In my Use Water to Taper Your Benzo video I give a short explanation and demonstration of how to create a water suspension with your pill so you can micro taper daily with a liquid version of your medication. I purposefully kept this video as simple as possible because I know how hard it can be for a brain injured person to sift through too much information and then make a decision. That said, I also know that this may leave many of you with questions. Here are some of the top tapering questions I get on this video. Hopefully it will help clear up any confusion and allow those of you who desire to get off your medication finally have the confidence to do so!
And of course, if you haven’t watched the video yet, please be sure to follow the link above and watch it now. Know that my channel also offers a video for dry cutting your pills if water titration doesn’t seem like the right method for you.
- Q: What dose of pill or amount of water do I need to start with? A: It doesn’t matter. That’s the beauty of this method! The amount of water doesn’t determine what dose you will be getting so much as the rate at which you will be tapering. Whether you’re starting off with 2mg of Ativan or 60mg of Valium, if you start off with 300ml of water as demonstrated in this video, you will end up with a 10% per month reduction and a 10 month taper (assuming you reduce daily without any interruptions).
- Q: My pill doesn’t dissolve completely. Is it ok if there are little particles left behind? A: Yes! The pill isn’t actually meant to dissolve completely but rather to break down into evenly sized little powdery particles. The idea here is to create a suspension, not a solution. That’s why you have to shake it and then divide it immediately after. If you feel a solution might be a better option for you then you can always dissolve your pill in a few drops of vodka first, then mix that with water. However, if you’re very extremely sensitive to alcohol/benzos this may not be a good option for you
- Q: Do I have to divide my suspension into 3 doses like you show? A: No. I’m simply demonstrating one possibility. The idea is to modify this method to meet your needs. If you only want to dose once a day, don’t divide it at all. If you are on a very short acting benzo like xanax, or are a rapid metabolizer and experience severe inter-dose withdrawals between doses, then by all means, divide your suspension into 4, 5, 6 doses- whatever works for you!
- Q: Don’t I need to use milk or some other fatty substance to create a true suspension? A: Not really. I mean, you can if you want, but honestly, this isn’t an exact science. And guess what? Even the pharmaceutical manufacturers don’t do things perfectly! While using whole fat milk may suspend the particles a little longer than water, ultimately, either way, you’re getting the same amount throughout the day, which is the point. Also, I’ve never found a pharmacist who could tell me for certain if some medications weren’t altered by combining them with other substances. But most seem to agree that putting benzos in water is less risky than combining them with things like milk. Also, quite frankly full fat milk on a benzo belly can be brutal.
- Q: Will this method work with any medication? A: Ask your pharmacist. From personal experience I have seen this method work well with all benzos except Clorazepate (Tranxene), which has a somewhat baking soda-like composition and therefore breaks down too much in water to work with this method. If you’re unsure, please ask your pharmacist.
Ultimately this is my favorite micro-tapering method because it’s easy to do and easy to modify. If you need to go slower, you can just reduce every other day. If you need to go faster, pull by 2ml each day instead of 1ml (or start off with 150ml instead of 300) for a 20% per moth reduction and a 5 month taper. One last word of advice. Before beginning your taper, be sure to give yourself a couple of days to a week or two of just putting your pill in water, dividing it and dosing. Give your body time to adjust. This is especially important if you’re changing the frequency of your doses throughout the day, in fact, you might want to give yourself 3 or 4 weeks to adjust then if that’s the case.
I know it seems like a lot. But I promise, I had one of the worst benzo brains out there and even I was able to pull this off with relative ease at my first try. Use a journal or notebook to keep track of your daily pulls so you don’t forget where you’re at. Trust in the process, listen to your body.
You’ve got this!
Benzo Brains 
Thank you, so much for this! Very much appreciated! 🙏🙏😇😇
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Thank you so much
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This is so helpful. Thank you for all that you do.
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I am using liquid compounding pharmacy to taper klonopin.I won’t be able to afford this much longer, it’s $300 monthly. If I can switch to water taper at 0.5 mg klonopin using 150 ml water, how much do I pull and waste to equal 20% per month and how long would it take?
Sorry for stupid question, I have benzo brain!!
Thank you for all that you do!
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Hi no worries. If you’re starting with 150ml then you would just pull 1ml on the first day, 2ml the 2nd etc and that would give you a 20% per month reduction which would take approximately 5 months to complete.
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Do I have to weigh pills if I switch to water taper? I am tapering klonopin, does it dissolve well enough? Will there be a problem just switching from compounding liquid to water, do I need to hold or just continue,?
Thank you for everything!! Your video is a lifesaver!
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I need to check that I am doing this right, sorry to bother you again.
