Tapering Feedback

Hi!

 

I'm currently at .148mg of K. Any suggestions from those who have been there, done that? I second guess myself all the time. I recently switched to a DLMT which has been fine; can't say I notice much difference between the cut/hold but I'm trucking along so that's good in my eyes. Symptoms but functioning. I think I put up with more symptoms than some would but perhaps that's my personality. I will likely be tapering until the end of 2022 but of course I realize that can change. I'd just love any insight from those who have come before. I get SUPER DUPER scared to come off because I originally CTed and only made it 8 days. I had heart rhythm side effects and my brain got extremely shaky once along with my eyelids twitching like mad. It scared the heck out of me and was why I reinstated. I dread that happening again and this whole process has been to hopefully avoid horrendous side effects to that level. I am terrified of seizures too. Any encouraging feedback would be welcome. Thanks.

What exactly do you want to know?

Ha! That's a great question. I don't even know. Reassurance? If I could be doing anything incorrectly? Any encouragement

I hope you can put the worry of a seizure out of your mind, if you didn't have one when you quit cold turkey, its highly unlikely you'll have one while doing a slow taper but I realize fear is a huge withdrawal symptom so easier said than done.

The only thing that worries me is this in your signature:

 

Switched on 9/2/22 to a daily liquid microtaper with the compound K I have. Keeping the same cut/hold rate but the taper plan I received has my percentages increasing as I get lower in dosage. Are you still doing 11.51% every two weeks? Because if you are and your percentage is already increasing at 0.148, I'm just not sure how sustainable that is when you're struggling now.

 

If I remember correctly we had a chat before where you said you were struggling and you have kids and your husband travels so it seems you have a lot of responsibilities on you?

 

 

Also, may I ask where did you receive this taper plan from?

Thank you guys so much! Yes-your recollection is correct that I have two little guys and a husband who travels. Your last reply in a previous post was helpful to me-Pamster's too! I did email the person I received my taper plan from today and asked him about the increases as I lower. He mentioned right away slowing down some and I believe sticking closer to the 10% for some time to come. I will see what he emails me back. Thank you both so much! I hope you are both having a good Monday <3

I received the taper plan from David with Beating Benzos on Facebook He goes off the Ashton Manual.

Oh, I see. I thought the plan might have been from your doctor or an online tool people sometimes use.

 

See here's the thing. I personally am not a fan of taper plans. I have seen too many people get in a lot of trouble when they follow a plan. I don't have a plan either - I know what I'll be doing for the next 2-4 weeks and I keep evaluating it based on my symptoms. If it doesn't work, I change it up. I just had to change it 3 weeks ago because it didn't work - and I was so aware of what I was doing, there wasn't time for my symptoms to spiral out of control. 

 

The thing is you won't be able to stick to percentages all the way to the end. At some stage you'll have to go linear. If you stick to percentages you'll never finish. The question is how to manage your taper when going linear and those percentages increasing. I think this is very closely linked to monitoring your symptoms, understanding DLMT's and being open to switch and change things around if it's not working.

 

I'm happy to share with you what I have done and what I am doing in my DLMT if you're interested. Not saying my way is working or you should be doing it, but I do think it helps to know what different options and ways of tapering you have.

 

And finally - the encouragement - it really will be okay. If your symptoms are manageable when you jump, I truly believe it will be much easier than the CT.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate hearing that and I know you are correct. I incorrectly get VERY hung up on being off this med ASAP even though I know it's not about that. I was on such a short time that it REALLY discourages me tapering for all this time after 5/6 weeks of use. Again, I understand the rationale though. I would love any info you're willing to share! Absolutely and thank you again.

My taper from 0.25mg to 0.125mg I tapered at 5% with absolutely no symptoms. I know my max percentage for tapering is 7.5% every two weeks. The way I was tapering was 7.5%/2 weeks BUT I was tapering 7 days, holding three. So effectively this reduced my taper rate to 5%. It just felt much better to have the breaks inbetween. (I needed to be very careful in my taper because I was tapering while recovering from severe long Covid symptoms).

 

Then at 0.125mg I decided to go linear. Initially my plan was to go one month reductions at 0.001mg per day and then a 10 day hold. (I do believe it's very important to build in holds when going linear because percentages are increasing and it might hit you once you jump when you have no control over symptoms anymore - you absolutely want to avoid that). But I didn't make it to one month. I tapered about 3 weeks when I started feeling the intensity of symptoms increase. Two days of increased symptoms and that was it, I wasn't risking a setback. (Previously when I had a setback it took me 6 weeks of holding to recover). I then had 12 days of holding before continuing tapering again. But this time, I'm trying my 7/3 days again. I'm doing 7 days at 0.001mg and then hold for 3. My journal is my best friend in tracking symptoms. If symptoms ramp up, I hold. There's no scientific reasoning for the 7/3 - I just feel it's almost 50% tapering and 50% hold - except it's not entirely 50% so I get a bit more tapering done. I probably sound like the nutcase I am. I don't know if this approach will work with a linear taper, as I've only done it with percentages. It just helps to know there are different ways you can do a taper as we often get stuck in a specific method not realising you can change it up to suit your body's needs.

