Any pharmacists? How do I get my AD drug in a lower dose?

[DaytimeIsCrazy]

I'm reducing my Venlafaxine in an attempt to come off it. I'm really sensitive so have to take my dose in two halves (am / pm) to reduce the withdrawal. It is going well so far, I've reduced from 150mg to 37.5mg
My Dr tells me the tablets I'm currently using, cut in half, are the smallest there is. I'd really like to taper very slowly but even cutting pills into quarters accurately will be a challenge.
How do I find out if I can buy it as a liquid or lower dose privately? Or could I crush it up, but how to measure accurately?

I'm not a pharmacist or GP but 37.5mg is the lowest dose. Liquid form of drugs are usually very expensive and I'm not sure about private. Would a cut in half then every other day work? It's best to discuss it with the people mentioned above.

Every other day is definitely not a plan, I have to take it am and pm to avoid the terrible withdrawal, so plan to continue to split for as long as poss.
It makes me cross that they don't make the drugs available in smaller doses so people can come off them more easily and safely.

I’ve never come across venlafaxine liquid- that’s not to say it could be made as a “special” but it would be very expensive and have a short shelf life (possibly £££ for 2 weeks supply).Are your tablets scored? You can buy a pill cutter which makes life slightly easier than using your kitchen knife and hoping for the best.

She’s already cutting them in half though. Would a pill cutter manage 1/4s?

My DH was on 37.5 of Venlaflaxine and was advised by the GP when he wanted to come off them to take one every other day and then every two days, then every three days. It was a long process as he was advised to cut the dose down very slowly but worked for him within a few months.

Have pm'd

Sorry just saw your second post about not doing every other day.

You can get pill halvers from a chemist - I have one for DS medication.

I'm using a pill cutter and think I can just about make quarters, but not super accurate.
I can't even take my pills just in the morning as the half life is low and I'm really sensitive to withdrawal, so every other day won't work for me.
I obviously plan to discuss with GP and pharmacist, but trying to have all the info as Drs don't actually know that much about this, IME.

Urgh it's too early been up with the baby alot and just seen you're already halving them,.. Sorry! I'll get my coat...

A drug needs to be a minimal dose to have any effect at all - taking less than this minimum would pharmacologically be the same as taking zero . Suggest you talk to your GP . Some people are best off on a small dose of meds longer term . You can ask your pharmacist but they’d redirect you to your GP .

It was DHs second attempt to come off them, he found the same as you that the withdrawal was too much the first time. But he was only ever on 37.5 to begin with. It's very difficult and I hope you can find some sound advice and knowledge

Quartering the tablets and taking a quarter twice a day will give you the reduced dose you want , it will average out over every two days
( 37.5mg in four doses) , then reduced to an eighth of a tablet twice a day. The tablets do not disperse in water easily when crushed, so your problem with crushing and dissolving then would be that it would make it more difficult to get an accurate dose as measuring a proportion of the dissolved solution may not give a consistent amount of the drug as the remaining solution would need to be disposed of each time.

Why not try to stop counting them as 'per day' and move to hours instead. So at the moment you're on half a tablet every twelve hours. Extend that to 14 hours for a few days, then 16 and so on, until you are naturally at one every 24 hours. Then plan a quiet few days where you skip a day. OK, the timings will be awkward for a few days, but you will still be reducing the mg you are taking in and that's the aim. The end justifies the means.
And Rome wasn't built in a day. Much more important to do it once and do it right, even if it takes a couple of months longer. Good luck.

Thanks for ideas. I will consider.
Staggering the times doesn't help with my withdrawal: 24 hours is as long as it seems to stay in my system.
It's also easy to say that the 37.5mg is the lowest dose so any less is like having none at all, but many people totally fail to come off due to the terrible withdrawal symptoms at this end stage.

I don't know if this is recommended, so ask pharmacist/gp, but can you crush a tablet into a fine powder and weigh out smaller doses so they are more accurate? It would be a very light weight but there are scales that can weigh that small, they might be pretty expensive though. (But will be resellable after you are successfully off the medication.)

I assume your gp will have already considered a different medication as replacement that would help with coming off it, something available in a smaller dose that would help, if there is anything that would do that, of course. If they haven't it might be worth asking if there is something like that you could try.

I'll talk to GP and pharmacist, but I pretty sure that crushing it would be too inaccurate. I'll probably have to chop pills as best I can and then plan in a good time to suffer when I can get help with the children :(