The simplest approach to tracking a taper involving more than one drug at a time is to keep a separate journal chart/sheet for each drug. Once you feel adept at tracking your taper, though, you may feel comfortable reducing the number of items that you’re tracking to the bare essentials – such as simply the amount of dose that you’re taking each day. If you do that, you’ll be able to easily track more than one drug on a single page. The image below is a sample of how that can be done.
If you’re combining a solid and a liquid and tapering from one or both, then it may make the most sense to set up your journal chart/sheet to track fewer items so that you can definitely fit all of the most important information on one page. After you design a chart/spreadsheet from one of the methods above, you will then have to organize the columns to track both solid and liquid amounts. These tracking amounts might include:
- Total daily dose in solid form in mg
- Total daily dose in liquid form in mL
- Solid cut in mg (if any)
- Liquid cut in mL (if any)
- Reduced dose in solid form (The actual amount of active drug in mg that you’re taking in solid form.)
- Reduced solid weight (If using a digital scale, the weight of the reduced dose.)
- Reduced dose in liquid form (The actual amount of drug in mg in the liquid).
- Reduced dose volume (The volume of liquid in mL that you’re taking.)
Section 1- Tracking Calculations and Amounts
Let’s focus first on the section of the journal that involves recording the dates and amounts of your doses. Each taper method requires tracking slightly different information, so we’ve provided a distinct section for each method that you might choose. Note that, of course, you’ll actually have to do the required math calculations for your taper before you’ll be able to fill in a chart of this kind – our numbers are samples only. And in all of our examples, we include all of the numbers that are necessary for keeping track of a taper – once you feel you have a good understanding of your own process, you may not find it necessary to track the numbers in all of our suggested columns.
How to record taper dates and amounts
1. Using a liquid mixture
Important Information to Record:
A chart or spreadsheet might roughly look like the one below (also attached as a PDF).
2. Using a digital scale
Important Information to Record:
A chart or spreadsheet might roughly look like the one below (also attached as a PDF).
3. Counting beads
Important Information to Record:
A chart or spreadsheet might roughly look like the one below (also attached as a PDF).
4. Using a compounding pharmacy (capsules)
Important Information to Record:
For sample charts/sheets, see the other methods in this step.
5. Using, or making a dilution from, a manufacturer’s/compounded liquid
Important Information to Record:
For sample charts/sheets, see the other methods in this step.
6. Additional tips when combining a solid and a liquid, or tapering more than one drug at a time
The simplest approach to tracking a taper involving more than one drug at a time is to keep a separate journal chart/sheet for each drug. Once you feel adept at tracking your taper, though, you may feel comfortable reducing the number of items that you’re tracking to the bare essentials – such as simply the amount of dose that you’re taking each day. If you do that, you’ll be able to easily track more than one drug on a single page. The image below is a sample of how that can be done.
If you’re combining a solid and a liquid and tapering from one or both, then it may make the most sense to set up your journal chart/sheet to track fewer items so that you can definitely fit all of the most important information on one page. After you design a chart/spreadsheet from one of the methods above, you will then have to organize the columns to track both solid and liquid amounts. These tracking amounts might include: