Need help tapering Oxazepam.... titration?

Is there someone who can walk me through alcohol based titration?  For idiots.  Seriously.  I am really mentally slow right now, my body and brain feel scrambled.  I watched a video and it gave the gist, but actually doing it seems overwhelming.

 

If I buy vodka - does it have to be 80%?

Do I need a mortar and pestle?

 

With a computer,  how would I calculate a 10% cut when it's time?  Or maybe I can get a syringe from the pharmacist that measures your dose - like when you give your pet a medication from the vet?

 

Do I need a jeweler's scale?  If so how much are they approx. and where do I order?

Amazon does not ship to our islands.

 

I have tried using a compounding pharmacy before and it was terrible.  Is there a way to source out a really good one?

Would a compounding pharmacy understand how to calculate a 10% dose reduction?  Instead of just dropping a milligram a time?

 

I know I sound on the up and up - but I can't retain much of what I am reading... I've got the spins.

Hi!

 

- Use 80 proof vodka (it contains 40% alcohol)

- You don't have to have a mortar/pestle.  Anything that will crush your pill will suffice

- To compute a 10% cuts, simply multiply your current dose times 0.90

- If you do a liquid taper, you won't need a scale

 

Making the solution is not much different than sautéing a little garlic for a hearty soup.  You will take a pill, crush it up and add 4-5 ml of vodka.  Mix it around occasionally for 5-10 minutes, then add some water.  A fair number of people make it up to 100 ml, so let's go with that for now.  Mix well, and it's ready to drink.  To taper 10%, you'd simply remove 10% (10 ml) from the 100 ml and drink the remaining 90 ml.  For the next cut you'd remove 10% from 90 ml (your current dose).  So you'd remove another 9 ml (a total of 19 ml removed from the 100 ml) and drink 81 ml.

 

A lot of people remove a small amount (e.g. 1 ml) each day instead of removing 10% every week or two.  We call that a daily micro-taper.

 

Switching to a liquid formulation may reduce the availability of medicine by a small amount (especially if you let the pill dissolve in your mouth).  You may need to increase your dose by a small amount (5-20%) to realize the same amount of medicine in your bloodstream.

 

Hope this helps.  Feel free to bug me for more info if you need it.

It has been pointed out that oxazepam has a lower solubility in alcohol than most benzos.  So it might be appropriate to use 4-5 ml of Everclear (95% alcohol) instead of vodka.

Thank you so much for this.  of course.....  mix the dose and then take off .90

 

We have a very limited liquor store here.  I will ask for the Everclear.

 

So do I use a plastic syringe or dropper to measure with?  And can you buy these in a drug store? 

 

I'm hoping after I've done it a few times, it will make sense.

 

Is the Oxazepam stable...  say if I make enough for a week at a time?  My pharmacist could find this out I imagine.

 

Thanks again   

I don't know how long it will be stable.  Might be best to just make it as you need it.

 

You can use a plastic syringe or eye dropper to remove liquid.  It should be fairly easy to find one with graduation marks on it.  Alternatively, you could use something like a 100 ml graduated cylinder.  Very easy to add water to the mark, mix, then remove a specific amount of liquid.

 

One of our science-wise folks pointed out that Oxazepam usually comes in capsules and that you could do a dry taper by weighing out the powder inside the capsule.  You'd need a milligram scale ($22 from Amazon), but it might be easier in the long run than doing this via liquid.  Obviously, up to you if you want to do this via liquid or solid.

Thanks so much.  Yes I would rather do the dry.  Then 10mg pills  (hard) are very small - the only ones I can get in Canada..... I can eyeball them with a pill cutter box, but my concern is that the active metabolite in the crumbs and powder, is not uniformly distributed.  There's no way to know really. 

 

Am I in a terrible wave or am I just getting crumbs of powder without the drug?

Its so hard to believe that something so small would - so tiny - could have such a powerful grip on our health and sanity.

 

I will talk with the pharmacist (make an appointment to speak out on the curb) to see what measuring devices she has.

 

Still holding at 10mg.

The drug is uniformly distributed in the powder/crumbs.

Thank you so much for that!!