Mirtazapine withdrawal

hi danae,

sorry to hear about your troubles, i've been there, i'm 10 days now without mirt,,things are ok, not as bad as i thought it would be,,although the benzo's are a great help in getting over the withdrawals. yesterday i had bad anxiety for the first time in a few weeks,,,but that's normal,,this medicine probably saved my life too so i wouldn't call it evil,,it's like giving up any drug,,your system just needs time to adjust to the changes in chemicals,,if you feel as bad as you do on 3.75mg,personally i would just stop it altogether,,if you've got the sweats and all that,, ask your doctor for some beta blockers, inderal is good for the physical relieve.

Hi all,

Pleased to report that a few hours after my last post I felt a shift in the overpowering fog and that night got the first some what decent block of sleep (5 hours) in the last 25 days. It came just in the nick of time as I was only going to try and wait it out for another few days and if no success I was going to go back to 7.5 mg.

So glad that I did as it would have meant starting all over again some time down the track.

I have now had 2 nights getting some rest and my headache has lessened somewhat, if fact this morning I thought it had gone, but right now it is very much back.

I am still really tired but hopeful that I am now on the right side of this withdrawal.

I talked to my psychiatrist during the week and he seemed to be so, so surprised that I would be having withdrawal on such a low dose of Mirt. At this point I lost all faith in him. So dismissive.

When I told him that it can be somewhat common, he looked at me with that look that said to me that he thought I was mad. What planet do these guys live on?

I am very grateful that I found this site as your shared experiences and tips have been really supportive, validating and invaluable to me........... Danae

Hi all,decided to stop mt two days ago as the low dose made me feel like crap, what's the use of prolonging the agony so I went for it, have to say it's hit me like a ton of bricks, no sleep, terrible head, feeling sick, upset stomach. Is this normal? Can anyone recommend any sort of remedy? I feel so desperate, don't know what I'd do without the support of all you fellow suffers.

hi Margaret,

Yes your symptoms are normal, what was your original dose and for how long??

Well i'm nearly 2 weeks off the mirt and i asked my psychiatrist for some benzo's to relieve my withdrawal, and they've worked for me,,also i take inderal(beta blockers) which have also good results with relief,

I've had this condition for 10 years, withdrawal from any drug will always have an effect, it just depends on the individual,

You'll be fine,it will pass.

good luck

Hi Kennybhoy, thanks for your reply,I have been taking 15mg tapering down to 7.5 then half of this, felt so lawful so decided to cut it out completely, nobody warns you about the withdrawal symptoms, my doc is useless, says she doesn't want to give me any other meds, at the end of the day it isn't her that's suffering!! Just want to feel well again.I try to think positive as I know others have been there, good luck to you.

Hi Margaret

Is your Dr a GP or Psychiatrist?, if a GP i would recommend going an seeing a specialist.

Your Dr sounds very useless as if not willing to prescribe anything else cause it seem you need some relieve from your symptoms,

Change your Dr,, Having a good Dr is a must when your in a situation of distress, my Psychiatrist is great and really helpful,

Hope it works out for you

Hi Kennybhoy,

My doctor is a GP, it seems all they care about is keeping you on the medication.

I am in the UK so I'm not sure if Benzos is something that they would prescribe for me here, I will go back and mention it as I need some relief.

Today (day 3) I feel most odd. I have this sensation that I'm not in this world, does this make sense?! My

head feels so strange and my surroundings a bit unfamiliar. I took a sleeping pill last night as I've got terrible insomnia so I wonder if this has contributed to the way that I feel. Please tell this is all normal?!

Hi Margaret,

Possibly you have a way to go yet as it took me to day 25 to start to get some relief. The only thing that helped at all for me was Valium and sleeping pills (Benzos) short for Benzodiapines.

I still have the headache (although now only dull) but the nausea and the sweats have passed.

Sleep is really important and probably I should have hit the Valium sooner than I did as my body was already used to the two temazepam that I have been taking for many years.

I am still really tired but feeling a lot better.

I would suggest getting some symptom relief sooner rather than later.

Good luck.

Hi Margaret,

Don't take this the wrong way but what does living in the UK have to do with anything?,

I'm from the UK but live In UAE and i pay for all my medicines because that's just the law here,,for 28- 30mg pills of mirt costs me 250 aed which works out at around 40 pounds a month, and for 28 benzo's only costs 25 aed which is about 4 pounds..so the benzo's are way cheaper.

You need a proper specialist or a different GP that is willing to prescribe you the benzo's because trust me they help alot with withdrawal..The GP might just be apprehensive because they don't properly understand the agony of withdrawals, but psychiatrists do..

A psychiatrist apt will probably mean you need to go private which will cost you,,but you can't put a price on your health.

good luck

Hi All. I'm now on Day 6 of withdrawal. I haven't been too bad, I've experienced some withdrawal symptoms, nausea, no appetite, headaches, insomnia, sweats etc but bearable until today. My symptoms are much more severe and quite unbearable. I'm reluctant to try any other medication after having such bad side effects from Mirtazapine recently and citalopram last year. Here in the UK in my experience the Drs are reluctant to prescribe more than 1 medication at a time. In my surgery they will not prescribe Valium (Benzos) in these circumstances, only in very severe cases and then only for a matter of days. Therefore I'm trying to deal with it, resting when I can, drinking lots of water and herbal teas. Food is a bit of an issue for me but I'm trying to eat healthily to help my body deal with the withdrawal and get rid of the toxins. 25 days to see some relief seems a long way off! This forum has helped so much. It's so useful to know what others are experiencing. Hope you all will be ok.

Hi Kennybhoy, the reason I mention about living in the UK is because reading back on the posts on here I assumed most of you guys were based in the US, and when I looked up benzodiazepines on the net it said they were prescribed for people there. My confusion has subsided as the day has gone on but have the most horrendous headache along with the nausea, no appetite and no sleep, just want to get through this, having a really bad day and its only day 3 since my last tablet, we all need inner strength!!

Hi Margaret

You can get benzodiazepines in the UK aswell not only America, sorry I thought you meant they wouldn't prescribe you them cause of the prices,

Anyways just ask and I'm sure you'll get what you need,or beta blockers,

Stay strong

PLEASE HELP, had the most horrendous night, is it normal to keep waking up in a complete panic? Heart palpitations and shaking. Today I am having really dark thoughts, wishing I were dead with nothing to look forward to, is it really this awful drug playing tricks with my mind, I feel so desperate.

Hi Margaret

You've got to go see your doctor ASAP, if your going through withdrawals then it can happen,

You need to call now, and demand a sedative of some description even if it's only to sleep.

And if things are this bad then maybe you need to stay on the mirtazipine.

Good luck

hey margaret, yes those are the withdrawal symptoms and yes they are hell. the worst feelings and thoughts i had ever felt, just like so many here.. i woke up for two weeks at the same time 3am with major panic attacks and bad anxiety. pacing up and down the hall way wearing out the carpet : / like kenny said, phone your doc, tell the receptionist you are in panic mode. the doc may call you back as they do now in the uk for this situation. ask about beata blockers (propanalol) they really took the sting out of the panics for me and others here. diazapine (benzo) help calm you right down but they are a downers so they may make you feel low the following day. its all part of the course. hang in there margaret you will pull through : )