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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

    Day five and I had around six hours sleep last night but did take a whole temazepam. I feel loads better for it than I did yesterday. The nervousness is gone and I am in high spirits. Three more nights on taxi duty to go. Tonight will be fine; I just need to decide what concoction to take to help me sleep tonight. Then on the nights before days when I don't have to drive the following night, I can try not to take a temazepam. It took the temazepam an hour and a half to unwind me last night. I guess that mirt is such a powerful sedative that I had adjusted to it an now am in a much more wired state. I am hoping it will start to calm down. I won't be making any more cuts until after the New Year.
    • evergreen
      evergreen

      Posted

      Meant to say, I have no other withdrawal symptoms. Last time I dropped dose on day five I had nausea and all the other times after I dropped my dose, but this time I have reduced appetite but no nausea. Fingers crossed it will continue. I have just done half an hour on the cross trainer and should really have some lunch before mucking out the stables, but I'm really not hungry.
    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 evergreen

      Posted

      Good news, evergreen!  I hope you are past that wave and can get on to feeling better and enjoying the holiday!
  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    Day seven on the 7.5mg dose and all is still well. No withdrawal symptoms other than the constant insomnia. My lovely dad took on my taxi duty last niight which gave me a more relaxing night. Tonight will be a real test as I really am feeling the lack of sleep. Sleep induced by temazepam is not nearly so refreshing as the mirt sleep (before it pooped out). But otherwise I am doing well and must resist the urge to cut my dose further until after New Year! Hope you are all doing well!
    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      The insomnia has to be the worst WD symptom, pity you can't take what most people get by with (Phenergen), I just read a post where one lady was taking 75mg a night. The damn insomnia, just so wrong to suffer with this trying to get off the Mirt.

      Tonight you will be OK, it's the last hurdle, the worry will soon be up and over ... thinking of you, Sunday Sunday, oh how I love Sunday!   

      Wishing you well Evergreen, keep up your strength, have a good slug of what you fancy when you get back from that drive after your star performance !

  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    Day eight aat a relief it is to get yesterday over with. I had a total of six trips out ferrying members of my family about and totted up almost 200 miles! Today I still have to take my son to and from work but he only works until six or seven at the latest tonight, so not a problem.

    But what I am most pleased about it that I slept without a sleeping pill last night! I had a large glass of wine after my driving duties were over and went to bed after midnight, but I didn't take a temazepam. The sleep wasn't quality as I awoke in excess of ten times, but only briefly before drifting off again. Yay!

    I feel a little nauseous and dizzy this morning, but nothing I can't handle. Maybe very mild withdrawal symptoms, or tiredness.

    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      Sundays here hurrah hurrah !  Don't you think the 'apprehension is always worse that the real thing' - if only we could make adjustments to that in our mind.

      Great to hear you slept naturally, I honestly think 7.5mg Mirt is a good leveller for sleep - I mean I think I sleep better than at 15 mg.  Adding in just one drink works for me too, any more and it doesn't.  And if I'm reading you rightly that feeling of a little dizzy and nauseous well ... you took your Mirt' in the late hours and the wine, so yeh, it's still early for it to be wearing off.  

      I think by now the 7.5 is stabilising in your system and you will feel the benefit greatly once the outside influences/stress calms down.  Stay with it, enjoy the rest for a while before decending lower on the Mirt.  'Cause you're worth it.

      Do you take your Mirt about half hour before sleep?  I think that's best for me, although the liquid works faster so I don't have to now ... just to feel slightly relaxed before bed.  

      Pretty damn cold out there today, my dog walk was real blowey, I can feel it in my head ... makes me sleep better, so that's a plus for us both maybe.

      Best wishes, enjoy your lovely Sunday x

    • evergreen
      evergreen Calmer

      Posted

      Thanks, Calmer. It was a bit of a depressing Sunday, unfortunately. I think the quaality of my sleep was so poor that I was very over tired. Sadly the insomnia returned last night, athough I feel much better for the shorter but much less fitful sleep I had with the aid of temazepam.
  • evergreen
    evergreen

    Posted

    Yesterday, I felt as though I had a hang over all day then the insomnia was back at night. At 1 am I was forced to take half a temazepam and I slept for the rest of the night. I feel a little better this morning, so we shall see what happems today. Yesterday evening I started to feel quite anxious and depressed, though I think it was me being over sensitive to my husbands moods.
    • evergreen
      evergreen

      Posted

      Just thought, the anxiety might well be withdrawal symptoms from the temazepam as I was having it every night.

