Surely ive suffered enough

I was straight off mirt 7.5mg just over 3 weeks ago roughly no taper thinkbthis was a tues fine for a few days then stomach pain and sickness on sat started dosulepin sat night and then hell from there on. I have been off the dosulepin since last wednesday as doctor said they could be making me worse and now have sertraline which im about to start tonight. I swear i have never felt sickness and stomach pain like it. Describe it as being in labour 24/7 and i have itchy skin. I had ibs before all this but this is a new level of pain. But because ive had ultra sound ct scan its like doctors thrown me to side. Just back from doctors and same old story got antihistamines for the itching and nausea to take along with sertraline. Look this drug was fantastic at helping me get out if black depression but the hell that it looks to have caused coming off is a catch 22 situation. Feel like im replacing one problem with now 2! Now i have the pain depression and severe anxiety

Oh hell Kelly, thought as you hadnt been around much you were improving but evidently not the case.

?This certainly is a strange drug and not to be taken lightly.  I was on 30mg dropped to 15mg and then to 7.5mg, doing fine and felt better for lower doseage and when I read long term side effects decided to go for the 3.75mg had been on that for around four weeks, still doing fine and I thought this is okay and I want to get rid of taking it altogether.  Ah, last Tuesday I got a letter from endocrine surgeon still not sure whether I have a parathyroid adenoma and also pointing out the severe osteoporosis.  Now to get to your symptoms, after reading this email from surgeon and speaking to him tuesday night I didnt feel good and there is an ongoing appointment with yet another endo looming to confirm.  So I sort of scraped through the week feeling slightly nauseaous and in awful pain with my back to the point where that was making me feel sick.  Then Saturday I got a copy letter of surgeons letter to my GP, confirming more or less what was said to me earlier in the week but that did it.  Yesterday I felt absolutely awful and thought oh no is the horrors of last August coming back and today felt so ill I can't describe, had to lie down ibs really bad and awful nausea.  I resorted to taking a valium. It is like my head is in this terrible melt down whereas before I was putting my physical health problems to the back of my mind but now they are at the forefront and I feel so bad mentally that I don't know what to do with myself.  Regretably I think I will have to go back to at least trying the 7.5mg again.  So maybe my long "illness" of last year was anxiety!!   I am sorry I am rambling on about myself and not feeling as bad as you but I just wanted to assure you that you are not alone with these terrible feelings.  I also notice I have developed a strange asthma like cough in the last three weeks.   I really hope you feel better soon.  I am horrified to think that Calmer says leaving it off can cause diverticulitis.

Kelly, what was it that made you want to come off Mirt?  With you saying it was fantastic for you and lifted you out of darkness I wonder?

The main issue and cause of all these symptoms is discontinuation from Mirtazapine; only one cure and that is to reinstate Mirt' and do a slower taper.  Or ... if Mirt' was OK before stay on it a while longer??  Mirt' usually works after reinstatement, I have read some a very small minority it doesn't work, but worth a try.

As for taking Sertraline, no other AD can cover the symptoms of withdrawal, and I hear a few people, who like yourself, have suffered IBS in the past, once tapering their IBS flares up but even worse than before.

Hmmm ... what to do, try and ride out this WD, take another AD ... whatever you decide, know that there is lots of empathy, understanding and advice from these lovely folk here on the forum, and that you are not alone.

Best wishes.

Hi calmer thanks i came off because i was really struggling with the drowsiness and was like a zombie only wearing off when time to take again and my eating habits were only hungry in the evening and only junk food. I dont really want to have gone through 3 weeks of hell for nothing to go back on a drug that does this on withdrawl. The dosulepin i was on before was nothing like that in fact not even a hundredth and its a tricylic old one

