@Chippy

If it were you, how long after stabilizing would you wait before another step down? I haven't had any anxiety, just brief moments og unease in the afternoons, after I reduced Oxapax 1mg 14 days ago. The sleepiness is less, although I am still tired. 

My plan is to reduce Sertraline around 4% as of the next step. Should I wait another 14 days, or could I try next week? 

10 minutes ago, Haa said:

@Chippy

If it were you, how long after stabilizing would you wait before another step down? I haven't had any anxiety, just brief moments og unease in the afternoons, after I reduced Oxapax 1mg 14 days ago. The sleepiness is less, although I am still tired. 

My plan is to reduce Sertraline around 4% as of the next step. Should I wait another 14 days, or could I try next week? 

I think if you feel resonably stable, it is fine to taper your AD some more.

 

I would seriously consder breaking that 4% into daily micro steps.

 

Lets keep an eye on that sleepness. Might be you need to reduce the Benzo some more as you taper the AD.

If you can get into a good groove with the Sertraline taper, it might be you could start to take a little off the Benzo at the same time. It is totally doable for some. Keep you in balance on the way down.

 

Baby steps though, Id concenrate on your AD first. So long as your symptoms are around a 1-3/10, Id keep making little 1/30 cuts of your 4% monthly goal, daily for a week and see how you feel at the end. I can help you with the math if you need. Chippy 🙂 

23 minutes ago, Haa said:

Have any of you experienced change in the hair structure due to medications?

I have over the last months beginning to have curly hair and the structure is get very thin and breakable. 

My hairdresser asked if I have started on hormons, but I haven't. The only change is the huge update in Sertraline in the end og December 2025. 

Any responds will be appreciated 🙏💕

Hey @Haa I used to have lush healthy hair before the medication but for many years it has been thin and brittle and well I did abused him a little at times so I'm pretty sure it's a combo with medication and hormonal changes.

If it's any help I recently started using a high quality salt-free shampoo and mask and it has completely changed the texture and breakines for the better but unfortunately hasn't touched the thinness..

1 minute ago, Fullhealing said:

Hey @Haa I used to have lush healthy hair before the medication but for many years it has been thin and brittle and well I did abused him a little at times so I'm pretty sure it's a combo with medication and hormonal changes.

If it's any help I recently started using a high quality salt-free shampoo and mask and it has completely changed the texture and breakines for the better but unfortunately hasn't touched the thinness..

Thank you for your input. Yes this meds sure have an allround effect. 😂

Thanks @Chippy 

My score is 0-1/10. And I am so ready to take another step.

Could you make the calculation for microtaper. 
I take 75 mg as tbl. The last 15mg as fluid (0,75ml) 20mg/ml. In total 90mg. 
Much appreciated. How much less fluid should I take on a daily basis? 

Found it 😅

7 minutes ago, Haa said:

Found it 😅

Moved your other post back here. Ill take a look at your questions now.

1 hour ago, Haa said:

Thanks @Chippy 

My score is 0-1/10. And I am so ready to take another step.

Could you make the calculation for microtaper. 
I take 75 mg as tbl. The last 15mg as fluid (0,75ml) 20mg/ml. In total 90mg. 
Much appreciated. How much less fluid should I take on a daily basis? 

@Haa

 

So the math:

 

Current Dose = 90mgai

4% reduction = 86.4mgai

20mg/mL liquid = 15mgai down to 11.4mgai (24% of that part) for a total monthly reduction of 3.6mgai (4%)

Daily drop 0.12mgai

 

You will need to make a new solution to do these drops. Its easy.

 

To make a 2mg/mL Solution

Mix 1mL of the original solution with 9mL of water

 

You then take 7.5ml of that solution instead of 0.75ml to take your current dose 🙂 

 

Your destination will 5.7ml of the new solution.

 

To get there reduce this by 0.06ml per day 🙂 

 

I have made a chart for you, if you have excel, with the calculation on it. See attached.

