Hi everyone. I'm another one of the many who are jumping on the pod-tapering bandwagon! Unfortunately they are just becoming too scarce, expensive, and unreliable. I also have a feeling that there is some merit to the rumors going around about law enforcement interfering with the current crop, so my bet is that there isn't going to be a quick resolution to the current supply issue.
Anyways, it's good to hear about the success many of you are having with your tapers (or cold-turkey quitting!). I'm currently on 1 "small" (or "medium?"... a bit smaller than a golf-ball) pod per day (tea+grounds) and haven't experiences too many withdrawal symptoms so far. It seems like many here had more extreme habits than myself, so I'll give a rundown of my usage statistics in case anyone is in a similar boat and looking to drop the habit:
Been using pods daily for about 4 months. Generally anywhere from 1 to 3 "extra large" (I'd guesstimate about 60% the size of a tennis ball) per dose, once per day. For the last 2 or 3 months it has been tea only (I got sick of dealing with the taste of grounds), though I do use a high-powered blender to make tea, so I suspect it is more efficient than simply steeping some marginally crushed pods in hot water. I've also not been consistent in my dosage pattern- sometimes I'll take the dose in the morning, other times the late afternoon/evening, and occasionally I would skip a day. I've found that keeping a non-consistent dosage pattern (not dosing at the same time each day, and not using the same amount of pods each day) seems to keep tolerance and withdrawal at bay to some extent. When I skipped a day here or there I could usually get by with only very minor WD (running nose, yawning, slight soreness in legs...) in the first 48 hours or so.
Anyways, a couple of weeks ago I purchased a batch "extra large" pods to help make a smooth taper, but to my dismay they were actually about 1/4 the size (slightly smaller than golf-balls). Regardless, I decided to start off with a sharp drop from my regular 1-3 large pods (tea) to one of these smaller pods (tea+grounds) per day, and have been on this dose for the last 4 days or so without any serious problems. So, for anyone with a more moderate habit, you may find it quicker to start a taper with a larger initial dosage drop. Then again, I think my situate may be more ideal for such a drop since my usage has been less standard day-to-day.
I'm planning on sticking with 1/day for another few days, then will probably drop to .5 pods/day for a week or two, then .25 for another week/two, then drop off. All subject to how smooth those drops go of course.
Unfortunately for my situation, dropping pods is not my choice. Generally, this would mean a huge fail for kicking, but based on the current supply situation, I don't really have a choice in the matter. I'm just not happy about it. While there have been some negative aspects of my pod use (occasionally nausea, sleeping too much, not as social- not good for being an introvert in general!), I actually have gotten a lot of positive from it- it's helped me cut my alcohol consumption significantly, helped me be very effective at getting lots of work done, etc. So, if supply comes back to stay, I'm sure I'll get right back into it, but it's just not worth it with the current supply/prices/shady vendors, etc.
Sorry to ramble so much...too many glasses of wine does that
. Good luck to everyone on their own taper schedules! Sounds like things are going great for you, Bojangles!
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
Enjoy