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Please help anyone else doing it cold turkey?

Posted , 8 users are following.

kelly8973
kelly8973

Hi feel like im being a nuisance posting same thing again and again but im really looking for any help from anyone whse stopped mirt cold turkey i was 7.5mg. Or anyone in middle of doing it who i can rationalise my symptoms with??

I stopped the mirt on tues on doctors advice due to several reasons with advice to start back on my old ad which infortunatly stopped working in july last year due to mum dying. Anyway i suffered massive depression to point i dodnt want to live and hadnt eaten in weeks so was given mirt it was a miricle drug for me to start but i had to redice dose and then evemtually it was playing havic with ibs so hence why im off it.

I am now since saturday suffering severe stomach cramps similar to having a stomach bug. Severe anxiety to the point i cant sleep at all with pins and needles and unable to shut mind off. I havent eaten since friday with stomach and just feel horrendous. I started dosulepin on sat night lowest dose but really this is hell

1 like, 27 replies

27 Replies

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  • lorraine52317
    lorraine52317 kelly8973

    Posted

    Hi Kelly

    I came off at 7.5 and went through hell for a month. I then had to reinstate 3.75 (cut the 7.5 in half)

    Then once stabilised i cut the 3.75 in half and waited until i stabilised then just had a crumb of the tablet for about a week. This stopped all the horrid withdrawals. I'm now off it and apart from insomnia it wasn't hard. I would suggest reinstating a small amount and do your taper as suggested above. Don't put yourself through cold turkey withdrawals. Really wishing you better xx

    • kelly8973
      kelly8973 lorraine52317

      Posted

      Ho lorraine i cant reinstate it now as ive been on the dosulepin for 2 nights now. I needed to change due to side effects and my depression was coming back. They decided that the dosulepin worked before so were giving it a try again. I just feel awful havent even been able to get dressed today and phoned work to say i had sickness bug. Ive even lost my taste x
    • lorraine52317
      lorraine52317 kelly8973

      Posted

      Kelly, I really feel for you and I know how dreadful you must be feeling. As you have started another tricyclic AD hopefully it will ease the withdrawal of mirth once it kicks in. It will pass but it may take a couple of weeks or so. Is there any chance that you can get a bit of leave from work until you feel a little better? I was issued with a small amounts of diazepam which also got me through the difficult days.

      really wish you better xx

    • kelly8973
      kelly8973 lorraine52317

      Posted

      I have leave but not till next wednesday and i wanted to do things when i was off but if i feel like this there is no chance! If things dont improve looks like ill be off the week with no pay🙁 i have doctors on friday and if im still the same im going back on mirt because this is worse than side effects i was getting!
  • Calmer
    Calmer kelly8973

    Posted

    I think it might be time to print out some info' regarding Mirtazapine dicontinuation and show it to your doctor asap ... she/he may realise it is hazardous to JUST STOP - go to this sight and have a read and print off, I wouldn't put up with a cold turkey, no way.  I can't believe the negligence shown towards treating you and other alike, doctors just don't receive the full training where AD's are concerned ggrrrr ... 

    https://patient.info/forums/discuss/depression-resources-298570

    and then click on the link "REDUCING AD'S USING 10% WITHDRAWAL METHOD".   

    Lorraine is right, the slower the better for tapering, Lorraine was lucky to get away without more suffering, although I'd very happy she didn't !  

    The worst case scenario is that you stop the dosulepin, go back on Mirt', pick up where you left off when stabilised (the sooner you reinstate the quicker you are likely to release youurself from the anxiety, nausea, insomnia etc).  

    Another AD cannot cover the symtoms of wd from another AD, I think Lorraine lasted 4 weeks before reinstating, you might only lose a week if you act quickly smile  

    • lorraine52317
      lorraine52317 Calmer

      Posted

      Great post and great to hear from you calmer ?

      I'm glad I took your advice! I have now successfully come off mirt with only insomnia to complain about :-)

      I thought venlafaxine may have helped my wd symptoms, but now you have said it don't, it must be down to following your taper advice ?

