Quitting mirtazipine cold turkey.

I should have mentioned, I am 5'2 so I am now quite overweight

Hiya,

First of all I would reccommend that you do not quit cold turkey. I quit cold turkey on 15mg and it was an extremely unpleasant withdrawal. I was in a really similar situation to you but the mirt did definitely help my sleep long term. I definitely don't miss the light headed feeling.

However I feel infintiely better without it and lost a lot of the weight while I was withdrawing. So if you are planning on withdrawing just know that it is a long rocky road. You will 100% pull through but it is not fun, I felt depressed and somewhat suicidal while withdrawing. 

Everyone is different and you might not experience any sort of withdrawal. If you need to talk to someone just send me a message

I would strongly advise against quitting cold turkey.

 

How will you sleep if you quit?  

It seems you take mirt for sleep, but the dosages you have been taking are probably too high for that.   I suggest you try tapering down to say 7.5mg.  

That may reduce the hunger but still help with sleep.

I take about 11mg of mirt to help me sleep.  When I started it it restored my appetite but not to more than it was before I got ill with GAD.  

 

 

Hi,

I have been off mirtazapine for 8 weeks now and can assure you it gets better. I attempted to taper slowly but experienced withdrawal symptoms every time I lowered the dose so decided to quit mirtazapine cold turkey but used benzodiazipines to help me sleep. I know this method seems unusual as your substituting for something even more addictive but this method has really helped me. For the first few days I didn't leave my bed as the withdrawal symptoms were so severe. For the next 4 weeks I suffered with withdrawal symptoms but every week they would gradually ease of (I got severe tremors, migraines and suicidal thoughts) but found keeping myself busy with work, days out and going for walks really helped keep my mind off the symptoms.

As I said above I am now over 8 weeks clean of mirtazapine and most of the withdrawal symptoms have cleared although I still have the occasional tremor but most of all the grey foggy feeling will lift and you will feel better again. Like everything it just takes a bit of time. I hope this reply will be of some help to you.

Hi,Do not quit cold turkey,I've taken a lot of medication in my life time including Benzos and I've never felt as Ill As withdrawing from Mirt and that's withdrawing slowly.As I WD I find like you I really have a bad temper,but that will pass.  Please don't go cold turkey it's a really bad decision .  I don't know if you've got anymore health problems but if you need them for sleep ask your GP about Tamazapam or Phenegan but I would also drop the Tramadol .   Go slowly.

Sorry for youur suffering, like you I have ballooned, added 20 lbs but yu know what, I don't know how I would have carried on without Mirt' with insomnia & then chronic anxiety.  I am doing a slow taper from 15 mg, and I strongly urge you do a slow taper too.

Reading between your lines, it looks like your taper was 30 to 15 mg and thats way too fast.  There is a 10% method that will be much kinder to your system and you won't feel like you're having the breakdown you speak of.  

If I suggewst a web site on here the moderator will remove my post so i'll in box you the link.

Norma is right, she's a wise lady and her advice is sound ... Tramadol is a form of Opium - highly addictive, a pain killer used after surgery, not usually for minor pain and it caries a nasty withdrawal too, so be careful to wean off that also.  

You might be wise to read the "cold turkey" stories that have been posted over the last year or so on this forum and make an informed choice.

If you want to know how to break down the tablets to the 10% ratio give me a shout, happy to help a fellow sufferer.

Wshing you well - s-l-o-w-l-y does it or you will be so poorly.

C x

I would advise against going cold turkey. I went off 30 mg cold turkey and got bad insomnia that has not gone away even though I'm back on 30mg for two weeks and am taking others meds for sleep. Take it slow!

I'm a bit late here but I just saw your post. First off, you should NEVER take Tramadol with mirtazapine. Never. Seriously, go to Drugs.com and use the drug interaction checker for those two meds: MAJOR interaction. If your doctor prescribed both of those drugs, together, I would immediately find a new doctor. 

I've been on mirtazapine on and off since 2003 and even though I gained weight, it was a godsend for my anxiety—at first. I accidentally missed my dose last night and I swear, today, I haven't felt this clear-headed and full of energy in ages. So I'm debating going cold turkey. Tapering takes a long time, and you're slightly miserable for months. I have 6 weeks off from work so I think I just might do it and be done with it.

Quitting mirtazapine cold turkey isn't dangerous like quitting alcohol or benzos, and it won't cause a discontinuation syndrome anywhere near that of SSRIs (I tapered down from Paxil years ago and it was awful) but I would recommened talking to a psych about this, and make sure you have enough benzos around to take the edge off if it get's uncomfortable. But whatever you do, don't start taking benzos every day for more than a week or two. I withdrew from them after taking Ativan for a year and it was hell on earth. Not to mention, benzo withdrawl, like alcohol, can kill you. 

Hope you're feeling better!