To Jim Hawk

Hello. I,m new today.  I have never been on a forum. I have been on clonazepam for 13 years.  My present dose is 0.5 mg tablet 3 times a day.  I cut them in half and dose 6 times a day every 4 hours.  I have been doing that for 13 years.  I would like to start a water titration.  I bought  some gear.  Here,s what I bought. I don,t know if it is right.  I have a 250ml  cylinder, 16oz mason jar, 6-8oz mason jars, a 60 and a 10 ml sryinge and a pill crusher.  I have no idea how to make a schedule and a spreadsheet.  My doctor needs to see my progress and updates. Would you please help me?

Hi SedonaILove

 

Before going further, I would like you to have a look here: http://bzo.spes-lavaux.ch/titration/titrationHelp.htm?help=Help and ask as many questions as possible to make sure you understood the basics of Liquid Taper. When no question remains unanswered, we can pass together to the planning.

 

Wish you a good start.

 

Hello.  I have 4 questions. Do you want one at a time or all four? Thank you

Hi SedonaILove

 

If you have only 4 then let me congratulate you for being smart!

 

Joke apart, thanks to list them all.

 

Hello.  Do I dissolve my 3  0.5 tablets in my 250ml cylinder or in my 16 oz. mason jar?                                                                                                                                                            I live in the desert and have my a/c off 6 hours a day.  Do I still have my doses not in refrigerator?                                                                                  How much water do I use to dissolve my 3  0.5 tablets and how big  should my 6 dosing jars be?                                                                        I would like to go with the slow tapering plan.                                                                                                                                                      I dont understand what quit dose is.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Hi SedonaILove

 

Do I dissolve my 3  0.5 tablets in my 250ml cylinder or in my 16 oz. mason jar?

You don't need a measuring cylinder, it is just a facility. Dissolve your tablets directly in a storage jar. As the solution must not be too large in volume for preservation purpose, a glass storage jar with a lid (re-purposed jelly, salad dressing, pickle/olive etc...) will do. However it must be large enough to be thoroughly cleaned with water and rinsed before any new batch of solution.

 

For 3 x 0.5 mg tablets use 3 ml of Vodka to dissolve. When done, add 147 ml of tap water to have a final 150 ml of solution of 0.01 mg/ml concentration (0.01 mg of benzo in 1 ml of solution). You may think to prepare the solution enough for more days (Eg: 3 days). In this case just multiply all quantities by 3. Ex: 9 x 0.5 mg tablets, 9 ml of vodka, 441 ml water to obtain 450 ml of solution of 0.01 mg/ml concentration.

 

If the room temp is too hot in the desert, you may keep the solution in the fridge. Remember to shake well before draw up.

 

how big  should my 6 dosing jars be?

You don't need to separate your solution into several jars. It will only create extra maintenance work with no added value. Use just one jar with solution sufficient for your 6 doses a day during a few days. As with any liquid medication, for instance cough syrup, you just draw up your dose with a syringe and swallow it entirely. You repeat the same operation 6 times a day.

 

Now why 6 times? Clonazepam is known to have a very long half-life elimination (30-40 hours). Elimination half-life refers to how long it takes for half of a single dose of a drug to leave the body. Inter-dose withdrawal is rather rare when using Clonazepam. In principle, one dose of Clonazepam per day would do the job. In my case I took 0.5 mg/night. In your case, perhaps think to reduce the number of doses during the day.

 

I would like to go with the slow tapering plan.

Fine. The general recommendations are to reduce between 5-10% every 10-14 days. Going forward, your body or rather your symptoms or lack of them will tell you to slow down or accelerate.

 

I dont understand what quit dose is.

Contrarily to many may think, you don't need to go down to zero to end your taper. According to Ashton's, after a threshold is reached continue with medication will not bring any therapeutic effects. This is when you can jump to be benzo free. That drug quantity is known as Jump dose or Quit dose or Plunge dose.

 

Hope I answered your questions.