      How are you doing?

    • kelly8973
      kelly8973 Calmer

      Posted

      Thank you so much for your advice i think if im still the same tomoro im going back on it and off the new one. Im hoping its just a big ive picked up thats unfortunately coincided with withdrawl making things worse.
    • Calmer
      Calmer lorraine52317

      Posted

      Hi Lorraine  smile

      So are you taking Venlafaxine now?  Hows that going for you?  

      I am pretty good, thank you ~ still doing a "slow coach to China" taper!  No symptoms to complain about, occasionally fatigue hits around day 5 of each taper for half a day ... seems endless, trying hard to avoid insomnia, and letting the neurons refire quietly !  

      Kelly, have you had nausea ever since you started taking Mirt?  Or did it start after a dosage drop?  I know you said you had been on 7.5 for 2 months was it?

    • lorraine52317
      lorraine52317 Calmer

      Posted

      Hi calmer

      Lovely to hear from you. I'm glad your taper is going well ? I'm so glad your advice and approach to me and others has given so much hope and encouragement. By following your advice, coming off mirt (a felliw passenger on the slow boat!!) was not problematic at all :-)

      Venlafaxine has been wonderful, depression has gone but fatigue is still a frequent visitor. I have now got to try and get my confidence back to start shaping out a future. At 55 that sounds odd lol!

      So glad your here calmer and thank you for all your support and kindness

      much love to you xx

  • mud93433
    mud93433 kelly8973

    Posted

    Hi Kelly, sorry you're having such a hard time.

    I hate to sound like a broken record too, but I quit mirtzapine cold turkey 7 weeks ago, after taking 45mg for 12 years. I felt weird for maybe 10 days but then it went away. No stomach issues, just that weird de-realization and "floaty" braing-fog feeling and generl feelings of terror LOL. (By contrast, an old doctor had me quit Paxil cold turkey around 2001 and I completely freaked out for months. I found a new doctor that explained SSRIs like Paxil will do that, and he put me on mirtazapine, which was relatively knew at the time, to help me off Paxil and benzos, explaining that mirtazapine was much more gentle than SSRIs. And this guy knew his stuff. He's one of the top doctors in Chicago, at Rush.)

    Mirtazapine is generally well tolerated and isn't as difficult to quit as SSRIs because of the way it works with the brain's chemistry. 

    However, depression can cause all kinds of physical symtoms, including nervous system craziness like pins and needles as well as stomach issues, most of which I've experienced. Don't you think these symtoms could actually be from your depression roaring back? I mean, you stopped taking an antidepressant while you were majorly depressed, so of course you're going to feel awful. 

    I get the "shutting your mind off" thing as well. Mirtazapine is routinely prescribed for OCD so if you're brain is teeming with intrusive thoughts that play over and over and drive you nuts, that could be because mirtazpaine took care of those for you while you were taking it and now that you stopped taking it, your symptoms are coming back.

    That's the toughest thing about AD meds: when we stop taking them we tend to blame all our discomfort on sopping the med, when in fact it's 99% most likely it's just your depression coming back.

    Were you on any meds other than the mirtazapine? Can you get some benzos from your doctor to help stabilize your anxiety while you start a new AD med?

     

    • kelly8973
      kelly8973 mud93433

      Posted

      Hi mud thanks for responding. I phoned today and they dont want to give me diazepam as she said it doesnt mix well with dosulepin. I really dont know if the stomach pains are an unfortunate bug thats coincided with me stopping the mirt. The reason i think this is because i dont actually feel to bad on the depression side its the nausea and stomach pain and headache that wont shift. Although this doctor who i must add was not my normal doctor but i young thing out of med school said if i had a big id be being sick and diarrhea but ive had plenty bugs before where ive not had that. Yes i believe the anxiety is to do with stopping but the mirt was causing severe nause 24/7 for months hence me coming off. I have my normal doctor on friday she is brilliant. Its not the getting signed off work thats the problem its the not getting paid that i cant do without

    • mud93433
      mud93433 kelly8973

      Posted

      Ah, ok. Dosulepin isn't prescribed in the US so I'm not familiar with it at all. I looked it up quickly and it looks like benzos increase its sedative effect. 

