☼ pinkfairy: rapid taper of Paxil

[pinkfairy]

Thank you brassmonkey...

 

what would be that figure be on the scale if its 0.124 I wouldn’t take it down to 0.62...would it be 0.122?

 

sorry am not under standing :/ 

 

Am going to hold for afew more weeks as well.maybe longer.

 

just had news my dog needs to go in for & operation this week.So WD as ramped up again.

 

Pink 

 

[pinkfairy]

If any-body is from the uk 🇬🇧 on here...

 

Theres a programme on benzodiazepines tomorrow evening at 6pm 

pink 

[brassmonkey]

The reading on the scale for your evening dose would be 0.062. You have to pay attention to the decimal point, the way you wrote it above would be a 500% updose.  I know it's just a typo, but you have to be careful.

[pinkfairy]

What I take is 4.3 mg 

so 2mg am 

1mg afternoon 

& my night time dose .0124 so am Wanting 2% off the over All dose...

 

but am going to be taking it off the .0124 I just don’t know what that figure would be on the scale.

 

thank you for been patient with me I don’t get maths at all 

pink 

[brassmonkey]

Sorry Pink but those numbers don't add up that way.  2mg in the morning, 1mg in the afternoon and .124 in the evening add up to 3.124 for the day not 4.3mg.  Also you've stated the evening dose several different ways, each of which is vastly different from the others in  strength.  Before we can determine the proper dose we need the proper numbers. Then we can figure out what the reading on the scale should be.

[pinkfairy]

Thanks brass...

its .0124 I take on a night...

 

i can find the thread where it said to take it .0124 

 

i was taking 1.5mgon a night then I wanted 3% off that so I crushed it after had given the weights of the pills...I definitely take 4.3mg now brass monkey...

 

i just crush a 2mg pill up on a night & get it .0124....

 

sorry have got the figures wrong it’s definitely .0124 I take on a night crushed up 

[pinkfairy]

Have just gone to find my main thread where shep,skeeter & bubble posted....

 

it had all my figures on there brass monkey of what you had given me before.But it’s gone?do you know why it’s gone?

 

Have been doing the links I was given for a while but can’t find it any more.

[Altostrata]

This is your Intro topic, pinkfairy.

[pinkfairy]

Thank you altro...

 

Now have stabalized,am just looking back over my two threads...wow what a mess I was in.I didn’t understand anything.What threads were for what etc...Is there any way I can try & sort these threads out to make them nearer.One for figures & one for my journey.Am so sorry for how bad I was last year...No worries if I can’t tidy my threads up.I was just wondering if you could delete the very triggering ones off,so people who do read don’t get frightened.

 

Pink xxx

[pinkfairy]

 

Yes, the .124 is correct, taking into account the .5 plus 3%.  The math was checked by both me and Magic Monkey. 

 

As Brassmonkey said, the .124 number is all you'll need to understand. We really have checked over

[pinkfairy]

@brassmonkey I found the link...

 

sorry yes I posted the figure wrong...That is what my night time dose is at now...

 

so am wanting to take 2% off the overall dose,as you said.

 

But am Wanting to take it off the night time dose....

 

so its .124,I was getting mixed up with the decimal.so I just need a figure to take off that .124...

 

Am going to be holding for probably this month again.

 

But just wanted to get the figures spot on for when I do.

 

So sorry for confusing you but now we have the correct figures.

 

2mg am 

1mg afternoon 

.124 night time.

 

 

[brassmonkey]

Okay, now we have the correct numbers.  So your total daily dose is 3.124mg. and you want to reduce that by 2%. That means that you want to remove .062mg from the total. If we remove it from the night time dose of .124 your new night time dose would be .062.  It just happens to be the same as the number you want to reduce by, funny how that happens sometimes.  When you start your next taper the doses will look like this:

 

2mg in the morning

1mg in the afternoon

.062mg at night

[pinkfairy]

Sorry brass monkey my daily is 4.3 mg of diazepam...

 

wouldnt that be a huge drop from .124 to .062? 

 

I thought it would of been .120 

 

how on earth rly am I going to get off this stuff when I can’t even figure out something so simple!i must be the only non understanding person around...

 

Am sorry your left to deal with me & the figures.

[pinkfairy]

Am working it in grams on my scale...

i crush a 2mg pill up on a night,weigh it out & it shows on the scale at 0.124 I was told to ignore the zero...

 

have just gone to weigh .062 out & there’s so much diazepam I wouldn’t be taking it looks like a full 1mg had be dropping by!

 

 

[brassmonkey]

It only seems like a big drop because you're taking off 2% of the daily dose off of the already small night time dose. It's still a fairly small reduction overall.  Another 2% reduction of the daily dose and you won't even be taking the night time dose.  But that's another piece of the puzzle we will have to work out some time in the future and don't need to worry about right yet.

