bunchesofoats: starting 2nd citalopram taper

[jutland86]

Hi @bunchesofoats. How is it going with your taper?

[bunchesofoats]

Hi @jutland86 and anyone else who reads here. Thanks for checking in on me. My last drop was 1.5 years ago to 10mg and there I've remained. I started a new job and career last summer, and didn't want to give myself too much stress. At 10mg my symptoms almost entirely disappeared. I have to be strict about taking the pill at the exact same time each day. One very unlikely night I forgot to take my pill. I took half the next morning when I realized and managed to recover in a couple days. More recently, the generic my pharmacy gives me changed to another manufacturer. I've had this manufacturer before (Aurobindo) and had problems with it, and I am now having problems again - the headaches that don't get mitigated by anything, unrelenting insomnia, a touch of vertigo, and high alertness. It's only been for a few days, and I'm confident it won't last more than a week or two. Luckily my job and life are in much steadier places than they were before, so I have some room to struggle but still be gainfully employed and have a bit of a life.

 

I do want to get off completely though, and seeing how sensitive I am is concerning. I got a new doctor and he's no more helpful than the last. I let him know about my sensitivity and withdrawal issues, and he assured me that he would help me taper slowly, over at least 6 weeks. HA! I've tried talking and explaining, but he doesn't know anything and doesn't listen, not even to himself. He'll forget something he said the minute before and make the same bad suggestions repeatedly, like a bot.

 

My last taper I dissolved pills in water and used a pipette (OTC syringe) to take a steady partial dose each day. After talking to others, I may try scraping the pill and measuring the weight the next time around. Maybe the rate of metabolism will be steadier and provide an easier transition. 

 

I live with a lot of grief over this experience (and others). I no longer trust most...people, in general. So many are over confident. I've especially lost trust in doctors and the medical system which I used to hold in the highest regard. It can be hard to move forward at times with these feelings, because we need to have trust to be able to take chances in life.

 

I have a rough plan of getting myself into some "perfect" state to be able to handle the next round of tapering. Of course I know that perfect time will never come. But my thought is to continue staying at my job (which I otherwise would leave for a better position), make sure I'm in excellent physical shape (still a long way to go, especially since I have gained 30lbs and became more sedentary than I ever thought I could be since starting this medication), and have only really good relationships in my life.

[jutland86]

Hi @bunchesofoats. That sounds like a horrible experience. After my attempt to taper by skipping doses (as adviced by my doctor) I almost didn’t want to try again.

 

I have been taking it very slow, and trying not to think about tapering and withdrawal using meditation and something called meta cognitive therapy ( where you learn to control, what you think about) and exercise. So far it has worked for me.

 

i don’t consider myself a mentally strong person, so if I can do, so can you. You are able to do and withstand much more than you think. 
 

and if it takes a looooong time so be it.  I’m rooting for you.

 

keep us posted

[bunchesofoats]

Thanks for the words of encouragement @jutland86. I see that you're doing well taking things nice and slow.

 

I want to start tapering again in the new year. My plan this time is to crush the tablet into powder and fill up capsules. My thought here is that it may work better for my body than the dissolved method. And filling up capsules in advance will mean I don't have to pay strict attention every night or struggle when I travel with a syringe and liquid solution. I will be checking in more frequently as I make changes.

 

My current stack is:

Morning:

- 2000iu vitamin D

- 1g vitamin C

- 1200mg Omega-3 (400mg EPA, 200mg DHA)

- 400mg quercetin + 80mg bromelain

- occasionally 45mg ferrous sulfate

 

Bedtime:

- 10mg B6 + 300mg MgAspartate and MgOxide + 20mg Zn

- 10mg citalopram, generic, Aurobindo mfg

 

Occasionally, I will take up to 0.5mg lorazepam (full dosage). Typically I take 1/4 or 1/2 that dosage. I do this maybe once or twice a month. I don't keep track anymore. I also recently started taking CalmAid, a lavender oil capsule which seems to have only positive effects for me, no negative other than lavender burps and some heartburn. I refrain from taking it near bedtime because of this.