 

Hope that makes sense? Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Chippy

 

Haa.xlsx

@Haa If you don't have Excel here it is in a post:

 

	Dose (mg)	Liquid Required (mL)
1	15.0000	7.5000
2	14.8800	7.4400
3	14.7600	7.3800
4	14.6400	7.3200
5	14.5200	7.2600
6	14.4000	7.2000
7	14.2800	7.1400
8	14.1600	7.0800
9	14.0400	7.0200
10	13.9200	6.9600
11	13.8000	6.9000
12	13.6800	6.8400
13	13.5600	6.7800
14	13.4400	6.7200
15	13.3200	6.6600
16	13.2000	6.6000
17	13.0800	6.5400
18	12.9600	6.4800
19	12.8400	6.4200
20	12.7200	6.3600
21	12.6000	6.3000
22	12.4800	6.2400
23	12.3600	6.1800
24	12.2400	6.1200
25	12.1200	6.0600
26	12.0000	6.0000
27	11.8800	5.9400
28	11.7600	5.8800
29	11.6400	5.8200
30	11.5200	5.7600
31	11.4000	5.7000

 

Thank you @Chippy It's really a great help and much appreciated.

You are such a special person, with your kindness and ability to help others despite your own challenges. 

I have exel, and transferred your numbers to it. It must be 0,75 ml=15mg as there are 20mg/ml. 

In total I will end up reducing 3,6mg in 31 days which is 4%. Is that correct?

 

And another question is, how do I dilute 20mg/ml in order to take this amount less each day? Perhaps I may ask you @RachelSusan how you did it, as the amount must be taken at once?

 

I have never reduced each day. It sounds as a good idea, as I can hold along the way, if it is too much.

 

I am just totally offline concerning my cognitive abilities atm. And I didn't realised it, until I couldn't find my tread and couldn't calculate at all. Hmmm... Well as long I am not tormented by anxiety and worse, I am good. 

2 minutes ago, Haa said:

And another question is, how do I dilute 20mg/ml in order to take this amount less each day?

@ChippyOh I didn't see your post above the calculations...Sorry

12 minutes ago, Haa said:

Thank you @Chippy It's really a great help and much appreciated.

You are such a special person, with your kindness and ability to help others despite your own challenges. 

Pleasure @Haa

 

12 minutes ago, Haa said:

I have exel, and transferred your numbers to it. It must be 0,75 ml=15mg as there are 20mg/ml. 

In total I will end up reducing 3,6mg in 31 days which is 4%. Is that correct?

Yes that is correct. 0.75 is 15mg of your current raw drug. The spread sheet is correct. It is calculated on how much of the new solution you need to take. The one I showed you have to make above which is 2mg/mL. Do that make sense?

 

7 minutes ago, Haa said:

@ChippyOh I didn't see your post above the calculations...Sorry

That is fine @Haa

 

It should all be there and be correct. Any questions please make sure you ask 🙂 

 

Chippy

Thank you. Yes now it makes perfectly sense. 

5 minutes ago, Haa said:

Thank you. Yes now it makes perfectly sense. 

Good. And yes you are right. You can hold at any point if needs be. We need to work out how to update your signature. Just let me know when you start and how it goes and I’ll see how best to record it for you. 

@Haa my hair has changed from different direction. I used to be curly and now it’s a lot straighter, still very fine. Some of mine could be I’m just getting old

5 hours ago, Catbird said:

Some of mine could be I’m just getting old

@Catbird Mine too. 

Just strange it happened in just 3 months. 
 

Oxapax dilution:

All of a sudden I got in doubt if I am diluting the oxapax tbl the right way.

Brassmonky helped me on how much alcohol I could use and then add the amount water to get 1mg/ml.

So fare so good. It was really helpful and got me started. No problem. 
The question now is: How long should the crushed tbl stay in the alcohol to make sure the active ingredient is dissolved before I add the water? 
I have let it stay 10 min before adding water. Is that long enough? 🙏💕
 

14 minutes ago, Haa said:

Oxapax dilution:

All of a sudden I got in doubt if I am diluting the oxapax tbl the right way.

