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Coming off mirtazapine

Posted , 11 users are following.

evergreen
evergreen

I thought I would start a new thread to give people tips for coming off this drug. I have gained so much advice and support from people on here and I owe my (so far) painless withdrawal to them. People like Calmer and Betsy, and plenty others too. I have been on 30mg mirtazapine for four years. I tried to come off them a couple of years ago and failed miserably, returning to my full dose after 10 days of awful anxiety and insomnia, as well as migraines and nausea. I had cut my dose to 15mg for a week and then dropped to zero.

This time I read every thread on here about mirtazapine withdrawal and started off really slowly, cutting down by just 3.75mg for two weeks. Then by a further 3.75 mg. At the same time I started taking a lot of inositol. I take a huge heaped teaspoon in my tea every morning. I had only slight nausea when I first started dropping my dose but I think that was me getting used to the inositol. Once I was down to 22.5mg of mirt, with no withdrawal symptoms, I figured I could go a bit faster and dropped my dose down to 15mg. I had no withdrawal symptoms after ten days and so have now dropped my dose to 11.25mg. I use a simple pill cutter from ebay to cut my tablets. So I am now on three quarters of a 15mg tablet. Mirtazapine had pooped out on me and so I already have terrible insomnia. I take temazepam some nights and benadryl on others to help me with that.

I will post my progress here. Who knows, I may fail miserably, but whatever the outcome, I hope it will help others. I was terrified of coming off mirtazapine, but now I am excited by it. I think the key is to take it really slowly and work out the pace your body can cope with. The smaller your dose goes, thee smaller the decrease in your dose should be. Good luck everyone, and please post your own experiences here. I know some people have really suffered despite coming off mirt very slowly. Everyone is different and I think everyone's experience can be a real help to others.

3 likes, 291 replies

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  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    I have now made up my own suspension of 1mg mirtazapine to 1 ml water and maple syrup so that I can be more accurate with my dosing. Just have to give it a good shake each time before syringing it up. I think I will start with 1.4mg daily for a few days and see how I feel before dropping to 1mg.
  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    My homemade suspension seems to be working well. I took 1.5mgof mirt last night and had a good night's sleep with half a temazepam. I plan to take .1mg less each day until I get down to 1mg and then hold for a few days before reducing again.
    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      Great news, Good plan, bit fast for me, but should you have any trouble you can soon pinch it back.

      How do you measure 1 mg tablet though ??  Are you using jewellers scales now?  

      I'm at 6.75 mg now, this being a bigger drop than I've done before, I'm ready !!!

      Best wishes, thinking of you !

    • evergreen
      evergreen Calmer

      Posted

      It is very easy. You need a small screw top bottle, a 1ml syringe with o.1ml graduations marked, a small accurate measuring jug, and a pill grinder. All you do is use the pill grinder to grind say two 15mg pills into a powder, so you know you have 30mg of mirtazapine powder. Then measure out 30mls total of water and whatever you wish to sweeten it (I use maple syrup). Then combine it with the powder in the bottle and shake vigourously each time before use. This way each 1ml of solution is equal to 1mg of mirtazapine, so very easy to measure accurately.

      Well done with your taper. You're doing really well! I am fine as long as nothing stresses me but boy am I irritable if not left in peace! It feels as though I have really bad PMT. Not due for another two weeks so can't be that. Maybe it's withdrawal, but irritability is not a symptom I have had before with it. It keeps throwing new things at me! Lol.

    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      Yes that looks pretty straight forward, thanks you - i'll copy that to pass on to folk, help the wd for some without the liquid, that's the simplist I've come across.  I suppose you have to make the maple syrup part of the measure of water, count it in, as it isn't very much liquid.  

      Yes I read irritability is common, here's a copy & paste:  Irritability: When a person goes through withdrawal, they become highly sensitive and are prone to mood swings. A very common mood for a person to experience is that of irritability or the feeling that everything is a nuisance or bother. The person doesn’t want to feel this way, but due to their brain activity and neurotransmitter levels during withdrawal, it is an inevitable experience.

      Tomorrow is my day 3 of a taper and I'm at a party ... hmmmm, not such good timing as fatigue may be present, but i'll do my best, hopefully it'll keep at bay until the following day.  Forewarned and all that!  

      Hey ho, down we go, keeping a strong mind and trying to be healthy too, as best I'm able.

      Hows your night?  Is the sleep ok at the mo?

    • evergreen
      evergreen Calmer

      Posted

      I hope your party goes well, Calmer. I must admit, I wouldn't be relishing the thought of a party right now, but then I have become more and more unsociable as I have got older. Luckily my OH is very similar and so we're well suited that way.

      I slept okay last night. Have been back on just half a temazepam, so I think my taper is back on track. I am not half so irritable today. I'll be taking 1.3mg tonight. Will drop agaain by one tenth of a mg until I get to 1mg and then hold for a few days.

      Re the maple syrup, yes, it is included in the 30ml. I actually make up 60mls of the mixture at once, just to make syringing it out easier. Then I refrigerate it. I plan to keep it for four days and then disguard and make up some fresh. I'll keep on doing that until I'm off.

  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    The tapering with my homemade ssuspension is working very well. I am experiencing very mild anxiety, although I think this iss mainly due to real life pressures. I have so much to do, plus we will be forced to put our dream home on the market this summer. I love the place in every way but we cannot sustain the mortgage for much longer. We need to downsize. I worry about my parents who are currently next door to us and getting elderly, but they don't want to move. It's so stressful. I hate moving. Anyway, I cannot blame withdrawal because this kind of thing is bound to cause me stress and anxiety.

