My story starts with Trazodone after my grandma died and I struggled with sleep. It started at 25mg then up to 50mg to 100mg. Things were fine and I never added any other meds until I experienced stress from my mom attempting suicide. I caved and added buspar at 5mg which was increased to 10 twice a day when she died. I was convinced to start taking Trintellix at 5mg at that time around May 2024 and after a few months at that dose with not much improvement, we decided to increase to 10mg. The first weeks were hard but I chalked it up to grief symptoms since there were vivid nightmares and nausea. It seemed like I was improving and getting better till I started noticing worse PMDD cycles. I just brushed it off until after a year of taking, after one bad cycle, it just stopped working. I developed sensitivity to watching tv and carrying on conversations. I couldn’t sleep. I had to quit my job I loved. It went on for weeks of horrible sleep till I caved and started taking seroquel at 50mg because I had briefly taken it in the past as needed and it helped. It worked well at first till I noticed myself getting more suicidal. I tried to go off it cold turkey but even at just being on it for two weeks, it was terrible. Panic attacks, extreme nausea, sleeplessness just with one missed dose. So I stayed on it for a long time, hopeless I would ever get off. I made the decision to cut my Trintellix in half to see if that would help and after a month of bad withdrawals, it seemed to even out besides occasional intrusive thoughts. It was from then, that I made the brave decision to start tapering seroquel. I made large cuts at first and tolerated them fine except for some anxiety, sleeplessness, and vivid dreams in the beginning. Went from 37.5mg down to 25mg and started to feel better again. Because I couldn’t handle the large dose drops, I decided to water taper using 20ml apple juice and 30ml water and dropped the 25mg tablet in. I tapered to 22.5mg. The first few weeks were hard. I was sensitive to sounds and felt a restless energy. After about a month, in February, I started feeling a little better. But March came with my moms birthday and then April came with her death anniversary. I started getting worse but still functional. My last cycle before this one (I’m still awaiting my period) I started having sensory sensitivities like when Trintellix had stopped working (not the seroquel type of sensitivities but more so everything made me sad and triggered and felt dark to the point I couldn’t watch tv). After my cycle, it improved but then I quickly started to get worse again with this next cycle. I felt angry all the time in a way I never felt before to where the anger made me feel like I could hurt myself. I also had terrible violent intrusive thoughts towards others that made me feel guilty. I had a restless energy that when things would make me angry I had no choice but to go for runs because it was the only thing that got my rage out. The rage would give me headaches. When anything stressed me out, headaches. I’m three days out from my period and I decided two days ago to start the Trintellix at 10mg again (after about 7 months since tapering down to 5mg). I haven’t had an extreme adverse reaction, but I feel more anxious for sure. I don’t remember having that reaction last time. I also get body shocks and jerks at night since starting the Trintellix again that I had only gotten when I tried to taper my seroquel lower than 22.5mg (my current dose I had been stable on). It’s been three days. I’m torn between seeing if reinstatement will help or if it’s been too late since it’s already been 7 months since I cut the dose in half. Should I give it a week? The body jerks at night are the most concerning to me but I’m wondering if I should wait. The symptoms before I started back have been agonizing.

Welcome to the forum!

 

This is a volunteer-run, community forum aimed at helping those who are tapering and/or experiencing difficulties with psychiatric medications and withdrawl syndrome. We are not medical professionals and cannot offer medical advice. We simply offer support and opinions which you could use as talking points with a medical provider knowledgeable in withdrawing off psychiatric medications.

 

Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules and the disclaimer located here: Guidelines

 

Thank you for updating your signature.

I'm so sorry to read about the tough time you've had recently you will find plenty of support here for sure.

 

In the mean time this is what I would do if I were you:

 

-Stay Hydrated 

 

-Eat a good clean whole food diet, avoiding processed foods and sugars.

 

-Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and antihistamines and any other psychoactive substances.

 

Supplements are to be avoided initially, as they often irritate our nervous systems. Try to get your nutrition through food.

 

Down the line, you may wish to introduce Fish Oil and Magnesium. Those who can tolerate them have found them calming to the nervous system. Be careful try one at a time and start low and see how you get on should you choose to try them.

 

A daily walk is very important as much as you can manage, if you can manage it. Gets you your fresh air and Vitamin D does wonders for your mind!

As for more specific advice regarding your questions, I'd just like to clarify why you decided to restart trintellix after 7 months off of it during tapering another drug? To head off potential further issues around your cycle?

My gut feeling would be that reinstating trintellix might not have been ideal, but it is difficult to unpick whether the ramping up in symptoms were to do with reducing the dose of trintellix or seroquel.

What I would say, is that I feel that the amount you increased by was quite large, and all of the dose drops you have made have been large. You say you've tolerated them well but they may have caught up with you now. It's difficult to say what is what.