Brassmonky helped me on how much alcohol I could use and then add the amount water to get 1mg/ml.

So fare so good. It was really helpful and got me started. No problem. 
The question now is: How long should the crushed tbl stay in the alcohol to make sure the active ingredient is dissolved before I add the water? 
I have let it stay 10 min before adding water. Is that long enough? 🙏💕
 

You have me here @Haa

 

Could you explain your process in steps so I understand what you are doing and why you are doing it? I assume it is to help make the benzo more soluable in liquid form?

@Chippy Thank you.

Brassmonky have written of how to make the dilution. 
I crush the tbl of 15mg oxapax to a fine powder. Add 4 ml 96% alcohol an leave while stirring on of for 10 min.

Then I add 11ml of water and leave it.

I stir again before I pull up the amount needed ex. If I would do it now I’ll pull up 6,9ml.  This was how I did it the two years I was tapering before I crashed last fall due to miscalculation. It went well the whole period, so I guess, I could continue this way. But if I didn’t leave the powder in alcohol long enough, that could also be part of the crash as I got to the very low dosis. 
At the moment I am cutting a smal edge of the tbl. which is far from accurate. 
I like the liquid method and would like to return to this again, now where I am going back to take babysteps. 

1 hour ago, Haa said:

At the moment I am cutting a smal edge of the tbl. which is far from accurate. 

Got you. So you used to make this dilution but don't anymore? Do you have micro scales? Dry cutting is really easy until the dose gets lower then you may need to go to a liquid.

 

I have heard of the alcohol technique, Im not 100% sure why it's used. I assume it is to help with suspension as benzos can be hard to disolve in liquid...

 

Can you confirm exactly what you are doing at the moment to get your daily doses of 6.9, 6.9 & 7,5?

On 4/10/2026 at 2:23 PM, Chippy said:

We need to work out how to update your signature

@Chippy Thank you. I’ll keep you posted. 🙏💕

@Haa I personally have not noticed any change in my hair structure but have read a few posts over the years where people have said it has affected their hair . I dont think its unusual from what i gather . 

Not sure how I've done it but I answered a question but maybe on was on a different page at the time 🤔😄

@Chippy

No scale. 
I half 15mg tbl = 7,5mg

then I cut a corner of the 7,5 mg and estimate that this is 6,9mg

I do that twice 6,9+6,9 and then 1/2 tbl =7,5mg.

Back when I started tapering I went to liquid crosover starting at 3,75x3 taking liquid one of the dosis until next taper. Then twice and then all 3 doses. 
I went really well. 
All along I diluted 15mg in 15 ml total. 
4ml alcohol and 11ml h2o. 
Now I want to make sure that I leave the powder long enough in the alcohol before I add the h2o. 
I can’t find the answer anywhere. Not on SA either. It might be there though. 

1 minute ago, Haa said:

@Chippy

No scale. 
I half 15mg tbl = 7,5mg

then I cut a corner of the 7,5 mg and estimate that this is 6,9mg

I do that twice 6,9+6,9 and then 1/2 tbl =7,5mg.

Back when I started tapering I went to liquid crosover starting at 3,75x3 taking liquid one of the dosis until next taper. Then twice and then all 3 doses. 
I went really well. 
All along I diluted 15mg in 15 ml total. 
4ml alcohol and 11ml h2o. 
Now I want to make sure that I leave the powder long enough in the alcohol before I add the h2o. 
I can’t find the answer anywhere. Not on SA either. It might be there though. 

Im not 100% sure on how long it is best to leave the powder, it sounds like you were doing fine before so perhaps just keep doing that.

 

What I would address with some urgency is getting some scales and weighing your tablets. Your current technique is very inaccurate. A set of Gem-20 scales will do the trick just fine and they are cheap. I can talk you through it and then you can not worry about the liquid technique for the minute.

 

Really important to get these 3 x daily doses sorted as soon as possible.