Taper schedule dates

Your steps → dated taper

A taper written as “3 tablets for a week, then 2 for a week, then 1” is clear in the surgery and hard to follow on a Thursday three weeks later. The steps come from your prescriber. This tool only puts dates on them, so you can see which step today is.

Your prescriber’s steps

Nothing you type here leaves your browser. Leave unused steps blank.

First day of step 1

Step 1: what you take

Step 1: for how many days

Step 2: what you take

Step 2: for how many days

Step 3: what you take

Step 3: for how many days

Step 4: what you take

Step 4: for how many days

Step 5: what you take

Step 5: for how many days

Step 6: what you take

Step 6: for how many days

The steps are your prescriber’s, not this page’s

How fast a medication can come down, and in what steps, depends on the drug, how long you have taken it and how you respond. That is a prescribing decision. This page will not suggest a step, a length or an amount, and if the dates it shows look too fast or too slow to you, that is a question for the person who wrote the plan, not a reason to edit it here.

If a step feels wrong

Tapers are sometimes paused or slowed when symptoms come back. If that happens, call your prescriber before moving to the next step, then re-enter the plan they give you from the new start date.

To tick off each day as you go, lay the course out on the dosing calendar. For a pattern of days on and days off rather than falling steps, use the medication cycle calculator.

Common questions

How do I work out the dates of a taper?

Each step starts the day after the previous one ends. If step 1 is 7 days starting on 1 October, it runs 1 to 7 October, and step 2 starts on 8 October. The final day of the taper is the start date plus the total number of days, minus one.

Can this tool tell me how to taper my medication?

No. It does not suggest steps, amounts or lengths. The steps have to come from your prescriber; this tool only puts calendar dates on the plan they gave you.

What if I miss a day or a step goes badly?

Ask your prescriber or pharmacist what to do before changing anything. If they adjust the plan, enter the new steps from the new start date and the dates will be recalculated.

One thing this cannot do

This is an arithmetic tool, not medical advice. It works out numbers from what you type in — it does not know your medication, your prescription, or what you should do if something goes wrong. Anything about changing a dose, spacing doses differently, or handling a missed dose is a question for your doctor or pharmacist.