[methuselah]

On 10/29/2022 at 11:56 AM, bunchesofoats said:

My last taper I dissolved pills in water and used a pipette (OTC syringe) to take a steady partial dose each day. After talking to others, I may try scraping the pill and measuring the weight the next time around. Maybe the rate of metabolism will be steadier and provide an easier transition. 

hello @bunchesofoats I’m curious what you heard, and perhaps from who was it a mod?, regarding mixing your pill in water.  I’ve been doing the water method and frankly having a hell of a time coming down in dose, even at turtle speed, on Prozac…the easy one to taper 🙄 Any thoughts or info is appreciated!  

[bunchesofoats]

Hey @methuselah, there is a lot of good info on this site about tapering using water. Here's the page specifically about tapering prozac. 

 

How exactly are dissolving your pill, and how are you measuring your dose?

• Are you always ensuring the pill is completely dissolved and evenly distributed in the water? I let the pill dissolve for 30min. I then shake the liquid up really well, then I use the syringe to pull up and shoot out the liquid a few times before finally pulling up my dose. 
• Are you always measuring the same exact way? I do this by noting a mark on my syringe and getting the meniscus (the curvy part at the top of the liquid in the syringe) to be at the same exact spot.
• Are you making sure to take the entire dose? I do this by taking the entire dose from the syringe, then pulling up fresh water in the syringe and taking that as well to clear out anything remaining. I then rinse the syringe out a few times so it's clean for the next use. I store it in the fridge and replace it every few weeks/months.

I've seen in others' threads, for example ChessieCat (who is a mod) that they use graduated cylinders instead of syringes to measure out the dose. They make sure to use the same part of the counter to rest the cylinder on so that the slope of the surface is consistent each time. The key is figuring out a process that is highly reproducible to minimize any unintentional change in dosage.

 

That being said, you could have other factors causing your symptoms. I do see that you've taking it very slowly, so perhaps more consistency in your method is required. Or perhaps there's something else disrupting you. For example, I didn't realize for a long time, but I can't take any significant amount of zinc because it brings on withdrawal symptoms.

[methuselah]

Hey @bunchesofoats

 

I appreciate the thorough response.  I use the water method and I’m consistent in the way that I do it.  My brain was sort of mush when I wrote that to you, I should have been more clear.  Even reading it now I think I misunderstood the quote of yours I included above.  It sounded to me at the time like you’d heard that the water method wasn’t stable when it came to blood levels and rate of metabolism. But I think you were just referring to how you would transition to full liquid.  Again, apologies, in a wave and my brain is suboptimal functioning.  Thanks again so much for responding and apologies for any confusion or time wasted.

[bunchesofoats]

Hey @methuselah, I think I misunderstood and jumped to thinking you wanted help with the water taper. 

 

On 1/17/2023 at 7:53 PM, methuselah said:

It sounded to me at the time like you’d heard that the water method wasn’t stable when it came to blood levels and rate of metabolism.

 

Yes, this is what I heard, from a friend with a medical background, not a mod, and not someone with SSRI experience. I thought his point of view was interesting and took it into account, especially because of my sensitivity. I have not in practice figured out a good way to do this though. My citalopram tablets weigh around 60ug, and to get a scale sensitive enough to be useful for tapering would cost at least $500US.

 

My friend did have some other suggestions, such as breaking up the liquid dose in the hopes of creating a steadier state dosage.

[bunchesofoats]

I started taking 300mcg melatonin a week ago as I've seen altostrato recommend. It has an interesting effect. My dreams seem to grip me much more. I remember my dreams more vividly, and they feel much longer. I also tend to wake up over an hour before my alarm/usual wake up time and feel "done" sleeping. I feel less groggy upon waking up, though I can 't say if I feel overall better rested throughout the day.

