Liquid taper 1

Let’s Liquid Titrate!

Liquid titration (LT) is a really easy way to gradually reduce your dose without dry cutting or getting any fancy compound Rx from your doctor. LT is a smarty-pants term basically meaning "dissolve my pill in some water, remove a bit of the solution, and drink the rest."

To get started, you’ll need some basic supplies:

A good graduated cylinder that measures at least 100 milliliters (mL).
I like this one from Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Corning-3025-100-Graduated-Double-Metric-Calibrated/dp/B004DGIJ46
I also keep a spare plastic one for travel or if I break the glass one, but this isn't necessary:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MKG2I6/ref=ox_ya_os_product
This one is a great budget-friendly cylinder - only $3!
http://www.amazon.com/100-Ml-Plastic-Cylinder-Graduated/dp/B002VT7TZW/ref=sr_1_6?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1389911934&sr=1-6&keywords=graduated+cylinder+plastic

Syringes (I find that 10 mL [also called 10cc] syringe and a 1 mL [also called 1 cc] syringe work best).
You can get syringes from the pharmacy, veterinarian's office, or pet supply store. Buy a couple of each, because over time, the markings tend to wear off, and the syringes can also get grungy.
To prolong the markings on the syringe, wrap in clear tape.
These syringes are really nice, but there are 100/box, and you probably won't need that many:
http://www.amazon.com/Luer-Lok-Syringes-Disposable-Sterile%20309604/dp/B00188683Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1389894791&sr=1-1&keywords=BD+10+ml+syringe

Some sort of container to mix the water and med in that you can easily shake/swirl without having liquid splash everywhere.
Any type of lidded jar with a good seal will do the job, or if nothing else, a large glass.

(optional) Storage jar. Really resourceful people might want to save liquid that they remove to be re-used again for another dose. I find that the liquid gets a little murky after sitting around for a few days (it is still safe to use, it just looks a little disgusting after awhile), so if you have enough pills to do your taper, I wouldn't bother with this.

(optional) Mortar and pestle. If your med doesn't dissolve in water, you might need to grind it into a powder first and then add it to the water. Before you invest in a mortar/pestle and utilize precious energy grinding up your med, do a little experiment first to see how your med dissolves:

(a) drop one of your doses into a glass of water - it doesn't matter how much water, but it should be an amount you can drink when you're ready to dose.

(b) wait a few minutes and stir the med and water around to see how it's dissolving
[note: Because many benzodiazepenes are not "water-soluble," the med may not "disappear" in the same way that salt does when added to water. What will likely happen is that you get a bunch of little particles sitting in the bottom of the glass, and when stirred or shaken will distribute throughout the water, and then sink to the bottom of the glass again.]

(c) drink up that dose! it likely won't taste great, and you will probably get some particles sitting in the glass when you're done. Just add more water to gather them, and drink up again!

So...did your dose dissolve as described above (this will apply to most people)? If so, skip the mortar and pestle. If the pill is just sitting in the water hanging out, then you get to work in some extra arm exercise for grinding.
The taper plan

Now you are asking, is this the part where I have to do math?, and are maybe feeling some anxiety at this prospect? YES! But don't worry, it's easy!

Really easy method. Gather up the following information, to the best of your knowledge:
(a) Your total daily dose
(b) How many times a day you dose
(c) A *general* idea of how fast you want to go (e.g., 0.01 mg reduction every 10 days, 10% reduction every 14 days) - this only needs to be an idea, you can refine it as you go once your body tells you if you can go faster or need to go slower.
(d) If you dose more than once per day, do you want to prepare a whole day's worth of doses at once, or would you prefer to prepare one dose at a time.

Message me (https://www.facebook.com/marie.arrow) or email me: [email protected] this information, and I will prepare a schedule for you.

Easy method aka the 100mL method.

1 pill in 100 mL of water = 100% of your dose

If you remove 1 mL of solution, you are removing 1% of your dose, and are consuming the remaining 99%

To make a schedule using this idea:

5 mg V / 100 mL water, remove 1 mL (1%, so in this example 5 * 0.01 = 0.05 mg V removed), drink the remaining 99 mL (99%, in this example 5. 0.99 = 4.95 mg V taken).

5 mg /100 mL     toss 1 mL (0.05 mg)    drink 99 mL (4.95 mg)
5 mg /100 mL     toss 2 mL (0.10 mg)    drink 98 mL (4.90 mg)
5 mg /100 mL     toss 3 mL (0.15 mg)    drink 97 mL (4.85 mg) ...etc.

