cold turkey mirtazipine

Hi Mel

thank you so very much for your post. Your information on supplements is fab. More importantly, it sounds like you are and have been going through the wringer with your withdrawal. How are you feeling today? The elusive light at the end of the tunnel, will stop hiding from you soon, and will be replaced with lovely bright sunshine! We tend to lose hope when we get glimmers of sunshine and the hope it brings with it. Only to find it starts hide and seek with us again! How long did it take before seeing withdrawal effects? eg. Some people say instantly, whilst others will say days.

The prickly cold feeling is now back in my legs! Oddest feeling like having pins and needles in both legs!

Please let me know how you are honestly feeling today ♥

Wishing and willing that sunshine to come out for you.

god bless x

Hi melbartolo, you've done great by going to the compounding pharmacy and getting the micro amounts of mirt made up.  Where you have gone afowl is that you are going too fast!  A 10% reduction per MONTH is recommended, especially if you are very sensitive.  So, that would have started with 6.75 mg and hold there.  The idea is to let the nervous system register the change, after which withdrawal symptoms will come up but hopefully be so mild as to be tolerable.  Then once that has passed, you give the nervous system time to stabilize and settle at this new level.  Then you do the next cut which would bring you approximately to 6 mg and so on.  

What mgs are you at now?  You might need to updose a bit and hold there until you are stable for a couple of weeks before commencing.  

It really sucks to have to go so slow, but it's a harm reduction strategy, hopefully allowing you to remain functional and get on with living your life :-)

Oh, I'd like to add that getting the taper over with faster does not mean that withdrawal will be over with faster.  By stepping down more gradually, hopefully the nervous system makes the adjustments along the way such that when you finally jump off that last 0.25 mg, the following withdrawal won't be so severe.  If you go too fast it is the same as a cold turkey which leads to severe withdrawal that can last months and years. Withdrawal occurs in a windows and waves pattern, where a period of feeling good will be followed by a wave of feeling bad again, and I've read reports of future waves being worse than earlier ones, so there's not much rhyme or reason to it, certainly not linear.  By doing the slow taper the hope is that those waves won't be so bad since a lot of nervous system healing happened during the taper.

Hi Melbartolo

I love your plan with the Natropath & compounding company, sounds excellent to have everything in place like that.  I'm worried about dropping .25mg every 2 days though, especially as you say you are super sensitive.  

The main advice is to drop no more than 10% per month, or even kinder 5% every 2 weeks ~ I am doing the latter with liquid Mirt.  It would be easy for you to do this plan too now you have the .25 mg tablets.  Are you UK?  Something tells me not because its hard to get the pharmacy here in the UK to do that.  Mirt doesn't like upping and downing, its when we reduce in the 10% method above that very slight, if any WD is experienced.  With your plan if you drop 0.25 every 2 days it is messing with your neuro transmitters that are desperately fighting to stay the same each time, hence the symptoms.

I've sent a little plan to your inbox; if you want to read/have an informed choice about the 10% plan, click on my name & follow the links under my status.

No one should have to suffer so much whilst coming off AD's.

Wishing you well Mel  

Ha, I should have read all the responses before sending my own, which pretty much mirrors yours, Calmer!

Team work, great team !  x

 

Thanks betsy

I would have preferred taper but thought I would go with gp advice...hence the plunge lol! Getting a tiny bit irritable as the day wears on..but still managing to do everything. I got a feeling tomorrow may be different! Hope I'm wrong!

Hope you are okay today ♥

Feeling crappy this morning - but mornings are always bad for me. Got the hand shakes today. Going to do some guided meditation- hoping it will settle my nerves. Xx

Thankyou so much! I thought I was going too quickly. At the moment I'm going to stay at x6 of .25mg at least for the rest of the week xx

Hi Mel.

so sorry that the start of your day has started badly for you. The hand tremors are horrible and i always found it hard to think of anything else until they subsided or eased up a bit. Every increase i got the same thing! Disliked that particular side effect immensely. Strange hearing you say morning when it's 10.15pm here in UK. My day has been a mixed bag, but no noticeable withdrawal symptoms only strange sensation in my legs. Do you find the meditation helps? And concentration cannot be easy. I hope you soon get some relief from your symptoms. Sometimes as the afternoon/evening arrives sufferers can get a windows of relief. Pray this is the case for you today ♥

God bless you Mel x

Good for you to take care of yourself that way.  Remember that your nervous system is very sensitized and so you must go easy on yourself and protect yourself from stress where you can.  I had a very busy day, physically active and demands away from home.  I feel a bit raw, nerve-y now. Glad to be home!

How wonderful to hear ! Fingers crossed for the days ahead - Bound to be ups and downs but keep going!

Thank you ♥

How are you doing today?

X

Lorraine

You shouldn't have asked ! But being positive as we must be - it's only a blip and your sunshine helps

x

But blips can be punishing! Are you able to relax a bit?

Do you have an emergency supply of diazepam if things get too tough?

