Mirtazapine withdrawal

ha! just seen the 'quote' button!! doh!!

[quote:629f206822=\"lol9731\"]ha! just seen the 'quote' button!! doh!![/quote:629f206822] I totally agree! I am plagued all day with horrible thoughts and feelings. I am certainly not my 'old self'. I am in my own little world all the time. Like you, I have no extreme anxiety or panick attacks but don't like the person I am on these drugs. I have made a private appointment with a phys. doc. and hope to get some answers and advice. The funny thing is my doctor wants me to up the meds!!!! No thank you!!!

Hi all,

update from my experience. i have now been on 30mg mirt for about 4 weeks, and prior to that 15mg for 12 weeks. I am still having CBT, but must admit have been very lazy when it comes to doing the exercises!!

ok, went to see the docs again last thursday, and we discussed the terrible problems i had ben having in the first two weeks or so. but thank god these have settled down now. I am going thro a lot in my work and personal life at the moment, and now and again i get into challenging situations, two weeks ago i went into panic mode over something..... but since then i have felt a lot better. i hope that I have reached a good plateau. we agreed that I should stay at this dose for another 6 months, and then consider reducing and finally coming off them in Feb 2011. It has been a terrible few months but i hope that i can develop my own resistance to anxiety further in the next few months.

L

Reading all 4 pages of experiences has really helped me to realise that what I'm going through right now is what a lot of other people are having to deal with too.

I was originally put on the 30mg dosage back in November 2008 but had it upped to the 45mg dosage a week or so later as they were making me terribly sleepy as the lower the dose, the greater the sedative effect. I do believe the pills helped but my true saviour was cognitive therapy which has taught me to change my thinking patterns to deal with the anxiety and depression I had become prone to.

I finished my therapy around this time last year and made the decision (with the backing of my GP) to come off the pills a couple of months later. It's been a slow process; initially alternating daily from 45 to 30 and then staying at 30 and that is where I became stuck. I once again found myself quite drowsy but still able to function but when I tried alternating the 30 and 15 dosages my mood just plummeted! I became irritable and would snap at those I love so made the decision to stick with the 30mg dosage for a bit longer.

In the last month I have managed to get myself all the way down to the 15 mg dosage and alternated on and off it daily and then gradually increased the days without it. I now have full blown insomnia and when I do finally sleep I have terrible nightmares that leave me exhausted during the day when I can finally drag myself out of bed...it is truly not fun. I just want to be free of mirtazapine now. I know I now have the skills I need to cope with life. I wish now that the doctors hadn't made such a hasty decision to put me on the pills as a 'short-term fix' while I waited to get my therapy. It's ironic that once you are deemed well enough to come off the pills you in fact feel very unwell all over again.

I am determined to stay off the pills though and claim my life back. Asides from the withdrawal effects I'm dealing with I am actually the happiest I've ever been :D

I wish all of you the best of luck with your own personal journeys and hope you too all find happiness at the end of it. Keep strong

[quote=\"Zoshaa \"]Reading all 4 pages of experiences has really helped me to realise that what I'm going through right now is what a lot of other people are having to deal with too.

I was originally put on the 30mg dosage back in November 2008 but had it upped to the 45mg dosage a week or so later as they were making me terribly sleepy as the lower the dose, the greater the sedative effect. I do believe the pills helped but my true saviour was cognitive therapy which has taught me to change my thinking patterns to deal with the anxiety and depression I had become prone to.

I finished my therapy around this time last year and made the decision (with the backing of my GP) to come off the pills a couple of months later. It's been a slow process; initially alternating daily from 45 to 30 and then staying at 30 and that is where I became stuck. I once again found myself quite drowsy but still able to function but when I tried alternating the 30 and 15 dosages my mood just plummeted! I became irritable and would snap at those I love so made the decision to stick with the 30mg dosage for a bit longer.

In the last month I have managed to get myself all the way down to the 15 mg dosage and alternated on and off it daily and then gradually increased the days without it. I now have full blown insomnia and when I do finally sleep I have terrible nightmares that leave me exhausted during the day when I can finally drag myself out of bed...it is truly not fun. I just want to be free of mirtazapine now. I know I now have the skills I need to cope with life. I wish now that the doctors hadn't made such a hasty decision to put me on the pills as a 'short-term fix' while I waited to get my therapy. It's ironic that once you are deemed well enough to come off the pills you in fact feel very unwell all over again.

I am determined to stay off the pills though and claim my life back. Asides from the withdrawal effects I'm dealing with I am actually the happiest I've ever been :D

I wish all of you the best of luck with your own personal journeys and hope you too all find happiness at the end of it. Keep strong[/quote

]Well done!! Just try and remember that sometimes withdrawels will make you feel you are back at square 1 but it's just a case of keeping focused and positive thinking!! I wish, like you, I had started CBT before medication but hey ho...no point thinking of what if's! Stay happy!

Hi

I was put onto Mertazepine 4wks ago , as I went downhill with depression & very bad anxiety & suicidel thoughts.

I was on 15mg for 5dys , then told to go up to 30mg ..

Altho it has help with greatly with the anxiety & sleep , I am not that happy with taking this drug from what I have been reading about it .

I have to see my Dr in a week & would be happier on a different one ..plus I do not have a problem with eating , so the last thing I need is a pill that makes you ravenous, and you gain weight.

I read this drug was given to pets with terrible results , of mania, strokes, heart attack & should be taken off the market & not experimented on humans , so all input welcomed.

Does anyone know what category these come into so I can ask for a similar drug with less contridictions/controvercy about them ..

I am a long term depressive of 41yrs , so I am on these type of tablets for life , I dont mind when they work , but over the years I have found that I have to change when they cease to work.

