AuRam: 12 days on mirtazapine

[AuRam]

Hello,

 

So a back story of mine. I wasn’t on any specific drug medication on my life, bornt normal.

 

9 weeks ago I took half a pill of untested MDMA,  was fine no problem recorded. 2 weeks after the first roll, I took one pill and a quarter or a half combined with alcohol(not remembering exactly if it was a half because I had a blackout but certainly I took a quarter).

 

After 2 days I had an episode of insomnia which lasted for 2 full days before I decited to try natural medication(melatonin + valerian root) they worked as I was getting more and more sleep. After 3-4 weeks I was getting up to 6 hours-6.5 hours but I didn’t felt good during the day, pretty exhausted, couldn’t concentrate, had anxiety, panic attacks, getting hard asleep so I decided to go to a psychiatrist for help.

 

She prescribed me Mirt , 15 mg 1 h before sleep for 6 days and if the sleep and general mood doesn’t recover to ramp up to 30 mg. I am on the 12 day of treatment with 15 mg and I get knocked up pretty easily, I stay asleep and sleep between 8-9 hours,  it was at first quite hard to get up of bed but now it is easier and also force myself to and overall feel good with my life. I regained my physical strength, can do my internship work but I still have a headache(might be from my MDMA comedown because I also had it before treatment). I gained some appetite but I am careful with my diet because I weight lift and cardio.
 

My question is, how much should I keep taking 15 mg of Mirt before tapering off 10% every month. One psychiatrist I talked said that I shouldn’t take it more than 3 months and stop it( with this type of medication I didn’t believe in stop it abruptly). Should I consider one month 15 mg and then gradually tapering over 10 months? My psychiatrist said I should still give it time, well I said to myself getting to sleep with medication ain’t natural so I must be careful how I proceed stoping it.

[Gridley]

Welcome to SA, AuRam.

 

To give members the best information, we ask them to summarize their medication history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly.

 

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

 

We're a site for going off psychiatric drugs and telling you how long to stay on a drug is outside the scope of what we do.  In terms of tapering,  the less time you're on a drug the better.  Generally, after one month on a psychiatric drug a person is at risk of withdrawal.  If you've only been on the drug for 12 days, you might be able to just stop the drug now or to taper it rapidly over the next two weeks.  I will run this question by the other moderators and administrators.  Please don't make any changes before I hear from them.

 

After one month, we recommend tapering no faster than 10% of your current dose (not original dose) every four weeks. 

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

A 10% taper off 15mg will take longer than 10 months.  Using a 10%/4 week taper, you will decrease your dose by half every 6 months.  So after six months you'll be at 7.5mg, after another 6 months you'll be around 3.8mg and so on.    

 

This link is specifically about tapering Mirtazapine, including how to get the nonstandard doses you'll need for a 10% taper.

 

Tips for tapering off mirtazapine (Remeron)

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

Add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems.

 

This is your Introduction topic, where you can ask questions and connect with other members.  We're glad you found your way here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gridley]

@AuRam

Since you've been on the Mirtazapine for only 12 days, you could just stop it now.  Or, if you want to do a rapid taper, I suggest four 25% cuts of four days each, getting you to zero in 16 days.  You can use a pill cutter or single-blade razor to cut the pill into 1/4s.  If the pieces are not equal, use the razor to shave a little bit off to make the doses as equal as possible.  It doesn't have to be perfect.

 

I'd stay away from the MDMA in the future.

[ChessieCat]

Sometimes it is possible to cut a pill crossways, like cutting a cake horizontally to add a filling.

[ChessieCat]

Your situation has resulted from the use of an illegal substance mixed with alcohol, the result of which can have serious and long lasting effects (see link below).  Because of this I suggest that you find a doctor who is knowledgeable in this area and you are completely honest with them about your drug and alcohol use if you have not already done this.  As an online forum staffed by volunteers who are not medical professionals and whose focus is on tapering and withdrawal of prescription psychiatric drugs, SA is not able to assist you.

 

https://www.alcohol.org/mixing-with/ecstasy/

 

Please note that the following is not a recommendation.  It is simply a site that I found when I searched for MDMA and mirtazapine:  https://americanaddictioncenters.org/addiction-medications/mirtazapine

[AuRam]

@Gridley    thank you so much for the insights and suggestion. MDMA lesson learnt, not worthy having one good night and afterwards feeling like crap for a period of some months(was ignorant because I didn't check on the side effects)

@ChessieCat Well the problem is that I don't know anyone in my area specialised on this, I don't have any history of abuse beside this one and I don't plan on taking ever any type of illegal drug in the future. I went to the psychiatrist for a temporary sollution because I had to present my internship project and really needed some good quality sleep. I will try going off Mirt asap and stay healthy for the upcoming months as the recovery process proceeds.

[ChessieCat]

23 minutes ago, AuRam said:

I will try going off Mirt asap

 

When going off a psychiatric drug it is important to listen to your body/symptoms and reduce the drug at a rate which keeps withdrawal symptoms to a minimum.  It's about getting off carefully, not quickly.  It is best to reduce the drug slowly enough so that you don't end up with sleep issues again.  Lack of sleep, as you probably already know, makes everything so much worse.  It would be better to stay on the mirtazapine for longer and get off it slowly so as to retain your sleep.

 

 

[ChessieCat]

9 hours ago, AuRam said:

I don't plan on taking ever any type of illegal drug in the future.

 

9 hours ago, AuRam said:

I will try going off Mirt asap and stay healthy for the upcoming months as the recovery process proceeds.

 

It would be a good idea to stay off the alcohol as well.

 

alcohol-and-beer

 

SA strongly encourages member to learn and use Non-drug techniques to cope

[AuRam]

 A lil update

 

I just talked with my psychiatrist and told me I should do 15 mg mirt for 2 months and afterwads cold turkey. What are your thoughts? She said there are no withdrawl symptoms for this period of time but I quite doubt it, however if there are I hope they would be manageable.

I am really puzzled because I want to make this time at least the right choice. Should I take it for 1 or 2 months and do a gradual taper or even now a taper to 7.5 and proceed to 3.75 and so forth..

[Gridley]

3 hours ago, AuRam said:

I should do 15 mg mirt for 2 months and afterwads cold turkey.

That is an absolutely terrible idea.  After one month on the drug you are at risk of withdrawal, and there is no way to predict how manageable symptoms will be.  In my first post to you I said that before one month it might be possible to do a rapid taper (as described in my post) if you want to go off the drug.  If you want to stay on the drug to help you with sleep, when you go off you will need to do a 10% taper.

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by Gridley

[ChessieCat]

4 hours ago, Gridley said:

That is an absolutely terrible idea.

 

Agree.

 

See:

 

Cold Turkey and Too-Fast Tapers