Its not fair elaine is it. Im sure i did something awful in another life x

Dear Kelly, I am sure you didn't and are a lovely person who doesnt deserve to feel so ill.  I have always tried to be kind but right from 31 years ago when my husband died and left me with a three year old and a half renovated house in Australia, followed by my mother having an awful accident whilst abroad so 15 years of misery finished by a vile nursing home and death under suspicious circumstances, elderly aunt and the traumas that went with that, dad who was no trouble but a constant worry to me and actually died in January this year and would have been 100 last month.  I've lived on stress and now I am old and grey can't seem to cope and very flaky.   Today I caught the bus to a friend's house quite a way away and I ended up only staying for an hour and that was hell, felt so peculiar and awful.  Will probably have to cancel chiropractor tomorrow.  Thought I was getting away with tapering off too easily but then maybe I have picked up a bug.  When you are in this kind of state that we find ourselves, the least little thing becomes panic and unsure if it is mental or physical.  I do hope you feel better soon.  Is there any possibility you have something else that our wonderful GP's havent  detected.  I am on a facebook group and a forum here for hyperparathyroidism and you would be surprised at the symptoms which just get ignored and put down to depression or fibromyalgia.  Take care xx

May I ask where you learned diverticulitis is a mirtazapine discontinuation symptom?

Hi Mud

I "buddied" up with a lady who I was tapering with, we speak weekly, she was diagnosed and suffered with it whilst sliding off Mirt. She is 8 months off Mirt' now, and is still not quite back to wellness.

Mud, how are you now?  Still on Mirt or tapering?  Hope you aren't suffering, so much suffering to be read on this site.

Maybe it was a coincidence?  I believe it can affect the liver and to my horror on the accompanying leaflet it mentioned depression of bone marrow - charming!!!!!

I guess everything has side effects. I got tablets for nausea and itching today and the side effects was drowsiness dry mouth and nausea!! I mean tablets for nausea that cause nausea!

And to top it all was informed that having had 2 ct scans in my life one of which was for a bleed to the brain after an accident then this abdominal one its the equivalent of 200 xrays! Nice

beggars belief ... Dr. Joseph Glenmullen's book lists 58 symptoms of AD discontinuation (many of the gut) !!!  Not that anyone has them all, the upshot is it can put your mind at rest knowing its just a WD symptom.

Anyway on a good note, I think if folk follow a slower taper there are less difficulties, lets the brains neurons rewire after being switched off by the med.

Best wishes for a good day everyone.

Oh anti nausea pills causing nausea!!!  Tell me about it, they tried me on all of them and I felt terrible, foggy head and more nausea.  It was explained to me that these tablets contain histimines which is probably the cause.

?Try not to worry about radiation from scans.  I've had umpteen teeth x-rays,  6 ultrasounds, chest and back x-rays, two mri scans, one nuclear medicine scan and two ct scans and a dexa scan.  Just have to hope for the best.  Hope you feel better soon.  I saw a psych team member yesterday and as soon as I said about feeling so awful she immediately suggested upping the dose.  I tried to explain or ask how does one differentiate between physical and mental health but you cannot argue with them.  It means every time one could have a bug which in my case would cause anxiety, (purely because of the absolute hell I went through last year, or just recently I started on some sublingual vitamin B12 which I now read are about 300 x the daily recommended dose) one is supposed to pop or up the dose of mirtazapine.  Unfortunately the B12 coincided with an email from an endocrine surgeon still unsure about operating on my neck for fear of not finding a parathyroid adenoma.  This sends me into a kind of panic being in limbo and I constantly worry about my osteoporisis and the fact there is more parathyroid hormone in my blood than should be which could be leaching calcium out of my bones scares me.  Yesterday I went to a chiropractor about the terrible bone pain in my back which has got worse since January, so is that the mirtazapine (which can cause bone marrow suppression), the osteoporosis, primary hyperparathryoidism or hopefully very tight muscles and ligaments.  I only had 15 minutes of this weird bed going back and forth stretching me and then what looked like an e-cigarette gun shooting at joints.  She said I might feel worse today!!!!  Just hang in there xx

I just found a pdf file of his which showed 28 symptoms which won't copy and paste of course.  Scary!!!

Oh you must be in so much pain daily!. Well last night i took a phenergan for the nausea and itching and to hopefully sleep. I slept a bit better but still felt a little nauseaus but decided i had better start the sertraline as doctor said so 4 hours ago i did that and omg i wish i hadnt i knew id been putting it off for a reason. The side effects within an hour are horrendous my nausea trippled and shaking severe anxiety and terrible diarrhea by god i feel worse than i did before. My doctors surgery must be so sick of me. I have an appointment friday. I know i need something for my depression before it gets bad but this not being able to eat and pain is not living its existing barely. I havent been able to go to work. I cant plan anything and am basically housebound just now and im only 42

Yes Elaine protected document file, can't copy but you maybe can print or save to your computer if you like.