When you say you "reinstated" trintellix, to be completely clear, were you on 5mg from November 2025 and then up to 10mg just now? I would personally consider either going back to 5mg, or trying an intermediate dose between 5 and 10, as this was quite a big jump, however I'd be keen to hear the thoughts of others more experienced with reinstatement and dose changes @Chippy @LostinCanada @RachelSusan @Fullhealing.

However you do proceed, once a plan has been chosen, what you do need to do is stick to it, stabilise and then slow the big jumps right down when you eventually restart tapering. The regular large cuts and additions are risky.

You are very welcome here and I hope you find the site supportive.

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Welcome to the forum!

 

This is a volunteer-run, community forum aimed at helping those who are tapering and/or experiencing difficulties with psychiatric medications and withdrawl syndrome. We are not medical professionals and cannot offer medical advice. We simply offer support and opinions which you could use as talking points with a medical provider knowledgeable in withdrawing off psychiatric medications.

 

Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules and the disclaimer located here: Guidelines

 

Thank you for updating your signature.

I'm so sorry to read about the tough time you've had recently you will find plenty of support here for sure.

 

In the mean time this is what I would do if I were you:

 

-Stay Hydrated 

 

-Eat a good clean whole food diet, avoiding processed foods and sugars.

 

-Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and antihistamines and any other psychoactive substances.

 

Supplements are to be avoided initially, as they often irritate our nervous systems. Try to get your nutrition through food.

 

Down the line, you may wish to introduce Fish Oil and Magnesium. Those who can tolerate them have found them calming to the nervous system. Be careful try one at a time and start low and see how you get on should you choose to try them.

 

A daily walk is very important as much as you can manage, if you can manage it. Gets you your fresh air and Vitamin D does wonders for your mind!

As for more specific advice regarding your questions, I'd just like to clarify why you decided to restart trintellix after 7 months off of it during tapering another drug? To head off potential further issues around your cycle?

My gut feeling would be that reinstating trintellix might not have been ideal, but it is difficult to unpick whether the ramping up in symptoms were to do with reducing the dose of trintellix or seroquel.

What I would say, is that I feel that the amount you increased by was quite large, and all of the dose drops you have made have been large. You say you've tolerated them well but they may have caught up with you now. It's difficult to say what is what.

When you say you "reinstated" trintellix, to be completely clear, were you on 5mg from November 2025 and then up to 10mg just now? I would personally consider either going back to 5mg, or trying an intermediate dose between 5 and 10, as this was quite a big jump, however I'd be keen to hear the thoughts of others more experienced with reinstatement and dose changes @Chippy @LostinCanada @RachelSusan @Fullhealing.

However you do proceed, once a plan has been chosen, what you do need to do is stick to it, stabilise and then slow the big jumps right down when you eventually restart tapering. The regular large cuts and additions are risky.

You are very welcome here and I hope you find the site supportive.

I’m currently taking Omega-3s and Magnesium Glycinate. I had dropped to 5mg in early November 2025 and had some tolerable withdrawal symptoms and intrusive thoughts that then faded through January and February. They seem to have come back though. Unfortunately there is no intermediate dose for Trintellix as it is not generic yet here in the US. It’s either 5mg or 10mg. If I could do 7.5mg, I would but unfortunately not an option. I booked an appointment with a withdrawal coach who has experience with tapering antidepressants and antipsychotics to get some advice on how to proceed. I am worried because I am supposed to start a job in three weeks but I do not feel stable enough due to the rage issues and intrusive thoughts but sitting at my house also makes me depressed as well. Right now, I am living with my dad, so having a job is not urgent but I need to progress my career within the next few years. I’m going to decide within the next week or so if I have the capacity for the job. I have not dropped my seroquel dose since January and am stopping tapering it for the time being. I did increase to 10mg due to issues relating to my cycle and depression and intrusive thoughts and rage getting worse during my luteal phase. I’m not sure if this will help since I did have bad PMDD during my previous time on 10mg. The anger and intrusive thoughts are debilitating currently and I have been isolating myself at my house for about two and a half weeks now. I try to go for walks when the sun shines and have kept myself busy with crafting and making candles but I am getting lonely. I just don’t feel like I can be out in public right now but maybe avoidance of others is making things worse. It just feels hard to do most things right now except sleep. I have felt pretty suicidal but have no intention of acting on the thoughts. Just want to feel better. It is hard to pick it out what is causing what. I probably should’ve just tapered the seroquel first but I can’t change that now sadly. I regret dropping the antidepressant as fast as I did but with Trintellix, there was no in between and not much guidance on tapering since it is a newer antidepressant. I have looked into outro but it is not yet available in my state so this withdrawal coach is my best option right now. It’s such a hard and lonely journey when your friends and family don’t quite understand so I’m glad I have this place.

