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6 Months + 2 weeks off Mirtazapine

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david28533
david28533

I'll make this short. After 6 months and 2 weeks, I am having what appears to be protracted recurrent withdrawals, which are withdrawals that all of a sudden seem to return after a period of getting better. I am having severe abdominal cramps, general sick feeling, sleeping problems, and I have to force myself to eat. I have gone from 204 to 167, but have been at 167 - 168 for 19 days. I have significant fatigue, no stamina, feelings of doom, wondering if this is ever going to end. Also, thoughts of going back on the drug. This has been horrible. If you are Christian, please add me to your prayers to Jesus. I need His help. I have been to the Emergency Room several times for chest pain, abdominal pain, and stroke symptoms, all of which were negative, including the labs (blood work). Thanks for any prayers sent on my behalf. David

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35 Replies

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  • betsy0603
    betsy0603 david28533

    Posted

    Sorry, misread how long you'd been off - 6 1/2 months?  May be beyond the time that they recommend reinstating, but I'd still discuss it with your doc if your symptoms are causing too much suffering.
  • Erica45
    Erica45 david28533

    Posted

    Hi David I have prayed for you and will continue to do so.  Had those same symptoms even after 5+ months.  Its a long struggle but the Lord will help you too.
    • david28533
      david28533 Erica45

      Posted

      Thank you. I am beginning to lose hope. I have put this at the feet of jesus. David
  • norma72045
    norma72045 david28533

    Posted

    Morning David,I was just wondering have you tried Phenegan.

    It seems to help a lot of people.

    • david28533
      david28533 norma72045

      Posted

      Norma, it was one of the first medications that I tried. The side effects were worse than the good that it did. It did help a little with the nausea. Thanks, David
    • norma72045
      norma72045 david28533

      Posted

      Hi David,Do you go out,walking,shopping,visiting,ect ect.

      Does your wife work,and your left alone with your own thoughts?

      How do you spend your days? What can you cope with?

      Im not prying but as you well know I'm in your predicament as well.

      I find the more time I have alone with time to think about my health the more Depprest I feel. Being around people or loosing yourself in something helps,

      no it don't go away but helps.

      God David I wish I could wave a magic wand and all would be right,but I can't so I have to keep pushing on looking for a reason for our pain.

           Don't know if I should say this to a married man, but love you 

                David please don't give up. Keep talking.x

    • david28533
      david28533 norma72045

      Posted

      Norma, right now my wife is semi-retired. She works about 3 or 4 days a week for the bank that she retired from. And as far as visiting, its all I can do to walk down to the end of our driveway and back, I am so weak and no stamina. I spend my days watching TV, and thinking about how bad I feel, and researching the internet for help. As you know, if you are in enough misery, it is hard to think of much else. I just got an e-mail from my GI doc telling me that she thinks that I should try going back on 7.5 mgs of mirt, that what I am going through isn't worth the price I am paying. However, I don't know if that will just be another decision that I will be sorry for. And Norma, it is nothing wrong with loving a friend. What does the Bible teach us? If you are to love your enemies, I feel sure that you are allowed to love your friends. David
  • Calmer
    Calmer david28533

    Posted

    I dedicated my meditation practice to healing your suiffering, and pray to God that

    you may in turn move towards the wellness you now deserve.

    I hope tomorrow is a brighter day, and that each day brings you a sign that you are healing

    Wishing you well David  x.

     

    • david28533
      david28533 Calmer

      Posted

      Calmer, God bless you and thank you. It is getting very hard to look to the future with any hope. Mostly gloom and despair at this point. I am more depressed now than I have been through this whole journey. Instead of feeling a little better as time goes on, I feel like I am slowly dying, although my ER hospital trips say that they find nothing wrong. So frustrated. Your Friend, David
    • Calmer
      Calmer david28533

      Posted

      My dear friend David, there is a way to wellness, you may not have got there yet, but hang on to your faith.  I am sensing something inside of you that is eating away - I know this may sound random although not to me, I studied it in my thirties - I wonder is you have given any thought to homoeopathy at all?  A "rated" practicioner in your area?  Just a thought, I think a woman maybe, someone you can open up to?