[methuselah]

Melatonin has an interesting effect on me as well.  I swear I start dreaming before I fall asleep.  I use that stuff sparingly and only for emergencies.  
 

How much longer will you hold for and do you have plans for your next drop in dose?

[bunchesofoats]

I have the same exact experience! I start dreaming before I'm even asleep. I stopped taking the melatonin. Maybe once in a while it helps but not every day.

 

I'll be holding until May because I have a lot of travel planned before then. I don't want to be dealing with measuring out doses during that time. I did that before and it was a pain (and I once dropped my liquid dose in the dark in my tent while camping). I also want to be able to enjoy myself. 

 

Unfortunately I also need to get a new job. Mine has gotten really terrible and is not going to get any better. I was hoping it would improve, but I can see now that's not the case. So, I may hold off even longer so that I don't taper while switching jobs.

 

I had the opportunity to speak directly with Dr. Shipko (look him up, he's very active in pushing the idea of informed consent for these medications). He pointed out the importance of living one's life and not making it only about getting off the medication, especially for highly sensitive folks like myself. So I'm trying to accept being on this medication for longer, since it means I can build more stability for myself in the meantime. It drives me nuts though, I wish I could be off already, I wish I'd never started, I wish I'd gotten off as soon as I had terrible symptoms.

[methuselah]

Crazy about the melatonin.  Ya, that dreaming while awake feeling is so so weird.  It’s not anxiety provoking per se, just very weird.

 

I talked to Shipko about a year ago when things first realy went sideways for me.  He asked me a few times if it was worth coming off the drugs, said it can be difficult and devastating socially, and in all facets of life.  He wasn’t wrong there.  It sounded like he was more for staying on them frankly.  But when you feel awful on them there really is no choice.  He also advised me to drop by 1mg per month linear taper so while he is definitely more informed than most, he’s still behind it seems.  

I do agree with him in trying to maintain a life even thru the wd symptoms, of course that’s easier said than done.  Anders sorenson (he has an interview on mad in America) also suggests pushing thru symptoms as much as possible by maintaining life via work, social interaction, etc.  again, easier said than done.

 

Edit - I absolutely hear you on wishing I could just be done.  Tapering 8.8mg of Prozac looks harder than climbing Everest, and almost certainly is in a way.  Docs would laugh at me for saying so, bastards.  It’s my Everest I guess.  I also hear you in wishing I’d never started.  I often think back to times when the drugs started to go bad but I switched up or whatever per doc advice.  Feels like I had many opportunities to drop the drugs but never took them   Of course, the docs would have had me taper off in a month and I didn’t know what I know now and god knows the cocktail I’d be on assuming is have lived thru it.  

[bunchesofoats]

Checking in here to share my experience, although I'm not currently tapering. I'm still at 10mg where I've been for over two years. I haven't wanted to taper because I've had other goals. I wonder has anyone else had this experience, where they got down part way and then stayed at a steady dose to further their life. It's hard to convince myself to go back to the tapering process because I don't want to go back to being unable to exercise, to think, to socialize. I know I'll be better equipped next time, but I'm really more interested in challenging myself with other goals at the moment, even though I know I don't want to stay on this medication forever, and still have to live very mindfully to not experience too many side effects.

 

My doctor suggested I taper by cutting every third dose in half, then every other dose, and so on. He insisted I wouldn't experience symptoms this way and that it would be very easy to get off. After my own experiences and what I've learned here, I don't believe him. 

 

I don't know what to do, since one of my goals is to get off of this medication completely, but I feel like if I pursue that goal, I won't be able to make progress on anything else.

[Hopepersists]

Hi!  Just wanted to share that I am on a similar journey.  I have been titrating down since January 2021 from 15 mg and I am now down to 12.9 mg.  My body is ridiculously sensitive and I too realized after having really severe side effects the first few months that when I went ridiculously slowly, I could regain my health and do things I love like travel be with my family exercise etc. so now I literally take down my dose 0.05 mg at a time.   I’ve noticed that I can take down that amount. Wait a week do the other .05 mg and basically accomplish 0.1 mg decreases every other month or so.   
 

