How to make a home made liquid to taper off mirtazapine

A few people have asked how to make a home made liquid to taper off mirtazapine. This is how I did it. It allowed me to make drops of as low as 0.1mg. You need a pill grinder, a 1ml syringe with 0.1ml markings, A small bottle, An acurate measuring jug or container, some maple syrup or similar flavouring.

I made 60ml each time. Each ml = 1mg of mirtazapine.

Grind up 4 x 15mg mirtazapine pills using the pill grinder. If you have the normal pills, the pill coating does not grind so fine as the mirtazapine inside, but don't worry about that. Measure out 30 ml of water and mix in 30ml of maple syrup. Put into bottle and shake. Pour in the mirt and shake. Keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. Shake vigorously before using syringe to measure the required amount of the liquid. 1ml = 1mg of mirt, so very easy to do. The mirt does not disolve which is why you have to shake the bottle well each time you dose.

How are you doing now that you've been off, evergreen?  How long has it been now that you've been off?

Nearly a month! I'm doing great. Still have insomnia without temazepam, but everything else is better than I've been in ten years. How are you?

Great post Evergreen  

 

That is such great news!  So you're doing better than you even were before going on mirt - awesome!  

Me, at 13.5 mg, had a rocky time this past week due to situational triggers, but prior to that was doing quite well.  Doing the final part of cross tapering onto the SolTabs.

Calmer, I know you did a big jump down in dosage - where are you at now and how did that drop go?!!

Actually, maybe it was Frances that did the big jump and not you...you still doing 5% every other week?

 

This was my exact taper by day

05/11/2015 30mg

06/11/2015 26.25mg

07/11/2015 26.25mg

08/11/2015 26.25mg

09/11/2015 22.5mg

10/11/2015 22.5mg

11/11/2015 22.5mg

12/11/2015 22.5mg

13/11/2015 22.5mg

14/11/2015 22.5mg

15/11/2015 22.5mg

16/11/2015 22.5mg

17/11/2015 22.5mg

18/11/2015 22.5mg

19/11/2015 22.5mg

20/11/2015 22.5mg

21/11/2015 22.5mg

22/11/2015 22.5mg

23/11/2015 15mg

24/11/2015 15mg

25/11/2015 15mg

26/11/2015 15mg

27/11/2015 15mg

28/11/2015 15mg

29/11/2015 15mg

30/11/2015 15mg

01/12/2015 15mg

02/12/2015 15mg

03/12/2015 11.25

04/12/2015 11.25

05/12/2015 11.25

06/12/2015 11.25

07/12/2015 11.25

08/12/2015 11.25

09/12/2015 11.25

10/12/2015 11.25

11/12/2015 11.25

12/12/2015 11.25

13/12/2015 7.5

14/12/2015 7.5

15/12/2015 7.5

16/12/2015 7.5

17/12/2015 7.5

18/12/2015 7.5

19/12/2015 7.5

20/12/2015 7.5

21/12/2015 7.5

22/12/2015 7.5

23/12/2015 7.5

24/12/2015 7.5

25/12/2015 7.5

26/12/2015 7.5

27/12/2015 7.5

28/12/2015 7.5

29/12/2015 7.5

30/12/2015 5.625

31/12/2015 5.625

01/01/2016 5.625

02/01/2016 5.625

03/01/2016 5.625

04/01/2016 5.625

05/01/2016 5.625

06/01/2016 3.75

07/01/2016 3.75

08/01/2016 3.75

09/01/2016 3.75

10/01/2016 3.75

11/01/2016 3.75

12/01/2016 3.75

13/01/2016 1.875

14/01/2016 1.875

15/01/2016 1.875

16/01/2016 1.875

17/01/2016 1.875

18/01/2016 1.875

19/01/2016 1.875

20/01/2016 0

21/01/2016 1.875

22/01/2016 1.5

23/01/2016 1.4

24/01/2016 1.3

25/01/2016 1.2

26/01/2016 1.1

27/01/2016 1

28/01/2016 1

29/01/2016 0.9

30/01/2016 0.9

31/01/2016 0.8

01/02/2016 0.8

02/02/2016 0.7

03/02/2016 0.7

04/02/2016 0.6

05/02/2016 0.6

06/02/2016 0.5

07/02/2016 0.5

08/02/2016 0.4

09/02/2016 0.4

10/02/2016 0.3

11/02/2016 0.3

12/02/2016 0.2

13/02/2016 0.2

14/02/2016 0.1

15/02/2016 0.1

16/02/2016 0

You can see that on 20th Jan I went to zero. I was going to alternate days but it was a disaster, so I reinstated and did more gradual taper.

Hi Evergreen,

Thank you for the idea how to liquid taper Mirtazapine. It is really helpful. Can i keep the liquid for more than two weeks if i don't add maple syrup. I am so glad you are still doing great. It gives hope.

The reasoning behind not keeping it too long is that the drug breaks down. Some people say homemade liquid should not be kept more than four days, but I stretched it to 2 weeks.

Anyone else having trouble typing on this website? It's driving me mad not registering every key press. Takes ten times as long. Very annoying. Might be just me?

Hi there.

Yes I think this website is getting too busy to cope with us all haha.  I have trouble too, in the past I've typed up a whole load, hit "reply" and lost the lot ggrrrrr.

Talking about keeping the liquid in the fridge ... I think the main reason it only lasts a relatively short time is because it loses its' potency.  Slightly different but the liquid prescription of Mirtazapine says to keep it no longer than 6 weeks (it is a different formula to the grinding/crushing of course), however, I have pushed my luck and kept it since 1st January and its been fine, over 10 weeks. I swap to a new bottle this week, so i'll soon see if it is more potent !!

Liquid Mirt' is available only in the UK mind you, I think everyone should be able to access this when tapering, makes it so easy.

Best wishes.

I will add that when I made up a batch using the Ora-Plus suspension liquid, I began having wd and realized it was because my solution was losing potency.  I probably have a different brand of generic mirt tabs than folks in the UK.  When I went back to dry cutting, my WD abated.  I've read somewhere that you shouldn't make up more than four days worth at a time, but evergreen seems to have gotten away with it :-)

Yes I think its trial and error sometimes, but to be prepared just in case.  

I have been working on some (Mirt) percentages today, do you know, to drop from 2.7 mg to 2.25 mg is actually a 16.7% drop !!!  I was working on a plan to see myself to zero and thought the 2.7 to 2.25 looked pretty ok ~ obviously not for the faint hearted.  Just thought I'd mention it, a little adjustment needed I think.

 

Hi. If I don't include maple syrup and just add 30ml of water does that effect how much mirtazapine is in the solution? Is it still 1ml for 1mg or do I need to add 60ml of water instead? Thanks.

The total amount of liquid must equal the total amount of mirtazapine. So 60mg of mirt - add 60ml of water if not using maple syrup. The syrup is there just to make it taste nicer. Mirtazapine is very bitter. You could add any sweetener such as a cordial instead or just use water. The total amount of water plus sweetener should be the total amount of mirt. 1mg of mirt to 1ml of liquid.

Thanks so much. This is extremely helpful!

Hello evergreen. Why does your chart go from black lettering to red is that where you went to liquid? Did you notice any differences in taking pill form and liquid?   Thanks for all your information and good going.

It all looks black to me. No difference for me between the liquid and the tablets.