      Please keep reading inspirational books and look for the good, it is there.  With warm wishes & kindness.

      C

    • david28533
      david28533 Calmer

      Posted

      Calmer, what do you mean by eating away? David
  • betsy0603
    betsy0603 david28533

    Posted

    Withdrawal is emotional as well as physical, and depression and anxiety are part of it.  When you are in that place, everything is black and white and feels like it will be that way forever. I totally get that! I had a withdrawal wave the other day (and I'm slow tapering) where I worried that I would be down forever, and then the next day I popped above the line again.  So, I understand how it seems it will never end and that the idea of being like this forever is too much to take.  It is the WD talking.  This is not you, and you will heal, but it will take some time for your body to regulate/recover.  I know that doesn't offer much comfort when you are suffering so much.  I have had the worst anxiety when I felt like this was going to last forever and would never end.  What helps is to repeat a mantra to yourself, 100 times in a row if you have to - you can rewire your brain in this time of healing.  I found it helpful to say to myself "I can be kind to myself and take one day at a time, one moment at a time."  As an example, early this summer I was freaking out about the heat of summer coming.  Where I live, we get triple digits day after day all summer long.  I was having so much anxiety at the thought of 100 days of triple digit heat, causing myself such torment worrying about it.  I finally did the mantra of just taking one day at a time, one moment at a time, and being kind and loving to myself, and it helped me calm down.  You may not be able to tolerate feeling horrible when you think of it going on month after month, but you can tolerate it for this moment, yes?  And then the next?  And then the next?  For today?  One day at a time, my friend, one day at a time.  Because eventually you WILL heal, but your poor body is struggling to do so.  So be kind and compassionate to yourself and try not to struggle against the process.  Take just one day at a time, and God will help you do that. 
    • david28533
      david28533 betsy0603

      Posted

      Betsy, words of wisdom and encouragement. I will read this when I feel that I am about to go over the edge. I was told by doctors, pharmacists, and forums that it would take about 3 months and then I would start to improve, but it has been twice that long, and it is still horrible. Thank you so much for your response. Your Friend David
    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 david28533

      Posted

      No trouble at all, David!  I'm in the trenches with you, though I am doing a slow taper off of Mirt and Effexor.  I have a friend who is 16 months out from jumping off of Lexapro after a very fast taper, and she is still suffering waves of withdrawal, emotional and physical!   Some take years.  It is just very individual - no two experiences are the same. Mirt is known to be a tough one to get off of, so be kind to yourself and know that your body is struggling hard to heal.  

      Emis Moderator comment: I have removed the link(s) directing to site(s) unsuitable for inclusion in the forums. If users want this information please use the Private Message service to request the details.

      http://patient.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/398331-private-messages

    • david28533
      david28533 betsy0603

      Posted

      Thank you Betsy, two of my doctors are suggesting that I go back on a low dose, 7.5, to try to get some relief, but that is what I was on when I stopped in February. I don't know what to do. My GI doc has already called in the Rx for the 7.5, and I am going to have it delivered. I don't want to be on any AD, but if this is what I ultimately need to finally get relief, then so be it. I feel like a failure at trying to get off this stuff, as I am a retired fire chief, and had always thought that I was a strong man, but this little pill has brought me crying to my knees in horrible misery. Lord Jesus, what should I do? Use this woman to give me guidance. Thank you again, Betsy. Your Friend, David
    • Sunbird8
      Sunbird8 david28533

      Posted

      Hi David,

      I am so sorry to know that your dreadful suffering continues.

      Each one of us on this forum seem to have a different experience although many of us can feel this is the most difficult time ever!

      I agree with Betsy that One Day at a Time is the only way to deal with this.

