I have read many times that it's better to taper off Mirtazapine slowly and heard from many people also. It also seems like many people have struggles even when they taper slowly so does this slow taper just make things worse longer? I know cold turkey is never the answer but do people think tapering could be done quicker since it seems you deal with the effects either way?
I cold Turkey last year and had 2 months of HELL.My wife thought I had gone mad and considering 2 years ago I had a nervous breakdown that is saying something! ! Cold Turkey ain't perfect and it's not forever.
I'm not going the cold turkey route but I wanted to do it a little quicker if possible, what did you do to cope with the hell you went through going cold turkey?
Hi Rob
I think you will have to be your own "judge" ... some would say try 25% drop and see how you feel - but in mho I think that is far too much - so I would recommend you try 10% and wait for at least 2 weeks, preferably 3 before trying a bigger drop - say 15%, then if that goes well take it from there and maybe - only maybe try 20% ... this goes again what I do, but I'm sensitive.
The thing is, if you drop 50% and get in a spin with the withdrawal nightmare its hard to crawl up again when you reinstate. Once the CNS gets sensitised its harder to bear.
Hope this helps.
I think it can prolong it just a bit but everybody is different. When I got down to 7.5 I felt the worst I had been so I went back up to 15 mg and just kept missing the odd day and then an extra day and so on and it seemed to be not unbearable.
I've been at 15 mg for five days and have had dizziness and felt like crap the first day after coming down from 22.5. Been up and down each day and I'm so tired of the feeling this medicine gives me. I started on 10 mg of Prozac the same time I weened down to 15 so I don't know which is hitting me if not both of them. Depression, anxiety and insomnia really is like living a nightmare daily..
Ok so now im 2 weeks of cutting down from 15mg to 7.5mg. Now the only reasonni have done this is because at around 3am every morning give or take an hour dependent if i take the dose at 9pm or 10pm i keep waking with severe pins and needles all over my middle back shoulders and arms. It is so bad that im tossing and turning until i eventually have to get up. Its really scaring me im able to get to sleep fine. So i decided to see if reducing it would help but its nit made much difference some nights are worse than others. I just want to cry every morning as im so tired from the restless sleep and being unable to work. My question is did you have this at all. My doctor isnt sure if its the mirt or not hence waiting for neurologist app. I slipped a disc in my back couple if years ago so could be nerve issues but my backs not sore it just feels all weird. It all seems to be just such a coincidence that all these horrible symptoms have all been while ive been on this drug
Hi Kelly
was only on mirt for 9 weeks - pure hell. I am nearly 6 weeks since my last mirt and I am feeling slightly better with the help of acupuncture and homeopath. Still have palpitation and anxiety in mornings but not as bad as on the mirt or the last 5 weeks free. What I did want to tell you I had pins and needles down both arms being on mirt and off. Like you would wake up with them about 3.30am. I still have them but less severe. I stil have periods when I think my brain will never adjust back, but I am 66 and therefore slowly healing. I have read on sites of other people having pins and needles. Hope this helps
I get that sensation in my feet and hands sometimes and I also wake around 4 am and feel restless but kinda just lay in bed like a blob till I get out of bed around 6 for work but I don't feel like moving at all and could just sit in a daze for a couple hours after I wake up
Its funny that its actually prescribed for anxiety but for most it brings it on!
My sleep is just horrible its and anxious sleep tossing and turning unable to get into a deep relaxing sleep. I never had this at all before i had this drug. So basically i havent had a refreshing deep sleep for a year. My stomach is just messed up.
Do you feel like its robbed you? Thats how i feel. Ok i had really bad crippling depression and it helped lift it but by god it's got to work on me in other negative ways and trying to get off it was horrendous. Ive heard its actually easier to get off class a drugs than this
The problem of withdrawal is that it messes with the nervous system in so many different ways and you get so many different feelings that it's hard to decifer which is withdrawal and which isn't. You've got to remember anything the body does has to go through as brain signals first so if your not giving it it's usual amount of mirt then it's all out of whack and the signals can be giving you pretty much any physical symptoms. If you have had a previous injury in that area then definitely it will affect it more. Everything that you are experiencing will be withdrawal and the fact that it's getting you second guessing just adds to the anxiety and depression , so it's really important that you try .. and I know how difficult it is but you need to try to ignore any funny feelings or symptoms then they don't blow up into something that they aren't. X
Well done Ruth for coming off them, you are on the road to recovery and you will soon be back to normal! 👍
Sorry Kelly I forgot to mention that anxiety affects the back in so many ways because of the tension in the stomach which contracts the back muscles and so most of the day you will be tensing up without realising it and that puts pressure on the muscles and can impair nerves which can lead to ( itching , pins and needles, back spasms and hot and cold sensations) . The only reason I know is because I had all the above symptoms and I know it was withdrawal because they have all gone now.
I was only taking Mirt for 6/8 weeks when I got the Night Sweats,I felt poorly one night and stopped taking the drug when I checked reasons for the Night Sweats,i new it was the Mirt as I wasn't taking any other drugs.
I immediately stopped the Mirt and two weeks later I had servear Insomnia and Anxiety,I was then told I shouldn't of really stopped taking it just like that,
As I'd only taken it for a couple of months max, I didn't want to go back on them as I'd gone without for 3 weeks. I had to see it through
For me it lasted a further 4weeks and the W/D are not for the faint-hearted.
I did get help for the sleep,I was prescribed Zopiclone 7mgs for two weeks,this really helped.
Plz check with your GP and I wish you all the luck in the world with your Journey to Recovery!
The trouble is im asleep and wakened by severe pins and needles that makes it impossible to stay still. The doctor even agreed with me when i said it isnt like when you have an axiety attack and all that symtoms come on with it then you manage to calm down and they go. This actually waking me up and no.matter what i do i cant get comfy unless i just get out of bed. Thats what makes me think its either the damaged nerves in my neck (from a concussion i had abroad) or slipped disc thsts being aggrivated by the mirt. Some nights i lose all feeling down my left side. Scary what this drug can do. I do know where youre coming from with the anxiety symptoms thiugh because i do get them mainly when im out but this specific feelings dont add up through the night
Do you find that once you level off at lower doses that the side effects from Mirtazapine lessen, such as the tiredness and dizzy spells?
Thanks Grant
You are so right, muscles tensing stomach, back and neck.
Sleep approx 6 hours but wake up with. Palpitations take propananol for this. Stomach messed up partly due to Helicobacter antibiotic treatment.
Terrible hot and cold. Had anxiety before medication but this went to a dife
Different level. Now having to learn to deal with it.
Sorry page froze. How long till you felt ok Grant?
Was having CBT. My therapist delayed some treatment as they said they ere well aware of the problems some people were having coming off mirt. People keep saying do not read forums but without this site I would have thought I was going mad. Reading other people are having these problems helps you cope. Everyone keep posting as it gives others some light at the end of the tunnel. Will keep updating my progress. Thanks to everyone. Hope you doing ok Calmer. Good luck all.
I tapered by 50% for 4 days then another 50% etc etc I had no WD and had been on 30mg for 18 months for sleep probs not depression regards Rosie