      On the plus side, I am slowly losing weight without even trying. I have stopped counting calories a week ago. I had religiously written down every single thing I ate and drunk for a year and put it all on a spreadsheet. I gave that up last week because my appetite is so much less, so it is much easier to keep below my maintenance calories.

    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 evergreen

      Posted

      Well, that is encouraging news!  I am discouraged, as I have now gained back 9 of the 15 lb I had lost over the last two years before going on mirt.  Might not sound like much, but of course the fear is that I will just keep going up and up, and having recovered from an eating disorder, this is not a good thing for my psyche! I just cut another 5% to 15 mg.  Such a long way to go....

      I did have the thought that maybe you have used the temazepam enough that you are having wd when you try to not use it.  Tricky situation.  Not sure what the best approach is there.  Either try to not use it at all and go through withdrawal, or take a tiny amount regularly even when you don't need it and then do a slow taper off when you done with mirt.  The benzos are not a fun ride to get off of either, apparently.  I've heard of interdose withdrawal being a problem on that one as well.  

      I'm happy for you about the weight situation!  

    • evergreen
      evergreen betsy0603

      Posted

      Even though I have been reducing much faster, it will still be the end of Feb before I am off the mirt as long as things go well. The weight thing really is bad enough, but if you have had an eating disorder, it's the last thing you need. I hope you manage to cut down as painlessly as possible.

      I think the way I felt yesterday was definitely benzo withdrawal. I will do my utmost to keep my dose as low as possible. They are only the 10mg tabllets so the weakest ones available, I think.

    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      Hi Ladies,  

      One wd at a time is enough, blimey ... make it easy on yourself, just keep it low on the Temazepam if you can, easy for me to say.  Am sure you're going to sleep a little better once stable on the 7.5.

      Can I ask your advice Evergreen, re the Inositol, do you know if there are any interactions with the magnesium (CALM) and St. John's wort, what do you think, or Betsy???.  It's for a friend, i'll make note as well, although I don't take either (yet), preger my Mag to be in food.

      I think my appetite is changing very slightly, get the festivities out the way (and all the cholcolate) and hopefully I may be joining you ... the only way has to be down ... in weight!

      Hope you sleep well ~ let the relaxation begin ~ I'm off to the sofa.

       

    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 Calmer

      Posted

      Hi Calmer, I don't think there is any interaction problem between the inositol and mag.  I've been doing both and I take a pretty hefty amount of mag glycinate, 400 mg 2x day.  

      I agree, one WD at a time!  But to cut down on the interdose WD of benzo, Evergreen would probably have to try taking a smaller dose every day rather than using it intermittently, orj get off while the gettin's good. Ugh, on to another dependency.  

      I'm so jellous of you girls, getting the appetite/weight thing going in your favor!

    • evergreen
      evergreen Calmer

      Posted

      I take quite a bit of magnesium and a whole lot of inositol without problems. But I can't advise on the st johns wort.
    • evergreen
      evergreen betsy0603

      Posted

      I found no difference in weight/appetite until I was on the 11.25mg dose. And then only in my appetite, not actual weight. But since being on 7.5mg I have been able to relax my dieting and start to very slowly lose some weight.
    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 evergreen

      Posted

      That is good to hear; 11.25 isn't so far away for me, so maybe then things will start to turn around
    • evergreen
      evergreen Calmer

      Posted

      I meant to ask whether you managed to get your liquid mirt script, Calmer?
    • Calmer
      Calmer evergreen

      Posted

      Morning !  Thanks Betsy & Evergreen, it's actually for Teresa so I will let her know the advice.

      Yes I got the next bottle of liquid, my doc' is away and had to deal with a scarey no messing kind of doctor instead, ugh ... so glad I don't have that hurdle again for a while, especially before Christmas!

      I have enough of the old bottle to keep me going for another week, and then, as the bottle is only supposed to last 6 weeks (wish I could have that confirmed) I am going to use 15mg tablets broken in half, so i'll be at 7.5 for the New Year ~ half way ~ hurrah !!

      Horrid wet windy day for us outdoor dog walking/horse mucking folk, but nicer tomorrow.  Rose sent me a link I'd like to share with you Evergreen, it's for meditation or when you're wired and can't sleep I think it may help, especially as the doses get lower and lower ... i'll pass it to you Betsy via messenger.

      And it's OK losing the terrible rubbish food craving, now I have to work on the bad habits that have formed !!  

      Have a great day xx

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