I started withdrawing from Mirtazapine back in Jan of this year, from 7.5mg. I got the liquid version and tapered down by 0.5ml (.75mg) initially every week, but had to stop that and start by dropping a day a week as I got withdrawals etc. I have been doing very well and was able to drop back to dropping it over 4-5 weeks. I got down to 0.1.5ml and the withdrawals kicked in, nausea, anxiety, sleep problems, cramps, etc etc. I stayed where I was for a few weeks but as things didn't really improve I continued to drop down to 0.1ml. During this time I have had some ok days and some awful days. Yesterday and today have been awful, dreadful low mood, very tired, anxiety and horrid nausea again.
My question is, initially I was going to go down to 0.5ml then taper off that to nothing, but the thought of another 3 months before being off it completely terrifies me. I am thinking about starting to taper off 1 night a week, over the next 7 weeks at the 0.1ml, but wonder if the withdrawals will be worse than ever!
id appreciate some advice. I have done the taper so ridiculously slowly, that I am now just fed up with the whole thing, and want to get back to normal again.
i was initially put on it as in Feb last year I had the flu, and was left with anxiety, my GP then prescribed Propranolol which gave me insomnia, and so it went on from there! The Mirt only made me sleep in the first week on being on it. I started it in June 2013, so been on it just over a year and have been withdrawing from it since Jan this year.
Any advice appreciated.
thanks
Jo x
The only advise I can give you is to try and weather the storm ,when you are feeling better and only then start to tapper as slow as possible.Ive heard it said before on this site that the last 7.5is the worst.I myself was on it for 4yrs at 45mg I'm slowly tapering off at the moment I've got to 15mg. I was given it for IBS and the lower I come the worse my tum becomes.But I'm going to go as slow as it takes.Good Luck.I hope that's been of some help.Take your time don't rush it.
Hi Norma,
thanks for for your reply.
i understand what you are saying but my GP isn't very supportive, doesn't believe their are withdrawals etc etc and has said she is reluctant to prescribe anymore liquid after Oct, as I will have had the liquid version for 12 months by then. I did try and withdraw last year from it using liquid but had to stop and used tablets again. It was only in Jan/Feb of this year that I used liquid again. She says she's never heard of anyone withdrawing so slowly before!
I struggle to understand that GP's who are paid roughly £100k per year fail to understand that if you put a drug into your system that's mind altering, will not cause any withdrawals when they stop it!
You should taper off every 2 weeks!!
Tell your GP to go on this site and he will soon see the amount of people who have bad withdrawal symptoms comeing off this drug.Im sure you will have quite a few of them people replying to you this afternoon ,I hope someone can suggest something better than me for you.And as for gps don't get me started good luck
Jo now there's the man to talk to manuelmanuel.
GPs have no clue, their ignorace about WS is shocking
Hi
i see you have suggested to others 10% every two weeks! but now that I'm down to 0.1ml it's very hard to do that. Should I do 0.02ml every two weeks then? On the 1ml syringe there are 4 or 5 notches between each 0.1ml marker, so I could drop to each one of those? What do you think?
Hi Jo..
ive had a very hard time coming off the remeron as well. I've tried twice and twice I had to go back on it.
I can't remember who it was but someone posted they had no withdrawls and the way they tapered off was to go every other night for a month. So I'm at 15 right now so I've just started every other night and this week has actually been ok. No sickness and I've been sleeping. They went on to say that after a month they went every third day. Then two weeks twice a week. I really wish I could find the post, but I can't.
i don't want to lead you in the wrong direction but since I've tried twice weaning and it didn't work for me, I'm trying the every other night and seeing if that will work for me.
just a thought.
My withdrawal symptoms never hit me till I was off the remeron for about a full week or ten days. Then it came on like gang busters.
im sure hope I can get off this time!
im wishing you much luck.....I'm not saying every other night is for you, trust your body. So far, it is working for me and I'm going to post again when I have a month of it under my belt.
Jo, check this out, regarding the oral solution.
http://www.citap.org.uk/SSRI-Tables.pdf
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Anyway since you use the oral solution you should check out the cita website they have an interesting chart to follow.
Hi
Thanks for your replies & info. I spoke to CITA yesterday & they have advised to stop 1 day each week at the 0.1ml over 7 weeks or 14 depending on how I go on. Last night was my first night of nothing, not too bad just very tired today.
Got some meds for nausea from doctor yesterday too but haven't needed them today.
Thanks again
Jo
Very good. keep us posted. We all are learning from each other. I'm almost at 7.5mg mirtazapine. You are luckier because you have the oral solution. But I have found a compunding pharmacy able to make smaller doses.
Exactly...at the 9th day from each reduction it hits you witlout any mercy. Unless you make super small reductions every 2/3 weeks.
Yes it is a learning curve. Good job we have these forums to share experiences good or bad with each other.
well done for getting down to 7.5mg, and for finding a compounding pharmacy who'll help you too. It is easier using the oral solution and more accurate too.
take care
Hi Rose
thanks for your reply. I've also tried twice before and failed. I have to do it this time, it's taken me all year to get this far! When you've weaned before what was your final dose each time before stopping, if you don't mind me asking? Good luck with this method, I really hope it's successful!
jo x
Hi,
The first time I went off I was told by my doctor to just quit! I was at 15mg. I went a bit crazy for awhile I thought it was me because. Was going through a rough time my kids insisted to go back on that medicine.
the second time I was down to 3.7 and my doctor ( different doctor) told me to stop and switch over to trazadone the following night. Trazadone is notorious for making people sleep, so I understood the thought process but it went horribly. I didn't get sick the first week, but I didn't sleep much either I think I was getting maybe 4 hours per night something like that. I was off the remeron for 3 weeks and because of all the nausea, vomiting and flu type symptoms not to mention I'd wake up in a complete panic attack over nothing, I went back on 15mg. I kinda wish I had gone back on but at 7.5. Anyhow....I'm on week two of every other night and I'm ok. I did notice yesterday( my day off) I felt a little bit like the flu was coming on but went home took my evil medicine and felt fine. I have two more weeks and I'm not sure I will even go down anymore...I might just start every third day and just see. I have two weeks off in mid October so I'm shooting for that as my completion date to be oct 1st, because it will most likely hit me the second week to ten days like last time. I'll let you know. I do think giving my brain a day off from this drug is a good thing it can somewhat acclimate to " normal" I hope and I pray. I went off paxil before and people said that was bad and it is....but this is pure evil compared.
good luck I know we can do it!
Just wanted to be clear I am on 7.5 as of now
cheers
Hi manual just been looking at that first site you gave jo,I'm down to 15mg at the moment so I might try following that when I tapper down again.My problem is I was given this tablet for IBS and as I tapper down I don't have the same problems that most people have,apart from sleep deprevation .But the pain in my tum gets worse I'm just hopeing it will ease up eventually.Its got to be one of the worse tablets I've ever had.Good luck to you all.
Where you given Mirtazapine for IBS?? Anyway Norma: they published only one website the one about the CItap charts, te one was about the road back website program (where I learned about the 10% reduction evry 2 weeks) and the third link reported this info:
Mirtazapine depletes:
Vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin D, coenzyme Q10, and sodium.
"People are not Drug-Deficient! They are nutritionally deficient! If any drug is going to deplete your nutritional reserves, then a doctor should tell you what to take to counter this depletion. If not, he is causing HARM to your body! This is against the Hippocratic Oath all doctors take - "First Do No Harm!"