Coming on & off Mirtazapine with emetophobia - HUGE SUCCESS STORY!

I wanted to share this to help anyone else in my position feel better. I have very bad emetophobia and went on mirtazapine for my anxiety. It didn't work for me personally so I decided to come off it, but it could definitely work for you! If you are sure you want to try it you should go for it as you can always come off them. I'm not a fan of how the doctors throw medication at you instead of treating the root of the problem but we have to try these things in case they do help. This is my story of coming on and off successfully (definitely the parts that make emetophobes most anxious) as the world needs more of this. There are way too many dramatic stories to put people off out there. I like to think of it like plane crashes, thousands and thousands of perfectly safe flights happen every single day and we only ever hear about the times when it goes wrong! Humans are wired to focus on the negatives and the dramatic stories so keep that in mind.

Going on mirtazapine was completely fine - I went on 15mg for a couple of months and then up to 30mg for just over a month. Both times were the same. The only side effects I had were that I was quite tired and slept a lot but that was actually quite nice! I also had a couple of interesting things like electric shock feeling sometimes and then strange dreams. I welcomed both of these as I just thought of them as quite funny or entertaining.

!!!!!I had absolutely no nausea or throwing up at all!!!!!

My GP told me the drug is even used as an actual anti-emetic so there is no way it would make you throw up, plus in the drug trials, more people actually felt nauseous when they were given the placebo, not the real drug! and no throwing up! I hope this all gives you the reassurance you need.

I know that people also talk about their anxiety getting worse for a bit, and mine did a little, but not because of the drug, because I was worried about the drug. The drug itself doesn't cause anxiety but I think the fact that we know we are on something that could perhaps affect out bodies or minds, we feel out of control and therefore get anxious about it. So I only ever got anxious about the effects of the drug, not because of the drug if that makes sense. In terms of coping with this, it's okay to spend a while engaging in safety behaviours, or whatever helps your anxiety and soothes you, because it's a difficult time and you have to go easy on yourself. However, I found that I worried the least when I was up doing something and being productive because my 'anxiety brain' saw that I was being normal and doing my usual thing so it acted normal. If your 'anxiety brain' notices that you are doing something different, like eating less food or staying in bed all day, of course it will think something is up and then you will automatically feel worse.

Coming off mirtazapine was also COMPLETELY FINE. I was even more nervous about this because I had heard that mirtazapine had a 'reputation' for having awful withdrawal effects. This is complete b0llocks!! As long as you come off them slowly as the doctor tells you to then you will be absolutely grand. I went from 30mg straight to 15mg for 2 weeks, then 15mg to 7.5mg for 2 weeks, then down to nothing. I did none of that alternating day stuff, I feel that just drags it out and I've learnt you need to just rip the band aid off and then it's over quicker. But of course do that if you are feeling some withdrawal effects that you can't cope with. The only side effects I had were becoming less tired which was obviously nice as I didn't need 10-12 hours sleep a night anymore.

!!!also absolutely no nausea or throwing up!!!

I also found that each time I dropped down I became less and less stressed about it because I started getting used to it, and I guess you are taking away a smaller amount each time so it really doesn't have that much of an impact on your body/mind.

My GP was very reassuring and told me that I wasn't going to feel/be sick because I was dropping down so slowly. Usually when the doctors advise you to not come off them immediately it's because they are more worried about the mental effect that will have on you, not the physical effect. I think the fact that she literally told me it wasn't possible for that to happen and I was going to be fine really helped me, so this is me telling you that you will be fine. And that in itself can help dramatically because you realise that you really are going to be okay. Going into it with a positive attitude will help tremendously because you will feel less anxious and therefore have less symptoms of anxiety which you could mistake for side effects/withdrawal effects.

Saying this, my anxiety did go up slightly because of what I said before, and I think that this can sometimes create a whole other load of symptoms which you then get anxious about. Try to see all of these symptoms not as something you should treat individually, but as symptoms that are all under the umbrella of anxiety. E.g. you might worry about having a headache which then makes it worse because you are so focused on it, but if you just accepted that you have a headache and it's most likely due to anxiety, then you can just carry on with your day. Don't feed the fear, it only makes it so much stronger. If you react to a seemingly 'negative' situation (no situation is actually bad, it's just our perception of it that's bad) with fear then of course you will feel worse. But if you react to that same situation with acceptance and passiveness, it won't create that whole cycle of fear and you will learn that it will all pass you're going to be alright.

Remember it's okay to be anxious, and in my experience, all the times in my life when I have felt nauseous is because I am anxious. You need to accept it for what it is and stop questioning it, rather than letting it scare you and creating even more fear.

I really hope this helps even just one person!! You got this. Remember this is only temporary. 😃

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