taper schedules?

hey i am looking for some taper schedules?  what have some of you done and used?  i cant really find any here on the site, i am kinda new. thanks

[allaboutmary]

Hey welcome to the forum.. I am a cold turkey girl but I'm sure others will respond soon.  I think Avisg has taper info in her profile.  Hang on help will be here soon. Until then tell us more about yourself.  What are you taking ? How much ? etc.... You have come to the right place. So many helpful people here. Keep reading and posting.   Mary

[hopsing94]

Need to know what your taking,how much and what you have left.

[oneeagle]

IBKleen is terriffic at that stuff - flmagi is good also - avis, zurich42 if she is home, and a great many others that will gladly assist you with this....not many eggheads here. Mostly just tired old drugggies that ran out of money or realized just how sick they were getting and it was time to stop. Now it is time to help the many that are trying to quit now and we try and help through our experiences. Good kuck to you......

[worried878]

Great greebo and  avisg helped with mine...they are great...I ahd to look at it and kinda taper it to my schedule of craving...I did 10 days with 35 pills...everyone warned me that this was a quick taper and I had to get rid of about 20 pills...actually I gave them to a friend to help her taper with me...I also flushed some..ouch   that is a quick taper and I had to give someone my pills to dole out to me as I suck at restraint when it comes to pills...if i would have had them today, i would have taken 10!...I am ok now but has been a hard day...I was ready to get it over with and planned to take off work etc...I did not want to do the weekly cut by one as it would have taken months...If I could have taken off work I would have gone CT...but I wanted to start in the right direction and quit next wednesday...hope i have been of help

[longweekend]

Hello forumryder

It really depends on how much you are taking and how much you have to taper with. Once, you have your schedule and enough pills to do that schedule, CUT OFF ACCESS TO MORE PILLS. That way, you will be more likely to stick to your schedule knowing that you can't get more later and try it all over again.

The key is a slow taper.

avis helped me by giving me the schedule below and it has worked so far. I am about 10 days in and have had some symptoms of w/d, but have been able to work my 40+ hours a week, help take care of my kids and go to school. Remember, this schedule was made for my situation... with the amount of pills that I haed left and with an around 30-40 mg a day vico habit. It may not work for you, but will give you an idea.
Feel free to keep in touch throughout your taoer. It still is not easy. In some ways it may be harder than c/t.
But, either way, you have to really want to quit.

Hang in there!!!

am            mid afternoon     night

10 mg      10 mg                 10mg                                    for 4 days   =  24

10  mg        5 mg                10 mg                                  for 4 days =   20 pills

5 mg           5mg                 10 mg                                for 4 days =     16 pills                                                      
                  
5mg            5mg                  5mg                                  for   4  days     12 pills    

am      lunch      dinner        bed
                  
2.5        2.5        2.5            2.5                                    for   4 days      8 pills
  2.5            2.5                    2.5                                     for 4 days       6 pills  
2.5                                        2.5                                    until   done    

[worried878]

one main rule I have found to be true...do not spike doses   spread them out..tomorrow i am going to set my cell phone to alrm every 2 hours and take .5

[forumryder]

thanks everyone.  yah for more information about myself i have been taking around 100- 150 mg a day.  i do perks and oxys.  either or.  the problem is i can get them anytime. it is so easy to get them.  but i want to try to taper down as fast as i can but i dont want to go too fast you know.  so yesterday i only took 9 perks but barely slept becaue of it.  i took one during the night but it didnt do much. so yah this will be day 2 of tapering.  i am already feeling some signs of wd,s but it is just because i cut back more than half. but my planns are to do no more than10 perks a day for the next 3 or 4 days and keep cutting down so that i am only at maybe 5 perks a day and then done.  what do you guys think about when i am down to 5 a day try to go like 24 hours wit out and then maybe pop 2 before bed.  then go like 2 days you know? because not many of my friends know. only 2 of them.  and i cant take any days off work and none of my workers
know. but this site is the best site i have ever found.  i know everyone is gunna help me and keep me dedicated to my goals.  

[worried878]

I think you may need to get down to 1 or 2 a day in spread out doses before u quit if you do want to taper and work...pop them in 1/2 or 1/4s  I am at 4 lortab 10s a day now and know I would feel it tomorrow at work if i took none...when i quit on wed will be down to one

[worried878]

and you need to give your pills to someone you trust to dole them out to you daily

[forumryder]

yah that is true.  i just dont want it to take so long before i am down to low.  but i did just go from 100 plus mg a day down to half that. and yes i am thinking seriously about giving it to my roommate.  see none of my friends knew untill yesterday i only told 2 of them.  but he doesnt really understand or anything you know but he is my best friend.

[worried878]

So you are taking lortab/vicoden or oxy?...And it dpends on how many you have and when u want to quit

[forumryder]

i been taking oxy.  well see i only have like 23 left. i might have to go get some more but maybe only another 20. because i was doing between 100-150 mg a day.  like i said before but yes i want to quit as soon as i can but not too fast that i cave in and do it again.  i am only on day 2 of tapering  but i droped right down to 9 perks yesterday.  so that is a severe drop i couldnt sleep and ****.  but i am hoping i can drop it down fast and get down to a perk or 2 a day and then quit.  but yah like i said i want to go some what fast. some people say i should just cut back 10 percent each week.  but that will take months.  i am probably gunna give them to my room mate and tel him my schedule and he can help me you know.

