Help Planning a Liquid Taper Plan

[[Buddie]]

Hi,

I'm on .22 alprazalom...down from where I started but stuck.  I've been on it for 22 years... My prescribing doctor retired and the other docs are giving me a really hard time about getting the meds so I figured I should get a plan going to get myself off.  I'll have to try to get more in the meantime to get me thru the withdrawals as I don't want to do it super fast as to be in severe withdrawals. What would be a reasonable timeline....8 -12 months or more?  I've been on it for a long time so I don't k now how bad it'll be but that last time I tried, it was very bad.  I don't drink at all now where I used have wine a couple times a week before so I'm hoping that'll help.

Can someone help me with a taper plan.  I figured I would buy a 100 ml syringe with 100 ml increments.  Then I plan to just dissolve the pill in it. There used to be a place on this site where you could plug in the numbers and run off a plan but I don't see it anymore. If I'm just not finding it, please point me to it.  I'm still learning my way around the forum.  Thanks so much! xo

[[Buddie]]

Its difficult to say how long a symptom based taper will last which is what I hope you'll do.  By keeping a good record of your reductions and rating your symptom severity you can use that to guide your reductions and how long you hold each time, a spreadsheet doesn't really fit in this scenario   The beauty of a taper is the ability to adjust it for life's challenges so I hope you'll try that this time.

Did you use titration the last time you tapered?  Also, did you ever make it to benzo freedom?

[[Buddie]]

Hi, Yes I plan to do a symptom based taper as I just don't want to suffer alot.  Hopefully my doc will give me scripts and not want to take control since they seem to know little. 

I did titration last time but didn't get far....25 to .22...that was about 1.5 years ago.  Since then, I went up to about .34 but cut back down to .22 again.  Now I'm chipping away at that very slowly as every time I do, I feel heart palpitations and have had some muscle spasms but sleep is still reasonable.  I usually wait until the palpitations feel better before I lower again. I'm currently using two spreadsheets until I figure out an easy way to condense. I'm using valerian root and melatonin to help.

[[Buddie]]

It looks like you've got a good plan in place and I'm glad to hear you're still sleeping a bit but its great you're letting your symptoms ease before reducing again, smart.