9 hours ago, Cowgirlblues said:

Unfortunately there is no intermediate dose for Trintellix as it is not generic yet here in the US. It’s either 5mg or 10mg. If I could do 7.5mg, I would but unfortunately not an option.

This is the case for most psychiatric drugs. Many who are sensitive to dose changes must prepare their own:

Preparing Doses for Tapering - Weighing & DIY Liquids - Tapering - The Antidepressant Harm and Recovery Forum

9 hours ago, Cowgirlblues said:

I regret dropping the antidepressant as fast as I did but with Trintellix, there was no in between and not much guidance on tapering since it is a newer antidepressant.

You may also want to read these topics:

Tapering Information - Tapering - The Antidepressant Harm and Recovery Forum

Micro Tapering - Tapering - The Antidepressant Harm and Recovery Forum

It has been too fast so far. Unfortunately, nobody can tell you the "right" next move, we are all different and so are our reactions to these drugs. However, whether you decide to stay on 10mg, go back to 5mg, or choose an intermediate dose, I believe that it is important that you then stick to this for a while and wait for stability.

Hey @Cowgirlblues

Sorry you have had such a hard time recently. And it saddens me to hear about the loss of your Mother, truly awful for you to go through this at such a young age.

I think holding your doses where they were, has been a good move for you until now. You had seen some good progresss during the early part of the year.

I wouldn't have suggested you increased your dose of Trintellix, and certainly not to 10mg. You had shown good signs of stablising, and even though things have gotten worse for you recently, this is actually part of the process.

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

What you do with your Trintellix dose now, is up to you. It sounds like to me you are too activated by it, so I would reduce back to 5mg and stay there I think, if it were me.

It is really important to understand that we have little control over all of this. Our bodies know best, dose changes, particularly large ones are not what the nervous system likes.

Once you decide what dose to stick to of Trintellix, we need to make sure your doses are being taken consitently and evenly.

I can see you are making your 22.5mg dose of Seroquel with a liquid solution. This is good, a very accurate way to make up smaller doses. Serequel has a very short half life. I would consider splitting this current dose into 3 or 4 parts and spreading it out throughout the day, to get even coverage. Interdose WD may be making all this worse for you, or even the cause of some of your destablisation recently. As you are on liquid, this very easy to do. You can get some dark coloured glass pots online in sets, they are very cheap. Just share the liquid between them and slowly move each one back by an hour each day until you have them at convenient times.

You are not locked into a set dose with the available tablet sizes. You can cut tablets to size using a blade and a set of Micro Scales. Have a look at this post here: Preparing Doses for Tapering - Weighing & DIY Liquids

I think you are going to want a nice long hold here before considering tapering further.

We can talk about what to taper first and how to approach this down the line. For the minute you need to find your WD normal baseline levels from which to work from.

9 hours ago, Cowgirlblues said:

The anger and intrusive thoughts are debilitating currently and I have been isolating myself at my house for about two and a half weeks now.

Have a read of this post, it is common to get these Neuro Emotions. They aren't the real you and can come and go in windows and waves whilst you stablise. Being a human, and dealing with emotions in WD

I am so very sorry for how hard things have been for you, I can see it has made your life very disrupted, and now of course you have this choice to make with work. I do think trying to avoid stress as much as you can whilst destablised is a very good idea. Pushing through isn't observed as best practice in my view.

I think the stress of your Moms anniversaries will have put you into a bit of a Wave.

Learning coping skills such as acceptance and distraction helps a lot. Acceptance is key - Why does acceptance feel impossible?

Glad you found us, you are among friends here, we all understand.

Chippy

Hi @Cowgirlblues sorry to hear what you've through and at such a young age. Losing loved ones is indescribable and grieving is a normal human reaction to devastating loss. I was on Brintellix (same drug as Trintellix) a few years ago and I found it highly activating. It coincided with a trip overseas and almost daily panic, so I can relate to some of what you describe.

I've also been on the prescribing cascade of more and more drugs being added in and I'm still dealing with it. I hope you find some stability soon and I'm sure the experienced mentors on the forum will help you develop a sound taper plan.

Take care 🤗

7 hours ago, Chippy said:

Hey @Cowgirlblues

Sorry you have had such a hard time recently. And it saddens me to hear about the loss of your Mother, truly awful for you to go through this at such a young age.

I think holding your doses where they were, has been a good move for you until now. You had seen some good progresss during the early part of the year.

I wouldn't have suggested you increased your dose of Trintellix, and certainly not to 10mg. You had shown good signs of stablising, and even though things have gotten worse for you recently, this is actually part of the process.

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

What you do with your Trintellix dose now, is up to you. It sounds like to me you are too activated by it, so I would reduce back to 5mg and stay there I think, if it were me.

