Csilover: What to do? Effexor

[Csilover]

@Altostrata I felt fine on this reduction. I went back up at the hospital  they told me they’d be able to accommodate all of this on the phone and then when I got in they tried to cold turkey me. Do you have insight on the tablets? 

[Csilover]

For example seroquel whole weighs .192 and crushed it is .170. 
 

my ativan is .060 whole and .045 crushed

@Altostrata

[Csilover]

My whole seroquel is 0.511 but .462 on the scale. I’m panicking. Now I feel like I’m putting too much doses 

[brassmonkey]

The mass (weight) of a material does not change when it goes from a solid to a powder, chemistry 101. So that leaves two options, either the weights were recorded wrong or some material was lost in the process. 

 

Please walk me through the process you are using step by step. Let's see if we can figure this out.

[Csilover]

Hi Everyone, 

I decided to go with Shep's earlier suggestion and hold for a month. Especially with the last big hiccups. I am feeling destabilized. My sleep is was really good, but since missing my dose and taking it late, I've been waking up at 3-4 with panic and anxiety. My heart beats fast during the day and feel all kinds of anxiety. I think I have akathesia? Just this inner restlessness and can't sit still unfortunately. Things were really settling down before this. Thank you guys so much for all of your help. I pray healing for everyone. I'll be back soon, ready to taper! I'm going to try to stay off the forum in the meantime so that I can avoid added stress. I get too caught up in researching and looking at the bad stories. 

 

Thank you @Altostrata, @Shep, @ChessieCat and @brassmonkey for your help. 

 

❤️

[Altostrata]

Csi, please be sure to take the same doses at the same times each day. You need to get back to baseline before decreasing again.

 

How much Seroquel are you taking now?

[Csilover]

@Altostrata I am currently taking 75 mg seroquel and the .5 ativan twice a day. In the hospital they had me go back up and I stayed on the 75 after that. I was down 7.5 for two days and doing fine. So frustrated with myself

[Csilover]

Emergency help please. I crushed all my pills last night like an idiot because I was going to premake them all the same weight. I’m so dumb. I realized that when I put powder in it seems excessive compared to the pill. when I put in powder it takes like two scoops before it jumps up from zero. It’s silly I crushed them because I was going to just stay on the same dose. 
when I do it on the scale while, my ativan is usually .063. That was the average of all 60 pills, but if I crush it individually and weigh it, it turns out .45. I have had horrible anxiety all day since doing this method and feel heart beating heavy after my doses. Does anyone know why this happens. Pls help 

https://www.drugs.com/imprints/ep-904-14680.html  It’s this one

@Altostrata @brassmonkey @Shep @ChessieCat

[Altostrata]

How many tablets did you crush? They were all Ativan?

[Csilover]

All the Ativan  60. I don’t know what I was thinking. I thought if they were all the same weight I’d stabilize quicker. All the seroquel too. Luckily I have the 200 mg tablets which I know the weight of and can adjust based on the 1/4 cuts. My old psych gave me 15 to get through till Monday to see if I can get a meeting with my conservative psych and tell her what happened. See if she will give it to me. But I doubt she will because I have filled two Ativan bottles within a week. My first was destroyed at the detox place so they gave me a new one  and I crushed it like an idiot. 

[Altostrata]

How many milligrams of Ativan in each tablet?

[Csilover]

.5 mg @Altostrata when I weighed them it turned out .63 on the scale but when I crushed it it looked like way too much powder for that small of a tablet. 

 

the seroquel were 50s 

 

I felt like I measured all of them correctly and did the average but have felt very anxious and tights chest and heartbeat all day 

 

the new Ativan are a different brand 

this is the new ones that I only have enough for a week

https://www.drugs.com/imprints/watson-240-0-5-646.html

[Altostrata]

If you crushed 60 Ativan tablets and they were all 0.5mg, your pile of powder is 30mg Ativan. If you want to take 0.5mg Ativan, you'd take 1/60 of the weight of your powder. Do the calculations and write down how much 1/60 of the powder weighs.

 

Since you're taking 0.5mg Ativan, why did you crush the tablets? It would be easier for you to just take a 0.5mg tablet. Now you'll have to weigh the powder instead.

 

I would very carefully put the Ativan powder in a tinted container. Be careful to capture all the powder. Do not inhale the powder. As a matter of fact, I'd wear a mask while handling this amount of powder. Do not play games with the Ativan powder.

 

How many tablets of 50mg Seroquel did you crush?

[Csilover]

@Altostrata all of them  I was seriously in a delusional state. I don’t know what the heck I was thinking. 

[Altostrata]

How many Seroquel tablets? What was the count?

