Warning warning warning! Do not make another cut when you are experiencing withdrawal symptoms!!! Withdrawal symptoms mean your nervous system is destabilized, unbalanced, and to add another cut on top of that is even more destabilizing and asking for disaster/suffering. Hold at a dose for 3-4 weeks before making another cut, only cutting if you feel stable. Rebound insomnia is a big red flag. Mirt's sedating effect caused the brain to push back in the oppositie direction, and when you pull the mirt away too fast you are left with that oppositional change that results in insomnia. The best way is to do such gradual cuts that the brain can adjust back without great upset.
10% per month of the previous dose is the most-reductionist method to follow. Most people aren't patient enough to do that and go bigger too fast. If you go bigger, then hold for longer since your system has that much more recovery to do.
I will follow up with a bit more education, as most people think these drugs are like aspirin, that they only have an effect while in the system, so the sooner out of the system the better . This is not true with ADs. ADs block receptors, for the most part, which causes an increase of neurotransmitters in the gap between nerves. The brain doesn't like this increased level and pushes back to bring about homeostasis by remodeling nerves. When you remove the drug, it's like yanking a trellis out from under a vine that has relied on its support - huge imbalance and chaos! Getting it out of the system has nothing to do with this and is fact the problem and cause of withdrawal symptoms, which are caused by the now-imbalance created by removing the drug!
And trust me I have no intention of reducing while I stil feel bad. I will ride out each time and thanks to this forum i won't be in a hurry about it either
My priority at the moment is restoring some balance then I'm gonna prepare for the next go.
I did sleep last night even though i didn't have a zopiclone. But was awake at 6.30am with the worst anxiety stomach cramps sickness blurred vision. Light headed. Nauseated. Snotty and flemmy.
The worst bit is the moments of self doubt that I'm too weak to do this.
I know deep down its just withdrawal. Scared of depression returning.
Trying to stay positive but it's hard. Will definitely go slower in future
like you I good night also had bad effects this morning,I am going to wait another week before I reduce again so that will make it three weeks,I find as calmer said to make smaller reduction but I only cut them with a knife my pill cutter seems to brake them up,the other thing I
You've given me some hope in regards to anxiety. I'm on Welbutrin and 30mg of mirz for over a year for depression and Clonopin for anxiety. In recent months I've had increasing anxiety upon waking that lasted for hours. I've been suspecting that Mirz may be the cause of this relatively sudden increase of anxiety. After reading yours and other posts I am going to begin tapering off. I wonder if simply breaking them in half is too much taper? Anyway, thank you for posting.
Its awful isn't it? Has been happening a few weeks now but I can usually pull myself out of it.
This morning was much worse. The exhaustion on top is making it hard to kick my brain into gear. Then on mornings like this morning when the anxiety was so bad i struggled to breathe so had no choice but to take diazipam.
Which just added to exhaustion but didn't want to freak my kids out.
I've tried so hard to hide this from them
All they know is mummies tablets are making her sick and it's going to be a while before I'm completely better.
As soon as I have a good period I make it up to them
Wish there was a quicker way to rid myself of this
I do hope you feel a little better soon.I will be glad when the tummy feels better I know it nerves trying not to worry about all the achs and pains and fed up with people saying pull your self together if only it was that simply.I glad I found this site and people that going through the same thing it reall does help.
Suzannah you have the classic symptoms, wd hits hard at day 10-12 with a fast taper, and I wonder if 'stopping' Zopiclone has added to the mix? You can get wd from that too, and rebound insomnia so I'd say to be really careful, my doc took Zopiclone away and in hindsight I'm happy she did.
Orchid, maybe your doc wont prescribe Mirt liquid as its expensive £66 I think, but ask for the Sol Tabs (soluble Mirt) becuase you can make up a liquid with those, can give more info if you like when you're ready, what ever you like.
Gef you're a feller maybe? Any male that I have ever tried to help or advise has always decided to do it their own way anyway, so I'm wary now, but all I would say is study what we are saying here about a slow wd, no more than 10% every 3 weeks or so, because this wd is a nightmare if you get it wrong. So think long and hard about that 50% taper that you're considering, with compassion, I urge you to go nice and slow, be kind to yourself Anyways ... you might find you are ok at 15mg, it's not very often you get to hear of anyone going from 15 to 30 that improve on this forum.
Best wishes for a super Sunday everyone, off to pull some weeds in the garden !
I never intended to stay on the zopiclone they were actually given to me when the doc gave me sertraline. I only took half a tab and anxiety went through the roof!
Glad I had them to start with though although think they may have delayed some withdrawal symptoms
I dint like taking meds anymore only 1 that even slightly helps is diazipams but then they make me tired but i can't sleep on them. So only use them when I'm in trouble. Was worried at 1 point i was addicted so stopped taking them but i didn't get any withdrawals. Not like this.
Im hoping I've reached my peak on withdrawal faze and look forward to seeing some improvement.
The emotional withdrawal effects scare me the most, too - and depression is a withdrawal symptom, so don't let it trick you into thinking that you must need the drugs because the depression came back. If you taper slowly enough and with small enough cuts, you shouldn't have that kind of fall-out at all. Just ask Calmer, who has been doing a very slow taper! Me, too. Your level of symptoms means you are cutting too big. Calmer and I have both been doing 5% every two weeks and hardly notice a difference! Slow and steady wins the race, even though it is annoying to have to go to such lengths. That's why so many people fail; they aren't willing to go to the level of trouble it takes to actually be successful :-)
Evergreen slid off by making her own liquid, allowing her to make small cuts that way.
Yes, breaking them in half is too much! The brain finds 50% cuts rather unacceptable! 10% is a harm-reduction approach. 20% would be pushing it, though you might get away with it down to 15 mg. The lower you go the more profoundly bigger cuts affect you.
I was also in mitarzapine, had terrible anxiety and panic attacks, bad depression and all the "normal simptoms" related to anxiety and depresion but today I am FREE, I havent felt so well before, I stop taking Mitarzapine after a year on it (very slowly) but I also worked on myself, I am convinced we are the ones causing our own anxiety and fear and only you can cure yourself. I bought the book "The feeling great hanbook" by David Burns and it helped me tremendenly, I did all the exercises the way he sugggest and worked on myself every day for at least one hour, I also follow some other guides I found online and started practicing mindulness and meditations. Meds do not cure, only disguise the simptoms but once you are off them if you havent worked on yourself it comes back.
It is really up to you to heal all those emotions you never gave you the change to express and show, all that anger, sadness, etc that you have been keeping because, lets face it, that what we were taught....
It took me 3 months of hard work on myself to see changes, after 5 months of hard work on myself my enxiety and depression went away and now I am more open, I express more, it's ok to feel and to show it, think about it, there is something the anxiety is trying to tell you, you need to listen and not to try to take it away with medicine, because it will never go away that way....
hi,i am reading this thread with great interest .Cutting by 5 or even 10% will,it seems take ages but if it it works then great. (over a year by my estimation) I am seeing my doc on fri in order to get off so it will be interesting what he says .Most docs use the Maudsley bk ,which i have found very lacking in the past even though it is the docs bible.If people are having problems using a pill cutter then you cld weigh the mirt and using an emery board (or whatever) + file off 5 or 10% so as to get correct dose.This method will be more suited to the lower doses especially.It is the immense tiredness that really gets me -it wore off last year but this yr it's awful -i cant get going before 2pm .