It's good for us all to know about the bad times as well as the good. It'sa learning process for us all.

so on that note! How are you feeling! ♥

Lorraine. Thanks for replying. Yes a punishing day today - really anxious and tearful. I have an emergency supply of  2mg diazepam  but have not taken any. .Am  In week 4 of Mirt and the intial benefits seem to have worn off! - doesn't help sleep and anxiety levels seem to be as bad as before I started. I now wish I hadn't started  but was desperate at the time. Anyway I try to be positive, Forced myself out for a walk at lunchtime and this has helped. Now more relaxed thanks. Now I've created another hill to climb - is this just a bad period and it will get better or should I make a decision to taper of this horrible drug?. Will worry about it tomorrow!  

Hi Lorraine

Brave lady; I truely hope this cold turkey works for you, I really do, bear in mind you can go back on Mirt' if WD gets too difficult, but it won't be an instant repair, the last lady who did this took about a week before she felt any relief.

But lets be hopeful and positive, and not compare to the above, just know that we are here for you and all will be well sooner or later anyway,

Best wishes to you  x

I am so sorry to hear about your day. I know it's hard and tortuous for you right now, but I would try and keep going a little longer, you are doing the hard work now, it's only right for you to get the benefits from this hard work.

Are you on a high dose? When I got put up to 30mg I was so ill and felt like depression was kicking me hard. After 2 days I went back down to 15 and instantly I felt better. Just hold on a little while. .I promise you your sunshine is not too far away ♥

Forgot to mention. .If it gets really unbearable or your mood changes dramatically, please get some advice from your doc. It may be the dose is too high or your system is adjusting to the new med (which can take 6 weeks +)

We're you on anything prior or is this your first AD?

God bless and hope you are feeling a little relief from your side effects xx

Am on 15mg and as I am still struggling  Doc of course  wants me to go to 30mg - but I won't !!. Your kind words and others on the forum are better than any ad's or Docs advice !!  Live in the moment and enjoy the good day you've had today - don't even think about tomorrow. 

Thank you betsy

I love comparing! The more knowledge and averages in people's symptoms and time frames, really helps me understand and be prepared! Ignorance isn't always bliss lol!

My granddaughter (14) was

taken into hospital this morning, I woke up to hearing the ambulance men asking her mum to clear the stairs so they could stretcher her out. My daughter popped her head in my room and said "shes out cold again" I reached for diazepam as didn't want get myself worked up. Since last year she has had unexplained paralysis. She remains completely unresponsive and this can last for hours. When it happened last year for the first time in front of me, I thought I had just witnessed her death. Her eyes were open and she wasn't moving. That's when I got diagnosed with depression. On a positive note they are on their way back from hospital after 10hrs this visit. Still no diagnosis! Going to try hard not to keep watching her like a hawk in case she passes out on the stairs (she's done that more than once) this then heightens my anxiety as I desperately want to catch her if she drops. Now worried that if side effects hit..how will I cope! If tomorrow is bad I will ring doc again.

Sorry for the long response, it really helps getting off my chest ♥ xx

So wish you well, your outlook on life is fab. Good thing here you never need to put a brave face on it. We can be honest without fear of being judged ♥

here for you x

Hi Lorraine

So what came first for you, was it the natural worrying about your grandaughter ?  Was it sleep deprevation initially?  

The life experience that you are living with is a terrible strain, how on earth do you sleep at night?  Do you give yourself a good talking to before bedtime ... one thing's for sure, you staying awake "just in case" you are needed is out of the question, we as mothers sometimes need permission to look after ourselves also, so "you have permission", you are ill and you need tlc too.  

And if you are out of supplies of the Mirt' - have some ready just in case, my advice, might have to tell doc' "you need them" and stash them away.

So sorry for your situation, I hope your gd gets a diagnosis soon so that you can all move forward, it's like being trapped almost not knowing xx

Hi thank you for your lovely post calmer.

I think for me it was a build up to falling apart.

My build up started last Jan at work, I was a senior administrator who instead of doing administration ended up being responsibleand managing a large team who had nothing to do with admin! I found this incredibly stressful and once the executive management found out, they decided to audit me. It was like a kick in the teeth as I had taken on this work with no extra pay and out of goodwill and certainly hadn't done any wrongdoing. Audit came and went no issues and I left on my own steam in April. Then had to leave my flat (insufficient funds to stay on and rent) moved in with my daughter and granddaughter in May. Shortly after I witnessed the event with my grandaughter. A few days after i couldn't get out of bed or even communicate. ..just laid there facing the wall, time had no meaning. A friend made me go to the hospital. Hospital ran tesrs and were of the view my symptomd were shock induced and told me to see gp ASAP. GP diagnosed depression and put me on my first AD may/June time.

As I'm writing this, I really think it was shock related. But once citalipram started it all went downhill fast! Six months on that and mainly bed bound! Mirt 5 weeks ago made me feel so well! Then the rages started! They are back home from hospital now, my granddaughter appears well.

♥♥♥

Lorraine you have been had by the company you worked for, you sound much too nice a person to have been pressured into doing more than your fair share to then be s*** upon ... the work place is a cruel and selfish place to be at times, I feel for you.  It's so clear why your suffering started and now continues.  

How are you feeling today?  Have you called the doctor at all for 'standby' meds?  Its your choice, just be good to have then just in case.

Are you in the UK?  

Best wishes Lorraine, thinking of you xx

Hi calmer ♥

All is well today. Granddaughter full of beans today and went to school. I am feeling so well its amazing!

You have been wonderful calmer, I really thank you ♥

How are you doing today?

Xx