Generic taper dose calculator
For when your medicine isn't in our list of specific calculators yet. Choose a method below — dissolving a tablet into liquid, measuring a ready-made or compounded pharmacy liquid, cutting tablets, counting capsule beads, or combining capsule strengths — and the calculator works out the measurable amount for your target dose.
First, look for your medicine
Each medicine has its own page with method-specific instructions.
Don't see yours? Use the generic calculator below — it covers all the common methods. Request a calculator for your medicine.
Single dose calculator
- Tablet strength
- 50 mg per tablet (or part-tablet)
- Water volume
- 10 mL
- Target dose
- 12.5 mg — what you want to take
- Volume to take
- 2.5 mL — from the 10 mL liquid
- Check
- 50 × (2.5 ÷ 10) = 12.5 mg ✓
Single dose calculator
- Label strength
- 5 mg / 5 mL
- Per mL
- 1 mg — mg ÷ mL
- Target dose
- 2.5 mg — what you want to take
- Volume to take
- 2.5 mL
- Check
- 2.5 × (5 ÷ 5) = 2.5 mg ✓
Single dose calculator
Single dose calculator
- Tablet strength
- 50 mg per tablet
- Tablet weight
- 0.2 g (total mass)
- Per gram
- 250 mg of drug — strength ÷ weight
- Target dose
- 25 mg — what you want to take
- Amount to weigh
- 0.1 g (before rounding)
- Check
- (0.1 ÷ 0.2) × 50 = 25 mg ✓
Single dose calculator
- Capsule strength
- 75 mg per capsule
- Beads per capsule
- 160 beads
- One bead
- 0.4688 mg — strength ÷ beads
- Target dose
- 37.5 mg — what you want to take
- Beads to take
- 80 beads (before rounding)
- Check
- (80 ÷ 160) × 75 = 37.5 mg ✓
Single dose calculator
Plan your full taper in TaperMate
This calculator handles one dose. The TaperMate app calculates a full reduction schedule with hold periods, microtapering and symptom monitoring — so each new dose is one tap away, not a daily maths problem.
The liquid method, step by step
- Cut the tablet portion your prescriber agreed with a pill cutter.
- Disperse it in a known volume of water to make a known concentration — it may look cloudy, which is expected.
- Stir or shake well, and again immediately before each dose; the active ingredient settles quickly.
- Draw your dose with an oral syringe and take it.
- Make a fresh liquid each day and discard any unused liquid.
About the liquid method
You crush or disperse a known strength of tablet into a known volume of water, then draw the fraction containing your target dose. Works for many SSRIs and some other psychotropics — not for modified-release formulations.
The dedicated sertraline · liquid page has a step-by-step worked example adapted from the RELEASE Toolkit; the same method applies to most immediate-release SSRI tablets.
Measuring a pharmacy liquid, step by step
- Check the concentration printed on the label (mg per mL).
- Use the calculator above to get the volume for your dose.
- Shake first if it's a suspension, then measure with an oral syringe and take it.
- Store as directed on the label and use within its expiry.
About a pharmacy liquid
Some medicines come as a ready-made oral liquid, and a compounding pharmacist can make one for others. Either way, the bottle is labelled with a concentration — how many milligrams are in a given number of millilitres, like 5 mg / 5 mL or 5 mg / 1 mL.
Enter that concentration exactly as it's written on your label — both numbers are editable — then your target dose. The calculator works out how many millilitres to draw up. There's no mixing involved; you're measuring a liquid someone else has already made to a known strength.
Always check the label each time you collect a new bottle — concentrations can differ between brands and between compounded batches. Measure with an oral syringe, not a kitchen spoon.
Cutting tablets, step by step
- Use a pill cutter on a flat, clean surface.
- Cut to the fraction the calculator gives — halves are reliable, quarters less so.
- Take the piece for today's dose; store any remainder in a labelled container.
- Don't cut modified-release or enteric-coated tablets.
