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How to come off mirtazapine safely

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tim11033
tim11033

Been on Mirtazapine for approx 4 months, currently 22.5mg. Also taking 40mg Seroxat. What's the best way to come off Mirtazapine? The side effects outweigh the benefits. The medical profession have just left me in limbo. They were quick to put me on to the Mirtazapine but have offered no help in coming off. The waiting list to see a physchiatrist is months. The duty doctor just told me to go from 30mg to 15mg & then come straight off them. My own doctor said that there's not much she can do other than help me with the insomnia by prescribing me a week's supply of 7.5mg Zopiclone but no more after because they're addictive. So i feel that i am well & truly in complete limbo at the moment. Due to the insomnia, they advised me to go back on 30mg but the side effects were too harsh. They then advised me to drop to 22.5mg but still the insomnia continues & side effects are harsh. I've been sleeping 4 hours per night roughly for the last 2 weeks, which is having a detrimental impact on my mental & physical health. I feel the sooner i can safely get off the awful drug the better. The longer i take it the worse the withdrawals will be. I do realise that some withdrawals are inevitable but i obviously would like to limit the severity & duration. Any help would be appreciated.

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  • james54967
    james54967 tim11033

    Posted

    Hey, I started taking 50mg of mirtazapine after admitting depression after coming off a crystal meth addiction. 2 years on and I'm now down to cutting the 15mg tablet into quarters making it a 3.75mg dosage, I know it's not the best way to do it but I just break the tablet on a lighter whixh I understand can make thw dosage inconsistent. 9/10 nights I can't sleep without it but when I can, I wake up within a couple of hours being extremely restless so I end up having the tab. Been on this dosage for about 4 months now and really want to come off of this drug. Would it be safe to go cold turkey, or should I result to cutting ut in half again? Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated due to the gp saying my only options or to up the dose or stay at this.

    • john94307
      john94307 james54967

      Posted

      You should never abruptly stop any psyche med.  This site is full of horror stories about CTing mirtazapine.  I would recommend discontinuing off 1.875 mg - so basically split your current dose in half and then stay on that for a couple weeks, perhaps longer, then quit completely.  After 3-4 days, you should start experiencing some withdrawal effects so be prepared.
    • michelle18507
      michelle18507 john94307

      Posted

      Thanks so much for all of the very useful info. Ive been on Mirt 4.5 years and I began the very challenging task of tapering 3 weeks ago today. I took 15mg for the duration and I’ve tapered to 7.5mg for the past 3 weeks. I’m having difficulty equally cutting the 7.5 dosage to 3.75. Ive used a knife and a pill cutter and neither device gives a clean cut. I intended to reduce my dosage tonight but the cutting of the pill is a problem and now after reading others comments about the withdrawl, im wondering if i should stay on 7.5 a while longer. I reduced from 15mg to 7.5mg and ive had symptoms. In the past i followed my docs orders and quit cold turkey and it was a nightmare. So much like many of the other  posts ive read i was ill informed by my doc on how to come off the drug.  I thought my withdrawl symptoms were from the new antidepressant and i stopped it and went back on Mirt. After educating myself, i have learned my prior experiences reducing Mirt, substituting other antidepressants for mirt and going cold turkey off Mirt were in fact all withdrawls. Does anyone have any helpful advice on the pill cutting and duration on each dosage?  Im still having symptoms from my reduction to 7.5mg so does this mean i should stay on this dosage longer?  Any advice would be much appreciated!
    • john94307
      john94307 michelle18507

      Posted

      Yes, stay at 7.5 mg for a while longer, perhaps 2-4 weeks.  You have been on the drug for nearly 5 years so you will likely need to taper more slowly.
    • michelle18507
      michelle18507 john94307

      Posted

      Thanks. Any recommendations on cutting the pill when the time comes? It just seems to crumble when I cut the 7.5 dosage.

