Days to steady state

The countdown

When you start a medication — or change your dose — your level begins climbing toward a new plateau. "Days to steady state" is StaQ's estimate of how long that climb takes, based on your medication's half-life. The common rule of thumb: about five half-lives of consistent dosing gets you to roughly 97% of steady state.

The Today screen shows it as a live status: "Reaching steady state in ~N days" while you're climbing, then "At steady state · reached N days ago" once you've arrived.

Why the clock resets

The countdown is tied to your current dose, not your time on the medication overall. Every titration — up or down — points your levels at a different plateau, and the climb to that new plateau starts over. So if you've been dosing for six months but moved to a new dose two weeks ago, your countdown reflects those two weeks.

This is also why the early weeks after a dose change can feel different even though "nothing else changed" — your accumulated level is still in transit between two plateaus.

What it is — and isn't

The estimate assumes consistent dosing at your current amount and schedule, using the half-life set for your medication. It's a planning aid for understanding where you are in the climb — not a prediction of how you'll feel on a given day, and not a recommendation to wait, change, or hold anything.