Hmmmm back pain, a few on this forum have mentioned that lately, if you search you may find the discussions.

Really sorry you are experiencing so much.  Evidently you are sensitive to many of the drugs.  I am too.  The mirtazapine initially did help with the nausea last year but I never knew what caused it and the racing heart.  I sometimes feel it was to do with my thyroid and that at least caused the racing heart which never stopped for the 13 weeks and was followed by the nausea.  My dad was put on sertraline after mum died but it really upset his stomach so he left it off.  That is the thing with most of the newer anti depressants they affect the stomach.  My daughter is now on cymbalta only one a day and that is known to make you feel really nauseaous for at least two weeks.  She wasnt worried about that as she was wanting to lose weight after she had the baby who suffers terribly with acid reflux and has been a nightmare, hence her taking cymbalta.   I wonder if you when you feel depressed do you know what is actually causing that.  I was never depressed to start with although once they upped my 15mg to 30mg of mirt I was!!  I recall you have three boys so it must be a real struggle for you and I wonder if there is anyone who can give you some support in person.  Don't worry about what your surgery thinks.  Blow them.  I hate my surgery and dont go there on principle now, having hardly been there for 20 years and then the GP said last September whilst glued to the clock on the wall "Youve seen three different doctors this month"  Nice eh?  I took my life in my hands then and bought xanax on the internet, I had been fine just taking half a one twice a week to get a decent nights sleep before I visited my dad in the nursing home but when this constant nausea started, I ended up taking half a one every night, then a whole one and by end November I took a handful, hence the reason I ended up with mirtazapine.  You are just a spring chicken at 42, I am 69.  When the chiropractor said yesterday you might feel a little worse tomorrow, she certainly wasnt kidding.  In the morning the psych woman blamed the current thing I have felt this week on cutting back to 7.5mg and insisted I take 15mg.  Little does she know I am on 3.75mg but might just double up for a week or so but I dont like messing about.  I am sure my current bad feeling is due to getting toxic on those sublingual Vitamin B12 tabs.   Anyway, Kelly, cut out the sertaline and maybe go back on the 7.5mg which the psych lady said is so negligible it's not worth taking but she really hasnt studied the drug I am sure.  By the way, I also have IBS and that is known to make you feel nauseous and maybe your innards are all upset and you need to have a very simple diet that you can face eating.  I sometimes fall back on Complan, nicknamed Vomplan it's so revolting, but if you suck it up with a straw it's not so bad.  I suffer with acidity and the less I eat the more acid I make which gives me pains and makes me feel more nauseous.  It's a vicious circle.

Yes I can print it, I just wanted to be able to copy and paste for the benefit of this forum.

Ginger tea!   If you quite like ginger, I drink about three cups a day.  Pukka do a three Ginger tea or a cheaper version is Twinings.  I dont drink ordinary tea any more, ginger first two cups in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Supposed to be good for nausea.  Because I have such a dodgy stomach I tend to eat gluten free porridge in the mornings to soak up the acid, and again I chop up a bit of ginger root and throw it in to take off the blandness, also a chopped apple.

Im not able to eat anything elaine im that unwell i try a couple of mouthfuls and feel sick and stomach in agony. This sertraline has just made me even worse the the point i cant get off the sofa i feel so ill. Within first couple of hours i started shaking and cold sweats and then thought i was going to die! When i was discharged from hospital after the week of finding no answer to my pain and nausea theu gave me ensure plus fruit drink horrible thick syrup nutrition stuff i can barely manage a couple of sips. My depresssion first started through stress from seperation and having to be on my own with 3 kids for the first time on my life. I also had m.e i recovered after a couple if years but this time it was my mum dying that triggered it. Pain also seems to be a trigger. Any form of stressful situation and boom. Ive had bad episodes where i really had a nervous breakdown and wanted to die. I felt like this just before i wemt to hospital this time the pain was so back i had a breakdown and my sister sent for doctor. I went to see psyc nurse who with consultant agreed that my depression was being caused with being in so much pain. I just wish the mirtazapine didnt cause such sedation through the day or it would be tolerable as it didn't cause nausea. But i still had gi problems

I think i may be super sensitive to ssri as i recall being given citilapram many years ago and having a bad reaction

Hey Calmer,

Sorry I haven't responded. I've been busy with work lately, which is good, actually. I'll respond as soon as I can. I'm not too bad though, thanks for asking!