It is really important to understand that we have little control over all of this. Our bodies know best, dose changes, particularly large ones are not what the nervous likes.

Once you decide what dose to stick to of Trintellix, we need to make sure your doses are being taken consitently and evenly.

I can see you are making your 22.5mg dose of Seroquel with a liquid solution. This is good, a very accurate way to make up smaller doses. Serequel has a very short half life. I would consider splitting this current dose into 3 or 4 parts and spreading it out throughout the day, to get even coverage. Interdose WD may be making all this worse for you, or even the cause of some of your destablisation recently. As you are on liquid, this very easy to do. You can get some dark coloured glass pots online in sets, they are very cheap. Just share the liquid between them and slowly move each one back by an hour each day until you have them at convenient times.

You are not locked into a set dose with the available tablet sizes. You can cut tablets to size using a blade and a set of Micro Scales. Have a look at this post here: Preparing Doses for Tapering - Weighing & DIY Liquids

I think you are going to want a nice long hold here before considering tapering further.

We can talk about what to taper first and how to approach this down the line. For the minute you need to find your WD normal baseline levels from which to work from.

Have a read of this post, it is common to get these Neuro Emotions. They aren't the real you and can come and go in windows and waves whilst you stablise. Being a human, and dealing with emotions in WD

I am so very sorry for how hard things have been for you, I can see it has made your life very disrupted, and now of course you have this choice to make with work. I do think trying to avoid stress as much as you can whilst destablised is a very good idea. Pushing through isn't observed as best practice in my view.

I think the stress of your Moms anniversaries will have put you into a bit of a Wave.

Learning coping skills such as acceptance and distraction helps a lot. Acceptance is key - Why does acceptance feel impossible?

Glad you found us, you are among friends here, we all understand.

Chippy

Thank you so much. This was very helpful. I did decide to go back down to 5mg. 10mg was way too activating and has increased my anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and anger by tenfold to an unmanageable level. Hopefully my withdrawal coach will have more insight on how to cope with the neuroemotions. I do believe my mom’s death anniversary and the moving away of my closest friend has put me in a pretty severe wave currently. My window back in February was because there was no stressors at all or anniversaries. Hopefully I can even myself back out. I think my PMDD as well has made the wave worse. I have pretty severe PMDD and I’m two days out from my period but anticipating it to be late due to the stress. When I’m in a wave but in my follicular and ovulation phase, it’s more workable and I’m still able to function, but when my luteal hits, it’s like I become unable to function again. I have been trying to remind myself that my period will eventually come and that it will ease off a bit but it has been hard. I do think I may have PTSD from my mom’s death and also trauma at the hands of psychiatrists and that has been hard to cope with now that my dose has been cut in half.

7 hours ago, Catbird said:

Hi @Cowgirlblues sorry to hear what you've through and at such a young age. Losing loved ones is indescribable and grieving is a normal human reaction to devastating loss. I was on Brintellix (same drug as Trintellix) a few years ago and I found it highly activating. It coincided with a trip overseas and almost daily panic, so I can relate to some of what you describe.

I've also been on the prescribing cascade of more and more drugs being added in and I'm still dealing with it. I hope you find some stability soon and I'm sure the experienced mentors on the forum will help you develop a sound taper plan.

Take care 🤗

Yes, it seems like I’m being majorly activated by it right now. I didn’t have that same reaction when I instated the first time, probably because I was dealing with grief and actually was struggling from low energy at the time and also had not experienced the seroquel withdrawal that desensitized my nervous system as well.

1 hour ago, Cowgirlblues said:

Thank you so much. This was very helpful. I did decide to go back down to 5mg. 10mg was way too activating and has increased my anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and anger by tenfold to an unmanageable level.

Pleasure. I hope reducing helps some for you.

I do also hope as some of your stressors pass this will ease the wave. Certainly hormonal cycles affect all things too.

I’d consider keeping a diary and note down how you feel at certain points in the day. Look out for you reacting to the Seroquel dose in particular. You said in a post before that you felt better as you tapered. This could imply tolerance. But also as I said before the short half life may cause inter-dose wd. So looking for dose related symptom patterns could be worth doing. Some people post them on here so we can see too.

Chippy

29 minutes ago, Chippy said:

Pleasure. I hope reducing helps some for you.

I do also hope as some of your stressors pass this will ease the wave. Certainly hormonal cycles affect all things too.

I’d consider keeping a diary and note down how you feel at certain points in the day. Look out for you reacting to the Seroquel dose in particular. You said in a post before that you felt better as you tapered. This could imply tolerance. But also as I said before the short half life may cause inter-dose wd. So looking for dose related symptom patterns could be worth doing. Some people post them on here so we can see too.

