Milk suspension: does it keep 2 days?

Hi all 

I am thinking of switching to K in liquid form for accuracy. Pill splitting is not fun 

At the moment, I take 3 x 0.5mg K at noon, then 2mg K at 10pm.

Cutting by 0.125mg, a quarter of a 0.5mg pill, and holding for a few days has been ok so far (it remains less than 4%, I'm taking baby steps and happy with that).

I was thinking that instead of trying make a dry cut for a 3/4 of a pill for my next cut, I could use liquid form with milk.

That would be done by crushing a 0.5mg pill, making a milk/K suspension and taking 3/4 of the suspension to get a more accurate dose.

My plan would be as follows:

- day 1: 100mL milk + 0.5mg K --> take 75mL suspension, save 25mL for next day.

- day 2: 100mL milk + 0.5mg K --> take 50mL suspension + previous day's 25mL, save 50mL for day 3.

- day 3: 100mL milk + 0.5mg K --> take 25mL suspension + previous day's 50mL, save 75mL for day 4.

- ...and so on.

I'm asking because my GP who prescribes me the drug isn't really helping... and happily sends me away to cut by 0.5mg K a month at a time... Not doing that!!!!...

Thanks for your kind help!! 

Hi Julz,  I think it is a great idea to switch to milk.  This will allow you great accuracy and flexibility in dosing.  Be sure to use whole milk and give yourself some time to adjust to the switch.  FYI, you may find that the pill breaks up fine on its own and does not need crushing.  Most don't.

It sounds like you still plan to do step cuts?  I think keeping them small is wise.  Have you ever considered doing a daily taper?

Hi SG and many thanks for your reply!!

The more I think about it, the more I believe titration is my best option. For now and the future 

It sounds like you still plan to do step cuts?  I think keeping them small is wise.  Have you ever considered doing a daily taper?

I must admit that I've not yet thought about tapering daily yet; the first step I took was a 6.25% cut and experienced w/d sx on day 3 of holding. That's the reason why I decided for smaller cuts.

I'm still unsure how to tackle daily tapering - it might indeed be a good idea to start sooner than later - but my fear is that w/d sx from earlier appear a few days later (if that makes sense  ) and wonder how to manage the taper (when to hold, when to start tapering again etc).

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the equipment needed ...and buying whole milk! 

I can outline an approach that should work well for you if you want.  Just let me know.

That would be marvelous!!! Many thanks in advance!!! 

The idea is to find the highest cut that does not increase symptoms.  So begin low and go up the ladder in a methodical way...

1.  Spread your doses and begin liquid dosing to get used to it.  No cutting yet.  Give this a week or two.

2.  Begin cutting every day.  Begin low and slow to get your bearings.  You are looking for a cut that does NOT increase symptoms.  You are at a high dose (3.5mg I think?) so I would choose to remove .0025mg per day as a safe place to start.  Do this for AT LEAST 14 days.

3.  If all is good nudge your rate up if you want.  I'd try .003mg.  Test 14 days.

4.  Keep testing and raising by .0005mg every 14 days until you find a cut that brings on symptoms, then back off that cut to a lower cut.

5. Always hold as needed when symptoms increase.  But with the right cut this should not occur very often.

That's pretty much it.  Stay with that cut until it gets used up.

Thank you so much SG57!!!  :thumbsup:

Yes that's right, I'm at 3.5mg after (at least) 8 years on 4mg/day too.

What actually confuses me the most is spreading out my doses... 

I take 1.5mg at noon and 2mg at 10pm, in a very over-simplified way of thinking, it gives roughly 0.15mg/hr for each... if that makes any sense.

If you were me, how many doses would you aim for?

I suppose you would then taper down on all intakes by the same percentage to keep homogeneous blood levels of K...? (duh!)

Regarding the tapering outline you suggest, it's crystal clear and makes total sense to me - I can't thank you enough for your help!!!

:smitten:

:thumbsup:  

I glad it makes sense.  If you approach it that way and simply don't allow symptoms to increase then you should always feel well.  And you might be surprised at how quickly you can move and still feel well.

Your way of thinking about doses makes a lot sense to me.  Our blood levels rise to a point where in equals out, if you know what I mean.  So with a steady daily dosing we get to the point where our liver processes exactly our daily dose every 24 hours.  So it makes sense that you are processing 3.5mg/24 = .146mg every hour.  That's logical thinking, and I'll bet correct too.

If I were you I'd spread the doses evenly in both time and size.  And go for the lowest number that does not cause interdose symptoms.  With K this is usually two or three.  So I'd try two doses of 1.75mg each, 12 hours apart.  But you could also try three doses of 1.17mg, 8 hours apart.  You can tweak from there, but I don't think we should ever stray too far from this balance.

And yes, bring them all down together.  This is easy if you make your cut from the daily dose before it is split.

Julz, SG, this sounds as a great Taper plan! You are going to be very well Julz!

So much to think about but I'm glad we agree about this way of thinking - so many thanks!!!!!

It makes me feel so much less anxious about the whole thing... this is invaluable help!!!

:smitten:

It sounds like you "get it."  I'm very glad about that.  Just find your best cut, remove it each day, hold when needed, and get on with your life.  Don't ever allow symptoms to get out of hand.

It is going to take a looong time to get rid of 3.5mg - probably 2-3 years.  But if you do it this way you can feel good the entire time and at the end it will be over.  No post-taper nonsense.

That's awesome!!

And yes, I needed to be reminded to get on with my life - so inspired by Clona21, I think I'll aim at taking my doses 8am and 8pm (no sneaking to the bathroom at noon to "do drugs" ) - but easy does it, transitioning slow for me

What would I do without this great community?

:smitten:

Thank you ever so much... and yes, I know I'll be on here for a while, but glad to know that I do have support