 

You are correct though if you wanted to take 2% off of just the night time dose it would be .120. But we want to reduce the daily dose so we don't need to think about that number.  I do hope you are keeping records written in a notebook for each medication, when you take it and how much. It's a great way to keep it all straight and makes it easy to refer to when you need to get the current numbers to work with.

[Frogie]

18 minutes ago, pinkfairy said:

Sorry brass monkey my daily is 4.3 mg of diazepam...

 

wouldnt that be a huge drop from .124 to .062? 

 

I thought it would of been .120 

 

how on earth rly am I going to get off this stuff when I can’t even figure out something so simple!i must be the only non understanding person around...

 

Am sorry your left to deal with me & the figures.

Hi pinkfairy:

 

The easiest way to figure your taper is what I do. But don't make the mistake that I did by not checking the pharmacy for the correct liquid syringe and took a 50% cut.

 

If you want to taper 2%, take your dosage of .124 times 98% and it will give you .121, that would be your next taper amount.

 

100% minus 2% taper equals 98%. Does that make sence?

 

I'm currently on 2.5mg of Lexapro. I'm going to taper 10%, so I take 2.5 times 90% and get my next taper amount of 2.25mg.

 

I hope I haven't confused you. If I have ignore me please.

 

Brassmonkey is very, very good at calculations. 

 

Take care,

Frogie xx

 

 

[brassmonkey]

You need to keep the two medications separate. The diazepam is a whole different story and uses different numbers.  The two are not interchangeable.

 

Would you please, please, please update you signature with the date and your current medications and doses.

 

How/where do you store all the meds, the scales and all the things you use to weigh out your dose?

[pinkfairy]

Oh am scared brass monkey at all that spare tablet left..there’s nothing in the tray hardly with that drop...my tray is pretty full with the .124...& If my next cut after that eliminated the night time dose that would be well over one mg gone into cuts...

 

Could I just take 2% off the night time dose?i don’t know how it works to be honest.Am just following you guys.

 

hi froggie I don’t use liquid am dry cutting with a scale I understand your figures no your not confusing me (can’t get any more lol)

xxx

 

i keep my meds in a locked container in trays in my bedroom with my scale in a draw..I weigh them out on the same surface each time.

 

I tried to there was no room left to put anything else?

 

 

[Frogie]

Sorry Brassmonkey:

 

I was only trying to explain it so maybe pinkfairy would understand.

 

You are much smarter than me. 

 

That's why you are the mod and I'm not.

 

Please accept my apology.

 

Take care,

Frogie xx

[pinkfairy]

Up dated signature...deleted some stuff everything on there now xx

 

no froggie was so kind of you to stop by.I understood yours but there different meds...xxx

 

i just get confused with figures!I said ages ago they might as well of given a child drugs & said there you go,now taper...

xxx

[pinkfairy]

Brass monkey have just remembered we were working on the active drugs from the pill weights s from these pills.

 

i dont know if that’s any help to you?

 

Theres two ways at looking at it am saying am at 4.3mg 

but your looking at it as 3.124 mg ( I so Wish) 

But I just remembered from my other posts me,you & shep we’re talking about the active ingredients from the pills we were going by....

 

Have just honestly remembered the conversation...

 

shep said or you,am not sure now that as long as the brand of the tablets was the same it was ok to crush up a 2mg pill...

 

But if the brand name changed to get back to you & I would get new figures for different pills!!

 

i really hope am making sense?am truly sorry to of confused you so much...It’s the only thing texting,they can get read different ways & with my brain well let’s just say I don’t understand my self....so trying to explain for me is difficult.My writing isn’t good either 

xxx

 

[brassmonkey]

No problem Frogie--  That's the best way to figure a 2% reduction. 

 

The problem is that the dose of that one med is cut into three parts taken at different times of the day and we want to take 2% of the whole dose, not just a part of it.  There are so many numbers and different meds being mentioned it's all becoming a big jumble.

[Frogie]

Just now, brassmonkey said:

No problem Frogie--  That's the best way to figure a 2% reduction. 

 

The problem is that the dose of that one med is cut into three parts taken at different times of the day and we want to take 2% of the whole dose, not just a part of it.  There are so many numbers and different meds being mentioned it's all becoming a big jumble.

I totally understand.

 

Thats just the way I figure my taper, but I'm only tapering Lexapro, then onto Xanax.

 

I will probably need help when it comes to my Xanax, but I want to do a reduction of all the doses at the same time.

 

Good luck!

 

Take care,

Frogie xx

[Altostrata]

19 hours ago, pinkfairy said:

Thank you altro...

 

Now have stabalized,am just looking back over my two threads...wow what a mess I was in.I didn’t understand anything.What threads were for what etc...Is there any way I can try & sort these threads out to make them nearer.One for figures & one for my journey.Am so sorry for how bad I was last year...No worries if I can’t tidy my threads up.I was just wondering if you could delete the very triggering ones off,so people who do read don’t get frightened.

