CAUTION: The information contained in this document comes from the personal experience of laypeople and is not intended to constitute medical advice. Do not attempt to stop or taper benzodiazepines without first consulting a doctor.
How to use the Water Titration Taper Sample Schedule
Let’s Get Started!
List of Sample Schedules Click Here
Choosing a sample schedule: There are three taper rate speeds to choose from for tapering various benzodiazepines. Most people are comfortable starting at a medium speed. Fast taper rates are not recommended, but may be tolerated by some individuals. It may be necessary to switch to a slow taper rate as you approach the lower doses or are finding it difficult to maintain a medium rate without frequently holding.
Check your pill size: Before starting, verify that the pill size you are taking matches the dissolve dose on the schedule. If your pill size does not match the dissolve dose size YOU CANNOT USE THIS SCHEDULE unless obtaining a smaller pill size from your doctor or breaking the pills to obtain an exact match in dissolve dose.
How to print the schedule: After selecting the sample schedule that tapers the benzodiazepine that you are taking and tapers at the speed you desire, you will need to match your current daily mg intake to the mg intake on the schedule and print out that page and subsequent pages. To do this you would identify the page number of the schedule that contains your current total mg intake, then do a “print preview” and identify how many pages you need to print that has values on the pages, then change “print all” to “pages” and enter the page range.
Changing speeds mid-taper: Once you have been tapering for several weeks, you may wish to either increase or decrease your taper rate. To change the taper rate, note your current mg intake, identify which sample schedule file contains the taper rate you desire (FAST, MEDIUM, SLOW), then search all pages of the sample schedule to identify which page contains the same or similar mg intake value that you are currently at. Once the page is identified, print out this page and all subsequent pages. Note the water amount, toss, and drink values will all be different. Use these new values to proceed with your new taper schedule.
What if a sample schedule does not exist that suits my needs? Obtain a copy of the water titration spreadsheet or have someone provide you with a manually produced custom schedule. See the Water Titration Spreadsheet Manual for further instructions as to how to create and modify a custom schedule.
How to hold at a given amount (temporarily hold the taper)
Holding may be necessary in times of unusual stress, illness, while travelling, or if you are experiencing difficulties at the lower doses. Hold your taper by doing the following: Circle the toss amount you are holding at on the spreadsheet and just to the left of the date, write the word HOLD and your current mg intake that you are holding at. When you resume your taper, write in the date you are starting back up at in the next empty date field and continue your taper using the next toss amount on the schedule.
What about multiple doses?
When using the sample schedules you must titrate one dose at a time, taking part of the dose in dry form and part in liquid according to the schedule. Doses can be spread throughout the day if that is your desire.
How do I prepare my dose? Click Here
What do the columns tell me?
|
|
dry |
Water |
dissolve |
|
|
Klonopin |
Valium |
mg |
% drop |
2 week |
2 wk |
2wk Valium |
cumulative |
|
Date |
mg |
in ML |
mg |
Toss |
Drink |
Mg intake |
mg intake |
drop |
daily |
mg drop |
% drop |
Mg drop |
% drop |
|
|
1.000 |
250 |
0.500 |
2 |
248 |
1.496 |
29.920 |
0.0040 |
0.27% |
|
|
|
0.00% |
|
|
1.000 |
250 |
0.500 |
4 |
246 |
1.492 |
29.840 |
0.0040 |
0.27% |
|
|
|
0.53% |
Date: Write in the date.
Dry mg: The amount of medication, in milligrams, that you will be taking in dry tablet or capsule form (if any).
Water in ML: The amount of water, in milliliters, that you will be using to dilute your medication.
Dissolve mg: The amount of medication that you will be dissolving in water for the water titration portion of your dose. This amount will stay the same on all pages of the spreadsheet.
Toss: The amount of drug water, in milliliters, you will toss down the sink each day – cheering all the way!
Drink: The amount of drug water, in milliliters, you will drink each day.
Mg intake: This is the total milligrams of your medication that you are consuming per day. It is a total of your dry dosage plus your daily amount of medication water you drink.
Valium mg intake: The equivalent amount of valium, measured in milligrams that you are consuming per day.
Mg drop: The amount of your medication, measured in milligrams, that you are tapering/reducing each day.
% drop daily: The percentage of medication you are dropping on a daily basis.
2-week mg drop: The 2-week cumulative total of your medication that you are tapering/reducing. You can compare this to the amount of your medication that you were tapering/reducing when you were manually breaking your pills into little pieces. This field also highlights the degree of control you have over how much medication you drop in a two week period of time using the water titration method.
2-week % drop: This field is extremely helpful in determining your 2 week percentage drop. Many people recommend staying under a 10% reduction over a two week period.
2-wk Valium mg drop: The 2 week cumulative total of the Valium equivalent of your medication that you are tapering/reducing. This field can be very helpful when compared to the Ashton Manual sample reduction schedules which typically recommend reducing your medication by approximately 2mg of Valium near the beginning, and 1mg or less of Valium near the end of your taper.
Cumulative % drop: Your current daily cumulative drop in your medication. This field compares your current intake to your original starting dose on Schedule 1.
The information contained in this document comes from the personal experience of laypeople and is not intended to constitute medical advice. Do not attempt to stop or taper benzodiazepines without first consulting a doctor.