I am going to water taper from 0.5 mg klonopin. I dose 3 times daily. If I use 150 ml water, I would dissolve one 0.5 mg tab draw out 1 ml on day 1, 2 ml on day 2 etc. then divide that into 3 doses for the day. Would I have to hold when switching from compounding to water or just make the change and keep going? I have used compounding pharmacy to go from 1 mg daily micro dosing 0.003 mg daily, it cost $300 per month, can’t afford it anymore.
Thank you so much 💜🙏🏻😇
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Sorry to bother you, could you answer my questions below? I can’t afford compounding anymore and have to do water taper. How long to acclimate to water taper?
Thank you for everything!!
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Thankyou for your video and this page. I do have 1 question. When I make the water solution do I put both of my Ativan doses in? Currently I am taking .5mg Ativan twice daily or do I have to make the solution 2x a day?
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Just wanted to let you know that your videos have helped me enormously! If you tube shuts you down, will you be able to put your videos here?
Thank you for everything that you do!
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Weaning off of 1 mg 3 x a day. This is what is left: 1/4 of 1mg at 1:30pm abs 1mg at 9:00om.
My question if what to water taper, how would i do the pm dosage? Getting off very slowly abs still withdrawals. Just wondering how to taper that night time?
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You have two options. You could make two separate suspensions, one for your am dose and one for your pm. The problem is if you’re cutting a pill down to 1/4 and it’s not along a score line, you’re not getting an accurate dose (unless you’re measuring and weighing your pills as demonstrated in one of my other tapering videos). Your other option is to take even doses am and pm by dropping both pills in the same suspension and then dividing that into two jars for your am and pm. Either way it would be a good idea to calculate how to get to 1/4 dose of your current pill with the suspension and get a more accurate dose that way from now on , assuming that you’re just cutting your pill.
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Thank you so much! I think dropping the afternoon by itself is the goal. Then attacking the nighttime remaining 1mg. But i do like the idea of maybe doing them both in the same suspension. I can weigh it however, prob not going to wake in the night to drink the Jar/jars i need to drink to stay on track. That could be a problem! I’m in a conundrum how to wean the night time without severe withdrawals. Thank for your help :))
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Almost done with night time Ativan. Tapered down 10% (with a scale) every 7-10 days depending on how she felt. She has 1/4 of a day time pill left. Probably will water taper off of it. Both of those were your suggestions and the crushing pill and using a scal worked beautifully!!! Thank you so much!! My question is what is next? How should she feel when all Ativan is out of her system? Is there a feeling of depression because of all the GABA her body has been getting? Any suggestions on supplementing until everything is regulated and balanced? We have noticed ativan messed with her hormones.
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Someone help! I’m bad at math and can’t think very well these days. I am on .25 klonopin (.125 x2 a day). How can I use this method to taper 10% every two weeks? Thanks so much. I’m sorry. Can’t think.
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Hi Cassie, you can simply add .25 K into 300ml of water as shown, then pull 2ml of your suspension (after shaking it really well) each day. So day 1 pull 2ml, day 2 pull 4, day 3 pull 6 and so for to do a more rapid taper of 20% per month. Of course, divide your 300ml of water into 2 doses AFTER you’ve pulled the appropriate amount for the day. Good luck!
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That was my exact same question, thank you!!
Does it make a difference whether you start with 300ml and pull 2ml a day vs. starting with 150ml and pulling 1ml a day? (I saw that in a comment elsewhere to reduce by 20% a month?) I’m also down to just a little less than .25mg klonopin and want to switch to liquid and go at a rate of 10% every 2 weeks.
I’m currently taking about .131 mg a day total and will be starting with a .25mg whole ODT tablet.
(My current .131ish mg is cut from fourths and eighths of a .5mg tablet and is not at all even dosing that way, need to switch to keep going.)
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Hi Cassie thanks for reaching out. Pulling 2ml a day with 300ml or 1ml a day with 150 should be exactly the same. My only concern would be using an ODT tablet in water. I don’t know how the medication will hold up chemically. This my be a good question for your pharmacist.
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I am new to all this I am.currently taking 0.5 mg of Ativan once a day and I have severe withdrawal and shaking all day everyday. I dont know how to water taper or cut the pill. Should I cut it into 3/4 and take that? And for how long should I do that? I need help with this.
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Hi it sounds like you’re experiencing some hefty interdose withdrawals. This means you’ll want to dose multiple times a day to keep your serum levels stable. PLEASE DONT CUT YOUR PILL until you’ve gotten a bit more education under your belt. Watch my tapering basics to get started and water tapering is likely going to work best with dosing such a small pill and dividing it into multiple doses. Here’s my tapering plalist.
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