1. Community
  2. Brain and nerves
  3. Mirtazapine

15 Years, Stopped Cold Turkey

Posted , 6 users are following.

Cowboy4Bri
Cowboy4Bri

So, I love my Remeron!  It puts me to sleep at night and I was always very thin, now, 15 years later I have exercised for 3 hours at a time, dieted, and done everything else to get back to what I would call a good weight!  I am 6'1", I was 240 and now down to 200, but my belly fat would not leave!  Tried to stop taking this years ago on a few occassions by tapering off, but I ended up back on it.  

This time I stopped it cold turkey, I take 2 mg of xanax at night to sleep but I started having migraines.  It has been 2 weeks since I took a tablet, but the nausea is bad.  I take 8 mg of Zofran for nausea twice per day which helps.  

I will try to update this later and let you know how it is going.  So far I lost 4 lbs

1 like, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • sharon12462
    sharon12462 Cowboy4Bri

    Posted

    Hey weldone you ???? I lost about 20lbs in a month but it was no carbs at all & for exercise I just walked as much as I could instead of goin in the car.. good luck ??

    • Cowboy4Bri
      Cowboy4Bri sharon12462

      Posted

      Congrats! Thanks for the support. How long were you on it? Did you stop cold turkey too?
    • sharon12462
      sharon12462 Cowboy4Bri

      Posted

      I was only on it for 5months made me really ill with side effects & the cravings made me go mental I was close to banging my head against the wall it was so bad.. I was off it for 2 weeks with mad WD bt no pain .. I took zopiclone which I was taking with the mirt.. that helped me thankfully.. I wasn't told to taper.. then I was put on ven which is also trycylic so has made me really ill so coming off that now .. I'm finding this 1 harder feels like something rattling in my head ..?? hands not steady at all with shakes.. & bad pain in my head & neck makes me feel really sick. Your doing amazing I hope your proud of yourself ????

  • mud93433
    mud93433 Cowboy4Bri

    Posted

    I stopped cold turkey ater 12 years so I'm right with you! I loved it for sleep and anti anxiety, but after 11 years or so I started getting terrible brain fog and body aches where I felt like I was 80 years old. 

    Going to try therapy instead of drugs now. I'm tired of treating the symptoms, now I want to treat the cause of my GAD and PTSD.

    Keep us posted how you're doing. smile

    • Cowboy4Bri
      Cowboy4Bri mud93433

      Posted

      Wow. Thanks for the insight. How long did it take before you stopped feeling the withdraw symptoms. Good luck with the therapy!!!!

      I do notice feeling foggy, I think what worries me the most was the inability to lose weight. How long did it take for the fogginess to go away?

    • mud93433
      mud93433 Cowboy4Bri

      Posted

      Howdy Cowboy,

      Well, I've been through withdrawal from benzos, and that is true withdrawal and that was hellish. I was sure I was either going crazy or was going to die. Actually, I wanted to die. I was never, ever suicidal from depression, but benzo withdrawal made me want to give up and just go to sleep and never wake up.

      Paxil wasn't fun either, with the brain zaps and anxiety. But mirtazapine was a relative walk in the park for me. I felt really weird—kind of manic I guess but I've never been bipolar so I can't be sure—for about 10 days. I had trouble sleeping for about 3 days. I made sure I didn't have to go to work for a couple weeks, just in case. And after two weeks I felt really good. 

      It's now been two months and my brain fog is almost 100% gone. My fibromayalgia is nearly gone too. I can't believe it, I thought I'd be dealing with both of those forever. I'm ecstatic. 

      Mirtazapine doesn't have a true withdrawal, because it's not addictive. You don't build a tolerance to it like you would with alcohol or Xanax. It wasn't super fun or anything to stop taking it, but it was nothing compared to real withdrawal.

      Any symtoms I'm experiencing now isn't related to discontinuing mirtazpaine, it's just my regular GAD and PTSD coming back, and that's totally normal and expected. 

      Honestly, I never thought I'd be able to live without anxiety meds, but I'm living proof it can be done. And personally I would never taper mirtazpaine, Why be miserable for 6 months, tapering so slowly, when you can go cold turkey, be miserable for 10 days and get it over with and then feel so much better with no brain fog, no body aches, and so much more energy?

      Having said that, mirtazapine saved my life. It worked so well, and for so long. But when the side effects started to outweight the benefits after 11 years or so, I asked my doctor about trying to quit it and although he was skeptical, I did it. And I did it without any benzos or anything, just 500mg of magneisum at night and l-theanine in the mornings. Oh, and kava kava for when the anxiety got to be too much. 

      It's only been two months and I haven't lost any weight yet, but I'm sure I will, now that my body doesn't hurt so much. I bought a bike and started riding every day, which helps my anxiety more than any pill. I never believed that before until just the last couple weeks. It really, really helps. I couldn't even ride more tha  4 blocks at first, but after two weeks I can ride 5 miles without feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack smile

    • Cowboy4Bri
      Cowboy4Bri mud93433

      Posted

      Howdy, thanks for the detailed response. I am so happy I lost weight and it has been about 2 weeks. I did take a fraction of a pill two days last week and o didn't take any last night. After being off of it for 2 weeks even with the Xanax and Zofran, I was still too ill. I wish I could take a couple of weeks off work. I need it. I have a week of vacation scheduled in 2 weeks from now, I'll be staying home.

      I am excited for you! Sounds like you are doing really well!!! Kudos!!!

      I have been taking Xanax on and off for 9 years. When I am doing ok, low stress I can deal without it. When the stress begins, I have to take it or I will vomit everywhere. One of my character flaws is that I get very nauseated when I am stressed out. Slowly I have been trying to do more. I did the 11 day J.J. Smith Smoothie cleanse, ended up doing it for 21 days and I felt great. I have been eating mostly organic foods, I switched to paraben free laundry detergent and body wash. I know for sure the Xanax is affecting my short term memory, I really need to stop taking it too but I am under a lot of stress right now and I will be very ill.

  • Cowboy4Bri
    Cowboy4Bri

    Posted

    *** Update *** I stopped taking Remeron more than 2 months ago.  It is hard for me to go to sleep without the Xanax...  However, I have only taken 1 Remeron in the last 2 months, 1/4 tablet on 4 occassions. I was determined to stop this medicine.  I am down 20 lbs so far.  My stomach is almost flat.  I'm happy I am off it.  I will wait a few more months and stop the Xanax too (slowly, I don't want to have seizures) 

    • linzi04886
      linzi04886 Cowboy4Bri

      Posted

      Hun I'm going to go cold turkey from tomorrow I am ill taking it so I can't see the point continuing with it how are you now and can you give me any pointers my anxiety is massive off mirt and it's really getting to me now I just want off it fast 🙄

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.