Prescription compounded tapering strips for psychiatric drugs from the Netherlands

[SouthernFreeze]

On 9/4/2021 at 3:53 AM, Paquita said:

 

Which email? There are a few.

I do not know if they can be sent to NZ.

I emailed the guys we have from the Netherlands we have been talking about. 

They emailed me back, turns out you can get them prescribed here, I just need my doctor to sign the prescription they sent. Wether that's going to be a problem I'm not sure yet.

[Paquita]

10 hours ago, SouthernFreeze said:

I emailed the guys we have from the Netherlands we have been talking about. 

They emailed me back, turns out you can get them prescribed here, I just need my doctor to sign the prescription they sent. Wether that's going to be a problem I'm not sure yet.

 

And wil they send them to NZ? Or will a pharmacy in NZ make the prescription?

I hope it doesn't get too expensive for you. Does insurance cover?

[SouthernFreeze]

15 hours ago, Paquita said:

 

And wil they send them to NZ? Or will a pharmacy in NZ make the prescription?

I hope it doesn't get too expensive for you. Does insurance cover?

They send it to new Zealand once the prescription is signed and sent through I think, I'm not entirely sure I have only just got around to printing the prescription out and haven't seen th doctor yet, I'm just waiting for lockdown restrictions to loosen which maybe today.

 

It looks as though it will be expensive, like about $150 but I'm willing to pay. We don't have medical insurance over here 

[Gryffe74]

Hi All,

 

Thought i would come back on and update on how I faired with the tapering strips as I see a few people are intrested in them, I finished my taper from Sertraline in January and have felt totally fine ever since, the strips made the whole process pretty smooth and took the worry out of dosing. My advise would be if you can afford it go with the strips it just makes a difficult situation so much easier. The feeling of being off medication and actually feeling things again is so worth it. 

 

Thanks and good luck,

 

Garry.

[benesh]

Has anyone in the USA been successful in obtaining these? My doctor is willing to prescribe but would likely be more inclined if I had a bit more success stories with these strips..in terms of obtaining them here in the USA. 

[sandnit]

Hi, all!! 

i'm actually from the netherlands and i'm planning to use the tapering strips when i resume my taper. I wish i had used them from the start of my taper, but back than i had no clue of the consequences .......and so had my doctor either. I'm wondering why it is not standard procedure over here and so little doctors know of these tapering strips. Thank god, I now found a psychiatrist that acknowledges the WD symptoms and the importance of tapering slow. She will prescribe the tapering strips for me. There are multiple taper kits to choose from, this is one:

 

 

Here are the links:

https://www.taperingstrip.com/prescribing-and-ordering/?cp_18=2#

https://cdn.taperingstrip.org/presordfrm/antidepressives/SCTL_bestel_GB.pdf

 

I'm on 5mg and i think the 252 days kit comes close to what is SA recommending right? 

 

I had to switch health insurer because actually only 2 of all the health insurers cover the tapering strips. The other health insurers do not cover them because they say there is no science based proof of the necessity of tapering strips. This all makes me really angry! This site should be enough proof, when are they going to wake up. 

 

Ps. I could use some help in figuring out when it is a good time for me to start the taper again. Any advice on my question about when to start the taper again on my introduction page would be really helpful !! 

 

 

[Revo]

On 1/18/2023 at 2:27 PM, sandnit said:

Hi, all!! 

i'm actually from the netherlands and i'm planning to use the tapering strips when i resume my taper.

 

 

 

Hi @sandnit

 

Did you manage to get to use tapering strips?  Mine arrived today and I think I will start on Sunday.  I have been on 10mg escitalopram for 14 years.

 

I have gone for a very long, slow taper, using 12 strips of 28 days each, so 336 days in total.  (There is also the option of "stabilisation strips" that offer a holding dose, so the taper can be “plateaued" for as long as it takes to adjust before resuming the reduction.  But I’m hoping to complete it without recourse to them.)

 

I'm hoping my experience will be as positive as @Gryffe74

 

 

[MarliesDutch]

Hi all,

I also used taperingstrips for Paroxetine. I'm a Dutchie myself. Even in the Netherlands the use of taperingstrips isn't very well known among doctors, psychiatrists and other caretakers. Unfortunately. 
There is, on the other hand, more attention for tapering psychofarmaca itself. 
Well know psychiatrists in The Netherlands who are advocating this, are: Jim van Os, Remke van Staveren en Christaan Vinkers (wrote books, I think only available in Dutch).

I think the practical side of the strips is well worth the costs. But sometimes the pace is still to fast. 

So make a good analysis before tapering; slower is better, stabilizing during the process is recommended. imho

In June 2021 started tapering:

- 10mg --> 4,5 mg in 28 days

- 4,5mg --> 1,5mg in 28 days --> got withdrawal at 2,8mg and stabilised on 3mg --> didn't taper any further

 

In January 2023:

- made a self-made taper schedule, 3,0mg to 1,0mg in 6 months time (3,0-2,5 || 2,5-2,0 || 2,0-1,7 || 1,7-1,4 || 1,4-1,2 || 1,2-1,0), would do the last 1 milligram in 2024

- aaaaaannnddddd: got stuck on the second taperingtrip with heavy withdrawal at 2,2mg, immediately went back to 2,5mg and still recovering. But: also because I was 'waiting' for the brainzaps as my typical warningsign. But that sign came very late and in the meantime there were a lot of others signs, but I thought it was stress/coincidence/viral etc. Until I 'tripped over', so to speak. Symptoms started to slowly arise, but the more I tapered the symptoms got heavier/more/worse in a real short amount of time. And that's when you're to late...

