i got the liquid paxil, now how do i measure it?

[WantToQuit]

i finally got my liquid paxil today and am ready to wean down to 17.5 from 20, my current dose. can i find some sort of measuring device at the drugstore that is measured in ml? also for some reason the label on the bottle says 10 mg/5 ml, even though i'm taking 20 mg currently, does that make a difference? and i read on some other post that the number of ml i should take should be half of the mg i'm on. so since i am going down to 17.5 mg, i need to take 8.75 ml, correct? will it be possible to get that precise with whatever measuring device i end up getting? i know there are a lot of questions here, i just really want to do this right. thanks so much for any advice you can offer.

also, does this stuff need to be refrigerated or anything?

[Kitsyl]

I'm so glad that you got yourself the liquid!!!

One 20mg tablet is equal to 10ml of liquid. You will need a syringe to measure it accurately, as you get to the lower doses, and my phamacist has been more than happy to help here. Try to get a syringe that measures in the smallest increments, like a Heparin syringe.

My best advice is, don't forget to check out the tapering schedule posted in this forum. Never reduce by more than 10 per cent of whatever dosage you're on at any given time, and leave 3 - 4 weeks between tapers.

Unless it says so on the bottle, there's no need to refrigerate the liquid Paxil. I've never refrigerated mine, even in the Summer. Just keep it in a cool, dark place.

When I post like this I know I must sound like a stuck gramophone needle, because I bang on about it so often, thread after thread, but I got this information here at PP and it's got me to where I am now. Without it, I would never have got this far, and I just want others to know that if I can do this, so can they.

[WantToQuit]

can i get the syringe in the aisles of a drugstore or do i need to talk to a pharmacist about it? will the syringe have 8.75 ml on it or do they not go that high? also, after reading a lot of posts on here, i'm starting to get the feeling that i'm the only one who's planning on using the liquid throughout the entire weaning process. has anyone else done this, or do most of you just use the liquid when you get to the smaller doses? am i being stupid and unnecessarily cautious? is 8.75 ml even equal to 17.5 mg or did i do my math wrong? thanks.

[Casey1231]

Since you are currently on 20mg, why not drop to 18mg? That would be a ten percent drop from your current dose, and much easier to measure on the syringe. Since it is a 2mg per ml ratio, you would measure 9ml to equal 18mg. Then you could go down 1ml every 2-4 weeks as tolerated. I think people go from 20 to 17.5 when they are quartering pills, but with the liquid, it seems an even 2mg drop would be much easier. Just my thoughts - good luck to you! Casey

[summer bee]

ask your pharmacist for the syringe. mine was free; i just told him i needed to take some minute amounts of liquid med and he gave me one. with a typical diabetic syringe, though, you'll only be able to fill it with 1 mL of paxil (that's 2 mg). so, you'll have to fill it over and over again in one sitting if you take that route -- i'm not sure if the pharmacists will have anything that's bigger than that...

[gracemynote]

A random question, does liquid paxil taste bad? I'm looking into getting it. Please don't tell me it tastes as bad as the pills.

[summer bee]

nah, i don't think it tastes as bad as the pills. i took the name-brand paxil liquid and it was pretty gross, but at least it was purported to taste like oranges, sort of.

[Casey1231]

The name brand paxil not too bad, the generic paxil is wretched.

[Kitsyl]

am i being stupid and unnecessarily cautious? is 8.75 ml even equal to 17.5 mg or did i do my math wrong? thanks.

Yes it is, but if you're going to reduce by 10% it's going to be 18 mgs or 9ml of liquid.

I've used a 2ml syringe throughout. On the higher doses I used the measuring cup that came with the liquid (5ml increments) and a syringe to get the dosage 'exact.'

Ask your pharmacist for the syringe and tell him you need one that will measure small doses.

[Iksfreundin]

I'll admit, I cut and pasted from another post. But these were my words, and might help you!

Liquid becomes easier when you understand a few basic things. First, get an oral syringe. The pharmacists usually have them for free, but you may want to buy one if they don't, or just to have an extra. For all liquid paxil, the suspension is 1 ml = 2 mg. So, when you're at the 5 ml mark on your syringe, that is 10 mg (5x2=10). Every hash mark between the ml marks on the syringe = .4 mg. Imagine this as your syringe, standing up and down as though it were full of the liquid:

------5 ml (10mgs)
----
----
----
----
------4 ml (8 mgs)
----
----
----
----
------3 ml (6 mgs)
----
----
----
----
------2 ml (4 mgs)
----
----
----
----
------1 ml (2 mgs)
----
----
----
----
----

Each time you drop one of those marks (the smaller ones), you are making a .4 mg drop. That would mean, for example, that the mark under the 5 ml line would be 10 mgs - .4 = 9.6 mgs. If you dropped your dose to that mark, you'd be getting 9.6 mgs of paxil. If you dropped two marks below the 5 ml (10 mgs), you'd be getting 10 mgs - .8 = 9.2 mgs of paxil. Does that make sense?