Oh god, don't remind me of that cipromil.  I had a frozen shoulder about 13 years ago and was trying to cope with my very poorly mother.  I wasnt depressed but very stressed and in terrible pain.  Doctor prescribed them and told me to take one about 10.30 in the evening.  I took the one, and by 3.00 a.m. I was standing at my front door with a voice forcing me to go to the bottom of my street and jump in the river.  It was the most scary experience which I have never forgotten.  These mirt are SSNI cant remember the difference but that is why they were extra careful in starting me on a low dose.  Also psych said I should never have been given it at night and in particular not having anyone to supervise as I live alone.

?xx

Very sorry to hear that.  That ensure they tried me on was disgusting and gave me terrible wind.  I dont understand what is causing the pain in your stomach.  I am taking far too many co codomol I know but the pain in my back top middle and bottom is so severe that makes me feel very nauseous.  Just try and few nibbles of toast and some tea.  I do understand what you are going through, I was widowed with a three year old and have coped all these years even with mum dying and then dad died in January of this year.  Everything gets too much.  My stomach has always been my weak point, it runs in the family, mum and my grandmother were the same, any upset and we would feel sick and wouldnt be able to eat anything.  I am forcing myself to go out tomorrow to see my daughter so I wont be around.  I just hope you feel better soon.  I had better close got storms brewing and lightening so the power might go off.  Take care xx

I know it was a horrendous drug my mum found me the next morning rolled up in a ball rocking back and forth delerious on the rug in the bedroom!

I had that same sense this morning after id taken sertraline but i fought it as hard as i could but i wanted to roll in a ball!

Hi Mud,

That's good, glad you're ok Mud.

Hi elaine well i had a terrible night uo all night in agony and fainted i think this was the sertraline. Doctor came round this morning and stayed over 30mins hes not my normal doctor but its a small town so we know most doctors here. He definatly thought it was the withdrawl causing severe ibs and then starting a new ad and stopping it again. He also saw on my ultrasound scan that i have a little fluid round my heart so he phoned heart consultant and ive to see a specialist next week. He gave me tramadol which im afraid i wont take after dihydrocodeine sent me barmy and made me throw up an entire day. I took an anti sickness tabket again managed some toast but pain back again. He has suggested that i need to go back. on the mirt to at least get some sleep and stop me falling into bad depression. I just feel ive wasted a whole month getting off this but ill try anything to get rid of this pain. Feeling drowsy and managing some food is better than this hell xx

Every online drug interaction checker I've seen says you should not take tramadol with mirtazapine. Can you ask your doctor about that?

Im not going to take tramadol. Ive just had a thought though in hospital i was on dosulepin its a tricylic and they were giving me dihydrocodeine and i was really ill with it and even before id gone to hospital id been told to take it and im sure i read that dosulepin can interact with them.I really dont know what to do anymore all this chopping and changing meds. Im in so much pain. I had a phenergan for sickness at 2pm i was prescribed them a few days ago but this doctor prescribed cyclazine or something. The phenergan has a sedative effect but its only 10mg tablet that all it did was take a tiny edge off pain and made me more anxious that sleepy and sleep is what i desperatly need. I havent had an uninterrupted sleep in weeks. But even on the 7.5mg of mirt i recall still waking and waking in the morning feeling anxious

Oh dear Kelly, so sorry to hear this.  Tramadol is very strong and I don't think I would take it either.  I seem to live on cocodomol these days and I dont know if that is wise either with mirtazapine.  I really hope you get sorted out.  So why the hell hasnt this fluid around the heart been treated, no wonder you have been in so much pain.  I know what you mean about wasting a whole month.  I feel the same but not as bad as you.  Got down to 3.75mg and ended up taking 7.5mg last night but had an awful night, couldnt sleep and got up early felt weird and unwell all day and went to visit my daughter and baby but was glad to get the early train home.  I am sure its increasing the dose and feel there is something else wrong with me.  Anyway, we shall see.  I'm glad you saw a different doctor and hope that you get some answers. Steer clear of the sertraline, I didnt think you were going to chance taking that again.  Is there someone who can pop in and see you over the weekend, as just our luck, its a public holiday on Monday. What about your boys, is there anyone who can help with them.  I dont know how old they are.  So sorry for you, wished I lived near you.  I'm in Cambridgeshire and I dont have a car.  Take care and keep us posted xx

