Mirtazapine withdrawal using prozac bridge

Hi, ive been on mirt for nearly 4 years and although it helped my depression i had too many other symtoms from it. I have tried twice to come off and crashed and burned both times. This time i reduced over 2 months but the withdrawals had increased severely the lower i have got. I have tried other anti d's and know the start up effects can be uncomfortable, but in my opinion the withdrawals have become unbearable. Prozac withdrawals are nowhere near as severe because of its long half life....I have no idea if it will work until i try it unfortunately but insanity is doing the same thing everyday and expecting things to change.....

Hi Wizard

I must say its GREAT to hear that someone on this forum has been ok withdrawing -I'm taking it that because you wd so slow that it seemed not too bad?  That right?  How did you wd Wizard?

Hi Calmer,

Yes I went really slow from 15 to 0 in 8 months, I used a Stanley knife blade to cut my pills up, I went a bit fast at the start but suffered from lack of sleep and anxiety so slowed it down. I found 7.5 was the best for sleep. I used Phenergan and calms when couldn't sleep this didn't aways work. I finished on 1.8 mg felt good for about 3 weeks then it hit me no sleep felt depressed this was made worse by lack of sleep. But after 8 weeks started to feel better again.

Still not 100% but is any one in life, some times it hard to know what's normal !!!

Hope this helps

Are you coming off mirt now ?Seems like all antidepressants are hard to come off!!

Cheers

Hi Wizard

Yes I've read on here that staying with a very low dose for 3 months (you said you finished on 1.8 mg) sometimes is best, I don't know really.

I plan to come off after the summer, can't be doing with the light mornings keeping me awake and all the other wd effects at the same time = more difficulties I suppose.  My sleep deprevation started last summer leading to anx & dep and that's why I'm keen to wd when the mornings are dark.  Also my psycologist said to stay on AD's for a year so that fits.

Yep sleep dep' sure is a massive cause of depression, I too suffered that.

No one is 100% you're right, and no two people are the same. Here's hoping we find our "normal" level soon.

best wishes to you.

p.s. I meant to say ... Mirt' is available inn liquid form should you ever need a low dose again ! Hope not, but just in case.

Hi calmer

This site is great it's nice to talk to like minded people, that is exactly how mine started. Waking at 5 for few weeks then it got so bad I was sleeping 1 hour a night, which made my anxiety flare up and depression.

Mirt takes a lot of stick on this site and the docs that describe it, but I tried other meds like Valium they just made me worse so what are the docs meant to do when your sat in front them saying all you want to do is sleep!!

I will use mirt again if I need too!!

Take care

Wiz

Hi calmer

Yes I know my fox would not give it to me as he said was to expensive!!!! But next if there is will kick up more

of a fuss as it will make it easier

Hi Wiz

I sometimes get confused as to what came first, the insomnia, anxiety or depression ... I certainly had a low mood, but not sure it was what you'd call chronic depression.  Anyways, after messing about with lots of different prescriptions which didn't seem to work, especially the sleeping tablets - they only knocked me out for 2 hours - doc said I was hard to medicate!!  So after about 3 months of desperation I was put on to Mirt' and it helped me sleep immediately, like a prayer had been answered.

(However, I am DREADING coming off it !!).

Since then I have done a lot of work, a course of CBT for 8 weeks with a professional (not a back street), read an amazing book called "Say Goodnight To Insomnia" by Dr Greg Jacobs, followed by an 8 week  Mindfulness course (excellent) and also meditation.  But it doesn't stop there, I have to keep reading, affirming, and practicing what they taught, there are some amazing web sites, books etc.  

We all practice to look after our bodies in some degree or other (most people right?) - but once we have suffered mental health it's only right to "train our minds" or rewire our brains, call it what you like.

So ... rant over, back to pleading with the doc for liquid Mirt' - I wonder if you can get a prescription and buy it - anyone know??

Wishing you well Wizard, be kind to youurself, keep me posted on your progress.

Hi Calmer,

i know a woman in the UK who got the liquid mirt. If you want I can ask her, just remind me! I think she tapered that way for a couple months, anyhow it is available but I doubt in US. But don't know....

Thanks  Rose, i'll be asking the doc next time I go, fingers crossed for September!

 

Hi Mathew, i was on them for 4 years. They did lift my depression but then they turned on me and my anxiety started to climb along with a hangover effect everyday. I went up to 45mg on them but found the drops down to 15mg not too bad, it was lowering on that when the withdrawals become unbearable. Keep going and take your time mate, and good luck

Yep no change for me but I didn't really give them a chance.

They just felt like sleeping meds.

Do you know what the trigger in your life was to cause your condition?

I do and it was a relationship and abandonement issues. I went to see a Hypnotherapist but couldn't get to grips with it. I also suspect some sort of autistic spectrum condition with me as my son and father have the same. I was given a PTSD diagnosis from the hypnotherapist which makes sense but my big problem seems rooted in addictive and toxicrelationships. I can't let go of them yet they are the main cause.

