Been on Mirtazapine for 3 weeks, need some advice.
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I have suffered from mild to moderate anxiety and indigestion for almost 4 years causing me palpitations, migraines, acid reflux, lack of sleep and some other symptoms. I finally caved into my wife and family's advice to start some treatment. My GP prescribed Lansoprazole for the acid reflux and Mirtazapine for the anxiety and lack of sleep.
I extremely reluctantly started on 15mg of Mirtazapine once before bed but for the first 7-10 days i got really bad side effects like extreme weakness, fatigue, shaking hands and arms, muscles aching, drowsiness all day ect etc. So, on my doctors advice i decreased the dose to 7.5mg and thankfully most of the side effects have improved a lot. However, i still have slight shaky hands/arms as well as weak muscles. Also, my doctor said he wants me to take this for minimum 3 months and maybe even upto 1 year. I found that crazy because this was never meant to be a long term thing so now i am really angry with myself for starting this on the advice of my wife and family and doctor.
Should i be worried about taking this for that long and also coming off this and the effects of withdrawal?
Any advice is much appreciated.
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mary08589 Hazzali786
Edited
I have no advice because I have only been on 7.5mg of Mirt for 4 months for a more temporary problem (postpartum depression), BUT I can say that joint pain, weakness, and muscle spasms have all occurred for me.
The pain in my hands is why I have stopped cold-turkey 4 days ago to see if it subsides (my doc says there is no weaning for a dose that low, and you and your doctor just decide together when to stop and monitor your mood for a couple weeks after). My doctor is away and I ended up at the hospital getting xrays and bloodwork for rheumatoid arthritis because the doc could not think of anything else that could cause this kind of ongoing pain and swelling (it has been a month of my symptoms).
I am hoping the pain subsides and I find it was the meds and not that I have RA. I’m only on day four but last night my finger pain didnt wake me up and keep me up for the first time in a week, so that's progress.
As for coming off mirt at 7.5mg, it has not been so bad at all!!! At that low a dose it is more likely to impact sleep over anything, so really just sleep onset has been difficult for me. I stopped breastfeeding a month or so ago, though, so i can toot my high CBD low THC vape pen for sleep once again. So i have been okay for sleep.
I had a couple hot flashes the first couple of days off Mirt, as well. I too was scared to start an antidepressant, as I had never been on one, but 7.5mg served me well for the months i needed it (before the pain)!