[Csilover]

45 @Altostrata

[Csilover]

I have my old seroquels that will get me through till my next refill luckily  I just started wearing a mask today. I didn’t wear it the other time. Maybe that’s contributed to the uptick in symptoms as well as all my other silly mistakes. I’ve used two made up .5 pills

[Altostrata]

45 x 50mg Seroquel is 2250mg Seroquel. To take 25mg Seroquel, you would divide the weight of your powder by 90 (2 x 45). Do you follow the math?

 

Since you're going to take less than 25mg Seroquel, what would be most helpful for you is to determine the weight of 1mg active ingredient (1mgai). To find that, divide the weight of 25mgai Seroquel by 25.

 

Do the measurements and write down how much 25mgai Seroquel would weigh and how much 1mgai Seroquel would weigh.

 

Very carefully put the Seroquel powder in a separate tinted container. Be careful to capture all the powder. Do not inhale the powder. Wear a mask while handling the powder.

 

Did you mix any of the Ativan powder and Seroquel powder together on your mortar and pestle or on your scale?

 

 

[Csilover]

I think mostly did it so my parents would think I was cutting when I wasn’t, so that I could control it. It was Impulsive. They were going to make me do it too wuick

@Altostrata no I made sure to clean it with a wipe every time I switched meds

[Altostrata]

Does the math make sense to you? Did you follow what I was doing? You'll need to write it down, it's important you don't get confused over the next month as you're weighing out your doses.

[Csilover]

@Altostrata I understand. I will let you know. Thank you so much for your help. 

[Altostrata]

I need to sign off for the night. Please, no more emergencies. None of the staff is online 24 hours a day.

[Csilover]

@Altostrata I’m sorry. I understand. Won’t happen again

[Csilover]

So I measured out the seroquel 50s and the measurement was way off. However, my ativan was accurate, so I should be fine with that. I’m still going to try to get it from my psych and explain to her my situation. Or tough it out for a month on the powders. It’s .63 grams 

 

@brassmonkey I am using my 200 mg seroquels again and am splitting them into fourths. And then shaving off pieces to get 75. If I can’t get it accurate, I made a tiny bit of powder to add to the capsule. Is it okay to have chunks and powder? I ended up assessing the chunks into the capsule because they were small enough

[brassmonkey]

Using a combination of chunks and powder is fine. Have you recorded the scale weight of 1/4 of a 200mg tablet? If need be you could use that weight of the powder you made from the other tablets.

 

Do be careful handling that large amount of powder.  It is very easy to get it all over your hands and breath the dust.  Both of which can lead to taking too much of it by accident.  This is especially important for the ativan.  Breathing a very small amount of that can cause an overdose and can be quite dangerous.  In the future it would be best to work with just a few tablets at a time even if you have to crush things several times to make up the number of capsules you need. I would suggest only working a week or two in advance because it gives you more flexibility.

 

Have you read through our sections on how to use your scales?

[Csilover]

@brassmonkey thank you. I think that may have been part of my problem. When I was originally working with the Ativan and seroquel I wasn’t wearing a mask, so I think maybe that’s what lead to the heart palpitations and panic attacks. Yesterday and today I used it. I can’t believe I’ve been so reckless. That could have been really bad. I slept well last night for the most part. Didn’t wake up with palpitations like the night before. Today I have been a lot calmer. Don’t feel like I’m crawling out of my skin like I had been the Past two days. im going to try to get another bottle from my psych and explain to her what I did. If not I will have to do the powder. 
 

I looked at the page! Very helpful. I think I’m still nervous about it though. Mostly with the Ativan. The powder seems excessive compared to the size of the regular pills. I know the weight doesn’t change but it seems odd.  

[brassmonkey]

When they manufacture the pills they put a specific amount of powder in a mold and squeeze it really hard.  Several thousand pounds sometimes. This squeezes all the air out of it and makes it stick together. When we crush the pill we let all that air and more back in and it fluffs up, so it can look like a lot more than it really is. This is why we use weight instead or just eyeballing it.

 

I'm glad things calmed down when you started using the mask. There is such a learning process involved with all of this.  Just wait until you bet back to chemistry class, you'll be an expert on a lot of things.

[Csilover]

@brassmonkey that’s good to know! It made me nervous. If I can’t get the pills then I will use the powder. That makes me feel a bit better about it. 
 

should I be expecting a wave to come hit me soon? I feel like I got out of this situation pretty easily. Too easily. Knock on wood. Do you think I should hold a month to let things even out?

[Altostrata]

Yes, this was a blooper but you can fix it with some math.

 

Use your face mask when handling the powder. Do you have a little spoon to scoop it? You can use one of those little plastic spoons from ice cream samples, or make a little scoop from stiff paper.

 

Be sure your scale is calibrated. Write EVERYTHING down on a pad of paper. Make it absolutely clear. Anyone can get confused doing these operations. Mark the contents on all your containers.