About cutting tablets
A pill cutter splits a tablet into halves or quarters. Halves are reliable; quarters can crumble or split unevenly. Because you can only cut so finely, the calculator rounds to the nearest piece you can actually cut — so the achievable dose often won't match your target exactly. It shows you the difference both ways (just below and just above) so you and your prescriber can decide whether that's close enough, or whether a liquid or compounded strength would be more accurate.
You can enter more than one strength if you have them. Diazepam, for example, comes as 5 mg and 2 mg tablets — many people hold both — so the calculator works out the doses you can make by combining cut pieces of each.
Don't cut modified-release, enteric-coated or film-coated tablets — the release profile or absorption changes. If your target dose doesn't fall close to a clean cut, the liquid or bead method is usually more accurate.
Weighing, step by step
- Weigh a whole tablet or the full contents of a capsule (excluding the capsule shell) on a milligram scale — average a few for accuracy.
- Use the calculator above to get the amount to weigh for your dose.
- Weigh that amount — by crushing a tablet, scraping small amounts off, or weighing capsule beads — and take it.
- Make each dose fresh; don't pre-weigh several days at once.
About the weighing method
You weigh a measured amount of the medication on a milligram scale — some people crush a tablet to an even powder, others scrape small amounts from a tablet or weigh capsule beads. It's the method to reach for when a medicine can't be made into a reliable liquid and doesn't divide cleanly with a cutter.
The key thing to understand: a tablet's physical weight is not the same as its drug content. A "50 mg" tablet might weigh 0.18 g once you include the binders and fillers — so the calculator scales by the tablet's measured weight, and shows how much active drug each gram holds. Weigh a whole tablet or the full contents of a capsule (or the average of a few) to get an accurate weight.
Accuracy depends on your scale and on the drug being evenly distributed through the tablet — which isn't true for every formulation. Use a scale that reads to 0.001 g (1 mg), weigh onto a small weigh-boat or paper, and don't use this method for modified-release or coated tablets. If you need very small doses, a compounded liquid is usually more reliable.
Counting beads, step by step
- Open a capsule carefully over a clean plate so no beads are lost.
- Count the total beads — average 3–5 capsules, as counts vary.
- Use the calculator above to get the number of beads that make up your dose.
- Count out that number to take, and set the rest aside.
- Take the beads without chewing, and make each dose fresh.
About counting beads
Some capsules (venlafaxine XR, duloxetine and several others) contain small beads. Opening the capsule and counting out the number of beads that make up your dose lets you measure a smaller amount. The beads are then swallowed, without chewing.
Bead counts vary by brand — it's recommended to count the contents of 3–5 capsules then take the average. Beads can't be split, so you'll always be rounding to a whole number. The "round up" option is usually safer when reducing.
Combining capsules, step by step
- Confirm which capsule strengths your pharmacy can dispense or compound.
- Use the calculator above to find a combination of whole capsules that reaches your dose.
- Take the combination together as a single daily dose.
- Re-check the combination with your prescriber at each reduction.
About combining capsules
This is just as useful with compounded capsules. If your pharmacist compounds capsules at specific strengths for your taper, enter those strengths here and the calculator works out which combination reaches your target dose — so you can check the numbers and plan what to ask them to make.
Enter the strengths you have on hand and your target dose. If an exact combination exists, the calculator shows it. If not, it shows the two nearest achievable doses — the closest below and the closest above — so you and your prescriber can decide which to use.
Only combine capsules of the same medicine, and never open or split a modified-release capsule to do it. This method works with whole capsules — whether they're standard strengths your pharmacist dispenses or ones compounded specifically for your taper.
Sources to discuss with your prescriber
- Horowitz MA, Taylor D. The Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines: Antidepressants, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids and Z-drugs. Wiley, 2024.
- RELEASE Toolkit — Reducing & Eliminating LongtErm AntidepreSsant usE. releasetoolkit.com.au
- Therapeutic Goods Administration. Therapeutic Goods (Excluded Goods) Determination 2018, item 14L.