I take my dose twice a day with half of a 10 mg tablet in the morning along with a compounded liquid where 1 mg equals 1 mL.   I just took my dose from 13.0 to 12.9 mg, and that was after three or four months of holding flat.  I also see a functional medicine Doctor Who is treating me for hormonal and cut and balances. One of the psychiatrist on staff said she believes that, addressing my underlying conditions could hopefully make the Celexa reductions better in the future. As of right now I’m just trying to be patient and telling myself that I am already about 15% down from my original full dose.  I can typically go down about 1 mg per year. 

 

I recognize that this form of tapering is linear and not the parabolic version that folks on here recommend but I’m also not someone that can go down 10% a month so this is what’s working for me and I’m sticking with it until it no longer works for me.

 

 

btw, you know that your instinct is correct there’s no way the message your doctor is proposing will work.  

 

 

 

 

 

[bunchesofoats]

Hi @Hopepersists, thank you for your message, although I'm reading it 5 months later. I agree, there's no way what my doctor recommended will work. After continued research and exploring various options, I've decided to go back to what I was doing previously - dissolving the 10mg citalopram tablet in water for 30min, mixing thoroughly, then measuring with a syringe. I'm glad you have found something that works for your while allowing you to continue living your life.

 

I've decided to start tapering again in the next couple of weeks, aligned with my menstrual cycle. Here is my plan, which of course I will adjust as needed if I find it is too fast or if symptoms aren't so severe perhaps I can push a bit. My plan is to fully taper off of 10mg citalopram over the course of 1.5 years.

 

I take a break from Aug-Oct because I have a seasonal depression during this time of year and I also struggle greatly with heat.

 

The first "drop" itself will be converting from 10mg tablet to 10mg dissolved which in itself changes how the drug is metabolized, so I allow time for that transition.

 

2023-11-7	10.00	10%
2023-12-5	10.00	liquid	Notes: initial transfer to liquid will in actuality be more than the measured drop.
2024-1-2	9.00		Aug-Oct is a no taper time. July and Nov should be slower.
2024-1-30	8.10
2024-2-27	7.29
2024-3-26	6.56
2024-4-23	5.90
2024-5-21	5.31
2024-6-18	4.78
2024-7-16	4.30
2024-8-13	4.30
2024-9-10	4.30
2024-10-8	4.30
2024-11-5	4.09
2024-12-3	3.07	25%	Try a higher percentage at lower dosage
2024-12-31	2.30
2025-1-28	1.73
2025-2-25	1.29
2025-3-25	0.97
2025-4-22	0.73
2025-5-20	0.00		"jump" off

[bunchesofoats]

Start of 3rd Taper: 10mg citalopram --> 0mg

 

I took my first reduced dose Nov 19, 2023. I've been splitting pills, taking about 3/4 tablet as normal and dissolving 1/4 in water. I feel an internal pressure, had some headaches, and more intense dreams. However, it's been more than manageable. I bought pill cutting scissors which work much better than the pill splitter I had. 

[bunchesofoats]

Almost 6 weeks in to my 3rd taper. I'm at 9.75mg, or a 2.5% drop. I got covid for the first time this past month, of course, after finally starting to taper down. It's been hard to recover mentally. I'm pushing through but I often have nearly intolerable anxiety. I'm hoping over a few more weeks and after getting back to exercising I'll start feeling a bit more normal. But it's been miserable. I had some temporary neuropathy as well. I've a near constant feeling of dread, but I keep pushing myself to go out and do things. I do really wish I was in a better state of mind though. My head is foggy and achey.