[worried878]

good idea...you have enough to cut down 1 each day.....you could do....8...6...4...2....1.5....1....0.5   would take 1 week....pop them in half then quarters and spread them out thru the day.the next couple of days?

[worried878]

well   I mean cut down 1 tomorrow   If you cut down one each day, you will need more pills...important thing is make a plan...cut them up into doses and get them daily from your trustee

[IBKleen]

Worried, that isn't a taper...that is a hammer to the head. Are you serious telling someone that??? They may as well not even bother. Do you know the definition of the word taper? It means "gradual". Please hun..this is serious stuff here. If you don't know...please...don't answer, ok? There are people her who have successfully tapered and can help. Please don't answer for the sake of speaking. Again...serious stuff.

[toxictome]

Welcome to the forum.  You may want to look up the Thomas Recipe, that will help w/ alot of the symptoms.  I tapered too. I got down to 4/day   7.5 vics for about 4-5 days before i started the taper.  However many pills you are going to take for that day, divide 24 hrs. by that many pills and then take them on that schedule. For example...if you start w/ 8 pills you could take 2 every 6 hrs. or 1 every 3 hrs.and continue like that . I  tapered w/ 15 pills in 10 days.....that kind of drug it out, but it worked for me and i could do everything else i needed to do...no diarrhea, no nausea.
You will still have wd symptoms, but they will not be as severe. I also noticed every time decreased, it ws a little rougher that day. You could PM avisg, she is good w/ making a taper schedule.

Good luck.We're here to help you and answer any questions you might have....or just give you encouragement.It sounds like you are ready...so GO!
Keep posting!

[forumryder]

do you guys think it would be better to take a bigger dose 3 times a day. or a smaller dose 4 or 5 times instead?

[lostsoul2]

IBKleen is right.  I tapered from 17 pills a day to 6 in about 2 weeks and ran out of pills.  I might as well have saved the 2 weeks and gone c/t.  The w/d's were still pretty severe.  I found out the hard way you need more than a week or two to cut down from that doasge.  AT that high an intake there will be no easy fix.  I've learned it the hard way.

[IBKleen]

Smaller dose over a period of time. Do NOT take more than 1 at a time. Spread it out. If you have to take halves every two hours, then do it that way. The idea is to stabilize as you are going down. Keep it consistent until the next drop, then keep that consistent. If you have to do it a little slower, then do that. Gradual is the key. I agree with soul..you need more time...

[worried878]

It was an example....sorry....everyone has to do it different I know..I am doing it quickly because if I wait around for months I wont do it...to each his own....I would like to have gone ct but have to work...if someone wants to cut down 1 every 4 weeks then that is what they should do,,,not everyone can afford to do that if they are buying them off the street

[toxictome]

You could try it either way and see what feels best. i would maybe try the middle dose and see how that works. I don't think I would go 24 hrs. and pop 2...that  would be a spike...maybe do 1 every 12 hrs.

[worried878]

The taper chedule I was given was just about that quick and I got it on here....10 days....people just need to know sometimes what you guys mean by a taper....

[toxictome]

YA, do what IBKleen says...shes the "GREAT OZ" on this site...she has helped many with her experience, strength and hope...including me!!!

[IBKleen]

Taper schedules are individual for everyone, and depend on how much you were using..etc. So perhaps yours is working for you, and that is great. But everyone is different.

[worried878]

I am making it to work at least   I am not feeling that great...I will be honest...I am not sure I want this to be a breeze...would make it too easy to do this to myself again...i need to suffer a little, probably alot...what goes around comes around where i am concerned...I am used to paying for my mistakes and picking myself back up...i just hope i can do it this time...for real...if i would have put this off to a couple of months i would not still be here ..I had to act,now   I have no scrip due til april...i could have bought 6 hundred dollars worth to quit with..I will not..that is demeaning to me...I am through...I would much rather go CT if I could get off work before wednsday..this way i am at least working on it til I quit...and yes  i am hurting..I have gone from 10 pills to 4 since monday...I am ok

[kimmiek]

The idea of a taper is to have your body adjust slowly to the amount you are taking.  So if you drop one pill a day, your body will be in wd the whole time, no time to adjust.  The idea of a taper versus ct is to make the wd symptoms as easy as possible.  I understand where you are coming from on your schedule, but for someone who wants to try to minimize the wds; a slow and steady taper is to take the meds evenly and reduce slowly.  You dont have to reduce them by one every 4 weeks, thats REALLY slow, but I've seen good taper schedules on here that minimize wds and take you off the meds gently.  

[forumryder]

lots of good points guys. thanks i think i am gunna take it somewhat slower but as quick as possible.  i already cut my intake by more than half.  but i coulnt sleep and ****.  so i am down to 9 or 10 a day so i will just take it slow from here.

[Hubbyhelper816]

Ok, here we go my husband was prescribed Oxycodone 30 mg HCL for a back injury.  It’s been two years he has worked up to 8 a day 240 mg habit about 1 every 3 hours.  He tried the C/T didn’t not work out well.  We found this site and found the tapering method.  Started Tues 1/31.  So far so good some WD symptoms he is doing GREAT I have control of the meds and he has not asked to break the plan so far. I am not sure if the taper plan we came up with is correct (reading so many posts) Just got everything for the Thomas Recipe should he start it now.  Help please……
The plan is:
5 days 1 every 5 hours  (now on day 3)
5 days 1 every 6 hours
5 days 1 every 7 hours
5 days 1 every 8 hours
Is this to slow to fast?  
Should he start the Thomas?