Tonight I am going from 40mg once in the evening to 20mg once in the evening. I kind of wanted to post my own experiences with lowering from 40-20mg because I’ve heard stories of people going through pure hell… and if by chance my story is different I feel like that’s great news to a lot of other out there.
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I hope it works out for you. The minimum effective dose is important, and there seems to be a lot of pdoc’s over medicating people based on some of the experiences I have read on here.
The most disturbing of which relating to Haldol where someone said they took 60mg I think it was, when the max recommended dose is 20mg. I don’t say anything to people when I see these things being posted, as I am not a doctor, but it’s a concern to see people being put on such high doses - especially with the typical’s…
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That’s a really small dose, hopefully you have a good experience with little withdrawals.
I think 100 mg is the max dose of Haldol. Someone here takes 80 mg and I take 30 mg. My pdoc is conservative and wouldn’t give me more than the max dose.
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By mouth
- For Adult
Initially 2–20 mg once daily, alternatively initially 2–20 mg daily in divided doses; maintenance 1–3 mg 3 times a day, adjusted according to response, daily maximum to be given in divided doses, for debilitated patients, use elderly dose; maximum 20 mg per day.
I am not a doctor, so I wouldn’t like to comment further, but the above is what is recommended in the U.K. it may be different I guess in other parts of the world
Hear, hear. I think the doctors should only prescribe the typicals in an emergency.
The max of haldol is definitely not 20mg.
ETA looks like it’s 30 according to this site.
PO
- Moderate disease, 0.5-2 mg q8-12hr initially
- Severe disease, 3-5 mg q8-12hr initially; not to exceed 30 mg/day
Much lower than I expected. I’m taking 20 oral and 100 every 3 weeks IM. That’s right at, or over, the max recommended. Good thing I’m planning to switch.
I got the info from here:
https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/haloperidol.html
These are the people in the U.K. who set recommendations for medicine that doctors must follow.
To be fair there may be some old school pdocs out there who prescribe higher doses. My pdoc has been doing it 25 years, and he told me that they only realised in the last 10 (?) years or so that they were prescribing massive doses of Haldol by mistake, as some studies showed that 20mg was the point at which it’s most effective.
I was on that drug for 6 months, I had to switch as it numbed my brain so much I wasn’t able to function at work. I wouldn’t have called it sedation, but it changed me. It was weird, I am glad I am off it now. Just trying to find something as effective has been a challenge.
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Thank you for your support… my psych is like you’re next step in no medication … so I think she thinks I can manage without meds which is really interesting… it’s like she’s putting me in control… if I want to come off it she’ll do it… such a contrast from my last psych who wouldn’t take me off anything because I wasn’t on it for at least a year… wouldn’t even lower…
But I will take in to consideration that you say min dose is important… always good to hear others thoughts.
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Incase anyone was wondering 
day one was normal… took the pill 2 hours later than normal and still got to bed at a regular time! I hear it gets worse as the week progresses lmao… but my day has been no different with a different dose…
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Thank you… it is very small but I was doing great with 40mg so I’m hoping 20mg will be manageable
I hope it continues for you.
Are you doing this with a doctor’s approval? If so, good luck. I tried lowering my Ziprasidone from 80 mg to my lowest effective dose this winter. I got down to 40 mg before I started having symptoms. Now, I’m on 60, which is still better than my original dose.
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That’s good you managed to find peace at a lower dose, I hope it continues for you. My pdoc wants to do this with me which is not something that I have experienced before, but he’s adamant that this needs to happen to reduce side effects.
I am worried about Diazepam though as I have been on it for too long and when I tried lowering the dose things didn’t go so well 
It’s going to be a tough thing to drop.
Good luck. I know many docs are trying to limit benzo prescriptions now, because of the high potential for addiction and abuse.
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Doctors approval for sure. It’s always great to find a happy medium where you can say you lowered your dose and am still doing good. Atleast I think so. 60mg is awesome.
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Hehe I am not allowed to take those
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Do you take geodon as well?
So you tried and ended up remaining on it? I have fear that that will happen to me but it’s not the end of the world.
I hope your side effects become manageable if you go through with your doctors recommendation.
It’s not available where I am.
I am just coming off Abilify now as it didn’t work out, so I only take 10mg now instead of 30mg. I have been put on Amisulpride, and been told to up the dose if I need too in two weeks. I am hoping another week or so 400mg will do it, but if not I have to go up to 600mg.
I hope that a lower dose will work out but will have to see how it goes. I experienced a lowering to effective dose on Haldol, but I came off that drug as it was too much for me to concentrate at work etc which is why I asked to change meds as I wasn’t able to think creatively I found. It numbed my brain and I couldn’t focus properly on it.
Kinda different circumstances, but keeping the doses as low as possible seems to be what my pdoc is trying so hard to do. I really appreciate the effort he has put in to try and find a solution. I hope we get there sooner rather than later.
Keep going with it man, I wish you luck and hope it works out for you.
Glad to hear things are going smoothly so far. Hope it stays that way for you!