[Hopepersists]

Hang in there and remind yourself that the strong anxiety is a reaction to the change in dose.  I had panic attack sensations when I went down doses before but my mind was ok. I refer to them as physical panic attacks to my doctor.  They always remind me how much physical triggers can remind us of old mental symptoms.  
 

for what it’s worth I have to go really slowly and it’s worked well for me.  I literally would do 9.95 mg, 9.9 (one week later), etc.  I would stick with where you are since you’re already dealing with the side effects (may as well get the drop in dosage since you’re paying with the side effects) but maybe next time go down to only 9.7 and then do the pattern I suggested.  The key is having syringes that are detailed enough to allow this. 

[jozeff]

Hi @bunchesofoats,

 

Good to hear you have a solid tapering plan. You shoukd try it and see how it feels. Your "final" tapering steps seem really fast but who knows. Everybody is different.

I've made a lot of tapering schedules myself and never managed to stick to them because you never know how you're going to feel at forehand.

 

I wish you all the best and I really hope thing go well for you!

 

Cheers

 

Jozeff

 

 

[bunchesofoats]

@Hopepersists 

Quote

On 1/1/2024 at 5:38 PM, Hopepersists said:

I refer to them as physical panic attacks

Very similar to how I experience it. I call it "body anxiety" in that I feel the sensations in my body but they're not related to anything happening.

 

My tapering schedule thus far has been:

Nov 7-Dec 7: gradually move from 10mg tablet to 10mg dissolved

Dec 14: 9.9mg

Dec 21: 9.8mg, where I was fine

Dec 28: 9.75mg. I thought it wouldn't make a difference, and maybe it didn't, it could've been all covid. But I did have quite a bit of physical anxiety/dread after this point. Luckily it subsided.

 

There have been studies regarding covid's neurological impact. There have also been people prescribed ssris for long-covid symptoms, which is worrisome.

https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2023/october/penn-study-finds-serotonin-reduction-causes-long-covid-symptoms

 

My next planned drop will be next week at 1%. Overall, my plan is an adjusted brass monkey slide with two weeks of drops and two weeks of hold. This is because I align to my hormonal cycle.

 

My syringes are labeled to the 0.2mL. I dissolve in 40mL water to allow for small changes. I try to keep all parts of my method and measurement consistent (mixing, measuring to the same part of the line, etc).

 

@jozeff

On 1/4/2024 at 2:16 AM, jozeff said:

I've made a lot of tapering schedules myself and never managed to stick to them

Absolutely same for me. I was being optimistic that I'll somehow handle symptoms better or have fewer of them near the end. I know that's not the case for many. I don't want to derail my life, so that means going very slowly.

 

My plan for next month is a 2% drop. If it goes smoothly, I'll increase. If I'm disrupted by symptoms, I won't. If they're really problematic, I'll decrease the next drop.

 

Wishing you both well and appreciate the advice and encouragement.

[bunchesofoats]

I've managed to decrease my dose by 2.3% per month for the past two months. I wish I could do the recommended 10%, but I'm not confident that I can. I've had mild moments of vertigo this week as well as some brain fog. There's definitely room for improvement in my self-care. Particularly after having covid in Dec, I've had a hard time getting back to exercising.

 

My hope is that as I continue to improve my self-care, health, and general lifestyle, I will be able to safely move at a faster pace. If not, my timeline is 9.5 years, which I can't bear to consider, especially because I'm running out of window to be able to try to have children. If I could do 10%/mo, my timeline is 2 years. I like to reframe this issue as a positive motivator for taking excellent care of myself and being very in touch with what I want in my life. But I know the reality is many years have been poured into little more than surviving.

[PattyCatty]

On 11/24/2023 at 4:48 PM, bunchesofoats said:

took my first reduced dose Nov 19, 2023. I've been splitting pills, taking about 3/4 tablet as normal and dissolving 1/4 in water.

 

Dear @bunchesofoats

 

I hope your taper is going well for you.

