Need additional help from Jim Hawk, please

I need help with the spreadsheet from Jim Hawk. Jim, would you mind doing something for me similar to what you did for Hummingbird 9? Some of the fields I don't understand. Taper method is easy: Liquid. Medication is easy: Alprazolam. Tablet size: 2 (I take 2-2mg. bars per day). Planned quit dose: Not sure. I've been on Xanax for the better part of 25 years. I might need a lower quit dose. Daily dose in taper order: Probably would dose twice a day. Total tablets to dissolve: 2. Total Volume: ? Concentration: ? Quantity of Percent: ? Reduction Order: ? Combine with tablets: ? Any help would be appreciated.

Hi,

I can't write long. Will find some time to reply during the weekend Sorry!

No worries Jim Hawk. Whenever you have time; If you have time. Either way is fine.

Hi KatNap05

 

Planned quit dose: Not sure.

To assist user, there's also the suggested Quit dose. This is calculated based on the table of equivalencies from Ashton's. Drug is supposed to have no more therapeutic effect when this value is reached. Many successfully jumped at this dose, others jumped at a lower dose for other personal reasons.

 

Daily dose in taper order: Probably would dose twice a day.

Dose 1: 2

Dose 2: 2

 

Total tablets to dissolve: 2. Total Volume: ? Concentration: ?

2*2 mg tablets + 8 ml vodka + 72 ml water for a final 80 ml of solution (0.1 mg/ml).

 

Quantity of Percent: ?

The application has been designed so the 2 fields Quantity and Percent are mutually exclusive. Enter value in one field will disable the other. They give 2 different philosophies of taper:

- Fixed reduction quantity per period of days (mg/days)

A same and unchanged quantity will be reduced from the daily dose throughout the taper duration. The fixed reduction quantity method, also known as symptoms-based taper method, is easy to understand and to apply. It can eventually offer a shorter taper duration compared to the fixed reduction percent.

The dark side of this approach is that by the end phase (~1/3) of the taper, many patients seem to become more vulnerable to the same reduction. The risks to feel symptoms due to a fast taper is real. The reduction quantity must be therefore adapted when symptoms occur. In the Taper Plan application, when there is 1/3 of the road to go before the jump dose, the option "Attenuated ending" adapts the reduction quantity to 1/3 of the initial cut. This option works only when the reduction is based on fixed quantity as opposed to fixed percent.

- Fixed reduction percent per period of days (%/days)

A same and unchanged percent (over a period of days) translated in quantity will be reduced from the daily dose throughout the taper duration. As the daily dose decreases, so does the reduction quantity. That implies a very low reduction evolution, a longer taper duration but it will likely raise less symptoms. This method is "gentler" from a symptoms viewpoint.

 

Reduction Order: ?

To apply when more doses are taken during the day.

- Across doses: The reduction quantity will be applied simultaneously to all the doses of the day and proportionally to each single dose. Doses will be tapered off all together.

- First doses first: Reduction starts with the first dose until it will be extinguished then it starts with the second dose and so on. The taper will finish with the end of last dose.

 

Combine with tablets: ?

The reactions from users vary upon ingestion of tablets or solutions. When all of a sudden users switch from only tablets to only liquid there are cases where they experience from light withdrawal symptoms users usually associate to a slight dose reduction (5% to 10%) to destabilizing symptoms as when one stops abruptly. Combine tablets and solution to soften the shock due to the introduction of only liquid. Use the solution just for the "cut" part of the total dose.

 

Hope it helps.