Mirtazapine 15 mg compared to 22.5 and 30

Calmer,

Thanks again for your reply as usual. I felt horrible when I was doing the ssri medications with lowering the Mirtazapine but have felt better physically since I got off them. I feel really tired and I have a physical job which makes feeling so tired really hard sometimes.

I feel really flat emotionally and have more head pressure than the higher doses gave me but I don't know if it's just because I'm so tired or the withdrawal from the higher doses. I feel like I don't want to get out of bed in the morning and could just sit there awake for hours.

I'm not sure if I should just keep pushing to get down and hopefully that helps because I've been on 15 mg for a month, my doctor wants me start another medication again but I don't feel I can feeling the way I do right now. I think the side effects from another one on top of the way I'm feeling would be too much to handle and make working and everyday functioning really hard to do..

Oh its tough with the physical job, saying to keep pushing through sound a little harsh (sorry) but there is no other way ... sadly.  I think the lack of motivation and wanting to stay in bed in definately the Mirt' with or without withdrawal ugh ... 

I think a month is long enough, if youu feel you want to do a drop before Christmas - depends on what symptoms you have each time you do a drop, maybe wait intil after now to avoid any discomfort.  Soon as the Christmas tree is down start afresh ... I would go to 11.25 if you can rather than to 7.5 - what method are you using Rob.  

It would be hard to take another AD whilst tapering Mirt, although towards the lower end, say 7.5 downwards, some folk have taken Prozac which some say helps, call it the Prozac bridge to get off Mirt.  I agree with you, to take another AD now would muddy the waters - so to speak.

If you suffer depression you might feel its hard to not have another AD, or maybe try CBT or Mindfulness or even Mindfully Based CBT - 2 birds with one stone  

Whatever youu decide, I hope there is a smooth transition, sounds like you've avoided nausea and insomnia, so not all bad.

Best wishes

Calmer,

I know that roughing it through is unfortunately my only option while weening down off Mirtazapine. The pills that I take are only in 30 or 15 mg options so I'll probably go to 7.5 next drop and see how that goes.

My problem is that my doctor wants me to get on something else before dropping anymore but I've had really bad reactions to everything else I've taken so I don't want to go that route. I don't feel that 15 mg of Mirtazapine is really helping me all that much except it does help me sleep better but I feel tired anyway. I really would like to get off Mirtazapine all together so I can work towards physically being myself and learning to cope with my depression on my own.

It really is a tough answer to know how to go about getting off Mirtazapine because I know I'll have difficult times ahead with lowering it more but I'm tired of the way I feel from it.

Thanks again for your advice and support as it really is appreciated by myself and I'm sure a lot of others in this forum!

Trouble is not many other AD's can be taken with Mirt', I would do your research  on an 'Interaction' checker on-line before taking anything.

Very brave to drop 50% from 15 to 7.5, maybe you're one of the lucky ones who doesn't have a negative reaction, fingers crossed for you.  

Do you take Vitamin B?  Or maybe B Complex, or even get your doctor to check your bloods for any deficiency before taking any supplements.  I read quite often about lack of B causing depression, and maybe we should be checking this first, crazy how doctors hand out heavy psychotic meds like Mirt without doing the easy tests !!

When do you plan to do the next drop??  I'm on less than 1 mg now and still the fatigue and tiredness is there, hard to believe how powerful this is ... I'll let folk know how it goes when I'm 2 weeks beyond zero, that may be something !!

Calmer,

I would like to drop again asap but don't see my doctor until Thursday and I'm not sure if I should now with the holidays but I will definitely drop in early January at the latest as I'm really tired of the lethargic feeling so much of the day.

I did do a lot of different vitamins and fish oil for a time but I was always obsessing on different ways to help my depression and changing what I was taking.. I've seen how obsessing over depression has made it worse so I haven't really taken anything lately and have stayed away from internet searches.

I can't believe that 1 mg is still that strong this medicine is really unbelievable. I also have the 1.0 mg of clonazepam to fall back on at night for sleep so I would like to go down to 7.5 and hopefully get closer to getting off this Mirtazapine soon!

Good luck in getting off soon and keep me updated on how you make out. Thanks again for your continued input and support!!

HI ROB03933..JUST THOUGHT U MIGHT LKE TO KNOW..i have only been on mirt 5/6 weeks ..read my posts..started on 7.5mg.. low compared to others .this made me so ill so reduced to 3.75. i improved greatly the next 3 weeks anx/dep/panic attacts ect 80% better.but no sleep just the odd hour..i saw dr he said to go back to 7.5 i did this a week ago sleeps 3 hours ..BUT JUST LIKE U I CANNOT GET OUT OF BED WHEN I DO IM OK..it takes ages to go to sleep dr said to stick with it and it will improve..sleep.. then i will be less tired and so on ..as calmer said lower mg make u more tired ..but they have worked for me so far so i will stick as i am and hope i improve till i am 100%..do u sleep ok.. i know if i get more sleep i will be fine.nobody seems to take low mgs...sorry to bother you ,hope u feel better soon    BLUESY  

I was on 30 mg the majority of the time and currently at 15 mg for a little over a month. I do sleep better than I did without the Mirtazapine but I wake up frequently out of a dream every night and sometimes multiple times a night. It's hard to explain but I'm kind of in and out of sleep after my initial waking and don't sleep normally and I definitely don't feel like getting out of bed in the morning and almost feel like I wish I could just lay there all day. It gets better once I force myself to get up but it takes a little while.

I plan to go to 7.5 in the near future and I also take 1.0 of clonazepam when I go to sleep so I usually fall asleep ok but i wake around 3-4 AM and I'm in like I said earlier for the rest of the night until morning. I feel more tired during the day then when I was on 30 mg but I'm trying to fight through it to eventually get off Mirtazapine or stay on a really low dose as I have some side effects that I don't want to deal with anymore.

I hope this helps you some and everyone is different on how they react to each medication so you will probably have different experiences than I do. Good luck and I hope you have a good experience with the Mirtazapine going forward Bluesy!

I'm confident that I can get there even though I know it will probably a bit of a fight unfortunately.. I will definitely take my time going down from there as hurrying off Mirtazapine doesn't seem like it's ever a good way to go for most people but I'm pretty determined because I'm tired of the feeling of being so lethargic during the day.

I've been on Mirtazapine around 8 months with the majority of that time being on 30 mg. I've been on 15 mg a little over a month and I've been taking 1.0 mg of clonazepam at bedtime also while I've been weening down.

I was lethargic some before but it has gone to another level at 15 mg but I've been fighting through it best I can. Woke up from dreams some before but seems like every night now since going down and sometimes multiple times a night, almost feel like I'm in the twilight zone. I tend to overreact sometimes also when I have an issue and blame it on the lower dose also but I have been trying to take a more positive attitude and not overreact. The main problem right now is the groggy feeling and the frequent awakenings each night. Have some minor stomach issues but they have gotten better over time.

Hi,

Word of caution, save the clonazepam for when you get off completely as that is when you will need it the most, You can buy and take an arsenal of supplements that I like to call enhancers to help during the weening process. but they doint work like BENZO's. good luck

Definately markedly more tired at 7.5, don't rush to 7.5 hoping for less sedation ... ugh !

😖 Not really what I was hoping to hear but thanks for the quick response. It sucks being stuck on these levels that pretty much just tire you out and bedtime is my favorite part of the day..