 

I don't know if this is helpful.

Oh, I see. I thought the plan might have been from your doctor or an online tool people sometimes use.

 

See here's the thing. I personally am not a fan of taper plans. I have seen too many people get in a lot of trouble when they follow a plan. I don't have a plan either - I know what I'll be doing for the next 2-4 weeks and I keep evaluating it based on my symptoms. If it doesn't work, I change it up. I just had to change it 3 weeks ago because it didn't work - and I was so aware of what I was doing, there wasn't time for my symptoms to spiral out of control. 

 

The thing is you won't be able to stick to percentages all the way to the end. At some stage you'll have to go linear. If you stick to percentages you'll never finish. The question is how to manage your taper when going linear and those percentages increasing. I think this is very closely linked to monitoring your symptoms, understanding DLMT's and being open to switch and change things around if it's not working.

 

I'm happy to share with you what I have done and what I am doing in my DLMT if you're interested. Not saying my way is working or you should be doing it, but I do think it helps to know what different options and ways of tapering you have.

 

And finally - the encouragement - it really will be okay. If your symptoms are manageable when you jump, I truly believe it will be much easier than the CT.

 

This stuff is gold jelly baby, thanks for articulating so perfectly your method and the logic behind it. 

This is great info!  I am the nut case that keeps trying different methods!  LOL  I just feel as you do, you have to keep trying to see what works. 

Thanks for sharing- I am trying to gather this end of taper info for when the time comes!  It may be a while, but it will come!!

 

I like the idea of holding for 3 days to give yourself a break!

This is great info!  I am the nut case that keeps trying different methods!  LOL  I just feel as you do, you have to keep trying to see what works. 

Thanks for sharing- I am trying to gather this end of taper info for when the time comes!  It may be a while, but it will come!!

 

I like the idea of holding for 3 days to give yourself a break!

 

I'm glad you found it valuable cooper5. I'm yet to determine if my latest attempt is working for me, but like I said, just breaking the mindset that micro tapering means you have to taper a certain percentage continuously, is already good I think.

I agree!  I didn't know this info until I read it from you.  That's why this site is so valuable, you can't read this info on line- or trust it!  I am one who overthinks everything and researches and I even see an amazing Pdoc, but yet still didn't know....

 

Thank you for sharing!  I am strongly considering holding over the holidays as I have family staying at my house!  Ahhhhhhhhh- only for 4 days. I am going to have to have a mantra for those 4 days..........

My taper from 0.25mg to 0.125mg I tapered at 5% with absolutely no symptoms.

 

That's amazing. I wish that were possible for me. I was struggling every day at 5%. I decided I had to try moving faster as things got no better the slower I went. I guess it has to do with tolerance and all the awfulness surrounding that. I'm now moving at 8.5% / 14 and cutting daily, and I'm down to .207 mg K today.

 

I wish I could get holds to work for me and stabilize me, but it doesn't seem to work. And I'm too afraid to try a multi-week hold, get no better, and have to start tapering again having lost all that time. It's a big gamble. I'm so glad it's worked for you. I wish somebody could tell me for sure that it would work. I'm also hoping to be able to move at .001 mg once I hit .125 mg, and I'm considering upping my percentage rate if symptoms get more manageable in the near future.

I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time hereforhelp. It's really tough when we struggle so much. I was so  happy not to have had any benzo symptoms during that time. I was severely sick from long Covid and had to take several months off from work because I was too sick to work. I had to taper slowly because I just couldn't afford to get more sick on top of long Covid. Long Covid has been worse than my withdrawal. I'm getting better now and trying to manage both.

 

When you get to 0.125 you'll figure it out. One way or another the numbers will go down. 

I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time hereforhelp. It's really tough when we struggle so much. I was so  happy not to have had any benzo symptoms during that time. I was severely sick from long Covid and had to take several months off from work because I was too sick to work. I had to taper slowly because I just couldn't afford to get more sick on top of long Covid. Long Covid has been worse than my withdrawal. I'm getting better now and trying to manage both.

 

When you get to 0.125 you'll figure it out. One way or another the numbers will go down. 

 

I'm sorry you had to deal with long COVID. I wonder if fighting long COVID took away your symptoms. When I get sick, like I did last week with strep throat, I often lose my benzo wd symptoms for a bit. I had a span of days last week without benzo wd symptoms. It was wonderful, despite the sore throat. As soon as I was feeling better, they rushed back in, and the antibiotic (amoxicillin) seems to have revved them like crazy. It's hard not getting the crazy notion when they go away that maybe they won't return. Alas...