Opinions wanted. Jumping at .25 Xanax

My doctor and I have gone over this. He feels that I can jump at .25. As you can see by my signature I'm a long-term Xanax user, some cuts worse than others..... anyone else have success at jumping at .25? All opinions welcome.

My usual thought when I see doctors suggest such cuts is whether they'd back that recommendation with something other than words. 

 

Personally, I think it's too large a dose to jump from.  I see a lot of doctors suggest 0.25 mg cuts.  I don't think that recommendation is born out of data.  I think it's because they don't believe that people are capable of making cuts unless they are a half or a quarter of a pill.  I'd suggest reducing your dose using a slower taper, and jumping from no more than 0.050 mg. 

I did this- I had every single symptom including hallucinations and losing consciousness. I tapered down over two weeks from xanax and found it fairly easy. I was so sick on the xanax that I was desperate to come off of it. Please don't do this.

I did this- I had every single symptom including hallucinations and losing consciousness. I tapered down over two weeks from xanax and found it fairly easy. I was so sick on the xanax that I was desperate to come off of it. Please don't do this.

 

I am holding 3 weeks at every cut. Right now at .50 daily but getting lots of palpitations  and even a few episodes of racing heart...tachycardia. THIS IS such poison. I want it out of my system. I only have 1 mg. Pills and can only reliably cut them in quarters.  Maybe I could nailed file the. 25 to about half then jump at an eighth?

You can purchase a nice little milligram scale for about $20 (from Amazon) and accurately do 5% cuts.

You can purchase a nice little milligram scale for about $20 (from Amazon) and accurately do 5% cuts.

 

Ok, that seems doable.

Like you, I'm tapering Xanax, but from 1 mg daily. I started out much like you, dry cutting - until I didn't tolerate it any longer.  (Nearly the same sx as you too.)

 

If your doctor would support your going even slower, you might want to consider a daily liquid micro taper - where you dissolve your xanax in a solvent, (I use vodka), dilute with water to get a standardized measured amount ... then reduce in very tiny increments.  (Lots of folks are successful with daily micro-reductions.  I've found that every other day works best for me...)

 

It has been a (mostly) painless experience since switching from dry cutting to the liquid micro-taper.

 

I'm down to about 0.22 mg/day (divided into two .11 mg doses) - but it's taken me about 11 months to get to this point.  My plan is to jump when I reach 0.05 mg/dose, which should happen sometime this summer if I can continue at my current pace.

 

My doctor stared at me blankly when I first mentioned dissolving my tablets - I could tell by her body language that there's no way she'd sign off on the process -- but she's completely supportive of my taking as long as I need. 

 

I just tell her that I'm shaving off a tiny bit at a time.  She's happy that I'm down from 60 tablets a month to 30 ... but I'm not taking 30 - I only use 16 per month now ...  It was a very reassuring day when I had enough set aside to complete my taper!

 

Good luck!

 

 

If your doctor would support your going even slower, you might want to consider a daily liquid micro taper - where you dissolve your xanax in a solvent, (I use vodka), dilute with water to get a standardized measured amount ... then reduce in very tiny increments.  (Lots of folks are successful with daily micro-reductions.  I've found that every other day works best for me...)

 

It has been a (mostly) painless experience since switching from dry cutting to the liquid micro-taper.

 

 

 

:thumbsup:

Hi JannaBean

 

What a nice taper you are doing!

 

It has been a (mostly) painless experience since switching from dry cutting to the liquid micro-taper.

Many buddies report the same thing passing from dry cutting to liquid taper. More and more it appears to me that Liquid Taper is THE method to daily micro taper benzo.

 

Like you, I'm tapering Xanax, but from 1 mg daily. I started out much like you, dry cutting - until I didn't tolerate it any longer.  (Nearly the same sx as you too.)

 

If your doctor would support your going even slower, you might want to consider a daily liquid micro taper - where you dissolve your xanax in a solvent, (I use vodka), dilute with water to get a standardized measured amount ... then reduce in very tiny increments.  (Lots of folks are successful with daily micro-reductions.  I've found that every other day works best for me...)

 

It has been a (mostly) painless experience since switching from dry cutting to the liquid micro-taper.

 

I'm down to about 0.22 mg/day (divided into two .11 mg doses) - but it's taken me about 11 months to get to this point.  My plan is to jump when I reach 0.05 mg/dose, which should happen sometime this summer if I can continue at my current pace.

 

My doctor stared at me blankly when I first mentioned dissolving my tablets - I could tell by her body language that there's no way she'd sign off on the process -- but she's completely supportive of my taking as long as I need. 

 

I just tell her that I'm shaving off a tiny bit at a time.  She's happy that I'm down from 60 tablets a month to 30 ... but I'm not taking 30 - I only use 16 per month now ...  It was a very reassuring day when I had enough set aside to complete my taper!

 

Good luck!

 

Thank you JannaBean. I need to slow my roll and get on board with liquid taper. Can you use whole milk instead of vodka?

Can you use whole milk instead of vodka?

 

Yes, I did read that whole milk will dissolve the Xanax as well.  It's the fat content that matters, I think... (Though when I tried it, the taste was AWFUL!  lol...)

 

What a nice taper you are doing!

 

Thanks, Jim!

I think credit goes to the many kind folks here who have offered advice and support along the way.  I'm pretty sure that I would not be as far along as I am without folks (like you) who take the time to help the rest of us make sense of this...

Hi JannaBean

 

You made me feel happy! Thanks!

 

 

I am holding 3 weeks at every cut. Right now at .50 daily but getting lots of palpitations  and even a few episodes of racing heart...tachycardia. THIS IS such poison. I want it out of my system. I only have 1 mg. Pills and can only reliably cut them in quarters.  Maybe I could nailed file the. 25 to about half then jump at an eighth?

 

Hi Joy. Firstly, I will suggest to you get a magnesium citrate powder for your palpitations.  I needed a full teaspoon per day at first.  Now, I'm down to .25 tsp/day.  My PVCs are unnoticed now (knock on wood).

 

Secondly, I started liquid tapering .75mg xanax a day in February 2018.  I am taking a third of my daily dose every 8 hours.  Currently, I drop one .25mg Xanax pill in 200ml of Reverse Osmosis water each day.  I stir it, then while the suspended particles are still spinning in the glass, I withdraw 45ml and place it in a sippy cup.  I repeat this procedure two more times, and if it's time for a dose, I drink one of them.  I have tapered this way from 100ml dropping 5ml every 5-10 days depending how I feel. 

 

My daily consumption is only .169mg of xanax.  This pace is the fastest I have been comfortable with, though I may need to stretch it out a bit here in the final stretch?  At .03mg, a jump is appropriate.  I'm still taking the equivalent of over 1mg valium 3X/day.  But, that's much less than the 15 mg valium daily dose equivalent I started at.  Be patient.  These sippy cups really help.  I only have to fix the mixture once a day now, and can bring the sippy cups with me when I leave the house.  It will probably take me two more months before I jump, but when I started, I thought it would never happen.  Slow and steady wins the race.