Okay, so, if you were at a higher dose, you might want to try what I did when I dropped from 20 mgs to (about)17. I filled one syringe to the 5 ml mark (10 mgs) and put it into a shot glass. Then I filled the other one to the 3.3 ml mark (two hash marks below the 4 ml mark, or 3 above the 3 ml mark, or 7.2 mgs) and put it into the shot glass as well. Then I took the paxil 'shot', filled the empty shot glass with water, and took THAT, then did it again. Then I rinsed the shot glass out with hot water and left it to dry.

Might help?

[WantToQuit]

thanks everyone. i went to the pharmacy today and i got a regular measuring cup tube thing, for free. they had the syringe also, but it only measured up to 6 ml and the one i got measures up to 10. why is everyone suggesting the syringe rather than the one i got? does it really make a difference? and i suppose i should drop to 18 rather than 17.5, i was still thinking in pill-cutting mode.

[Fleet86]

Originally Posted by WantToQuit

thanks everyone. i went to the pharmacy today and i got a regular measuring cup tube thing, for free. they had the syringe also, but it only measured up to 6 ml and the one i got measures up to 10. why is everyone suggesting the syringe rather than the one i got? does it really make a difference? and i suppose i should drop to 18 rather than 17.5, i was still thinking in pill-cutting mode.

The syringe can measure the dose very accurately as it has a rubber plunger thing to 'flatten' this thick syrup liquid. The dosing cup is harder to get exactly spot on I find. What I do is measure a dose of 10ml by doing 2 lots of a measure of 5ml in the syringe. Think it's Dr Healey who did some research and recommends the liquid, who says he thinks the syringe is best due to accuracy. But maybe see what you think when you measure it. Hope you find the liquid helps, pill-cutting is such a pain!

[Fleet86]

Sorry, terrap's explaination brilliant (that will teach me to dive in and not read thread!)

[Iksfreundin]

Originally Posted by WantToQuit

thanks everyone. i went to the pharmacy today and i got a regular measuring cup tube thing, for free. they had the syringe also, but it only measured up to 6 ml and the one i got measures up to 10. why is everyone suggesting the syringe rather than the one i got? does it really make a difference? and i suppose i should drop to 18 rather than 17.5, i was still thinking in pill-cutting mode.

As long as you're getting the right dose, it doesn't matter if your syringe goes to 3 or 50. If you filled the 6 ml, it would be 12 mgs (6x2=12) and to get to 18, you'd just need to fill it to 3 again (3ml x 2 = 6 mgs) and that would equal 18 mgs. If you filled the 10 ml syringe, you'd fill it to the 9 ml mark (9ml x 2 =18 mgs). The thing is, you want exact dosing, and the cups can be tricky. Syringes seem better for sheer workability.

[WantToQuit]

all right, thanks you guys. after taking my first dose of the liquid this morning, i think i now understand why a syringe will be helpful. the measuring cup thing i have does make it hard to get the dosage exact, which was really frustrating. i'll go to walgreen's tonight and get a syringe. i must say this stuff tastes so horrible it was pretty hard to get down. maybe the syringe helps with that as well because someone said in another post you can just aim it at the back of your throat so you can't taste it much at all. is that true? the only other thing i noticed with the liquid is that it made/is making me incredibly drowsy, which i never experienced with normal paxil. on my way to work this morning i could hardly keep my eyes open, and am still having trouble, though it's a little better now. anyone else experience this with the liquid?

[Chrysalis]

I apologize if people have already said this--too tired to read every post. But when you get down to the small, small doses, a syringe will be more accurate than an eyedropper or cup.

My oral syringe is wearing out (rubber gasket starting to slip) and my pharmacy says they don't have any, only eye droppers, which aren't marked in small enough increments. They suggested I ask at the vet's office. So there's another idea.

I think most folks wait until they are below 5 or 10 mg dosage for the liquid due to the greater expense. Even with my insurance, which is very good, the liquid costs me a $20 co-pay, compared to $5 co-pay on the tablets.

Margaret