Mirtazapine withdrawal

so ladies of a certain age.....

are these symtoms (hot/cold, insomnia, dizzy 'head rush' etc) symptoms of mirtazipine /citalopram withdrawal

OR menopause?

thanks for your opinions

Jules x

I have taken mirtazapine for exactly 28 days. I was prescribed 15 mg for insomnia. I stopped taking it and for about 4-5 days I had no issues. Sleep was a little rough but I was getting about 6 hours a night. Then I started feeling sick and experiencing what i would call withdrawal symptoms. Is this usual for only being on this drug for such a short time at such a low dose?

Last night I really thought I was going to die. I broke down and took 15mg and the withdrawal symptoms went away but I want to get off these medications and this is the last one I am on.

Hey matt, yep coming off these meds can be really testing. I was on them for 3 months and came off them cold turkey.. Your nervous system has got use to the drug and will take a bit of time to get back to norm, even at 15 mg.. You should not have too long to get back to norm, seeing that you've been taking them for only a month. You may feel anxiety and panic attacks with other symptons, but they will pass. Keep telling yourself that its just withdrawals, incourage yourself and take time out if you can.. There's some helpful reading here on this thread, it will help you feel that you are not alone.. Gods speed matt, you will get better : )

Thanks for the reply. Did you manage to get off mt? I took half a dose last night and plan to see if I can stabilize there. I have taken other ads in the past for insomnia about 5 years ago and didn't have an issue after short term use. I did however have a very rough olanzapine withdrawal after being on that for 3 months back in august due to insomnia. It was awful and I don't want to go through that again. But if a slow taper is going to make me suffer then I may as well go ct and get it over. I really can't believe I got stuck after 28 days on this and the delay was weird too. I was fine for about 5 days.

yep i got off the mt cold turkey, after being on them for 3 months, was not fun.. im now on 100mg sertraline/zoloft and its helped, i think, but will come off them or lower the dosage by half come spring : ) its always best to come off anti/d's in spring/summer rather than winter for most peeps... never had a problem coming off citalipram or escitalipram, could just stop no probs, but mirts a different story.. the escitalipram and the like are an SSRI (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor) mirtazapine is an SNRI in short an ssri with a mood stabaizer and sedating ingredient.. not a good cocktail in my books lol. take the crappy effects on the chin, you will be fine in time matt : )

hey all, just a quicky.. on page two of this thread, 12th comment, the guest stated that you can get Serotonin syndrome from coming off this med.. its not the case, a specialist has told me that Serotonin syndrome is caused by overdosing on the med not stopping it, so don't take that comment as gospel, it aint the case.. not meaning to disrespect the person, as i'm sure he/she was only trying to help, no doubt. it scared the crap out of me when i first read it, while coming off the mirt, so do disregard that sentence he/ wrote..

the nervous system will take a bit of a shake coming off this drug, as it gets its way back to normality.. pull yourselves out of it and like it has been said here before, be proud of yourself and you're nervous system for doing so...

have a good new year all and all the best,

pjdme : )

Thanks for the encouragement. How long did the intense symptoms last for you?

Hi folks,

I just tapered off mirtazapine from 60 mg down 15mg increments until stopping on Monday. I felt fine with each cutback until the last one, which really caught me off guard!

I can't sleep and if I do fall asleep, I can't stay asleep more than about 2 hours without waking up in some kind of a panic. And suddenly I'm up and down emotionally and I am just feeling overwhelmed by fears that I'll become suicidal so easily.

I'm bipolar but am still on lamotrigine (mood stabilizer) as well as Effexor so I thought it would be a breeze coming off of this one

Has anyone else been on a similar cocktail of meds while withdrawing from this? I don't know whether to increase the Effexor or ask to go back on clonazepam (it took me ages to be comfortable with the idea of stopping that one and now that I'm off of it...I guess I'm afraid of being "weak" for asking to go back). Sorry, this is rambling. Again, so overwhelmed (I guess that's more of the anxiety sinking in).

Hi just dance,

Well i've been on all sorts of meds for 10 years for GAD and depression..and it's been a mental roller coaster, literally.i've been on effexor and mirtazipine for around a year,with lexotanil when i feel too anxious.

Anyways i had been feeling great for months and decided to come off the Mirtazipine,i was doing great and feeling good when out of nowhere had horrendous thoughts and my anxiety returned with a bang.it was horrible,,i went from 30mg to 15mg to 7,5mg in 2 weeks then 7.5mg for 3 days then zero,,and on around day 4 all my previous symptoms returned.

everything you wrote is exactly the same as my experiences except about the sleeping patterns.

anyways i went straight to my doc to get back on the mirt,,i had no choice,,the withdrawal was just too much,so i'm back on 15mg and feeling ok again..i would advise to do that,,there is no need to increase effexor,, and i would say getting the benzo's, for the bad day will ease yourself..we have an illness,it's nothing to be ashamed of. it's a part of who we are..stay calm and try to relax about it.,don't feel weak,,we take these medicines because we need too to help us feel better,for nothing else.take care

Thanks so much...I am calling my doctor tomorrow. Staying off the med completely is not worth the risks right now. And yes, it is an illness so thanks for reminding me that it's ok . Radical acceptance, radical acceptance!

matt999 i had it really bad for two weeks then things got slowly better... took me a few months all in all to find normality... it all depends on the person it seems... time flies, gods speed : )

I am shocked having read through the posts - I was told by my doctor that mirt was NON addictive. Only having read through the posts that appears not to be the case.I've only been on 30mg for approx 6 weeks and am seriously hoping I'm one of the lucky ones only came onto the site to look up weight gain in 6 weeks I've gained half a stone. I'm going to try going cold turkey as I really don't want to be on them having read all of the posts. I'll post again to share my experience.

Well anti depressant drugs are classed as "non addictive" so doctors will tell their patients that they are not,however people who take them become dependent in most cases.

It's difficult to stop taking them cause we dread the worst will happen if we do.

I would never recommend cold turkey cause you might have terrible withdrawal,,but then again everyone is different so you might not..i've came off the likes of citalopram and clomipramine with no problems but this mirtazapine has gave me bad feeling when i stopped completely, hence why i'm back on 15mg for now.

It's a tricky circle we are in.

But as i keep saying,,depression and anxiety is an illness and these meds help us control it..so try not to feel so down about that fact.

i'm going to reduce to 7.5mg of mirtazapine as of tonight,so lets see,fingers crossed the withdrawal will be ok this time.

Thank you for your advice kennyboy. I didn't have one last night and fingers crossed so far I'm ok. But then it is early in the day. I'll see how how. I get on today and if I'm ok I will try going without tonight. I only needed a short term boost following a period of stress caused by work. Is it possible to lengthen the days between taking over a period of time?