 

I am on a 10mg tablet of seal coated Citalopram and wondering the best way to switch to liquid (not the calculations) but in practise. Did you feel a big difference when switching to liquid in terms of how it's metabolised and how you feel as a result?

 

Did you crush your pill and take it in a capsule and then top the rest of the dose with liquid?

 

Did you switch to a crushed form of the pill in a capsule first and get used to that before starting to replace percentage of pill with liquid?

 

Thank you.

 

 

 @bunchesofoats

[bunchesofoats]

Hi @PattyCatty, yes, I did feel a difference in metabolism when switching from tablet to liquid. When I started tapering from 20mg, I immediately dissolved the entire tablet and did a dose reduction. This was too much of a drop. I went much slower when I started tapering from 10mg, and although I felt the change, it was minimal.

 

I split the tablet in two and then two again to get somewhat even quarters. I purchased pill cutting scissors and found I could be more accurate with the scissors than with my traditional pill splitter. I dissolved one quarter of the tablet in water, drank the entire solution, and took the remaining three quarters in tablet form. After a week, I dissolved two quarters in water, drank the entire solution, took the remaining two quarters as tablets. After another week, another quarter became liquid, and at the 4th week, I dissolved the entire tablet and drank the entire solution. After a week taking the entire tablet as liquid, I began decreasing the dosage. I found this process to be quite smooth.

 

I considered crushing the pill, but it seemed much more difficult to get the amounts accurate, and it was easy to lose bits of the powder. I also couldn't find a consumer grade scale with enough accuracy to use for these tablets as they're quite small. I didn't think it was worth the expense to get a lab grade scale for this purpose.

[Hopepersists]

@bunchesofoats I just wanted to chime in to tell you what a good job that you are doing.  For those of us on the more sensitive side, the speed of reductions can be incredibly frustrating.  I have been working on reducing my Celexa since January 2021, so three years and I have reduced from 15 mg to 12.2 mg.  That would put me on another 12 years of doing this.  Ugh. 
 

That said, I I have worked with a functional medicine doctor the last few years to try to balance my hormones, address some vitamin deficiencies, etc. so I am getting ready to try to move a little bit more aggressively.  Because my body is so sensitive whenever I would do the hormone or vitamin changes, I couldn’t really do my Celexa, so I would fit in the Celexa drops when I wasn’t doing another change.  Now I should be able to decrease more consistently.  I currently can drop 0.05mg per week and not feel it too much so I’m going to experiment with doing that same drop every five days rather than every seven. I’m also going to try dropping 0.1 mg once a week and seeing which method is better.  Hopefully at least one of them works.  My psychiatrist said that I can take extra GABA with l-theanine and lavender to see if they will help. I am also working with my acupuncturist to go weekly to have that constant reset of my nervous system rather than biweekly and I am going to restart my daily meditation practice.

 

Just wanted to share all of that with you in case you can use any of those ideas for yourself.  
 

BTW thank you for the idea of the pill scissors since I am getting ready to start thinking about transitioning some of my 10 mg pill into liquid as the amount of liquid medication I’m on draws increasingly smaller.  
 

Also, I split my dose into two times a day so that I feel less of the change when I decrease part of my Celexa dose.  I’ve been doing this for a few years, and I feel like it helps.  I do 7 AM and 6 PM. 

[bunchesofoats]

Thanks @Hopepersists for the encouragement and advice.

 

On 2/8/2024 at 6:13 AM, Hopepersists said:

Also, I split my dose into two times a day so that I feel less of the change when I decrease part of my Celexa dose.  I’ve been doing this for a few years, and I feel like it helps.  I do 7 AM and 6 PM.

 Do you split it 50-50%? I've considered doing this but have yet to try.

 

 

On 2/8/2024 at 6:13 AM, Hopepersists said:

My psychiatrist said that I can take extra GABA with l-theanine and lavender to see if they will help.