 

Pink xxx

 

Not to worry, pink. It's not a mess. Good to see you're managing your taper better.

 

brassmonkey will be here presently to answer your other questions.

[pinkfairy]

Where do I go from here?

is there any way to figure this out...

am scared am stuck on it with no way off I don’t know what am meant to do now...

Should I start taking it in one dose to get the numbers correct xxx

 

Thanks altro I just hope I can this taper sorted out some how it’s quite worrying that my taper is a mess xxx

[pinkfairy]

What happens if I just keep taking 2% off the night time dose?xxx

[brassmonkey]

No panic Pink, we'll get this sorted. 

 

I'm not seeing any mention of your current medications and doses in your signature, maybe it didn't take when you tried updating it a few days ago. Please try again.

 

You can still take the medication 3 times a day like you've been doing, and we will do the reduction off of the night time dose like we have been talking about.  I know we talked about this a month or so ago, but I can't find the posts or my notes anywhere.  So Lets start over from the top so we can make sure to get things right.

 

What is the strength of the paxil tablets listed on the bottle?

How much does one whole tablet weigh?

What is the strength of the dose you are currently taking in the morning, in the afternoon and at night?

What is the weight that you measure on your scales for the morning dose, the afternoon dose and the night time dose?

 

That information will get me started.

[brassmonkey]

Okay Pink-- I found all the old posts and understand what is going on.  We do have it right in the posts above, it just go lost in all the different numbers being thrown around.

 

For your paxil doses:

keep the morning one the same as however you've been doing it

keep the afternoon one the same as however you've been doing it

change the nighttime dose so the scales read .062

(NOTE: the above dosages are wrong, do not use them.  I have recalculated things further below)

 

That will give you the reduction you're looking for.

 

Please still give me the information I asked for in my previous post so I'll have it for my records.

 

Thanks

 Brassmonkey

Edited January 5, 2018 by brassmonkey
Placed warning about wrong dosages.

[pinkfairy]

Hi brass monkey,I think we’re getting confused because am not on Paxil so that’s why you can’t find it any-where.I was CT off Paxil in jan 2016...I didn’t reinstate it as I was to far out...As the stupid doctors were giving me diazpam to mask the WD up from the Paxil...

 

for some one reason I wrote about a diazepam reduction on my other thread but it got moved to here.

 

So it’s diazpam am taking & 7.5 mirtazpine there wrote on my signurate....

 

Xxx

[pinkfairy]

My current doses of diazepam are 

2mg morning 

1mg afternoon 

& .124 g weighted on the scale which is the equivalent to 1.3 mg of diazepam...you & shep worked this out on my other thread...

 

 

 

so my current dose is 4.3mg...

 

Thats why I said to altro was there any way I could sort both threads out to tidy them up,like move figures etc of diazpam onto this thread..so it’s one place instead of been on both threads xxx

 

 

 

[pinkfairy]

y and then I'll place what you need to weigh in maroon at the end. The maroon numbers are all you'll need to focus on.

 

We're going to work with the Active Ingredient  Concentration instead of trying to adjust for each individual pill.  This method is what Brassmonkey came up with to help people who are dealing with reducing a percentage of the daily dose and taking different dose sizes for each dose (in your case, 2 mg, 1mg, and 1.5 mg). 

 

(mg = milligram, pw = pill weight, aic = active ingredient concentration)

 

1.  Calculate the average weight of the four pills:

 

.179 + .175 + .177  + .176 = .707/4 = .177

 

2.  Calculate the the value of Dose Weight divided by Average Pill Weight:

 

The dose weight is 2 mg.

Dose Weight divided by Pill Weight = AIC  (Active Ingredient Concentration)

2/177=0.011  So there is .011 mgaic per 1 mgpw.

 

3. Use the above value to calculate the Target Weight for the new reduction:

 

4.5 mg x 3% = .135 mg

1.5 mg - .135 mg = 1.365 mg (Target Weight)

 

1.365/.011= 124 mgpw 

 

For your first reduction, use 124 mgpw.  

 

Unless you change manufacturers, as long as you are using 2 mg pills, the 124 number will stay the same.  All 2 mg pills made by X corp will have an average weight of 177 mg, so these numbers will hold up for all the pills in your current bottle and any bottle of the same strength from the same maker.  They will all have an Active Ingredient Concentration of .011 mgai per 1 mgpw.  If you change manufacturers or strength, please let us know and we'll re-calculate.

 

So all you have to do is crush up pills and weigh out 124 mgpw for your evening dose until you are ready to make another reduction. 

 

• Found it  

[brassmonkey]

Okay Pink I see what is going on and where I lost the thread. We are mixing up the units of weight for the different doses.

