Mirtazapine withdrawal?

Has anyone got experience of getting off this drug? I cut down from 45mg to 15mg last year, 24th Nov, with some trouble along the way but in the end managed it. On 13th Dec I cut to 7.5mg and had some withdrawal effects like very low mood and increased anxiety about a week after, then again a couple of weeks after. I stopped taking it completely 2 weeks later and I am now in my 3rd week completely off the stuff.

For the last week I have been really struggling, my mood has been through the floor, anxiety high and my sleep is getting worse, I can't actually sleep more than 2-3 hours at the moment which isn't helping my anxiety. I used to have occasional 'good days' but haven't had them for over a week and I think my mood is deteriorating.

Yesterday the Dr tried upping my new anti-depressent to a depression dose, but it didn't help the insomnia. Today I have another call with him, last time I had trouble like this he suggested sleeping pills as a short term fix for the sleep. I said no before and instead increased the mirtazapine dose back up, but now that I am completely off the stuff I really don't want to have wasted the last 2.5 weeks being off it, and delay me getting up to a proper dose of my new AD.

I'm thinking I may consider the sleeping pills, a weak form, for now and see how it goes, but I have no idea how long this withdrawal could last. Anyone know? I don't want to push on if I have weeks of this in front of me, I would rather take a step back and ween down more gradually.

Thanks

Yeh I do autogenic meditation and it really helps, I don't usually have much trouble initially falling asleep using it, its just that I wake up after 2-3 hours now and then cannot sleep again. These days though falling asleep takes me a good 3 hours as my heart pounds, from the withdrawal but also some times anxiety. I think part of the problem is I lie in bed afterwards and just have loads of stuff going through my head. I hate to get up though because I don't want to mess up my sleep cycle, I did that years ago and was forever waking up at 5am because I used to get up and read then.

I was on sleeping pills a few years ago and got off them ok, but guess I just don't like the thought of getting hooked on them. I took them for months though and didnt have any problem weening off them so maybe it's just my anxiety scaring me off them. It's probably worth a try for a night or two, hopefully these withdrawals wont last longer than a week, and I've always got the tablets in my cabinet if I just cant take it anymore.

Hi Andy,

Sorry to hear this. When my friend went through alcohol withdrawal he tried Hemp Paste. It helped reduce his anxiety, calmed some of the major withdrawal effects, and helped him sleep through the night. I really hope that you find something that works for you! Sleep is super important to any kind of healing.

Well I made it through the weekend ok, still not sleeping great but a little better. Haven't been tempted back to the Mirtazapine really.

My increased dose of nortriptyline seems to have had an immediate effect on my mood, I'm finally feeling a little bit content at times and not 100% focussed on my body all the time.

Still having withdrawal though, diarrhea and my heart pounds randomly, waking every two hours. Very tired and slow at times too. Hopefully now it will start to improve, has been 3 weeks.

Ah spoke too soon, didn't sleep at all last night my anxiety was too bad, felt tired enough times to nod off but my brain just didn't want to shut down. I hate not sleeping it scares me.

My anxiety is still a big problem entering my 4th week now, I hope this is still just the withdrawal effects and doesn't mean I made a bad call switching to nortriptyline, it does seem to have helped my mood and anxiety.

Thanks Turtle. Just having to take it one day at a time at the moment. At least I'm back working now so it takes my mind off things during the day.

Been getting heart palpitations a lot too, they are the most irritating as I feel them whenever I do my meditation exercises and they unsettle me. Going to try drinking more water today to see if it helps. Still, I am feeling a lot let nauseous and less pain the last few days, so have that to be thankful about.

Come to think of it my pain has been significantly worse over the last few months, maybe it was from the withdrawal as I was coming off my meds. Probably a good job I didn't realise that if it was.

Post Edited (Andy1986) : 1/19/2016 6:20:29 AM (GMT-7)

All it takes is a call to the doctor's office when you feel the need to self medicate, which is occurring with the beta blockers. Better safe than sorry.

I hope you get the medications straightened out so you can know what is causing what. Let us know how the appointment went.

Glad you got the doctor's okay. One day at a time....

Sounds like things are going to get better.

Hugs...