I take theanine daily as I've found it to help with no side effects. I take lavender occasionally during stressful situations, but it gives me heartburn. I haven't tried GABA in a decade. When I took it, I think the dose was too high, and it gave me nightmares. I'll look into it again.

 

 

My symptoms this time around have so far either been completely absent or minimal, with the exception of one moment of severe vertigo yesterday. It was only one moment, but it was unsettling. I haven't experienced that since my last taper, and I'm going very slowly. I'm glad I decided to not push the dosage decrease more.

 

 

On 2/8/2024 at 6:13 AM, Hopepersists said:

That said, I I have worked with a functional medicine doctor the last few years to try to balance my hormones, address some vitamin deficiencies, etc. so I am getting ready to try to move a little bit more aggressively.

My approach has also to improve my system as a whole so that in time I can move more aggressively. Hope things keep improving for you!

[bunchesofoats]

I'm still moving very slowly. I've dropped to 9.45mg this month and am holding here. I've been interviewing at a competitive company, and while this is a source of positive stress, my emotions and thoughts are all over the place. I've started exercising again after a few months off due to flu and covid. My weight shot up 8 lbs over the last few weeks. 

 

I haven't had what I'd call severe symptoms, but my body doesn't feel as steady as I'd like it to be. Exercise helps a lot, which I'm grateful for. In the early days of taking and then tapering citalopram, I had no exercise tolerance. If I jogged even 30 seconds in the morning, I couldn't sleep that night. I'm still extremely sensitive to this drug and changes in its dosage, but I'm in a much better place than I was. It really does feel like climbing a mental Everest.

[Emonda]

31 minutes ago, bunchesofoats said:

Exercise helps a lot, which I'm grateful for.

 

I completely agree with you. It brings me much relief.

 

32 minutes ago, bunchesofoats said:

I'm still extremely sensitive to this drug and changes in its dosage, but I'm in a much better place than I was.

 

You've got to celebrate being in a much better place 👍

 

33 minutes ago, bunchesofoats said:

It really does feel like climbing a mental Everest.

 

Totally agree, but look how far you've come. I see you were at 30mg at one stage...sub 9.5mg is real progress.

 

Slow and steady, and we'll both get there.

 

 

[bunchesofoats]

This past week was quite eventful, and I was really glad I had tapered slowly enough to be able to pause. I had a few days where I was certain I had no symptoms, and that's always a relief to know I can get to a baseline. Of course, stress threw me around anyway. I think my approach for now is to micro taper for the first 8-10 days of my hormonal cycle so that if any stressors come up, I can immediately adjust and remain at the same dosage. I wish I had more of a window for tapering, but my hormones seem to throw me around too much. I want to remain as functional and healthy as possible. 

[Hopepersists]

I think you’re doing a great job, listening to your body, and seeing what works best for you.  Are you planning to do tiny decreases daily during those 10 days?  
 

I am currently doing my decreases once a week (Sunday night) of 0.1 mg.  This is a new amount for me I used to only do .005.  I feel it but it’s not bad.  Maybe 80-90 percent normal so I’m doing it for a bit to make some progress   I tried doing the .005 every five days to see if that was enough time for my body to clear it, but it wasn’t. That was OK because I learned where my body is at right right now and I think it’s great that you are seeing what your body can tolerate right now. 

[bunchesofoats]

23 hours ago, Hopepersists said:

Are you planning to do tiny decreases daily during those 10 days?

Exactly.

 

Tiny at this point means .1-.2mL, which translates into 0.025-0.05mg.

 

The idea is to have the built in flexibility - meaning if one day I don't feel quite right, I don't have to drop my dosage that night. If something stressful happens, I can stop dropping altogether.

 

I'm currently going through a very stressful time, so maintaining some stability is of utmost important. I'm unfortunately at the point where I feel very easily thrown off.

 

Great that you have found a balance where you can make progress while symptoms are tolerable and don't linger.

[Emonda]

How are you doing @bunchesofoats 

 

I hope all is ok at your end.

 

Emonda