Titration Schedule for lakesound

Hi-

I don't know who I am contacting because I am not very good at message boards.  Anyway would someone help me with a schedule for titration for ativan?

I take 3 mg per night and that is 6 tablets.

I would use the 100 ml thing, I am sure I can find one of those.

I would like to reduce by 2% per week or per unit of time.

I hope that is what you n eed.

Thank you!

Emily

Hi-

 

I don't know who I am contacting because I am not very good at message boards.  Anyway would someone help me with a schedule for titration for ativan?

 

I take 3 mg per night and that is 6 tablets.

 

I would use the 100 ml thing, I am sure I can find one of those.

 

I would like to reduce by 2% per week or per unit of time.

 

I hope that is what you n eed.

 

Thank you!

 

Emily

Hello Emily, my name is softtail, and I will be glad to help you out with your schedule if you are determined to use titration right off the bat.  You should read Colins reply below first which tells you how to start by dry cutting your pills until you get to a lower amount.  If you do decide to go with titration, my first suggestion would be for  you  to consider shortening your withdrawl process a bit.   Generally we suggest reducing your dosage by 10% every 7 to 14 days.   I am just offering this up as a suggestion, and if you want us to refigure your taper plan with this time limit in mind, just let us know and we will be glad to refigure it.

For now you asked to reduce your dosage by 2% per week, so at this rate it will take you 50 weeks to get off the Ativan.  

What you will need for titration, is to purchase a good 100ml graduated cylinder, and a syringe with 1ml graduations on it (10 ml syringe)

Many also get a mortar and pestle  to crush their pills , but you can use 2 spoons in place of this if you like.  I would just suggest  if using the spoons that you do your crushing over a sheet of white paper, since the small pieces of the pill are prone to jumping  out of the spoon, so the white paper will catch those little pieces.  

Start by measuring 100 ml. of water or milk  ( some use water, and it works fine, but you need to stir well and withdraw the portion you are throwing away quickly, since the crushed particles will start settling out of the solution quicker than if using Whole Milk)  

into your 100 ml. beaker.  Get a large mouth glass or plastic cup, and pour out about 30 ml. of your measured water or milk into the cup.

Crush up the 3mg. of Ativan, with the spoons or mortar, untill  you obtain a fine powder.   add this powder to your cup that has the 30 ml.of liquid.   ( now if using spoons, just add the rest of the 70 ml. you have in your grad cylinder to the cup and mix well with your crushing spoons)

( if using mortar and pestle, you use the additional 70 ml of liquid in your grad cylinder to rinse out the mortar and add this to cup.)  the reason for that is the crushed particles like to stick to the side of the mortar, so the  water or milk left in the graduated cylinder, can be used to pick up these particles and then pour that into the cup or glass that contains you solution.

When you are done with the crushing and mixing you are ready to measure out  the portion you are taking that day.

For you, to do 2% per week, mix the cup well and use your syringe to measure out 2 ml of  the solution from the cup.  

On week one throw this away and drink the rest.  Thats  it....  continue to measure out 2 ml each night for a week , throw that away, then drink the rest.   The second week you draw off 4 ml. and throw away, drink the rest... continue throwing an additional 2 ml per week away, till its all gone 50 weeks later.

I hope the proceedure above  is easy for you to follow, but if you have any concerns or questions, don't hesitate to ask.  Everyone on this site knows what its like to withdraw from a benzo, so you will receive alot of support .

St.

Hi lakesound,

I've skimmed your other posts, and I saw no evidence of you having particular problems making cuts, necessitating titration.

If you are taking 6 pills at night, I suggest that you cut your dose by a quarter-pill (maybe even a half-pill). A quarter-pill reduction from six pills is just over 4% of your dose, which is very well tolerated by the vast majority of our members. If you cut your dose by half a pill, this would equate to 8.3%, and this is still within what most people find tolerable.

Most people people would aim to make a cut of about 10% every 1-2 weeks (this is just a guideline - adjust according how you react and what suits you), so a cut of just 4% might well be managed every 3-7 days (again, just a guideline). As a general rule, smaller more frequent cuts are better tolerated than larger less frequent cuts.

Assuming that this works out for you now, you might consider titration later in your taper. As our dose falls, these quarter-pill cuts start to account for larger and larger cut to our dose (as a percentage relative to our total dose at the time). For many this OK, but others find they need to addopt an alternative approach - this is when titration is often considered.

Anyway, just a suggestion. If you are particularly drawn to titration, I can draw up a schedule starting at any dose you wish, but I would avoid any unnecessary complications if you can: you are tired down to the kitchen with titration.

Hi Lakesound,

I was just wondering how how things are going.

Do let us know if you would like further help with my or softtail's suggestions. The advantage of softtail's plan is that it is more flexible. Our formal titration schedules include dates, and if you find you need to hold at a dose for a while, it can be bit confusing to know when and by how much you should continue your cuts. Of course, we can always draw up a new schedule, but you might have to wait a two or three days.

Anyway, I hope things are going well for you.

Thanks so much both of you!  I am not particularly drawn to titration, but someone told me I must consider this program called "The Road Back" which sounds like a scam to sell vitamins.  Have either of you heard of it?  Anyway, they insist on cuts of 2% (probably again to sell more vitamins for a longer period of time) but it scared me enough into thinking I wouldn't be able to make larger cuts.  I think I will do what you say and cut by a quarter of a tablet for a while, but thank you for the advice on how to do the titration.  I may do that down the line as suggested.

Thanks!

Emily

Hi Emily,

Some of our members have tried various programs such as this one and have found them to be very expensive and of little value.  Often times the supplements only add to the withdrawal symptoms.  If you'd like more information, please do a forum search, it will be very enlightening.

Pam

Thank you!  I have a general question for all of you.  If I am cutting my dose by say 5% or a quarter of one of my tablets- is that the cut that I continue with right through to the end (a quarter of a tablet and thus the percentage of total getting bigger and bigger over time) or do I calculate a new 5% for each cut?

Thanks!!!

Emily

Hi Lakesound,

You might try our Alternative Therapies & Supplements board.

I'm of a similar opinion to you regarding The Road Back - of little or no value, and you can buy the supplements far cheaper on the High Street.

Thank you!  I have a general question for all of you.  If I am cutting my dose by say 5% or a quarter of one of my tablets- is that the cut that I continue with right through to the end (a quarter of a tablet and thus the percentage of total getting bigger and bigger over time) or do I calculate a new 5% for each cut?

 

Thanks!!!

 

Emily

Yes, usually.

Although the percentage does increase (as cuts are relative to your dose at the time), people can usually tolerate larger cuts (in terms of percentage) as their dose lowers. Quarter-pill cuts all the way down is what I would do. If it becomes too difficult towards the end, we can tackle that problem then - there are always ways around such problems.

I should ask though - I forget - what dose pills do you use? You should use the smallest available so that the size of the cuts are kept to a minimum.