Time course of recovery on Mirtazapine - anxiety

Treatment and medication
1

Dear fellow anxiety sufferers,

I’m currently taking 15mg mirtazapine (in conjunction with 10mg escitalopram that I am taking since 1 year) - changed dose from 2 weeks 30mg (too sedating) to 15mg that i am now taking since 2 weeks. I feel that the mirtazapine has helped to reduce my anxiety and improved my sleep but it all feels still a bit unsteady and I still struggle on some days (usually more in the first half of the day).

I would like to invite all people (@ katecogs ;-)) who have recovered to share their mirtazapine recovery stories here. Ideally with an emphasis on the time course. I am aware of a significant negativity bias on these health forums (recovered people simply don’t spend time online on health forums). I also want to highlight that I have a great doc whom I fully trust but I think it would help me and other fellow sufferers a great deal to hear from recovered people how their mirtazapine journey was and how they have overcome the bumps in the road that I am sure we all experience. I hope this thread to become an inspiring one - sort of to counterbalance all these negative scaremonger health forum discussions.

Many thanks in advance for sharing your personal (positive and inspiring) mirtazapine stories here!

May we all get well!

xxx Andy

2

Hi Andy, completely agree that it would be morale boosting to hear good stories about recovery with Mirtazapine. I had really bad anxiety that led to depression around 17 years ago. I started on Sertraline and worked up to the maximum dose of 200mg. I was completely well again for 16 years and then the Sertraline pooped out / stopped working. I went back to my GP and they spoke with local Mental Health specialist who suggested i stay on the Sertraline 200mg and add 15mg Mirtazapine at night time. One of my anxiety symptoms has always been chronic insomnia and they felt the sedating effect of Mirtazapine would help. I started on the 15mg around 4 months ago and it immediately helped me to sleep. However, i was impatient to recover and unfortunately my GP allowed me to move up the doses too quickly and at one point i was on the maximum 45mg combined with max 200mg sertraline. The maximum Sertraline was far too activating and i felt completely wired with anxiety through the roof. I have gradually reduced and now on 22.5mg and am feeling so much better. I still have low level background anxiety from time to time but so much better than i was. I think my dose is still a little too activating and want to get down to 15mg. What i have learned the hard way is that Mirtazapine especially im combination takes a long time to settle and frequent dosage changes only prolong the time it takes to recover. It is great for sleep with the lower dosages which can set you on the right path for recovery. Key thing is to wait at least 3 weeks between dose changes if not longer and don’t be in a rush to increase the dosage. GP’s say that you should start to feel back to your normal self within 6-8 weeks but from my experience and many others it can take a lot longer. Don’t be in a rush to make knee jerk dosage changes and allow the medication time to work. Mirtazapine has definitely been a success for me so far despite the initial challenges that were brought on through my impatience for recovery. Good luck to all!

3

I meant the 45mg Mirtazapine was too activating above :wink:

4

Hi Andy,
I would like to share my story with u as I made a promise if I successfully withdraw then I would share as there doesn’t seem to be alot of successful stories online and this panicked me at the time. I used this forum when I was at my lowest, biggest thought at time would be that I would become addicted to mirtazipine. This medication was a life saver for me and I have been off it for month and a half now. I got put on my escitalopram after hitting rock bottom this anti depressant made me want to take my own life after 7 weeks of hardly any sleep I finally got switched to 15mg of mirtazipine which I took for a few months. I felt better after first week of taking this and it enable me to establish a good sleeping routine. I did feel groggy in morning and when I returned to work I dropped this to 7.5mg for a month as this left me feeling less groggy and more alert. During this time I managed to get to the root of my problems that was causing my anxiety which I think is really important. Then I slowly reduced the amount of nights I took 7.5 mg tablet without putting pressure on myself to get off it. During this time there was some side effects but they got better through time and wasn’t anywhere as bad as I expected or I have read. I am now happier and more content with life after learning valuable lessons along the way. It was a hard lesson but makes me appreciate everyday to the full and all the small things. If I were to pass advice onto anyone i would say learn to love urself and put ur happiness first at all times and stay away from toxic people. If medication gets you through the hard times then it is a blessing and you will get better if you fight for ur happiness and it’s worth it. I may need to go back on this medication one day if my sleep ever went again but i know what i need to do to keep myself in a good place and that’s all that matters.

5

hi, i was on mirtrazapine fot 7 months 15 mg and i would not be here without it. could not eat or sleep due to loss of both parents in short space of time. this med changed that and got me back on track. i ended up going to cbt therapist to help with my anxiety which helped a lot. you have to find root of your problems to help get better. When I felt stable and calm i slowly withdrew cutting from 15 mg to 7. mg , then to 3.75 mg and so on. i had no real issues as cbt therapy helped my anxiety issues and also reading about anxiety and how to deal with helped. It took about four months to withdraw but everyone’s different. do what feels right for you. Been off now 8 months and feel fine.

6

Hi
**Sorry just re-posted as problems with text missing… **

I had been on 45mg Mirtazapine per day for over 10 years as it was great for helping my diagnosed generalized anxiety disorder. I decided to stop now due to always being tired and mainly the weight gain, so I wanted to see if I get some weight loss by stopping. I am a 54 year old male, my weight is about 13 stone, and I am 6’1 tall. I don’t look over weight but the belly fat is just too annoying and does not help when breathing while sitting down. So I thought enough is enough and no diets had worked due to powerful cravings for cake, sweets and junk.

I felt good and ready to stop the Mirtazapine ie I felt ready! I looked into it and read other peoples experiences and I got to be honest it scared the life out of me from what I was reading with regards to Mirtazapine withdrawal. My advice DON’T! As it will only put the unnecessary fear into you Yes of course everyone is different, but go by how you feel and not by how others feel as you know your own body feelings!

I went for the tapering off method but the method was mine that I think has worked for me well fingers crossed.

This is what I done if you can call it tapering:

January 30th 2019

I dropped the dose from 45mg to 30mg. This gave me stomach upset diarrhea that lasted 24 hours then all was good, Could not sleep and also vivid dreams but also more energy lasted only about 3 days the sleep problems that is.

February 23rd 2019

I dropped the dose from 30mg down to 22.5mg per day. My sleep was normal but I did notice a bit of anxiety and internal tremors but I knew what the cause was so I just enjoyed the ride so to speak and within a few days the tremors stopped but still had some anxiety and to be honest I have anxiety anyway which Ive just got used to over the years. I also had a feeling of being proud of myself for coming off Mirtazapine.

March 4th 2019

I dropped from 22.5mg down to 7.5mg per day. I had a moment of anxiety and detachment so I took half of dose of 5mg Diazepam and I was fine. Things generally improved…

March 15th and 16th 2019 I took NO Mirtazapine and felt great well normal.

March 17th 2019 Stopped completely and the date of writing this is the 23rd March 2019 and I feel fine slightly anxious but I am anyway but its manageable because I feel uplifted being able to stop Mirtazapine. Yes still early days but the withdrawals did not seem as bad as people have written which is why I said earlier go by your own accounts / feelings and not what others have experienced. Just follow and listen to your own body as your the expert of your feelings. For me using Mirtazapine for well over 10 years on highest dose 45mg per day’ I don’t think Ive done to bad coming off!

My last comment is my belly fat is feeling softer so I guess its a sign of starting to loose the weight :smiley:

Yay HAPPY DAYS with a dose of Anxiety lol.

7

at what dosage did you stop taking the MIRT?

8

at what dose did you finally stop taking it? im at 5.5 mg from 7.5mg(my highest dose) and have been on this for three months. how was it when you first stopped. thanks in advance

9

hi i. stopped after getting down to half of 3.75 mg which is 1.875 mg. taking this until i was on it every other day then every. 3 rd day, then every 4 th day and so on until down to once a week. then stopped. Had a little morning anxiety but nothing i could not cope with.

10

Hi, I stopped at 7.5mg - gradual thou taking it alternate nights then every 3 nights and so on. i would say i did get itching skin during coming off but took an antihistamine every so often to help with this.

11

how was your sleep??

12

how dis you sleep when tapering??

13

sleeping still big issue even after 8 months off. tapering down, lower dose worked well. i now resort to melatonin and gaba tablets. both available online. As last resort take a antihistamines.

14

I got in a good bedtime routine, bath with lavender and read book half hour before trying sleep, plus stopped drinking caffeine after 18:00 at night. Some nights weren’t so good but just thought i’ll get through it and will sleep better next night. Make sure nothing worrying u before sleeping if so write it down on paper with a positive twist on it. I have tried melatonin and hasn’t worked at all for me, found drinking plenty of water throughout days helps especially during withdrawal period.