RemTaper Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 New to the forum and looking forward to your support and advice! I've been taking Mirtazapine for a number of years now, maybe five, and I've gone from a starting dose at 15 to 30 and for the past couple of years I've been at 45. My anxiety on the medication has been pretty well controlled. The major challenge I've encountered, and I still grapple with it, is its sedative effects. If I take it early, it knocks me out, I get good sleep and wake up early in time for work. When I take it late, it knocks me out, I get good sleep, and I'm a zombie in the morning. I also don't feel very comfortable with the notion of taking the drug forever, at 45, or otherwise, if possible. I spoke with my PSY last week and she agreed that with a lack of challenges in my life now and things being great it would be appropriate to reduce to 30. I asked her if she thought I needed to taper but she said, no, and just to let her know of any AEs. Friday (Night): - 30mg Saturday (Day) - Woke up ~4AM, fell back to bed a while later - Terrible gas much of the day, lot of BMs (but not diarrhea) Saturday (Night) - 30mg - Gas/BMs continue - Some trouble "catching my breath" Sunday (Day) - Woke up ~4AM, fell back to bed a while later - Stomach feels better - Some trouble "catching my breath" I'm committed to dropping down to the next level. I know in the past when I've eliminated the drug - or maybe it was when I dropped down levels? I just don't remember - I had a "relapse" with my anxiety and needed to start taking it again. I don't take any other meds for Anxiety/Depression. I have: IBS, (mild) Asthma, Psoriasis and (mild) Allergies. Would love your thoughts on my move from 45 -> 30, so that it's as safe and AE-free as possible. Thanks! Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus Jemima Posted January 20, 2013 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted January 20, 2013 Welcome to the forum, Rem. You'll find lots of good information and friendly support here. Please browse through our 'Tapering' discussion for general information and specific topics on Remeron. What is an AE? You'll find that we recommend starting a taper at a 10% reduction, not the 33+% you've undertaken. While you may be one of the people who can go off antidepressants with no problems, it really isn't worth the risk. I'm not sure what a PSY is either, but be advised that most doctors are clueless when it comes to getting off antidepressants. Getting the drug out of your system as fast as possible isn't the point, because the drugs make changes in the structure of your brain that remain after the drugs are gone. Withdrawal is your nervous system trying to right itself after having that chemical support removed, so it's best to do it very slowly and let your CNS catch up. I moved your topic to 'Introductions and updates' because it's your first post about yourself. Please continue to use this topic to post about your progress and problems by clicking the "Add Reply" button at the bottom of the page. Psychotropic drug history: Pristiq 50 mg. (mid-September 2010 through February 2011), Remeron (mid-September 2010 through January 2011), Lexapro 10 mg. (mid-February 2011 through mid-December 2011), Lorazepam (Ativan) 1 mg. as needed mid-September 2010 through early March 2012"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." -Hanlon's RazorIntroduction: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1588-introducing-jemima/ Success Story: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/6263-success-jemima-survives-lexapro-and-dr-dickhead-too/Please note that I am not a medical professional and my advice is based on personal experience, reading, and anecdotal information posted by other sufferers. Link to comment
Administrator Altostrata Posted January 20, 2013 Administrator Share Posted January 20, 2013 Welcome, Rem. Yes, those might be withdrawal symptoms. You might be able to get from 45mg to 30mg by making smaller decreases. If the symptoms don't get better in a couple of days or it's clear they're not due to the flu or something else, you might go back to 40mg and see if they clear up. You might need to reinstate the full 45mg. Stabilize, then, like Rhettsgirl, reduce by 1mg at a time to get to 30mg. You'll have to self-monitor to see if you get withdrawal symptoms, which sometimes take several weeks to show up. This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted. Link to comment
RemTaper Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Thank you both for your thoughts! As you can imagine I don't have the necessary equipment at home to prepare the pills in smaller doses. What I did do though is take 1/2 a 30 and 1/2 a 45, which I thought was less drastic than the reduction to 30 alone. I'm going to speak with my Psychiatrist (PSY - lazy abbreviation) and see what she says about the other dosing methods. I'm definitely open, but would be nice to get her blessing too, if possible. Last night bed time was pretty rough - I went to bed around 10PM, fell asleep right away, but woke up at 12AM (thinking it had to be much, much later), and on and off for the rest of the night. Not fun. [i will add that I have had a cold for a week or so, it's mostly congestion though] Link to comment
