30Mg, to 15mg sleep worsening.

Posted , 6 users are following.

As my title states, I've been on 30mg for quite sometime around 16 months, and I wanted to try going on 15mg so my doctor lowered my dose. He told me I should see an improvement in my sleep, but it won't help with my depression and anxiety as much. Which I was okay with, as I've made some fairly good progress with my depression and anxiety.

But, that leads me to why I'm posting I've only been on it for 5 days so far, but each night I'm barely getting 5 hours of sleep. I wake up, still feeling tired but I just can't fall back asleep, I toss and turn my eyes feel heavy but I just can't fall back asleep.

While on 30mg I was getting 8 to 9 hours. On 15mg I wake up, and I'm sweating randomly, my body feels disproportionate, like I close my eyes and my arms feel gigantic or small it's a hard feeling to describe, and for some reason it causes me anxiety.

I took 30mg of Mirtazapine around 3 and a half hours before bed and it worked wonders in falling asleep. But I find the 15mg acts a lot faster so I'm still trying to find the ideal time to use it. I can't see my doctor for another month as he's really busy so I can't report these changes to him at the moment, so I was hoping to know if it was normal for my sleep to worsen after lowering my dose, or if its maybe because my body isn't used to having such a low dose that it's possible these are some withdrawal symptoms?

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi Andy

    I've been on 45mg over a year & weaned myself from 30 to 15 mg.. I have the same symptoms only sleeping 4-5 hrs,, I'm guessing it's with you lowering the dose & your body's adjusting..

    I'm sure ppl on here will give u good advice as they have with me when I felt at a loss..

    Could u not phone your Dr If your symptoms worsen?? I would..

    I'm sure you'll settle in time.. I'm trying to come off them altogether & it's the worse thing I've done !! With mirtaziphine horrid withdrawal symptoms 😱 but times a healer & it's a passing phase

  • Posted

    Doctor should have advised you to reduce it more slowly. I'm going down from 30mg to 15mg mirtazapine. Psychiatrist advised Alternate 30mg and 15 mg, but after a week, like you, I found the early waking and jitteryness hard to cope with. I consulted the pharmacist about whether I could break the 15mg tablets in half (so take one and a half) but he advised against it. He suggested two nights 30mg then one night 15mg and so on, but I'm going even slower that that. I reduce to 15mg one night a week, and then I find I can cope with one shorter night's sleep. When this has settled down, I will go to 15mg every three or four days for a bit, and so on. So you could try that. It was my decision to try to reduce my medication, after 6 years, because I've been OK for about a year. The doctor agreed to me giving it a try, but I'm in no hurry. I hope it goes well for you. Pixie
  • Posted

    Pixie & Andrew, I've been taking 2 x one half of a 15mg tablet about 7 or 8 hours apart by breaking a tablet in half for some time now. I can't understand why the pharmacist advised against a tablet in half. I could understant it if they were coated for slow release but mine are orodispersible so it makes no difference to absobtion rate except you're obviously getting only 7.5mg instead of 15mg. I take the first halt tab at about 8:30am and the next betweeen 3pm and 4pm and it has worked for me. Good luck and hope you bothe get well soon. Keni
  • Posted

    Hi

    1) Its rather a discontinuation symptom.Taper it more slowly.

    Reduce 3.75 mg at every 5th day tilll u reach 15 mg.

    2) Paradoxically Mirtazepine 7.5 mg gies a better sleep than higher doses.

     

  • Posted

    Although I cannot comment on hbow toi withdraw from "Mirt" as I havn't tried yet, I am finding this discussion helpful and will note everyone's advice, for later!  However, one thing I understand to be very important is that you should never break them in half; quite a number of people have said it causes severe stomach pain. 

    I wouldn't want to withdraw quite so quickly Andrew, GP's aren't always the best to advise on this rightly or wrongly).  It seems one or two people on here are saying that the lower dose (15mg & belolw) give better sleep aid. I have only been on 15mg at any given time so I wonder if this means I have to cut by a quarter every 5 days.   I wish you well Andrew - ring your doctor if in doubt.

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