Benzodiazepines by no more than 5 percent.
Antidepressants, antipsychotics and ADHD medication by no more than 10 percent.
In an ideal world, these are the percentages to reduce the medications.
Antidepressants and antipsychotics should be reduced slower for the last two or three reductions. Instead of a 10 percent reduction, slow it down to a 5 percent reduction.
Again, this is in an ideal world and for an ideal taper.
Getting the medication to a 5 percent reduction or a 10 percent reduction is a hard part for many people. The drugs are not manufactured in those increments, and you need to get creative or spend a bit more money to even be close.
One way to be exact with the reduction is to have the medication compounded. You would use a compounding pharmacy to achieve this. Drug manufacturers are lobbying the F.D.A. hard to get this banned. I normally do not bash the pharmaceutical but if you want to ensure the purchasers of your product will never be able to stop purchasing, this is what you would do.
Some people shave a little off their tablet for each reduction. They purchased a milligram scale and weighed the tablet and came very close to the correct reduction.
Time release capsules can be opened, and the balls can be placed in a teaspoon of applesauce and swallowed. Never chew the balls. Use Mott’s Applesauce for this.
Lilly did a study with Cymbalta to find a way to have elderly take Cymbalta. The elderly could not swallow a pill, and they tried Mott’s Applesauce to get the Cymbalta into them. The study found the pH stayed the same in the stomach when using the applesauce and the time release balls acted the same as if they were still in the capsule.
If your tablet is large enough, a pill slicer can be used.
You can sometimes use existing dosages of a medication and get fairly close to the best reduction amount. Zoloft is an example of this. Talk with your prescribing physician and pharmacy.
I am not a fan of switching to liquid titration. I am sure some people have had success with this method, but I have had an abundance of people attempt this over the past 27 years and not much success.