    Back to the tapering. I took 1.3mg last night and intend to take 1.2mg tonight. Then 1.1 tomorrow and 1mg on Wednesday. Then hold for a few days. I have a handful of diazepam from my mum in case things get really tough. I haave a few nights off the driving, but will be back fetching my son late at night from Wednesday to Saturday, so that will be a good time to hold my dose. I have just started with the chest pains after thinking about moving and all the things I need to get done today. I slept very fitfully last night with loads of anxiety type dreams.

    How's everyone else doing? I'm going to keep this thread going until the end because I haave clicked on so many tapering story threads and they all get abandoned part way through, which I found frustrating because I wanted to read the whole story.

    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 evergreen

      Posted

      Hi Evergreen, 

      That is fantastic that it is going so well with your liquid!  I can see why you would be feeling anxiety, made me feel anxious just reading about it! I'm sorry you're having to deal with all of that.  One minute at a time.

      Thanks for keeping the thread going.  It will be very useful to others who come along in our shoes.

      I'm doing well today. Still getting over this upper respiratory illness, coughed a lot last night so not very restful, but at least I wasn't rolling around with crazy thoughts :-)  I've held from doing any tapering because of being sick, didn't think it would be a good time :-)

       

    • evergreen
      evergreen betsy0603

      Posted

      Quite right, Betsy. We need to cut ourselves some slack sometimes and deal with one thing at a time. I have stopped dieting for the time being because I reckon I have enough on my plate with withdrawal. Once I'm off the mirt I can tackle that.
  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    I'm feeling pretty good today. Took 1.2mg as planned last night. I still have plenty of my liquid left so will keep it for a couple more days before making up a fresh batch. It's in the fridge and is obviously still working okay as I don't have any WD symptoms. So I will take the 1.1mg as planned tonight and then 1mg tomorrow. I have decided then to hold each taper for two days. So 1mg for two days, then 0.9mg for two days and so on. I am being very flexible with my taper and will slow it down if things get rocky. All being well I should be off the mirt by mid February. Two weeks later than originaally planned.

    So what have I learnt so far?

    My strongest physical WD symptoms such as nausea came with my initial 7.5mg drops. I have had no nausea at all once I tapered below 11.25mg.

    It is best to start very cautiously and then speed up your taper if no WD symptoms appear.

    Be flexible with your plans and be prepared to change them if something is not working out well.

    Don't dwell on your WD symptoms. This gives you a feeling of helplessness. Many WD symptoms are not infact WD but are just symptoms you would have had that day in any case. But at the same time be aware that if you get a symptom you have not had before, or of a severity you have not had before, then this could be WD and you might need to slow it down a little.

    Skipping days in order to taper does not work for me. I need a steady amount of mirt that I can gradually cut down, but sudden breaks in dosage are a no no for my body.

    Mirtazapine is an exceptionally powerful drug. You may think you are nearly off it when you reach 7.5mg or 3.75mg, but you are not. Your body is sensitive to even the smallest amount.

    Good luck everyone!

    • evergreen
      evergreen

      Posted

      Oh and the 'get fat quick' effect is still very active at under 2mg!
    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      Hi Evergreen & Betsy

      Sorry you're struggling with the flu type thing B, hope lots of liquids and good sleep will help you to recover, good idea not to do another taper ... Mirft' seems to find those little crevises or weaknesses and multiplies it, we have to bear that in mind on our downward journey.

      Evergreen, sorry to hear you have to move, what a bummer ... there will be something good to come out of it, something good always comes through the bad times; which isn't a comfort now, but eventually... at least you will be free of worrying about it.

      Mid February isn't so long away, WOW, Mirt' free, I can only dream at present, seems a long way to go.  I may well move to 10 day tapers instead of 14 days, see how this one goes because I've done a bigger drop - 7.5 to 6.75 which, if my sums are correct is 10%, and have only been doing 5% drops until now.  So I may well see a difference ...  fingers crossed.  

      The supplements seem ok, no upset tum or anything, who knows if they're helping but may as well accept the advice of others who have tapered.  B's with Inositol, Valarian, etc, D3 and also Mag (3 types).  I should rattle really!  

      So tired today, might go flop after lunch, flopping is good right!  Celebrating my daughters birthday yesterday/last night ~ she couldn't fit us in at the weekend!

      Hope your day is good too.

  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    Morning everyone. Tonight will see a drop to 0.9mg after two days on 1mg. I have felt a little irritablle, and my sleep is not great (but was better last night). But I am not depressed or anxious. My biggest worry is that mirtazapine has done permanent damage to my metabolism because I have put on two pounds in the last month and it seems to be speeding up as I get lower with my doses! Could it be that even this minute amount of mirt is affecting my weight? Or am I going to be left with a constant struggle with my weight that I never had pre mirt? I really hope not! Of course, I will let you all know if it is the case.

    How are you all doing today?

    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

       Hi Evergreen, Hi Betsy where ever you are smile

      The drops are going really well, I guess, by most standards you can't complain !  As for the weight, I think you may find at zero you may well have a change, I'm hoping so anyways ... I'm watching you haha!  Stick around to tell uus won't you?

      I'm doing alright thank you, just the middle of the afternoon fatigue gets me, but I have spent a lot of time sitting working this week, which may not help, then come dinner time I have to wind myself up.

      On day 7 of a 10% drop and nothing ... no signs ... touch wood !!!  Will never say never until 2 weeks, golden rule, although with smaller drops I would go 10 days.

    • evergreen
      evergreen Calmer

      Posted

      I hope your fatigue gets better soon, Calmer. I don't feel too bad except I'm still finding it really hard to get out of bed in the morning. I will definitely stick around once I'm off the mirt and will let you all know if the weight problem goes away. I was a pound down again on the scales this morning so am not feeling so bad as yesterday.
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