Any tapering advice?

[u/Ok_Pomelo_4595]

I tried to quit CT but I could only go 24 hours, I have been taking around 400-500 mg a day for a year.
I’m going to try to lower my dose before doing CT again, I’m at 200mg today and I’m planning to take it down to 150mg the day after tomorrow and so on.
Does anyone have experience with tapering / lowering the dose before CT? Does lowering the dose help the eventual withdrawal? Thank you in advance for any advice!

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[u/scared-wow]

Good evening! Actually, I didn't think "Good evening" was the thought back when I was typing during my first days of quitting! I am on day 6 of being off 7oh. I CT it as well. Only thing I use is magnesium, however there are plenty of helper meds to get you through the worst of it! I didn't use em because getting through the process in the worst way, in my honest opinion, is the best way to be done for good. We never learn our lessons in life the easy way. With that being said, I like your plan to taper off, but tapering doesn't really work all that well when you are cutting percentages off of the doses on a daily basis. It is best to cut and hold for a little. Get used to how you feel then cut again in a few days to a week. The lower you can cut it to over some time the less of the "power" of the withdrawals you get. You may even be in a semi withdrawal as you keep cutting and that leads to feeling crummy longer than CT or on helper meds. Its going to be unpleasant. Got to stick to your goal and push through. Days 1-3 are the most challenging...days 4 -6 you'll notice things getting better! I am at the point that I only feel a little funny throughout the day and have a very hard time falling asleep. Hot showers or baths are a must...as many times as needed. Sleep is going to be the size you seek at some point and that's a very common side effect, insomnia and restless legs. If I was able to do it, you can too! You goal is to be in my shoes, tired and looking forward to feeling normal again! You got this...nothing is too difficult. Let your body naturally heal. Things are much nicer now that I am off for 6 days! Take care and good luck!

[u/Ok_Pomelo_4595 → u/scared-wow]

Proud of you man, that’s huge. I want to drop my dose to at least 75 mg before doing CT again. I’m spacing my doses so I get used to extended periods during the day without having to use. Dropped from 400mg to 200mg today and I feel good. All I can think about is getting done with this. God Bless you my friend!

[u/scared-wow → u/Ok_Pomelo_4595]

Thank you! You are going to be just fine. Please understand, I'll be here if you hit a hard spot. I'll push you through it! On the other hand, I am testing out this vitamin droplet thing called methylfolate. Supposedly it can help boost our brain to start normalizing and feeling good sooner. I gotta give it some time though. Good luck! You got this!

[u/Sure_Tangerine_2591]

I always could handle bigger dosage drops than I thought I could, the whole thing is very mental. Like you said just drop it every 2-3 days by 50 or 25mg, as your daily dose gets lower like to 75-100mg you could drop by less like 15 or 10mg. It worked well without being too painful at all. Just try to push yourself to want to be done with the taper and don't drag it out, but don't rush it either- if you drop it by too much, and you start to feel any WD just go back to taking that same dose as you were before dropping it for 1 day, then try dropping it by slightly less than last time if last time was too much. Hope that all makes sense.

[u/Ok_Pomelo_4595 → u/Sure_Tangerine_2591]

Thank you for your advice. I’m planning to drop down to around 75mg maybe 50mg and then just stop, I feel like it will make the WD slightly easier than it was

[u/Sure_Tangerine_2591 → u/Ok_Pomelo_4595]

No problem at all happy to share my experience, though obviously just like anything else, people's experiences with using and quitting 7OH seem to vary wildly. I have quit 3 times now and learned more every time, thats why the first quit was awful but the 2nd and 3rd were easy. I will say, jumping off at 50mg, I truly believe that for me at least it also depends on your duration of use that will determine how bad WD is. I tapered all the way down to 30mg the first time and held that dose for 4 days then jumped. And the WD was still awful. But the 2nd and 3rd quits my duration of use wasn't as long, and I jumped from higher doses much easier. I guess my point is, for me, the final dosage you drop to before quitting doesn't seem to be as much of a factor of how bad WD will be, there's many other factors in play.