       

  • FinnInMe
    FinnInMe tim11033

    Posted

    My last drop to 7.5mg last Tuesday caused another set of withdrawal symptoms. Need to keep this in mind for the next drop.

    So started with 7.5mg on Tuesday evening, and on Thursday the flu symptoms came back.. at first just feeling fatigued and crap but towards the evening the headache was back and felt like I had high fever. Horrible night sweats.. so bad that the sheets, covers, my pillow and my pj’s felt I’ had a quick swim to the pool 😑 I’ never experienced anything like that before!

    Friday still with feverish feelings, another sweaty night and then on Saturday back to normal. Very weird but I think I really start to understand why they call them withdrawal symptoms. Something slightly similar that what I have seen drug-users go through when stopping using.

    Eugh! Just tells me how horrible s**t Mirtazapine is 😒

    Well.. need to be prepared in 2 weeks for that same thing to occur then and drop my dose so that I have weekend ahead to settle it down. Wouldn’t work well if need to be at work or college feeling like I did.

    The finish line is almost visible and can’t wait! 

    • Guest
      Guest FinnInMe

      Posted

      Please keep us updated on this. I am on 30mg daily of Mirt. Having dropped a full tab down from 45mg's. where I suffered a few nights of insomnia and some recurrence of my anxiety disorder. However, they soon cleared up.

      I am really interested in how this goes for you and your taper method. I too want off, due to the threat of weight gain, constant hunger and the daytime tiredness, that I have to contend with. They have worked to some extent on my moods and the anxiety. But it's time to get back to me... 

      Anyhow... I look forward to reading your next update.

  • paul27688
    paul27688 tim11033

    Posted

    I have been on 15m Mirt for 3 years. I quit cold turkey Dec 1, 2018. Yes the flu like symptoms are there. What is strange is there are no symptoms in the morning then bam after lunch there they are. I am retired so I I don't have the schedule up keep to contend with, which probably makes this easier. My suspicion is the Docs don't use the term addictive because they want you hooked. I have had a rough child hood and 30% percent of my childhood acquaintances are dead from heroin so I have experience of addictions. By this decade we all should. I recognized the symptoms and got on the web. Lo and behold here we all are. All the same shat, no?! Well I am going to push through this and get off this crap. My provider is Kaiser perm. The first night I took the whole pill. Omg I though I was on morphine(been there before). I called the doc the next day and he cut it in half. Last dosage I was on thirds for about two weeks. Now nada. I have noticed the symptoms quelling a little. Probably a full 8 days like other posts have stated. Then I will be free at last! Seems like all the attempts here report symptoms no matter what. I concur. Just do it. At least you are aware of what you are doing so there are no suicidal tendencies or thoughts. It is just mentally painful. I wish all the whole luck it takes to those that find this site and quit the drug. Ya gotta do it.

  • susan16648
    susan16648 tim11033

    Posted

    I've been on Mirtazapine for 2 weeks. I've read the side effects & they sound horrible. I was prescribed for insomnia. 15 mg. It works but I don't want to stay on this. I tried not taking one a couple of times & could not sleep. Any suggestions?

    • pepsi7up
      pepsi7up susan16648

      Posted

      Try to cut the dose to 7.5mg. Then 3.75mg, then off it.

      I suggest taking 3000mg of L trytophan, 100mg of 5 htp and 400mg of magnesium before bed. That of course you can't also be taking SSRI or SNRI antidepressant as there are bad interaction between them and l trytophan anx 5 htp.

  • johnene6704
    johnene6704 tim11033

    Posted

    I have been on mirtazapine for about 3 week. I take a 3.7 mg every night. Any suggestions om weaning of this medication. I don't feel like the doctors really care about me coming off of it. But i want to be medication free if possible.

    • dxp98
      dxp98 johnene6704

      Posted

      Hi,

      I have the same dose like you for insomnia. I used it for 2 and half months now. My GP suggest stopping because of my brain fog issue during the day. How did you get off it?

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