If you want to make even smaller cuts, try removing 0.5% (0.5 mL each dose), e.g.,
5 mg/100 mL      toss 0.5 mL (0.025 mg)   drink 99.5 mL (4.975 mg)
5 mg/100 mL      toss 1.0 mL (0.050 mg)   drink 99.0 mL (4.950 mg)
5 mg/100 mL      toss 1.5 mL (0.075 mg)   drink 98.5 mL (4.925 mg) ...etc.

Your 1 mL syringe will have 10 increments marked on it, where each increment is 0.01 mL, so you can pretty accurately make cuts of 0.1%:
5 mg/100 mL     toss 0.01 mL (0.005 mg)   drink 99.99 mL (4.995 mg)
5 mg/100 mL     toss 0.02 mL (0.010 mg)   drink 99.98 mL (4.990 mg)
5 mg/100 mL     toss 0.03 mL (0.015 mg)   drink 99.97 mL (4.895 mg) ...etc.

If you take 15 mg per day (three 5 mg doses), you can either make a new batch with each dose, or make one daily batch by multiplying everything by three.
15 mg/300 mL    toss 3 mL (0.15 mg)    drink 99 mL (4.95 mg) each dose [297 mL total, 14.85 mg total]
15 mg/300 mL    toss 6 mL (0.30 mg)    drink 98 mL (4.90 mg) each dose [294 mL total, 14.70 mg total]
15 mg/300 mL    toss 9 mL (0.45 mg)    drink 97 mL (4.85 mg) each dose [291 mL total, 14.55 mg total]
Starting your taper
You have a schedule and you have supplies. Now you are ready to impress friends and family with your amazing chemistry skills and begin your taper! Don't worry, it's really easy!

Look at the first line in your taper.

Let's say that it's this:
5 mg/100 mL   toss 0.5 mL   drink 99.5 mL
Use the graduated cylinder to measure 100 mL of water into your jar/glass.
Drop in 5 mg pill (or ground powder, if you determined you needed to grind it up [see above re: mortar and pestle]).
Let the pill break up in the water for a few minutes. Remember, unless it's water-soluble, it won't dissolve like salt in water does.
Shake or stir well so that the solution becomes uniform (there are no particles sitting in the bottom of the glass).
Get your syringe and pull up 0.5 mL of the solution into the syringe. Depending on how fast the particles begin to settle, you may need to stir/swish the solution as you pull out the 0.5 mL. Just do your best, it won't be perfect, and it doesn't have to be.
Either toss the solution from the syringe (I just dump it down the sink) or save it for a future dose (see above re: storage jar).
Drink the remaining 99.5 mL of solution. Likely, some particles will get stuck to the glass; just add more water to get bits left over. Again, just do your best; a few bits will probably be left over.
That's all there is! Remember, I just put in the values as an example. You will want to follow whatever is on your taper plan.
HELP!!!

Are you stuck, confused, ready to destroy your cylinder?

You can always post your questions in the group, or directly message the following people:
Marie Arrowsmith (https://www.facebook.com/marie.arrow) email: [email protected]
Andrea Quigley (https://www.facebook.com/andreagracequigley)
Tracey Amber (https://www.facebook.com/tracy.amber)

Tracey has put together a YT video which shows how LT works:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJIEBnZOloY&sns=em

Please add your name and link above if you can assist others directly with questions!

FAQs (Let's keep adding here as common questions arise)

I've heard that if my benzo is not water-soluble, I should use milk instead of water.
There is some thought that the medicine will bind to the fat particles in milk, making the solution more uniform, and to eliminate the need to constantly be swishing/stirring/shaking. I personally have not seen anything that empirically says using milk is superior. The downside of milk is that you will not be able to see how the medicine is distributed in the solution and risk getting an uneven amount during the pulling process. Water is preferred because you can see the distribution and get a sense that what you are pulling is an even mix of water+med.

How do I store multiple dose preparations and how long can I save preparations?
You can refrigerate your preparations, or leave them, sealed in a jar, in a cool, dry place. I found that, left unrefrigerated, water+med solutions could be kept for about 5 days before the water looked a little dingy and I ran the risk of liquid evaporating. If you choose to use milk, you need to refrigerate the solution.