      Mirtazapine is actually prescribed for nausea, in some cases, so that makes me wonder if it is the cause of your nausea or something else is? Do you have any other health issues? Blood sugar or blood pressure? Those can cause nausea. 

      Good luck with your normal doctor. I hope she can help you figure all this out. Keep us posted!

      BTW, I only stopped taking mirtazapine because after years of it helping me, with only some tiredness and weight gain for side effects, it stopped working as well after about 11 years and I started getting unexplained body aches and brain fog all the time. I eliminated everything else in my diet that I thought could be causing it and those symptoms still remained, so I asked my doctor if I could stop the mirtazpaine for at least a couple months to see if that was the cause, and it turns out that it was. But, that's kind of normal—most all ADs peter out after some years, sometimes even months.

    • mud93433
      mud93433 kelly8973

      Posted

      Forgot to mention, these are the listed common side effects for Dosulepin:

      Dosulepin - Common adverse effects

      Drowsiness

      Extrapyramidal symptoms

      Tremor

      Confusion

      Disorientation

      Dizziness

      Paresthesias

      Alterations to ECG patterns

      Dry mouth

      Sweating

      Urinary retention

      Hypotension

      Postural hypotension

      Tachycardia

      Palpitations

      Arrhythmias

      Conduction defects

      Increased or decreased libido

      Nausea

      Vomiting

      Constipation

      Blurred vision

      Did you notice the "Paresthesias"? That's the pins and needles feeling!

    • kelly8973
      kelly8973 mud93433

      Posted

      Hi hun yes i did and i started having problems on saturday before i started dosulepin. I had previously been on them for 6 years until my mum died last year and i had severe depression they upped the dose but they just stopped working i was in a bad way and it literally took me begging a doctor to come and see me i had lost so much weight hadn't been able to eat for weeks. That was in octbober and was given mirt then. They really did work and i put on some weight although i was still petite. I have severe ibs and the mirt was making it worse and i was nauseaus all day so they put me down to 7.5mg but it made no difference. All blood tests are fine and im due to go back to the gastroenterologist soon. So after discussion with doctor last week it was decided that maybe as the dosulepin had worked before it was time to try again

    • mud93433
      mud93433 kelly8973

      Posted

      OK, got it. 

      How long were you on mirtazpaine when you thought it was making your IBS worse? Because I do know that mirtazpaine is prescribed for that as well, and mirtazpaine has way more side effects at small doses than say 45mg. I'm not saying that mirtazapine wasn't the culprit making your IBS worse, but there is a good chance your IBS was worse because of your depression and perhaps it would have improved with time?

      don't you hate this part of depression and meds? Sometimes we can't tell if it's the drugs or the depression causing the issues. Unfortunately, it takes time to know for sure. I'm wondering if your IBS worsening while you were on mirtazapine was a coincidence? The only way to know is to monitor your IBS while off mirtazpine, then compare it to when you were on it, then maybe try taking it again and see if it comes back. If it does then it's probably the mirtazapine. But the thing is, once you start to believe one thing makes you feel worse, it's difficult to not want to avoid it like the plague. I've been there too.

    • kelly8973
      kelly8973 mud93433

      Posted

      I do recall them trying to up the dose to 30mg but i ended up have terrible panic attacks on that dose so went back down after few days. Settled on 15mg for few months but my other main problem was really awful drowsiness i almost felt drunk all day and had vertigo. I am really sensiteve to medication even small doses of shop bought medication can case me problems. My only other thing i could possibly blame nausea for is i stopped smoking in october and use an e cigarette. Im now convinced i have an ukcer or something because even when the depression was under control with the mirt i still had pain and nausea all day. Arghh
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