Need advice on a decision

Okay, so I'm stabilized on a 25% reduction off clonazepam from 1mg to 0.75mg.  I have a limited supply of it, but I'm using up my 1mg pills instead of my .5mg pills (which I have quite a few of atm).  So, I'm starting to think, 'Okay, what's the point of making huge dry cuts even though they're .125mg cuts from now on and near the end .0625mg cuts, the percentage of the cut will increase exponentially and I may never recover from bigger reductions until I'm completely off clonazepam.  I think titration right now is the most painless method of a direct taper off. 

 

For the question at hand.  I have enough in my supply to do a daily titration off 0.5mgs.  I will be making a cut TONIGHT from 0.75 to 0.625mgs.  Now, I realize that that is a tolerable cut since it's 16% (will be the smallest reduction %-wise from now on, yet, I think that I should exhaust any and all options).  So, would a 100 or so day water-titration off the last .5mgs be a better idea than making dry cuts off of tablets that are growing in age?  I just can't see myself doing any better than by reducing at such a small rate.  The wean would be MUCH more gradual.  I think I could slow down the titration at the .25mg range, because then I could just cut the tablets in half before grinding them up.  (I see many say DON'T DO THIS, but I really don't see why,just as long as I mix the water so the distribution is as even as I can get it)

 

If I did dry cuts, I would be doing this:

 

.75 for a total of 4 weeks

.625 for 4 weeks (16%)

.5 for 4 weeks (20%)

.325 for 4 weeks (25%)

.25 for 4 weeks (33%)

.1875 for 4 weeks (25%)

.125 for 4 weeks (33%)

.0625 for 4 weeks (50%)

quit

 

Now as far as a water titration is concerned, it's only twice as fast (the dry cutting is so long because look at the at the percentages in between cuts! ouch) and I think it'd be a bit less of a shock.  I only have 50 mgs left when I get to the point of reduction and will not be holding my .5mg dose for that long, although by reducing in .005mg increments, I realize this reduction probably won't hit me till the middle if not last quarter of titration.  Sorry for the lengthy post.

Something I forgot to note:

 

When I get to 0.25mgs during the water titration, I could also split the water-clonazepam mixture in two and then make a 1% daily cut from one of the mixtures, and save the other mixture for the next day, in effect making 0.0025mg daily reductions.  So that when the percentages start getting really big would be within the 0.1mg range.  I assume that small daily cuts are a lot softer on the body than bigger more spaced-out cuts, since at that point you're relying heavily on your body adapting to a new dose than just a more even reduction of blood-plasma levels in the body.  My main concern of course is that a daily reduction wouldn't leave much room for adaptation to a new dose.  But, I assume (and hope) that the body can recover quicker with much smaller but more rapid cuts. 

Hey

It seems like you have a good grasp of the process, the only thing I can confidently comment on is, that yes smaller daily cuts addding up to X amount are easier than holding for awhile then cutting X amount all at once.

Good Luck

Bobers

Hi Apostacious,

 

You seem to have good grasp of the probelm with percentage cuts and small doses. You are correct, such an approach would indicate a never-ending taper, if we could continue to make increasing-small cuts, that is. However, at low doses, it is absolute cuts that matter. If this were not the case, then we could never quit anything. At some stage, before we have quit, our own bodies have largely retaken control. So long as you taper at a reasonable rate, a linear taper is fine, indeed necessary.

 

So, when to accept that we should be making absolute cuts instead of percentage cuts? If been thinking about this for the past couple of days for a new titration method. I think that once we are down to say, between 1 to 1/2 of a tablet, of most benzos (so long as it is the smallest dose available for that particular benzo), then a regular (linear) taper rate is totally reasonable. My opinion would be 1 tablet of 2mg Valium, but 1/2 tablet of 0.5mg Clonazepam. This very much seat-of-my-pants guesswork though, and depends upon the relative potency of the benzo tablets. Within reasonable boundaries, it probably isn't critical when the change takes place. However, if it is held off for too long, the then taper could take a lifetime - that would be silly!

Hi,

 

The reason we don't recommend cutting tablets and then making a solution from them (if I read your post right, that is what you eventually intend to do) is because the tiny cuts that you make in titration can be offset by the tiny variances in pill splitting. That is, when you split your tablets, you are not getting two exactly equal parts, and if they are off by .005 or more, your taper will not be completely linear--you might actually be taking more Klon one day than the next. Does this make sense?

 

Personally, my advice would be to titrate at your current speed (you said your titration plan would be twice as fast) and then speed it up if things go well. But it's up to you.

 

Therese

If you wish to avoid wasting too much of the benzo tablets (I assume that's why there is discussion about titrating half-tablets), then a better approach would be to use a whole tablet, and make up a dose to last for two days instead. As Therese pointed out, splitting the pill will give you varying dose from day-to-day. For many, that's not a problem, but if you need tight control of your taper, splitting pills should be avoided.