Reflections: Making Your Chosen Rate as Safe as Possible

bridge across water to an island

If, after reading about the different points of view on taper speeds, you decide to embark upon a slow psychiatric drug reduction, then you will likely find the rest of Part 2 of this Companion Guide to be very useful. In the following steps we’ll examine and discuss the main taper schedules and methods used in the lay withdrawal community, relate exactly how people do calculations to determine their daily cuts, and much more. We’ll also explore the advice people share about how to listen to the messages your body sends and tweak your taper rate to maximize your chances of a smooth withdrawal.

However, it may be that you have or feel that you have absolutely no choice but to withdraw quickly, due to a medical emergency or for some other reason. If this is the case for you, then here are a few tips that some people in the lay withdrawal community suggest, and which you might find helpful to consider: 

  • Read through the FDA-approved drug label for your drug in full to see if there are any specific warnings about sudden discontinuation. For example, some drug labels include warnings about the risks of life-threatening seizures from sudden withdrawal.
     
  • Read TWP’s “Drug Metabolism, Substance Interactions, and Genetics – Their Importance for Safe Tapering” and investigate whether you may be susceptible to any dangerous interactions that could become more acute during withdrawal.
     
  • If for some reason you haven't yet, discuss the reduction plan with a well-informed prescriber.
     
  • Work through Part 1 of TWP’s Companion Guide again and make sure that you are doing everything you possibly can to prepare yourself, your body, your supporters, and your work and life circumstances for any eventualities that might arise during a rapid psychiatric drug withdrawal.

 

Image removed.
Photo courtesy of Gemma Stiles and Flickr Creative Commons.