Chippy

What do you mean by tolerance? I have noticed my anger and low emotions do get worse if I don’t eat possibly related to how seroquel makes you voraciously hungry.

4 minutes ago, Cowgirlblues said:

What do you mean by tolerance?

When you are on a drug for any length of time you build tolerance to it. Once this peaks it’s is seen the body can reject the drug at the current dose. So lowering it eases things. If you see a worsening of symptoms within an hour or so of dosing this may be a sign.

Conversely if you see things improving after taking your dose this could be interdose wd.

There is certainly a link to eating and symptoms. I was the opposite at one point. Food would bring on neuro emotions. It’s all possible. We are complex systems and these drugs really mess with them.

32 minutes ago, Chippy said:

When you are on a drug for any length of time you build tolerance to it. Once this peaks it’s is seen the body can reject the drug at the current dose. So lowering it eases things. If you see a worsening of symptoms within an hour or so of dosing this may be a sign.

Conversely if you see things improving after taking your dose this could be interdose wd.

There is certainly a link to eating and symptoms. I was the opposite at one point. Food would bring on neuro emotions. It’s all possible. We are complex systems and these drugs really mess with them.

I see things improving to be honest. It helps with my anxiety as soon as I take it. I also missed a dose of buspar the first day I took it so about two days ago and that could be messing with me as well. I’m wondering if me replacing my syringes has an effect because sometimes I’d go weeks without replacing and that makes them lose suction. I think I’m going to replace them every week now. I can’t afford to replace them everyday. I guess I am confused about the concept of interdose withdrawal because I have always only took it at night at 10:30. I’m going to start practicing the HALT method (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) so I’m making sure I’m eating regularly therefore to avoid mood swings.

3 minutes ago, Cowgirlblues said:

I see things improving to be honest. It helps with my anxiety as soon as I take it.

This dose imply interdose wd. Basically you may be experiencing wd between doses as the half life is short. Spreading the dose through the day helps stop this from happening.

Main thing with your syringes is to stick to the same syringe to measure your liquid and take the dose. Keeps it consistent when you change syringe then.

1 minute ago, Chippy said:

This dose imply interdose wd. Basically you may be experiencing wd between doses as the half life is short. Spreading the dose through the day helps stop this from happening.

Main thing with your syringes is to stick to the same syringe to measure your liquid and take the dose. Keeps it consistent when you change syringe then.

I am buying the same brand of syringe each time to try to stay consistent. I don’t know that I can do the interdosing due to me taking seroquel solely for sleep. I am using the same apple juice brand each time for consistency and I have used different water brands but they are both just purified water which I doubt makes a difference.

8 hours ago, Cowgirlblues said:

I am buying the same brand of syringe each time to try to stay consistent. I don’t know that I can do the interdosing due to me taking seroquel solely for sleep. I am using the same apple juice brand each time for consistency and I have used different water brands but they are both just purified water which I doubt makes a difference.

What often happens is you loose the advantage of the effect of the drug over time. This is due to the tolerance that we build to the drug. So it’s possible, likely it doesn’t help you sleep as much as you think that it does. You may just be taking it to stop wd. What you could do is move 1/4 or 1/3 of the dose backwards an hour each day till it’s a few hours before your pm dose and see if that helps any. You don’t need to split the whole dose necessarily. You could continue to split your dose some more later if it helped or that might be enough for the minute. Anyway, just some thoughts. I think interdose wd can be a hidden cause of issues more often than is realised.

On 5/10/2026 at 12:02 AM, Chippy said:

What often happens is you loose the advantage of the effect of the drug over time. This is due to the tolerance that we build to the drug. So it’s possible, likely it doesn’t help you sleep as much as you think that it does. You may just be taking it to stop wd. What you could do is move 1/4 or 1/3 of the dose backwards an hour each day till it’s a few hours before your pm dose and see if that helps any. You don’t need to split the whole dose necessarily. You could continue to split your dose some more later if it helped or that might be enough for the minute. Anyway, just some thoughts. I think interdose wd can be a hidden cause of issues more often than is realised.

I have a question that you or some others may be able to answer. It seems like the syringe for the liquid I am drawing up is getting air bubbles and it is effecting dosing. It even does this with a completely new syringe so it doesn’t seem to be loss of suction. Should I replace my syringes or would this create more inconsistency at this point? They’re kind of a cheap syringe from Amazon. Are there any tips for how I could avoid the air bubbles if I don’t switch syringes? If I should switch syringes do you have recommendations? https://a.co/d/01xkKTHI

I will post your question and my answer here, to keep everyone on the same page:

