How I came off Mirtazipine the wrong way/then the right way

first off I never wanted to stay on Mirtz, i had extreme heart palpitations, yet my drs said this was perfectly normal and gave me proprananol, i trusted them, big mistake because they never went, plus I put on 2 stone because i became a sugar addict, i would squirt caramel sauce straight into my mouth which is not a behaviour I have.

(just in case someone reads this whom is on or needing to start mirtz, please know my mum is on 30mg and it did wonders for her, minus the weight gain).

I have been telling my GP for years I am not depressed, that something else is wrong, yet even with the knowledge and experience I have, I was told i was because of a form i filled in.

In April of this year I went for a routine blood test to check for infection, but when I sat in the chair I told the nurse I was there to have my thyroid checked, and luckily I did because I was in thyroid failure and the drs said it had probably taken years to get this bad. My thyroid is in range now and im feeling motivated, happy and in less pain. I am also B12 deficient and getting injections for this. So, thats the part of my spirit that was trying to tell me I wasnt depressed, that something was seriously wrong with me, I wish Id known years ago I could have Paid £75 for private blood tests.

After I knew I had underactive thyroid I wanted off Mirtz, I went from 15mg to 7.5mg to 3.75 in May within two weeks, and the pain I suffered was nothing I had experienced before, my muscles kept going into a spasm, excruitiating pain and it ruined my holiday because I couldn't walk properly, you can imagine just how frightened I was because I wondered if i was dying, I felt that bad (and ive done lyrica and tramadol withdrawal in the past). That weekend we had the ambulance out because oh heart pains, the ambulance said they've seen this before with people coming off Mirtz, they told me I have to get medicine and slowly taper to avoid these issues, so Monday morning I rang the drs and they reluctantley gave me the medicine, the dr told me to go back to 7,5 mg and reduce it every two weeks by 0.5 ml, it was going to take forever to get off this, I did'nt want it to take this long, but I listened and did exactly as I was told (mostly).

I noticed immediately that I withdrawal symptoms did not start until day 3/4, they peeked at days 8-10 then subsided. I did this until I got down to 2ml, then after two weeks dropped to 1, then 10 days later nothing, this process took 3 months i believe.

I am doing ok at the moment, I am on day 5 and my body is hurting, my muscles are aching and I am sleeping a little bit worse.

My tips:

Buy Magnesium flakes (MUST be flakes) mix one cup or Magnesium with one cup of filtered water and heat until dissolved, take off heat and wait for it to cool then pour into a spray bottle, now you have your very own muscle pain treatment, just spray whenever you need to. You can also buy magnesium oil spray from Amazon.

Take a Magnesium supplement, it will help with muscle spasms, take it at night to hell with sleep.

valerian oil mixed with olive oil and rubbed on the feet may help with sleep issues. I just bought sleep remedies from my local traditional chinese medicine dr, which is a miracle even though it tastes awful!

I get accupuncture which helps with pain and irritability, although this is for my chronic pain and sciatica, it has helped me get through this taper.

Drop your dose three days before you know its the weekend, so others may be around to help.

epsom salt baths, 500mg thrown in the bath at a time with a 20minute soak.

Rest, walk, rest, walk etc.

be kind to yourself, you didnt know this was going to happen to you, I sure as hell didnt, Never have I experienced anything like this, and I know some people dont suffer, which I'm so happy for them, but this post is for those who suffer like I have,

Theres so much more I can share, but I will wait if anyone has any questions and ill be here and check every morning and night, I had no support and hope I can assist others get through this, because we can, we will and we will thrive.

best of luck to you on your journey x

1 like, 0 replies