Administrator Altostrata Posted January 21, 2013 Administrator Share Posted January 21, 2013 That would be 37.5mg. It may take your nervous system a week or so to stabilize again on that dosage. Don't be surprised if your doctor doesn't believe people can be sensitive to small dosage changes. This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus dalsaan Posted January 21, 2013 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted January 21, 2013 Please also understand that anxiety can be a very common withdrawal symptom and is not necessarily a relapse. Confusing withdrawal symptoms with relapses is a very common mistake that both doctors and patients make I'm on remeron. It's interesting what you say about the sleepy effects. Usually these occur at lower doses rather than higher. Having said that sleep sisturvance has been one of my key issues in withdrawal Wish you the best Dalsaan Please note - I am not a medical practitioner and I do not give medical advice. I offer an opinion based on my own experiences, reading and discussion with others.On Effexor for 2 months at the start of 2005. Had extreme insomnia as an adverse reaction. Changed to mirtazapine. Have been trying to get off since mid 2008 with numerous failures including CTs and slow (but not slow enough tapers)Have slow tapered at 10 per cent or less for years. I have liquid mirtazapine made at a compounding chemist. Was on 1.6 ml as at 19 March 2014. Dropped to 1.5 ml 7 June 2014. Dropped to 1.4 in about September. Dropped to 1.3 on 20 December 2014. Dropped to 1.2 in mid Jan 2015. Dropped to 1 ml in late Feb 2015. I think my old medication had run out of puff so I tried 1ml when I got the new stuff and it seems to be going ok. Sleep has been good over the last week (as of 13/3/15). Dropped to 1/2 ml 14/11/15 Fatigue still there as are memory and cognition problems. Sleep is patchy but liveable compared to what it has been in the past. DRUG FREE - as at 1st May 2017 >My intro post is here - http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2250-dalsaan Link to comment
RemTaper Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 That would be 37.5mg. It may take your nervous system a week or so to stabilize again on that dosage. Don't be surprised if your doctor doesn't believe people can be sensitive to small dosage changes. From what I've read that makes a lot of sense to me, will definitely keep you posted. Today I had a pretty good breathing wise, although in the afternoon, almost out of nowhere, I had terrible cramps/diarrhea. Hopefully that was a one-time event. Link to comment
RemTaper Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Please also understand that anxiety can be a very common withdrawal symptom and is not necessarily a relapse. Confusing withdrawal symptoms with relapses is a very common mistake that both doctors and patients make I'm on remeron. It's interesting what you say about the sleepy effects. Usually these occur at lower doses rather than higher. Having said that sleep sisturvance has been one of my key issues in withdrawal Wish you the best Dalsaan You bring up a great point and I intend to address that with my Doctor. I'm hoping that in the past - and even now - it wasn't so much that I had a relapse of the anxiety as much as I had withdrawal issues. And I'll bet that last time it was a pretty similar process, with big steps down in dosing. I think the drug is amazing, but it's just been so challenging to either have a hard time getting up or choose the alternative, to basically got insanely drowsy, way too early in the evening, and miss out on family/friend time. Link to comment
tgirl Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 How are you doing now? April 2014 remeron 45mg. June 2014 abilify 2.5 remeron wasn't working so abilify was then added September 2014 woke up with anxiety x 100!!!! Pdoc then took me from 45 to 7.5 within a month and took abilify from 2.5 to 0 Currently Remeron 7.5 Vitamin d 5,000 iu taking for about 3 years October 2014 added fish oil/omega 3 1000 mg per day Levothyroxitine 100 10 years or so Dec 2014 started tapering 10% every 10 days-no problems. August 2015 down to 0.1 mg Woke up with severe anxiety-sleep issues-racing thoughts-depression. 9/9/15 up dose 1 mg. Link to comment
RemTaper Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 I just started a taper of 10mg using a 5mg and a 5mg in two. That 7.5 is a 25% reduction. I'm at Day 2, based on this amazing forum, I'm going to do a 5 and 3.75 (3/4 of another 5) to get to 8.75, which is slightly more than 10%. Rather go low and slow than run into an issue. My goal is to get to no Lexapro. If my logic is flawed here, please let me know! Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus ChessieCat Posted January 12, 2022 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted January 12, 2022 Welcome back to SA, SA's recommended taper rate is no more than 10% of the current dose followed by a hold of at least 4 weeks to allow the brain to adapt to not getting as much of the drug. Why taper by 10% of my dosage? Getting of our drug safely has nothing to do with how strong or determined we are as a person. When we take a psychiatric drug the brain adapts to getting that dose of the drug. If we take it away too quickly then we can experience withdrawal symptoms. One common withdrawal symptom is insomnia. If you experience this, it can make it harder to cope with any other withdrawal symptoms you might get. Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist Post #1 of this topic explains how to get non standard doses of your drug so that you can taper following SA's protocol: You will see in Post #1 that Lexapro is a very strong drug, so making your planned reductions could have even worse consequences than if you were tapering a less potent drug. Tips for tapering off escitalopram (Lexapro) If you do start experiencing withdrawal symptoms from you recent reduction it would be a good idea to do an updose. If you had made a 10% reduction of the 10mg dose, then you would be taking 9mg (10mg x 0.9 = 9mg). That would be the dose which I would updose to. Please read Post #1 of this topic, much of which also relates to updosing: About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms Please create your drug signature following these instructions: Instructions: Withdrawal History Signature * NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA * MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: (6 year taper) 0mg Pristiq on 13th November 2021 ADs since ~1992: 25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq: 50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity) Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021 LAST DOSE 0.0025mg Post 0 updates start here My tapering program My Intro (goes to tapering graph) VIDEO: Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management Link to comment
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