How to come off mirtazapine safely
Posted , 56 users are following.
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.
2 likes, 101 replies
paul27688 tim11033
Edited
I went cold turkey at 7.5 mg. My age is 63 and I am retired so my health level could be different than yours and since I don't work I have 100% control of my schedule.
It can be rough, weird of both at the same time. But I found that tapering off might have helped. I starting tapering before just to lower my meds intake. One has to start somewhere and I believe the different levels cause different reactions in the endocrine system, whole body adjustment. And that is the crux of the matter. As the adjustment takes place they will be waves and windows.
paul27688
Posted
rough, weird or both
johnene6704 paul27688
Posted
Thank you Paul. I am 55 and just starting to delete my medication
This is the first one. Then it will be the lexapro and finally the losartan. I have started eating right walking daily and l feel like I'm a new person
I am not in that group but i might check it out.
paul27688 johnene6704
Posted
Drink lots of water. I start out the day with 12oz before anything. Everybody has different endocrine resequencing patterns. Dont let the mismatch get to your head. I walk everyday too. These do help. I am almost over all of withdrawal.
There are alot of people over in that group with all kinds of resequencing issues. Some just keep repeating the sickness mantra because the dosage was so high that the body impact was very great. It wears very heavy on the mind the greater the mismatch/withdrawal. It is easy to forget you're groping through something. I have projects also to work on. These keep the mind away from the daily grind of CT/WD.
GiGisus tim11033
Posted
Don't know if anyones still struggling with this but I have the solution.
I too desperately fought through the withdrawals until I felt so sick I gave in. The cycle went on for a while until I saw a doctor while on holiday & I casually mentioned it.
SHE LAUGHED AT ME, then wrote me a prescription. I replaced Mz with VENLAFAXINE and four days later, I didn't need either. The dose was 75mg & it was the extended release capsule.
N.B. Don't stay on Vn >1 week or you will start metabolizing it as a new form of antidepressant treatment instead of an 'antidote' & instead of cancelling Mz out, it will replace it, side effects and all.
✌ 😃
chris11736 tim11033
Posted
has anyone tried splitting the daily dose over the day and then tapering off And what about alternate dosage-10% for each other day for two weeks then reduce -10 everyday etc. very slow but....
paul27688 chris11736
Posted
What ever it takes. Vary your schedule. But continue the idea that you have to reduce.
\
jennifer14580 chris11736
Posted
yes, I've been tapering for a year and I'm down to a half of a half and I'm wondering when I should just go off
paul27688 tim11033
Posted
Taper off in segments too. Like every other day or a varying schedule.
Yaralee98362 tim11033
Edited
Maybe many here have giving you this advice or maybe not, but for me , this is the best way, its what im doing and what i learned from a mirtazapine tapering group, and that is the: Tapering with the liquid method. Now let me be more specific.
Your current dose is 22.5mg right? OK, so what you do is this (Like i said, this is a liquid tapering method which is the best and only way of coming off safely, cutting or filing the pill is not the way to go):
Ok so first, buy ora plus or maple syrup, but i recommend to buy ora plus since its a suspender. Also buy a tube that fits the 30 mg of the liquid solution you gonna make, a syringe of 30 mg, you can find packs of those for cheap price and a measuring cup/ tube that can measure 35 to 40 mg. After you have all of that, this is the next step: First , throw inside the tube you bought to storage the liquid solution, the 30 mg pill, then on the measuring cup or tube, you gonna measure 15 mg of water( Yes, you'll need water since to make this liquid you need water, the 30 mg pill and ora plus) once you have the 15 mg of water, you gonna add it to the tube were the pill is, then measure on the measuring cup or tube, 15 mg of ora plus, add it to the tube were you have the pill and water in and then, close it and shake it/ mix it well. There you gonna have 30 mg of liquid mirtazapine. But plz make sure to shake it very well and leave it to rest for an hour or two since the pill needs to dissolve completely. So i recommend you doing this early, then with the 30 mg syringe, you gonna draw the 22.5mg out of the tube and drink it. You might feel a bit weird since your changing from pill to liquid but your body will get use to it soon. Now that you have all done, let me tell you the tapering schedule and how much % you should drop. The group said that you should taper every 2 to 4 weeks or even every month, but i recommend you tapering every 4 weeks or every month since this has to be a slow process to not feel the killing side effects/ withdrawal that are hell and if you accelerate things is gonna get worse, and so you can come off safely without much damage. Noe the % is no more than 5% to 2% or even 1%, i recommend 2% to 1%. Now how much is that? well, on a calculator you gonna put 22.5 - 1% or 1% - 22.5, then round it and the results should be 22.49 which in syringe is read as 22.4 mg . So if you taper every 4 weeks or every month 1% then the drops should be like this: 22.4, 22.3,22.2,22.1,22.0.19.9,19.8,19.7 and so on till you reach the end which is 0.0 mg and your off. If you need me to explain more plz let me know, im glad to help. I tapered like this from a 15 mg pill and now im currently at 2.3 mg 😃
Tubeman Yaralee98362
Posted
Hi Yaralee, did you disolve the 30mg tablets that are sort of reddish? Are they slow release or do you have to get a different kind?
What is ora can I get that over the counter?
I like this idea as you can be very precise.
thalles74890 tim11033
Posted
I've been on mirtazapine 30mg for 2 months already, and decided to stop it because i'm not feeling good about this medication. I got to 2 doctors and both of them basically said to stop cold turkey, with one saying i should switch the days i would take with the ones i wouldn't but after reading so many bad experiences from people that basically did that i'm confused and scared. What should be the way to go? please i need help.
michael46337 thalles74890
Posted
i know this is a really old Post but I'm in the same boat now more or less. I've been on mirt about 66 days, 39 or so at 30mg. last night i dropped down to 15mg and was planning to evaluate at 10 days from today. did you do any kind of taper? what did you do, and how did you do with it? hope it went ok....
I'm kinda freaked out about this but just want to be off of these so i don't go deeper, but it looks like it doesn't take long to get into them enough to make coming off them a challenge.
jennifer14580 tim11033
Posted
I have been on mirtazapine for almost 3 years. been tapering for over a year. Every time I reduce , I cry for about a week. I was taking 15 mg and am now on a half if a half. I'm still sleeping well but have nightmares when reducing. My sister also takes it and says in her experience, its best to just go off it but I'm afraid the withdrawl will last for longer than a week. Anyone have experience with tapering?
basten tim11033
Posted
hows it going. I am on 15 nirtaz one year. plus worse boat than you as also Zopiclone 2 years and a benzo 3vyrs all due to GPs just giving me. psych happy for me to stay on but now I've been switched to Diazepam 4mg cut it to 3mg 9 weeks ago ...no sleep. and I feel so poorly yet I have all these to come off. cant even get to see or talk to my own GP. due to COVID mess. psych isnt any help and says stay off forums but they give me more info help than any medical professionals. I feel stuck ill and scared . taper mirtaz my friend did every other day then later every 2 then 3bover 3 to 4 months but yes insomnia will be there. do not GP says take sleepers. they stop working anyway. sleep should come back but I understand it's awful and yes I cant cope too well mentally if no sleep. play relaxing music. deep breaths it may get you off