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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.

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  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    y five on 3.75mg and I'm not feeling good. Last night I couldn't sleep until around 2am despite having a temazepam. Really fast heaartbeat and high anxiety. It may be withdrawal from the mirt or it may just be that after taking temazepam every night for quite a while now, I have built up a tolerance and am going into tolerance withdrawal. That would really suck.

    This morning we have the sad news of the passing of David Bowie, which immediately brought a tear to my eyes. Then I weighed myself and I have gained two pounds. So yes, today I feel very low, and sitting here trying to get my act together to go on the cross trainer and then muck out the horses. The thought of it makes me feel depressed.

    So are these withdrawal symptoms? I'm not sure. Too often we depressed people become totally intolerant of any feelings of being down. We live our lives chasing meds to make the feelings go away; to make us feel happy and normal. Coould it be that every feeling of depression is just not tolerated, that we feel we are relapsing, or that it is due to withdrawal, when in fact it may be just normal feelings of being down? So this morning, for example, I have had to get up to feed the animals after very little sleep. The first thing I hear on the news is the death of a rock legend from cancer, I weigh myself and I've gained weight despite being on a very low dose of mirt, and I am worried that I have develloped a tolerance of temazepam and that I will never be able to sleep much again. It's aanother mountain to climb. To do I think it's withdrawal? No, not really. I think it's normal human reaction. I will press on with my intended three more doses of 3.75mg of mirt and then drop to 1.8mg. Obviously, if I continue to seek deeper into depression without further cause, then I may have to rethink this and hold my dose a little longer. 

    • si675
      si675 evergreen

      Posted

      The more I read about Mirt the more I think its probably easier to come off a class A drug!  
    • evergreen
      evergreen si675

      Posted

      One GP I saw was horrified I'd been put on it by an ordinary doctor and not a psychologist. He said it was a very potent drug.
    • evergreen
      evergreen

      Posted

      Another thing which I think is responsible for my depressed mood today, is that I dropped my eldest done back off for his final term at uni. He is such great company and I always feel empty when he leaves again after being home for a few weeks. I felt the same way even when the mirt was working.
    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 evergreen

      Posted

      Oh dang, I hadn't heard about David Bowie :-((((((   Sort of like my losing the lamb on Saturday, I think that it's a combination of factors, really, that when we are coming off these drugs we are really sensitized to stressors, that emotionality is heightened by stressors like this.  Yes, we normally would feel very bad about this news, but how strongly this affects us could be due to withdrawal.

      I had done a cut of mirt just a few days before before my "loss," and Saturday and Sunday were a wash.  I felt flat and completely unmotivated all day yesterday. I feel a bit better today, with intentions of getting out and working on some projects.  Problem is, how far I get is nobody's guess, as motivation deteriorates rapidly, as well as energy.   I get mentally fatigued easily when in a wave.

      I'm sorry it is a hard time for you, Evergreen.  Listen to your body very carefully here on out.  You've been tapering quickly and making relatively large cuts (50%) and I've seen many with such an approach have withdrawal catch up to them in the home stretch.  So listen, and hold if this low spot doesn't pass soon. 

      Hugs!

      Betsy

    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      It certainly leaves a gaping hole when our kids go back to Uni', I used to hear echo's in their bedrooms and visualise times gone by ... it's like the empty nest syndrome - very real, and lonely feeling.

      Day 5 and you're feeling anxiety, well isn't that normal for Mirt' wd ... I understand you may have the actual fear of tolerance wd from Temazapam, having 2 meds on the go will confuse the picture, but the lows you feel, in my opinion, definately sounds like the Mirt.  It will pass, it will pass, it will pass ... mantra for you for today.  

      My friend T had all this when she got down to 3.75 mg Mirt, she came off quicker than I chose to, and is now OFF ~ we were tapering together, so its just me now!  

      I'm sorry you're feeling really low; sad news can really test us to the limit, making wd even harder, or vice versa.  We forget that in 24 or 48 hours we will be feeling a little better ~ worth a mention, keep a little ray of hope in your pocket.  Mirt WD does that sometimes, one good day then one bad day ...

      Sleep deprevation is the cruelist infliction, worrying about it increases the problem ~ how are you getting on with the book?  I didn't really do the "tests" but got a lot from the teachings.

      Hope you have a better day tomorrow Evergreen.  Thinking of you x

    • Calmer
      Calmer si675

      Posted

      Hi Si,

      You're back, hurrah (!)  How you doing now?  

    • evergreen
      evergreen Calmer

      Posted

      Thanks, Calmer. Glad to hear your friend is now off the mirt. The weight seems to have suddenly come on, I guess because I had stopped writing down everything I ate. I read most of the first book but then just thought it wasn't going to help me, not right now, whilst I am tapering off the mirt. Maybe once I'm off it, I will revisit the books. Thanks for your continued support. I think you are very patient and wise to be taking your WD slowly. x
    • evergreen
      evergreen betsy0603

      Posted

      Thanks, Betsy. I am going to hold at 3.75mg until I feel stable for a few days. x
    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      3.75mg is no picnic, I've known people stay on it for 3 months before another taper; you're doing great, just great ... really the right thing to do to stay where you are until you are back to yourself x
  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    Day six on 3.75mg and I feel loads better than yesterday. You were right, Calmer, it seems to hit us in waves. Last night I took two herbal sleep aids (valarian) and 7.5mg of temazepam and fell asleep by 12.30 am and only woke up once during the night, whereas often it can be at least every hour. My sleep problems are always getting to sleep to start with. Usually, once I'm asleep, I do okay even though I often tend to wake up I usually drop off again within a few minutes. But yes, today feels far better than yesterday.
    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      Thats great, a better nights sleep is just the ticket!  I've heard those Valarian are a good choice, so maybe you've found a good little helper there Evergreen.  

      The waves ... I think after a good couple of days the bad one follows, dropping doses whilst this is going on is likely to perpetuate it, hence staying put 2 to 3 weeks, it won't make much difference to keep on 3.75 a while longer, and it is more likely to help you in the long run.

      Glad to hear it's a good day, just freezing cold !  But hey, whats a little cold, we can do cold haha

      x

    • evergreen
      evergreen Calmer

      Posted

      Yes cold, windy and rainy. The horses are really silly when it's like this. I've just been and brought them in and the biggest one, who is still only three but is huge and like handling a mad giraffe with huge teeth, decided it woulld be very entertaining to lunge at me mouth wide open and teeth bared, every time I tride to put his head collar on. Grrr.
    • evergreen
      evergreen

      Posted

      'tried' not 'tride'
    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 evergreen

      Posted

      Naughty boy!  So glad you had a full night's sleep, helps so much!  
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