What a brilliant, thoughtful and informative post, i thoroughly enjoyed reading it!
i would like to add a few comments from my experience, although i’m not exactly the greatest success story
First is to sort out a schedule and stick to it, my usage is historically very sporadic, i just take it when i want to feel great or i’m feeling withdrawals, i.e very random, so a taper needs to start with a strict regime which, as you say, you do not cheat on. For me my day starts at 5am and i dose 3 times (240mg a time) .. last night i woke at 2am in pretty severe withdrawals, sweats, aches etc.. i just had to stick it out, tossed and turned for 3 hours with my little bottle of pills by the bed…and with great relief swallowed them at 5am exactly! - as soon as i tell myself, ‘don’t worry, you can have them early tonight’ - then that’s it, same the following night, same with the next dose, and the wheels fall off-BE DISCIPLINED
The second thing i’ve learned is only to drop when you are stable and ready, there is no point for me planning a drop every 7 days, i just have to wait until i’m feeling normal, then give it 2 days or so, then drop, otherwise i get a wave of withdrawals on top of existing withdrawals, and then give up inevitably.. i mean when i say normal i mean not in full blown wds, i agree with your point that you are
going to feel low most of the time
What is really frustrating this time is i am struggling to stabilise, today is day 11 from a 20% drop and i still don’t feel great, which is frustrating as i’m trying to launch a business at the moment and i’m not in the right headspace at all..anyway fingers crossed
would be great to hear from others who struggled to stabilise , always get comfort from those in the same boat
Thanks again for a great post