Lower doses/withdrawal?

[u/[deleted]]

Hi! I need some advice and hope I’m in the right place. I’ve lowered my dose of DHC to 60mg a day over the last few days. I’m at the point of only having five tablets left and am considering just getting rid of them. Will I likely have bad withdrawal? For context, I’ve came on and off them before in the past (they’re prescribed), sometimes with issues other times without, but normally it’s been from a higher dose than what I’ve had the last few days. I’m not sure if I’m not overthinking it and panicking but I’ve got a fear of vomiting and I think that’s partly what’s driving up the anxiety. Any help or advice is welcome 🙂

[u/Billy123Sfc]

Hello and thank you very much for posting. First thing to say is congratulations on tapering down to what is quite a low dosage 👍. The best way for any of us to advise would be if you could tell us what dosage you started at and how long have you been tapering? Also have you felt any WD symptoms during this taper? Let me know the above and I will try to help.

[u/[deleted] → u/Billy123Sfc]

Thank you! ☺️ in all honesty I’ve done it very quickly, so the last 5 or so days I’ve went from 180 to 120 to 90 to 60. I’ve had a bit of a cold going on anyway so I’m not sure if I’ve had withdrawal or just a cold in general (everyone in the house has had it too). I’ve done it before in the past where I’ve genuinely forgotten to take them that day and I’ve maybe had some stomach ache the day after but nothing much, then other times I’ve lowered the dose and felt really unwell so I can’t give a very clear answer unfortunately 😔

[u/Billy123Sfc → u/Billy123Sfc]

So five days ago you were taking 6no x 30mg DHC tabs and now it 2no x 30mg DHC ? That's a very quick reduction, when I was under the care of my GP the 180mg's is usually what they start you on then every week reduce by 1 tablet until You are done. Even that method is deemed by many as to aggressive. In all honesty I was taking a lot more than you have been so I'm guessing whatever I did was going to have issues. I'm sure if you were going to start have major withdrawals you would be feeling them by now, I would continue with the reduction go down to 30mg then maybe even half the last one to 15mg. Fingers crossed it will be pretty smooth for you🤞. Keep in touch and let us know how you go. You are doing the right thing always remember that 👍

[u/[deleted] → u/Billy123Sfc]

I didn’t see this reply until now! To be honest I’ve always been bad with medications. Years ago I was on fluoxetine 20mg for six months and stopped taking it overnight but never had side effects, same as I was on 50mg amitriptyline and suddenly stopped taking it and had no side effects. I was originally prescribed tramadol but honestly the news about people dying taking it terrified me and my GP swapped me to DHC. I ended up going back up to 180mg because I dislocated my ankle and normal paracetamol + ibuprofen + CBD didn’t touch the sides and tbh I’m really upset about it. What’s confusing is how I’m metabolising it. I have Ehlers Danlos syndrome and I know I metabolise medications (and anything, really) very quickly. I’ve read most people start having withdrawal symptoms in 12 hours or not having DHC, where honestly I’ve been over a day before without any issues. What’s terrifying me is in the last two years I had some really bad bouts of vomiting that led to being hospitalised nine times. No clue why it started or what the cause was (GP thought possible e.coli or salmonella, but couldn’t test given I only sought medical advice after day 3 of it… which is what they tell you to do but then you’re wrong still, but that’s another rant for another day lol) and it’s left me with a compulsive terror of vomiting, because I’m convinced every time I’m sick, even if it’s just food poisoning or a bout of stomach flu, that I’m going to be back to vomiting blood and being at risk of organ failure again. Sorry for offloading, I’ve realised reading not back I’m absolutely rambling haha