My question is which type of therapy and drug treatment can address these types of problems effectively?

Good luck to you too, I hope it does the trick, I'm praying it works for me as well as I need a break from the withdrawals all the best

Thinking of you Craig, hang on in there.  Thinking going slow from here on in will help you.  Rose actually advised (and boy is she wise about the Mirt' wd malarky !) that once down to 7.5 mg to stay on it for 6 months, and then half of that for 6 months.  Just saying, hoping that anyone super sensitive (and aren't we all on this stuff) can be kinder to themselves.

All the best, PLEASE DO keep up the wd blog.

 

How you getting on.. only cause i feel even more tired now. More anxious and today spaced out and very uncomfetable.thats on mirt 30 mg and prozac 10mg.

oh and the lyrica 75mg 3 times a day.

Hello my friend, sorry to hear your feeling like that. I have been a little better today than yesterday. I have had a bit of a headache all day but still able to function. I had to reduce down on the mirt first before i started the prozac, as like i said the mirt was giving me all the problems and i think had i took prozac then, it might have added to them. I am hoping to drop the mirt eventually and hoping the prozac will take over. Not really sure why your doctor has added in the prozac for you when you are still on quite a high dose of mirt. Mirt has a sedating element with it, where prozac has an activating element. I wanted to get away from the sedating effect as it was lasting all day until the evening when it wore off.I would have thought taking both would counteract with each other surely, but then i'm not a doctor. I don't have any suggestions for you as i think each case is different. All i know is i wanted off the mirt as it never really agreed with me, and i finally realised i couldnt come off them unaided.. I would maybe give it a little more time and see how you go. I've been told that the prozac will reach its full plazma levels (whatever that means) at 2 weeks, so i need to hang on in there till then

Cheers craig. Will defenately try to hang in there . It deffenately feels like theres a battle going on in my brain. Cant concentrate at all.

take care. Let me know how it continued plz

Hey my friend, this is my third day of Prozac and feeling rotten today, my heads really headachy and spaced out, not a happy chap at the minute, I'm worried that the 20mg dose should have been 10mg as that's where they are supposed to start us all

I am on day 4 and on 10mg. Gotta go to 20mg in 6 days. Have had a rough 3 days. Full head mind racing and still very fatigued like before. have to realy force myself to do stuff which at least i do. Than i also get 5hat spaced out feel8ng like as if its not me...horrible. lets keep the faith and hang in there my friend !!!

I know where your coming from about the spaced out feeling,bloody awful. I'm just hoping for a few easier days as today has been awful. I perked up in the afternoon after a dreadful morning and now it's coming back at me, let's hope it gets easier for us soon mate

How's your day been my friend, I had a pretty good morning which quickly went down hill this afternoon with headache and a general rough feeling, why the morning couldn't have dragged out all day, best wishes Craig

Had the best day in a long time.went for nice long walks and did a lot of stretching. I feel changing my diet and drinking lots of water has helped a lot. Got a long day tomoz. Osteopath. Phisio and psychologist. Hope this carries on. I will be prepared if it doesnt. Will have to try and beat these demons.

How r u doing my friend. I had the best day ive had in years yesterday. My head was clear, i felt alive again, i couldnt believe it, i thought 5 days of prozac and theyre already working? today however went sour, i woke up ok, and morning was ok, then lunchtime i had a mild anxiety attack, what the hell is that all about. I got through it but just annoyed after yesterday. hoping it was just a blip and i have more good days to come,

Sounds familiar haha. I have had 3 ok days but today has been rubbish. On edge all day eventhough i tried to ignore it and get on with things. Just horrible. Hope tomoz will be better. Keep strong!

I have taken a 15 dose tonight of mirt as I still think my problems are being caused by the withdrawal. I will wait to get stable on this with the Prozac and then consider a reduction in the mirt. Hope your day's been ok

Not been the best of days again. Feel so on edge all the time. Due to my osteo arthritis in hip and neck the only excercise i can do is walking which i have bn doing for the lsst week. apart from the other daily stuff i make a point of going for a long walk and do an hour of stretching. Instead of feeling better i feel worse😔. My head says yes but my body feels completely drained and achy. Also still get a full head feeling and numbness. Hope you do better. Got a private psychiatrist tomozz. Hope i can get some answers there. Also big week coming up with doctors and alternative healing. Been starting to read a book called mindfullness ro see if that helps coping better with this nightmare. To b continued..

Hi, I thought I would see how you are doing, I've been reasonably ok, still getting a fair bit of anxiety but mood is lifting a bit, hope you ok

Psychiatrist took me of lyrica and prozac. Lyrika weenining off and prozac straight away. He put me on 5 mg clotiazepam 3 x a day for anxiety and venlafaxina 37.5 mg half to start. First few days ok yesterday and today quite a bit of anxiety. Seeing him again next thursday. Hope it will get easier soon. I did want to get off the lyrica 225 mgs so lets keep our fingers crossed and hopefully the mirtazipan can follow 1 day. Keep strong !! Thanks for checking up.