Just saw this comment from you.   Your hospital doesnt sound much cop either.  All this messing about with so many different drugs is ridiculous.  Maybe take the 7.5mg or 15mg of mirtazapine to get you through the next few days until you see this heart specialist.  I dont know what you can take for the pain though.  Paracetomol are useless and only good for bringing a fever down.  I find that sometimes cocodomol takes the edge off but you say you reacted badly to dihydrocodeine​.  Not surprising as I believe that is just codeine on its own and a minimum dose of 30mg and I wouldnt be surprised if you were told to take two.  That would kill me.  I can just about tolerate a 15mg with paracetomol, or two over the counter ones of 8mg and paracetomol.

Perhaps someone could get you some over the counter cocodomol (only 8mg plus the 500mg paracetomol) and take one and see how you go.  Anti inflammatories like ibruprofen I think are used for fluid around the heart but is your stomach up to taking them particularly as you are hardly eating anything.  I cant take them because of my hyperacidity and inflammation of the oesophagus but I did try one but made me wheeze anyway because of the mild asthma.

The doctors just throw all these painkillers at you without caring about the effects.

I didnt take anymore sertraline doctor agreed.

I think i might take a phenergan seen as its a sedative antihistamine in half hour and hope i can sleep at least.

Ill leave the mirtazapine for now at least till i can settle my stomach and if the tablet tonight doesnt help then maybe i need to be back on it as they have exhausted anti depressants

Hi Kelly

hope you are okay and getting through the weekend okay.  Ive got nothing to tell, have just sat down now with tablet(the keyboard type not the type you swallow!) on my lap, taken a codeine with a cup of ginger tea and got a heatpad in my back which is far too hot so some ouching going on.  Take care xx

 

Hi elaine

Well had the most horrific night on thursday up from 2am on agony and pins and needles all over. Doctor came friday and gave me diazepam so had one at 2pm and zonked for couple hours but of course that wears off so now after giving in with the pain on friday night went back on 15mg mirt. I had no choice i had to see if that would help. That was the first nights sleep ive had in a long time. Unfortunatly last nights wasnt so great and still feeling a bit nauseaus. The doctor said i have to be on some sort of anti depressant and they have tried so many. So now i have to give in to the fact that being off this drug is causing too many problems that ibwill just have to put up with the drowsiness through the day. Im managing to eat now but im in agony now as ive eaten too much and my stomach isnt used to food yet x

Sorry you are still suffering but sounds like a slight improvement.  15mg of mirtazapine is that much and if you can stick with that, I should do so even though I hate the drug.  Seems a shame you went through all that but these things happen.  They dont make me feel drowsy at all but I think I am the opposite to you.  When I had an endoscopy back in February I popped one of my own (imported!!!) bromazepam and the hospital gave me two lots of sedation and sprayed my throat.  I got over it quite well but wasnt sedated at all and then had to lie for an hour with all the sedated ones for mine to "wear off", so I spent the time texting.  I am so het up with nerves that nothing seems to affect me that much.  When I took 15 xanax at 5 in the morning I apparently crashed down the stairs as the phone was ringing and compos mentas by 5 in the evening.  Just eat some little meals and often.  You dont want to load your stomach up too much when youve been on a starvation diet.  I know from my 13 week starve and nausea time, its not good and now I have a huge stomach due to the mirtazapine.  I get the shudders when I think about it as it started a year ago today, racing heart and nausea and I never ever got to the bottom of it.  I had a wobble last week as soon as I feel nauseous I go into panic mode thinking about that time. I possibly picked up a bit of a bug or overdid the Vitamin B12 but am recovering from that now except the awful pain from the chiro yesterday.  I chop up ginger root and put it in my porridge in the mornings, ginger is supposed to help with nausea.  Just look after yourself, baby steps and think about cutting down on the mirtazapine further down the line x