Mirtazepine - Coming off

Hello,

I know there are a lot of posts about this already but I wanted to get an up to date view and advice please.

I have been on Mirtazepine 15mg for 1 year, 6 months. I got put on it after a messy divorce which left me depressed with extreme anxiety, and insomnia. It took a while but I got there and I am feeling so much better. I remember starting the meds though and I had the most horrendous brain fog for a few months and at times I still feel like my thoughts come out muddled if I am tired.

I generally feel ok now. Still anxious but always have been, but not depressed and sleeping fine. I want to come off the Mirtaz because of the brain fog and also because I have gained almost 30lbs in weight that I couldn't afford to gain. I am always hungry, I crave carbs and I have tried various diets but nothing seems to shift it and the hunger is so bad I always give in.

I have discussed this with my GP. He told me 3 months ago I had a choice between being overweight and being anxious and I had to choose one. I decided to stay on the Mirtaz. On his advice I had got down to every other night on the meds, but then the anxiety came back in full force. I get these surges, like a heat creeping up from my knees and up my body and crashing over my head, my heart pounds and I feel out of it for a couple of seconds. On the every other night, these surges were back in force so I chose to ignore the weight, try and deal with it through exercise and treat the anxiety,

Anyway, fast forward to today. I feel disgusting, I have never been this big in my life. I am happy enough in life now, good things are happening. So I am trying again to come off the Mirtaz. Again I spoke to my Dr. He could not have been less interested. His advice - 15mg every other day for 2 weeks and then just stop. If it doesn't work he'll give me another prescription. No answer to my questions about tapering, withdrawal side effects or other potential medications.

I feel completely alone and unsupported. Has anyone done 2 weeks every other day and stopped? What's in store for me? I am SO worried about insomnia again.

I have been every other day for 10 days again now. Yesterday the surges started again, I had broken sleep as the surges were happening through the night and waking me up. I took a Mirtaz last night.

I am starting a herbal supplement called Ashwaghanda - this is meant to help with anxiety and lowers cortisol. The Dr said the surges sound like cortisol surges, but he had no suggestion as to how to stop them.

Any advice on any of this will be really gratefully received. I am sorry for such a long post but I wanted to include as much as possible. Many thanks in advance.

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