 

The morning dose of 2mg should be written as 2mgai. This means that we are talking about the weight of the active ingredient.

The afternoon dose of 1mg should be written as 1mgai for the same reason.

The evening dose should be written as .124mgpw.  Meaning that it is the actual weight that is shown on the scale when you weigh the powder.

 

So for your current dose it would be:

 

                            Morning dose 2mgai

                            Afternoon dose 1mgai

                            Evening dose 124mgpw

 

I'm going to go through the calculations for your new dose here so there will be a record.  You don't have to understand this.

 

4.3mgai x 3% = .129mgai  (current daily dose times desired reduction percentage equals the amount total daily dose is to be reduced by)

1.3mgai - .129mgai =  1.2 mgai  (current evening dose minus the daily dose reduction equals the target evening dose)

 

1.2mgai / .011 = 109mgpw  (target evening dose in mgai divided by the Active Ingredient Concentration equals the Target Dose in mgpw)

 

This all means that your new evening dose will be 109mgpw.  This will read as .109 grams on your scale.

 

I think we finally got it.  I'm very sorry about all the mixups.  As I mentioned on your other thread I really confused some of my math and chemistry genius friends with this one.  I've made a bunch of notes so we will have a better handle on it next time.

 

Brassmokey

[pinkfairy]

No don’t be sorry,like I said all my threads are awol...

 

erm I wouldn’t understand that in this life time lol it’s like reading a another language all that.my word how good are you at maths...genies comes to mind!i do well if have wrote a shopping list down.

 

So am just double checking that’s only a 2% drop?it seems huge from .124 to .109 (irrational fears)

 

so from 4.3 this will take me to 4.2 something?am just double checking...as I was on 4.5 & I crushed that 1.5 to take me to 1.3 

but reads .124 g on the scale.

 

Whats your take on this...I want to get to get to 4mg & when I do my dose will look like this 

 

2mg am 

1mg afternoon 

1mg night time = 4mg 

 

When I get to that am I best off keeping it to 3 doses still & cutting from the 2mg pill am,to take that down to 1mg so all three doses are equal...

 

Or taking 2mg in the am 

 

& combining the two 1mg doses & making that to,to 2mg & taking that at tea time...

 

Or just cutting the night time dose out completely...not sure which action to take & I think you guys definitely know what’s the best...my taper plan seems all over which is a bit scary to me!If I can get control & kind of know what am doing I will feel abit more in control even though am not lol..

 

Thanks for helping & am sorry your having to help the most dense person on S.A...

 

plus am going to hold for an extra month or two..I just want to get some plans in place & more self care worked on before I cut again.

 

Thank you again, very much appreciated.

 

pink.

[brassmonkey]

Hi Pink-- The numbers I did above are for a 3% reduction.

 

Here are the numbers for a 2% reduction.

 

I'll go through the calculations for this dose here so there will be a record.  You don't have to understand this.

 

4.3mgai x 2% = .086mgai  (current daily dose times desired reduction percentage equals the amount total daily dose is to be reduced by)

1.3mgai - .086mgai =  1.21 mgai  (current evening dose minus the daily dose reduction equals the target evening dose)

 

1.21mgai / .011 = 110mgpw  (target evening dose in mgai divided by the Active Ingredient Concentration equals the Target Dose in mgpw)

 

So to do a 2% reduction you would weigh out 110mgpw with your scales.  It doesn't seem to be a whole lot different because we are having to balance very tiny amounts of powder against the accuracy of the scales and a lot of variation in the decimal points of all those numbers.  A 2% reduction will put you just above 4.2mgai while a 3% reduction will put you just below 4.2mgai.

 

How often you take it will depend on why you started taking it three times a day in the first place.  If you need to keep the 3 times a day schedule then the 2,1,1 plan looks good.

 

 

[pinkfairy]

Thank you brass monkey 

 

Am still panicking a bit as that seems a lot of powder discarded in one cut...sorry I know it’s just me.

But if the cuts are stepping down from .124 to .110 that’s 14g gone in one cut.

 

If there that steep  am going to get through that whole 1.5 in months if that makes sense.

 

orginaly I would normally of taken 1.5 by tablet.But because it’s crushed am guessing these figures are like they are...

 

i thought i would of gone 

.120 

.118 

.116

 

to get rid of it slowly.Am not questioning you what so ever.I hope you can see my theory 

.124 

.110 That crushed tablet will be gone in large drops & that 1.5 elimatated in months...

 

Am just going over this in my head as I don’t want to drop off a cliff..

 

Thank you very much pink...

 

[pinkfairy]

@brassmonkey

 

Am double checking again with the figures here...when I said in the above post if I keep going down in big drops like that am going to get rid of a while 1.3mg in less than 6-7 month.

 

Am just so confused with it all...

 

sorry again pink.