 

So I guess the succes of taperingstrips goes together with other riskfactors;

- long time user (myself since 2007... with a 1 year gap in 2008-2009)

- amount of switching different psychofarmaca
- polyfarmacy (although it also happens in the Netherlands, but browsing the forum I'm sometimes shocked by the amount of different drugs they prescribe in America)

- prior withdrawal situations

- halflife of the drug (Paroxetine is a pain in the b*tt for that matter)

 

And personal advice: if you have a symptom that's new, be very careful and take it serious.
Don't think: oh I can handle this (ánd this ánd also this). Nope: stop tapering and stabilize! Learned the hard way and regretting ever since.

 

 

And good to know: the Regenboogapotheek (farmacy) also has good advice on crosstapering, like Paroxetine to Fluoxetine. They make a crosstaper, hardly affecting the receptor occupancy in the brain (disclaimer: this does not mean you won't have any trouble crossing...). You can find it online on the website (in the form itself).

 

[Revo]

  

14 hours ago, MarliesDutch said:

In June 2021 started tapering:

- 10mg --> 4,5 mg in 28 days

- 4,5mg --> 1,5mg in 28 days --> got withdrawal at 2,8mg and stabilised on 3mg --> didn't taper any further

 

In January 2023:

- made a self-made taper schedule, 3,0mg to 1,0mg in 6 months time (3,0-2,5 || 2,5-2,0 || 2,0-1,7 || 1,7-1,4 || 1,4-1,2 || 1,2-1,0), would do the last 1 milligram in 2024

- aaaaaannnddddd: got stuck on the second taperingtrip with heavy withdrawal at 2,2mg, immediately went back to 2,5mg and still recovering. But: also because I was 'waiting' for the brainzaps as my typical warningsign. But that sign came very late and in the meantime there were a lot of others signs, but I thought it was stress/coincidence/viral etc. Until I 'tripped over', so to speak. Symptoms started to slowly arise, but the more I tapered the symptoms got heavier/more/worse in a real short amount of time. And that's when you're to late...

 

 

 

 

Thanks!  Tomorrow I'll be two weeks into my taper using the Dutch Strips and so far, so good.  I had a blip / wave last Sunday (at exactly the 1 week / 1 mg point, as it happens) but otherwise I've been fine.  My taper is nice and slow:

 

(12 x 28 day strips; all amounts are in mg; medication is escitalopram / lexapro; hyperbolic reduction based on SERT occupancy)

 

1.  10 - 7

2.  6.9 - 5

3.  5 - 3.8

4.  3.7 - 2.9

5.  2.8 - 2.2 

6.  2.2 - 1.7

7.  1.7 - 1.3

8.  1.2 - 0.9

9.  0.9 - 0.6 

10.  0.6 - 0.4

11.  0.4 - 0.2

12.  0.2 - 0.1 (0.2 for first week, then 0.1 for the final three weeks).

Hope that makes sense and @MarliesDutch that you're doing OK.  Thanks for your post. 

 

[benesh]

Sure wish I could move where these strips are available. Still in hold pattern due to tapering symptoms hell. Grrrr.

Looking forward to hearing how you all do as you use these strips.

Thanks for posting.

[SouthernFreeze]

5 hours ago, benesh said:

Sure wish I could move where these strips are available. Still in hold pattern due to tapering symptoms hell. Grrrr.

Looking forward to hearing how you all do as you use these strips.

Thanks for posting.

You can still order them from overseas, just email them to get a script for your doctor to sign. Expensive though, I'm still saving for mine. 

[sandnit]

On 8/4/2023 at 5:01 PM, Revo said:

 

Hi @sandnit

 

Did you manage to get to use tapering strips?  Mine arrived today and I think I will start on Sunday.  I have been on 10mg escitalopram for 14 years.

 

I have gone for a very long, slow taper, using 12 strips of 28 days each, so 336 days in total.  (There is also the option of "stabilisation strips" that offer a holding dose, so the taper can be “plateaued" for as long as it takes to adjust before resuming the reduction.  But I’m hoping to complete it without recourse to them.)

 

I'm hoping my experience will be as positive as @Gryffe74

 

 

@Revo, sorry for the late reply. I was on a vacation. 

 

I didn't start my taper yet. I'm still holding and stabilizing on 5mg. I hope to start my taper soon.  Not sure I'm gonna use the tapering strips as I want to be able to hold whenever needed. Not sure if this is possible. Does anyone know?? If not I think I'm gonna use the liquid version.

 

Wishing you all the best and I hope your taper goes as smoothly as possible!!