Cowgirlblues

Replied: 19 min

Good evening. I had seen your post about liquid tapering and you seem to be very knowledgeable. I think we had talked before on the other website but I was wondering if you think I should switch syringes? I have been using cheaper syringes from Amazon but for my own health I am thinking of transitioning over to Cardinal Health monoeject syringes to provide more stable dosing because they are brand name and more reliable. I am worried now that I have majorly screwed up by using a no name brand for my syringes. I struggle a lot with health anxiety so this has been weighing on my mind. I was also wondering if you think my ratio of liquid 25mg in 50ml with 20ml apple juice and 40 ml water is fine? I don’t think I want to switch my liquid ratios now that my body has settled with that but would changing the syringes help with dosing consistency? I had been using a catheter style syringe. It seems like the syringes I am using currently have an issue with air bubbles right out of the package. I have attached my current syringe and the ones I am thinking of getting.

https://a.co/d/0g7MuL9M

Cardinal Health Monoject Rigid Pack Regular Tip Syringes...

Cardinal Health Monoject Rigid Pack Regular Tip Syringes are meticulously engineered to deliver precise fluid and medication administration. With a 20 mL capacity, these syringes excel in various clin

@Cowgirlblues

If you are using 20 ml of apple juice and 40 ml of water, that would be 60 ml so your ratio would be incorrect. Maybe that is a typo.

A ratio of 25 mg of drug to 50 ml of liquid is good.

I have seen monoject syringes recommended as a good consistent syringe. There would be no reason not to switch over to something you feel more comfortable with. Use the same syringe to measure your liquid for your solution as well as for your dose and it will be consistent.

These are tips from AI regarding air bubbles:

Pull slowly

Draw the plunger back gradually rather than quickly. Fast pulling creates turbulence and traps air.

Keep the syringe tip submerged

Make sure the syringe tip stays fully below the liquid surface while drawing up the dose.

Draw a little extra first

Pull slightly more than your target dose, then tap out bubbles and push excess liquid back to the correct mark.

Tap the syringe

Hold the syringe upright with the tip pointing up and gently flick/tap the barrel with a finger so bubbles rise to the top.

Push the air out slowly

After bubbles collect near the tip, press the plunger gently until the air is expelled.

Let foam settle

If the medication foams easily (some suspensions or dissolved tablets do), wait 30–60 seconds before adjusting the final dose.

Avoid shaking the mixture

Swirling is better than shaking when mixing medications into liquid, because shaking creates many tiny bubbles.

Tiny microbubbles are usually less important with oral syringes than with injections, but for accurate dosing it’s still best to remove as much visible air as you can.

❤️🙏

1 minute ago, LostinCanada said:

theI will post your question and my answer here, to keep everyone on the same page:

Cowgirlblues

Replied: 19 min

Good evening. I had seen your post about liquid tapering and you seem to be very knowledgeable. I think we had talked before on the other website but I was wondering if you think I should switch syringes? I have been using cheaper syringes from Amazon but for my own health I am thinking of transitioning over to Cardinal Health monoeject syringes to provide more stable dosing because they are brand name and more reliable. I am worried now that I have majorly screwed up by using a no name brand for my syringes. I struggle a lot with health anxiety so this has been weighing on my mind. I was also wondering if you think my ratio of liquid 25mg in 50ml with 20ml apple juice and 40 ml water is fine? I don’t think I want to switch my liquid ratios now that my body has settled with that but would changing the syringes help with dosing consistency? I had been using a catheter style syringe. It seems like the syringes I am using currently have an issue with air bubbles right out of the package. I have attached my current syringe and the ones I am thinking of getting.

https://a.co/d/0g7MuL9M

Cardinal Health Monoject Rigid Pack Regular Tip Syringes...

Cardinal Health Monoject Rigid Pack Regular Tip Syringes are meticulously engineered to deliver precise fluid and medication administration. With a 20 mL capacity, these syringes excel in various clin

@Cowgirlblues

If you are using 20 ml of apple juice and 40 ml of water, that would be 60 ml so your ratio would be incorrect. Maybe that is a typo.

A ratio of 25 mg of drug to 50 ml of liquid is good.

I have seen monoject syringes recommended as a good consistent syringe. There would be no reason not to switch over to something you feel more comfortable with. Use the same syringe to measure your liquid for your solution as well as for your dose and it will be consistent.

These are tips from AI regarding air bubbles:

Pull slowly

Draw the plunger back gradually rather than quickly. Fast pulling creates turbulence and traps air.

Keep the syringe tip submerged

Make sure the syringe tip stays fully below the liquid surface while drawing up the dose.

Draw a little extra first

Pull slightly more than your target dose, then tap out bubbles and push excess liquid back to the correct mark.

Tap the syringe

Hold the syringe upright with the tip pointing up and gently flick/tap the barrel with a finger so bubbles rise to the top.

Push the air out slowly

After bubbles collect near the tip, press the plunger gently until the air is expelled.

