I took Mirtazapine 15mg for 6 weeks. Felt awful on it - decided to come off. Doc said as low dose would be ok to just stop. Yep! Stupidly I did this & now in 9 th week off pure ■■■■. The withdrawal hit almost immediately. Have experienced every nasty WD symtom just about with chronic insomnia being a constant…I have had absolute minimum of natural sleep in all thus time.
Forced to resort every 3 days or so a Benzo for a little respite.
I feel trapped, very ‘wrong’ & unwell & that I’m just shutting down altogether.
Yes I’ve tried & tried to get help.
Everywhere I can think of.
Had a lot of checks done. Most health professionals I’ve seen dont even acknowledge WD symptoms
Will this nightmare ever end?
How can I get some sleep without going onto another drug (dont want this) or reinstating (dont want this either & maybe too late now?)
Can anyone relate?
If so , how are you coping /how did you get through?
At advice / info appreciated
i was right there with you in february! i think out of all the medications i weened off of, this particular one was the worst and the insonmia hit hard.
i also did not want to resort to being on another drug but couldnt handle the depression and numbness anymore and called my doctor for a rescue drug to help me through the weening. he prescribed me lexapro and it got me through the process.
other things i did though: i asked my yoga instructor to teach me different poses to help relax me at night whenever i got anxious or frustrated bc i couldnt sleep. i added a little bit if magnesium to my sleepy tea and most importantly, tried to not get frustrated with myself and be kind to myself. it’s hell, i hated every minute of it, but i made it through after a few months, so be patient but also listen to your body! i hope this helps.
Its amazing to think that the Dr told you to go cold turkey, although 6 weeks is not a long time, and while its a significant dose its not high, I have been on Mirtz before and come off similar dosage cold turkey and its not that unusual to experience a lot of symptoms, in fact sometimes its the same shock your system has going on it, while also coming off. Antidepressants have this unusual way of acting, we go on them to dampen anxiety right, but for many including me, the first 2-3 weeks can make you feel more anxious, if people didnt know this it would be scary, thankfully forums like this give us a bit of confidence in how the drug works, in the opposite way, your body builds up a steady state, for me it was SSRIs and Mirt together, so when we deny it that drug, it responds by eliciting WD symptoms. The same can happen when you change your diet, if you exclude some things that you body has always had, ie sugars, fats etc you can also have WD that can be quite severe, I know ive been there. As best you can try and be patient, the extra anxiety could also be the fact that you are expecting the symptoms too, its amazing that when we actually check out bodies for pain etc we can quickly find it. Did you ever go to the Dr or Dentist and as soon as you got there,and with some reassurance things suddenly went away. So take reassurance that your certainly not alone, that your WD symptoms will more than likely start to subside (unless there are other reasons) when your body becomes used to not getting its fix, remember that it took you a few weeks to get to a steady state in your blood, it may take a little while for it to calm down too. Try and relax, and your sleep will start to improve, I know as I too am waking up 20 times a night. Try to mediate at night, dont use your computer and try to maybe do something you enjoy, a book or a bath and try and look forward to going to bed, always remember that while you may not be sleeping, you are resting, that can help with trying to force yourself to sleep. also to know this, that you will be Ok, that you will get though this and be drug free and happy. Stay in the now and the symptoms will Im sure get better. This is not my first rodeo, and even for me the symptoms are so much different than before.. Hope this helps in some small way..