[/b]

I hope that this will help some of you ,over the years i have taken many drugs legal and other, so have come up with a tryed and tested way to come off drugs that i have taken from anti depressants to herion ;do it very very slowly over a long period of time its the only way even if it takes a couple of yrs, this I found does really work,you get hardly any side affects because you are taking your time you have every thing to gain with this medthod with the leeast disruption to your body,abrupt withdrawal is awful as i said i have managed to kick mitzapine venalafaxine methadone pregabalin sleeping pills steriods with this method good luck to all of you

I was on Mirtazapine for six weeks for major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. It helped me really fast within a few days. I started with 15 mg, after 3 days went to 30. It stopped working for me (or made my depression worse, made me suicidal) after about 4 weeks. My doc told me to take 45 mg instead and that made me feel better briefly (2 days), then dropped into deep depression again. I quit cold turkey and about 1 and a half days later I was feeling like my old self again. Totally stable, happy and silly. My husband says he has his wife back. It has been 5 days since the last pill. I had [b:ddb8aafe1f]no withdrawal symptoms[/b:ddb8aafe1f]. I am just not sleeping as deeply anymore, but this is ok, not bothersome

I just wanted to say thank you all so much for sharing, this has been such a great help. THANKS!!! And good luck to you.

Update:

Now 1 week after the last pill I wake up being scared in the middle of the night, while I drift off to sleep I have disturbing flashes of images and screams. Managed to go to sleep rather quickly despite this. I hope it won't become worse. Still feeling happy and normal in the daytime.

Been on them 27 days (15mg). At first they started to help then just amplified the depression and left me without a brain. Also gave me panic attacks. Was due to start an alternate but ran through to Xmas day on Mirtz. Missed taking on Xmas night but had anxiety over an event on Boxing day so took final tab.

I was still anxious, depressed, suicidal so decided to stop.

After 36 hours I thought I would not be able to sleep but slept for a good 8 hours. First non chemical invloved sleep for 28 days. Woke refreshed.

Expecting limited sleep tonite & am running out of library books so just have to get through.

With a half-life of 30-40 hours should be about 15mg now left in body so expect it to be difficult next few days but in 7 days should be below 1mg residual. Not sure what the mg efficacy is of mitz but previous experience of coming off Tramadol (which half life 0f around 7 hours) would indicate that the next 4 to 8 weeks will be interesting but not as acute as Tramadol.

Hi I have been on Mirtazipine/Zispin for over a year I think I was put on them for Major depression and Insomnia I started on 15mg for about 4 weeks then went up to 30mg and then up to 45mg a couple of weeks later I have been the 45mg dose for about 11 months during this time my suicidal thoughts got worse and since being on them I have taken 4 overdoses the most recent being in sep...over Christmas my Anxiety and depression has gotten worse so has the suicidal thoughts. So bad infact that I have stopped taking them and gone cold Turkey..Now I know im not supposed to do this I was gonna be coming off them in January by slowly tappering off as they were not working on me anymore anyway and the Doctor is gonna be starting me on another sedative AD. I am now on day 6 with no meds I have had no really bad withdrawl effects apart from feeling tearful, iritable and very drained, I am also finding it hard to concentrate and focus on anything, I have spoken to my Doctor and she knows what I have done, she gave me a telling off for doing it but understands why I did it and she said as I have had no bad withdrawl effects and it was day 5 she said I may as well stay off them until I have my app on Jan 10....she said if I feel at all bad or the bad thoughts come back im to ring the surgery or go there straight away.I have read everyones experience of withdrawl and mine so far has been pretty mild, im only on day 6 though my question is is there anyone who has done cold turkey like me? and are a little further down the line than me? what if any withdrawl effects did you exepience? today day 6 I am feeling a little nauseous and last night I had the Migraine from hell, I suffer from Migraines anyway and have done for the last 10 years, so I dont know if this is a side affect or not?

any infor from anyone would be great

Thanks ♥~Chelle~♥

I have been on 30mg for a little over 4 years. quit cold turkey about 5 days ago and have been nauseated, anxiety, lots of night sweats and just altogether feeling like crap. does it get any better with time and how long will I feel like this?

On the 4th day off of Mirt, my therapist issued me a new AD Prozac, Hydroxizine for anxiety, and Trazadone for sleep.

If anyone has any thoughts on these, I would love to hear.. kinda scared to take the trazadone, cause Im not too familiar with..

I am also concerned about serotonin syndrome, How will I know if I get it and what are early sighns?

I have recently started Trazadone 50mg, which I have

been on for 2 weeks, no side effects, they help me sleep,I am still incredibly depressed and anxious and have panic attacks, I am also having persistent voices in my head to

take all my tablets,I am going through a lot of emotional pain and confusion on top of the crippling depression.

and all I want to do is DIE!!!! to end all the pain in my f***ed up life, I cant hold on much longer.

♥~Chelle~♥

Chelle,

It will get better. Think positive. It took me along time to get where im at, and theres still rough times. Pray, and if you cant believe in god like i couldnt for the longest time. Pray to the universe, sky, mother nature, something bigger than you. If you think bad thoughts, the bad is what you'll attract. I know its tough but you gotta think good, that theres a reason for you here, even if its giving someone on the other side of the world hope.

All of you here has given me hope and peace. It means the world to me, that is why i want to be here for others. There are people that love and care for you even if they are strangers.. Think positive, pray. It will get better.

David M

hi everyone, i was taking diazepam for 25 years and mirtazapine for 5 years.......ive just come off them both cold turkey..well im a mess...the anxiety is terrible, palpitations shaking no sleep at all, 8 days now, i wish it would get better, i need some help but my gp is crap, im 55 years old, if i had of known that i would feel like this i would not of taken anything, and after the last 8 days...please does anyone know how long this will last ???