Let foam settle

If the medication foams easily (some suspensions or dissolved tablets do), wait 30–60 seconds before adjusting the final dose.

Avoid shaking the mixture

Swirling is better than shaking when mixing medications into liquid, because shaking creates many tiny bubbles.

Tiny microbubbles are usually less important with oral syringes than with injections, but for accurate dosing it’s still best to remove as much visible air as you can.

❤️🙏

Yes, that was a typo. I use 20ml apple juice to 30ml water. I have a lab beaker with measurements so I fill it to 20ml and then add 30ml of purified water. It looks like it might actually be cheaper to buy the Cardinal Health syringes in bulk. I was just wondering though if switching syringes this late after using the same syringes for about 5 months will create any issues? And the issue with the 20ml is that I would have to have three draws as opposed to the two I have been doing. I don’t know if that actually makes accuracy worse or not.

3 minutes ago, Cowgirlblues said:

And the issue with the 20ml is that I would have to have three draws as opposed to the two I have been doing. I don’t know if that actually makes accuracy worse or not.

If you were measuring your liquid for your solution with the syringe, there would be no difference. Because you use a beaker, there could be. One way to see, is to measure some water equivalent to your dose with the syringe you use now...release it into a glass....then with the new syringe, draw that water up to see what dose it registers on the new syringe. Use that measurement on the new syringe for your dose moving forward. 😊

44 minutes ago, LostinCanada said:

If you were measuring your liquid for your solution with the syringe, there would be no difference. Because you use a beaker, there could be. One way to see, is to measure some water equivalent to your dose with the syringe you use now...release it into a glass....then with the new syringe, draw that water up to see what dose it registers on the new syringe. Use that measurement on the new syringe for your dose moving forward. 😊

I see what you are saying. ChatGPT helped me figure out that the other syringe would be better so I’m going to switch and try it and if it just destabilizes me more I’ll switch back to the other.

Guys, my period is 10 days late and I start a job next week. I don’t feel mentally well enough to start the job and feel like I’m currently in a PMDD induced crisis. My syringes continue to give me issues so I’m going to invest in the monoject and try to save money by reusing them every three days. I was already doing this with my old syringes anyways. I didn’t sleep well and wasn’t particularly anxious so I think it had to do with an error in dosing because I experienced those all too familiar body jerks when I get incorrect dosing. I’m just hoping it doesn’t create dosing errors to switch to a new syringe this far along. If anything, maybe it will make it more accurate so that I can taper better since Cardinal Health is a reputable medical manufacturer compared to my Amazon syringes lol. It’s gonna be $112 total per year if I reuse the syringe every 3 days. I may even use them longer than that if they maintain quality. I may switch to BH Supplies 20ml syringe if I decide the cost of the syringes is just too much but I figured I can try these out and see if they are worth the extra cost (if they last longer and don’t draw up bubbles like my current one). I wish Outro Health was available in my state so I didn’t have to do this alone because it feels so daunting. I need guidance from this website in whether I should try this job out or I shouldn’t go forward with it. I start next Tuesday so it’s going to be unprofessional no matter what day I give them a notice that I can’t work it but I feel panicked and anxious over it. I had to quit my last job after my antidepressant pooped out and it’s been a nightmare since.

Edited May 20May 20 by Cowgirlblues
Added information

1 hour ago, Cowgirlblues said:

Guys, my period is 10 days late and I start a job next week. I don’t feel mentally well enough to start the job and feel like I’m currently in a PMDD induced crisis. My syringes continue to give me issues so I’m going to invest in the monoject and try to save money by reusing them every three days. I was already doing this with my old syringes anyways. I didn’t sleep well and wasn’t particularly anxious so I think it had to do with an error in dosing because I experienced those all too familiar body jerks when I get incorrect dosing. I’m just hoping it doesn’t create dosing errors to switch to a new syringe this far along. If anything, maybe it will make it more accurate so that I can taper better since Cardinal Health is a reputable medical manufacturer compared to my Amazon syringes lol. It’s gonna be $112 total per year if I reuse the syringe every 3 days. I may even use them longer than that if they maintain quality. I may switch to BH Supplies 20ml syringe if I decide the cost of the syringes is just too much but I figured I can try these out and see if they are worth the extra cost (if they last longer and don’t draw up bubbles like my current one). I wish Outro Health was available in my state so I didn’t have to do this alone because it feels so daunting. I need guidance from this website in whether I should try this job out or I shouldn’t go forward with it. I start next Tuesday so it’s going to be unprofessional no matter what day I give them a notice that I can’t work it but I feel panicked and anxious over it. I had to quit my last job after my antidepressant pooped out and it’s been a nightmare since.

