it would be a good idea for me to slowly move over to taking the liquid so the body adapts to this form versus the sublingual pills? Or is that, in your experience, not usually necessary...I could swap all doses over to the liquid and start titrating straight away?

 

Any advice where this is concerned, would also be greatly appreciated!!

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There is absolutely no medical, pharmacological, physiological, etc reason why switching to liquid should have any effect.  When you swallow a tablet, it become liquid within seconds of hitting your stomach.  On the old BDR board, where all  members were doing some form of liquid tqper, no one ever mentioned any issues switching to liquid.

 

But if a gradual transition makes you more comfortable, there really is no disadvantage.

 

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One last question dear Builder! Do you have recommendations on the best syringes to use for the titration process? I was given a couple from my compounding pharmacy and the markings/numbers are already wearing off and it has only been 2 days!!

 

 

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One last question dear Builder! Do you have recommendations on the best syringes to use for the titration process? I was given a couple from my compounding pharmacy and the markings/numbers are already wearing off and it has only been 2 days!!

 

Put a piece of cellophane ("Scotch") tape over the number scale.

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