 

Let's check your assumptions. If you have a pile of powder made from 45 50mg Seroquel tablets, you don't need to know what a tablet weighs. You divide the total weight of the powder by 45 to find out what weight of powder constitutes 50mgai (active ingredient).

 

If you know what powder weight = 50mgai, you know half of that is 25mgai. You can add the powder weights together to find 75mgai. Put that in a gelatin capsule for your nighttime dose. Might as well make capsules for the next 7 days. Put the filled capsules in a tinted container with a lid.

 

20 hours ago, Altostrata said:

45 x 50mg Seroquel is 2250mg Seroquel. To take 25mg Seroquel, you would divide the weight of your powder by 90 (2 x 45). Do you follow the math?

 

Since you're going to take less than 25mg Seroquel, what would be most helpful for you is to determine the weight of 1mg active ingredient (1mgai). To find that, divide the weight of 25mgai Seroquel by 25.

 

Do the measurements and write down how much 25mgai Seroquel would weigh and how much 1mgai Seroquel would weigh.

 

Very carefully put the Seroquel powder in a separate tinted container. Be careful to capture all the powder. Do not inhale the powder. Wear a mask while handling the powder.

 

Did you mix any of the Ativan powder and Seroquel powder together on your mortar and pestle or on your scale?

 

 

 

Same with Ativan. If you have a pile of powder made from 60 0.5mg Ativan tablets, you don't need to know what a tablet weighs. You divide the total weight of the powder by 60 to find out what weight of powder constitutes 0.5mgai (active ingredient).

 

Put that enough powder for 0.5mgai into capsules. Since you take them twice a day, fill 14 capsules capsules for the next 7 days. Put the filled capsules in a separate tinted container with a lid.

 

20 hours ago, Altostrata said:

If you crushed 60 Ativan tablets and they were all 0.5mg, your pile of powder is 30mg Ativan. If you want to take 0.5mg Ativan, you'd take 1/60 of the weight of your powder. Do the calculations and write down how much 1/60 of the powder weighs.

 

Since you're taking 0.5mg Ativan, why did you crush the tablets? It would be easier for you to just take a 0.5mg tablet. Now you'll have to weigh the powder instead.

 

I would very carefully put the Ativan powder in a tinted container. Be careful to capture all the powder. Do not inhale the powder. As a matter of fact, I'd wear a mask while handling this amount of powder. Do not play games with the Ativan powder.

 

How many tablets of 50mg Seroquel did you crush?

 

You'll do the same thing next week, make enough capsules for a week of your Seroquel and Ativan doses.

 

Please let us know how you're doing.

[Csilover]

6 hours ago, brassmonkey said:

 

Using a combination of chunks and powder is fine. Have you recorded the scale weight of 1/4 of a 200mg tablet? If need be you could use that weight of the powder you made from the other tablets

 

I’ve weighed the 200’s anf have found it easy to make tablets out of it.  So I could use the powder of the 50 mg tablets and compare to the weight of the 200s?

[brassmonkey]

That should work.

[Csilover]

So I had a golden milk tea in my early withdrawal and it would effect my libido badly. It’d take days to recover afterwards. I read that cinnamon is a sedative hypnotic, so are Benzos. And seroquel is a sedative. Would that make sense that these are effecting me badly? 

[Csilover]

June 14, 2020

 

6 am woke up. Not restful sleep.

8 get some boiled eggs. 
9 .5 Ativan 

3 pm cry. Angry

6 pm better. calm

8 pm calm

9 pm. Take 75 seroquel and .5 Ativan 

feel anhedonic. Out of it.

10:30 fall asleep

7 am wake refreshed. Slept the whole night through.  

[Altostrata]

Good. Please stick with that for 5 days, then we'll try reducing the Seroquel again.

[Csilover]

I had a really good window today! I felt really rational and level headed. I felt calm. I felt maybe 65 percent which is good. I felt like I could talk to people and had some humor. Didn’t feel depressed. There are still parts of me missing but it was pretty good today!

[Csilover]

1 hour ago, Altostrata said:

Good. Please stick with that for 5 days, then we'll try reducing the Seroquel again.

Hey Alto, 

im debating on what to do. I have had 2 bottles of Ativan this month and my doc thinks I’m tapering off. I tried to call and get a new uncrushed bottle, but they said no. Do you think I should do this one first, just in case they try to stop giving it to me. I wouldn’t think she would. I’m going to be talking to her next Wednesday to explain. Or do you think seroquel is the best to go first? Sorry. I know we’ve changed a million times. I just saw how I reacted when I missed one pill, I wonder how bad it would be if I wait longer to get off it as well. From your view, which do you think would be better to get off of first?