I'm so sorry you're going through this @Cowgirlblues PMDD is so brutal let alone in withdrawal, I feel you there, I've suffered for years but now at my age it's a little more bearable, I wish I had something to offer, I know there are supplements that might help but I don't know if it's even worth trying with such a sensitive system.

I hope it doesn't get any stronger and you can give the new job a chance, things can feel completely different in real time so it might even do you good although I understand the fear of the instability of the two situations you're in.

As for the liquid, maybe @Chippy will give his opinion, I have no clue, I'm going dry.

Wishing you easier days very soon, hang in there, no matter what difficulty comes it always leaves at some point.

Edited May 20May 20 by Fullhealing

26 minutes ago, Fullhealing said:

I'm so sorry you're going through this @Cowgirlblues PMDD is so brutal let alone in withdrawal, I feel you there, I've suffered for years but now at my age it's a little more bearable, I wish I had something to offer, I know there are supplements that might help but I don't know if it's even worth trying with such a sensitive system.

I hope it doesn't get any stronger and you can give the new job a chance, things can feel completely different in real time so it might even do you good although I understand the fear of the instability of the two situations you're in.

As for the liquid, maybe @Chippy will give his opinion, I have no clue, I'm going dry.

Wishing you easier days very soon, hang in there, no matter what difficulty comes it always leaves at some point.

I do take Omega 3 and B vitamins and magnesium glycinate, they don’t hurt but don’t seem to help much either. My therapist suggested birth control for PMDD since meds haven’t helped but I don’t really want to add in something that will just mess with my moods even more. Lifestyle changes seem to work best like remembering to eat regularly, hydrate, and connect with others even when I don’t feel like it but still don’t take away the physical symptoms and sometimes you can do everything you can for the mental and they still break through. I’ve just had bad luck cold turkeying seroquel so I was afraid once I got down to the lower doses that dry wouldn’t do it for me because I would get panic attacks and rage where I would end up wanting to punch doors and stuff (not hurt anyone else but still scary) doing the cold turkeying even after only three weeks being on it. I try to have faith I’m not stuck on it and I’m going to try everything I can. If I have to wait for Outro to come to my state just to be able to do the full taper, I’ll do it. I don’t even know if I have to go fully off, I’d just like to be at a dose where I have less anhedonia and low mood but still could sleep. Sometimes I wonder if liquid is better or not but my body’s gotten used to it for about 5 months now so there’s no sense in going back to dry. I had considered getting a compounded formulation of liquid but I feel like that would cause more trouble now that I’m used to my homemade. It would also be insanely expensive.

18 minutes ago, Cowgirlblues said:

suggested birth control for PMDD

Some react negatively to estrogen and/or progesterone. Everything has risk.

2 hours ago, Cowgirlblues said:

reuse the syringe every 3 days

Some put clear tape over the markings or use clear nail polish so they last much longer.

I think measuring your liquid (water) using the syringe instead of the beaker would be the most accurate.

39 minutes ago, Cowgirlblues said:

I do take Omega 3 and B vitamins and magnesium glycinate, they don’t hurt but don’t seem to help much either. My therapist suggested birth control for PMDD since meds haven’t helped but I don’t really want to add in something that will just mess with my moods even more. Lifestyle changes seem to work best like remembering to eat regularly, hydrate, and connect with others even when I don’t feel like it but still don’t take away the physical symptoms and sometimes you can do everything you can for the mental and they still break through. I’ve just had bad luck cold turkeying seroquel so I was afraid once I got down to the lower doses that dry wouldn’t do it for me because I would get panic attacks and rage where I would end up wanting to punch doors and stuff (not hurt anyone else but still scary) doing the cold turkeying even after only three weeks being on it. I try to have faith I’m not stuck on it and I’m going to try everything I can. If I have to wait for Outro to come to my state just to be able to do the full taper, I’ll do it. I don’t even know if I have to go fully off, I’d just like to be at a dose where I have less anhedonia and low mood but still could sleep. Sometimes I wonder if liquid is better or not but my body’s gotten used to it for about 5 months now so there’s no sense in going back to dry. I had considered getting a compounded formulation of liquid but I feel like that would cause more trouble now that I’m used to my homemade. It would also be insanely expensive.

It sounds like you are definitely trying everything to support yourself @Cowgirlblues unfortunately when it comes to hormones and wd, it is often far beyond our control.

I am sure you will be able to get off of it, only slowly, which also suits your external circumstances. If you are in a stressful period, it is worth putting the process on hold until things calm down.

Regarding hormonal therapy, it is a risk like anything new that enters the system let alone in your current situation. I personally have never tried both because of the wd now and for being a heavy smoker for years.

As for the liquid, from what I know, home made is even better because you know very well what the compound is, unlike external places that prepare it, but beyond that I really don't know much..

I hope that what you decide will suit you, in the end, you can only try and see.

Edited May 20May 20 by Fullhealing