TaperMate

Escitalopram weighing taper calculator

Weighing a crushed escitalopram tablet (or a capsule's contents) on a milligram scale lets you measure precise small doses. Enter your numbers below to see how much to weigh — and the formula so you can check it yourself.

Escitalopram · weigh

Single dose calculator

mg
Active drug in one whole tablet or capsule.
g
Weigh a whole tablet or the full contents of a capsule (excluding the capsule shell) on your scale. Average a few for accuracy.
mg
What you want to take today.
Amount to weigh out
—g
to get a 10 mg dose. Scales read mass, so round below.
One 20 mg tablet physically weighs 0 g — so each gram you weigh holds about — mg of active drug. The calculator scales by tablet weight, not by strength.
Formula amount to weigh = (target dose ÷ tablet strength) × tablet weight
With your numbers (10 ÷ 20) × 0 = 0 g
Your scale reads to
Round up · safer on withdrawal
— g
≈ — mg — slightly higher, generally safer.
Round to nearest
— g
≈ — mg — closest to your target.
Item 14L · Verify Validate this calculation
Tablet strength
20 mg per tablet
Tablet weight
0 g (total mass)
Per gram
— mg of drug — strength ÷ weight
Target dose
10 mg — what you want to take
Amount to weigh
0 g (before rounding)
Check
(0 ÷ 0) × 20 = — mg ✓
Every input and the formula are shown so you can verify the result by hand.
Keep this calculation Optional
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A record you can bring to your appointment.
Get the plain-English escitalopram guide
How to taper escitalopram safely — we'll email it and the occasional update.

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Weighing, step by step

Method The maths above gives the number; these steps are the practical part. Adapted from the RELEASE Toolkit. Adjust the amounts to what your prescriber agreed.
  1. Weigh a whole tablet or the full contents of a capsule (excluding the capsule shell) on a milligram scale — average a few for accuracy.
  2. Use the calculator above to get the amount to weigh for your dose.
  3. Carefully weigh the calculated amount on the scale and take it.
  4. If you measure doses in advance, put each weighed dose into an empty capsule shell or an airtight pill-container.

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 (180 mg) 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 product is usually more reliable.

Pharmacy changed your brand?Tablet weights differ between brands — work out the matching weight on the new one →Read the escitalopram tapering guidePlain-English steps and the full RELEASE reduction schedule for escitalopram →
Next step

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.

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Sources to discuss with your prescriber