      It is so hard to think in a positive way when we are in pain and feeling so retched.We then wonder if tomorrow may be even worse and how long will it be before we feel better.

      It is now 10 weeks since my last mirt after tapering from 30mg.

      There were many times when taking the 7.5 dose and then nothing when I felt close to death but my mantra of This Too Will Pass helped to keep me going.

      Over the past weeks I have often been tempted to 'have a small dose' to hopefully relieve the horrible issues of WD.

      I am also looking after my husband who is WD from mirt.

      He has been on 45mg and tonight he will start 7.5mg.

      Any way I have some good news!

      Just over a week ago I started to take 5-HTP just before going to bed and yesterday and today I feel so much better!

      My anxiety was dreadful and heart rate and BP very high.

      The insomnia just makes every thing worse as we know.

      Any way a friend told me about this supplement which is said to help anxiety and promote peaceful sleep.

      I must admit I did not expect things to change but being able to have a few hours sleep is wonderful and my anxiety has improved.

      I know this may be no help at all but when we are so low I think it is worth trying to find some thing which may help.

      I have continued to walk my little dog each day even when I was so weak and in a lot of pain.

      Fresh air and some excersise is beneficial even though we just want to curl up!

      David with all my heart I hope and pray that what ever you decide to do now your decision will bring you the peace and well being you surely deserve.

      I hold you in my thoughts.

      Sunbird

    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 david28533

      Posted

      David, please do not judge yourself for not being strong enough to succeed getting off.  I have read so many posts from people who failed getting off, because they jumped off at a relatively high dose, essentially going cold turkey.  This one is a bear to get off of.  I do not see reinstating at your last dose as a failure.  It is recommended that you taper 10% of the prior dose PER MONTH.  Some people might be able to do that every few weeks, while others are so sensitive that they need to only do 5% per month. The goal is to do it as slowly as you need to in order to minimize suffering.  Some will hold at a dose for a couple of months if needed.  So, to drop from 15 to 7.5 mg, which many try to do, is a 50% cut!  No wonder they have such a hard time getting off!  The brain is trying to readjust to each change, and the smaller the change, the less the dramatic symptoms of adjustment.

      Many of us, myself included, have gotten a jeweler's scale that can measure miligrams.  You can get them from Amazon for about $22-25.  I have the Gemini 20.  I bought empty gel capsules to put the fragments into after weighing.  With binders, my Mirt pills weigh 10 times what the active ingredient dosage is.  So, for a 30 mg pill, it weighs 300 mg.  Your 7.5 mg tablet should weigh 75 mg.  If not, you would simply weigh those tablets and then reduce by 10% of that weight.  So from there, your first cut would be 10%, 7.5 mg off the gross weight, so 67.5 mg, round up to 68 on a 75 mg pill.  These little scales can jump around a lot between weighings, so you will want to recalibrate often (they include weights for that) and take multiple measurements before calling it good.

      Each month you will taper 10% of the PREVIOUS DOSAGE.  That means the next month's dosage would be 10% off of 68 mg, so minus 6.8 mg.  Again, round UP.  I weigh and fill gel caps ("00" size from Amazon, pretty cheap) for the next month all at once so that I am not tempted to cut prematurely.

      Finally, these scales do not do well at the very low end (such as 5 mg), so when you get that low you will want to see about getting a script for a liquid version, made by a compounding pharmacy, which can be measured with a 3 or 1 cc syringe.  Some folks try to make their own liquid suspension grinding up the pills and mixing in water, but you need to be good with math, plus the powder is not super soluble in water.  You'd need to get the powder as fine as possible and shake well before drawing up a dose, have proper containers for mixing and measuring, etc.  Anyway, I'm getting way into the nitty gritty when you aren't there yet.

      There's lots of support to be found, including info on how to taper, make solutions, etc. on surviving antidepressants dot com.

      You can do this!

    • david28533
      david28533 Sunbird8

      Posted

      Thank you so much for your post. It is uplifting! David
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