Penfold on mirtazapine

[Fresh]

Very good.  We really do want to help you.  

I know it's difficult to take in new information , hopefully as the pregbalin moves , your thinking will become clearer.

 

[leahy]

Penfold,

 

The process of tapering these kinds of medications is very slow. I understand wanting to get off quickly because we think that will be the end of it. But it is not.

 

In this case - fast is slow. It's taken me 13 months to come to grips with this. 

 

Surviving Antidepressants is the best support group in the world. Seriously. You have the best resources at your fingertips here. I hope you are having a good day today.

 

I understand your distress about your children and my heart goes out to you. If I had small children, I would need to taper so much more slowly so I could feel less ill and be able to care for them. My kids are adults but I know that often, I am not the mother I would like to be for them. Why? Because sometimes I rush my taper thinking I'll be done with it ASAP. Then I get sick. Then I am incapacitated and not able to do anything - never mind being there for my kids.

 

Your patience for the process and self-care will be paramount to you success. You can do this. Things do get better. But it will take time. Lots of time.

 

Leahy

[Penfold]

I would really appreciate some advise. I was doing really well tapering the pregabalin I was taking in 25mg decreases.

I'd got down from 200mg to 100mg without feeling too bad at all in fact I felt better than I had in a long time. Unfortunately as I was feeling so good I thought I didn't need to keep taking it so stopped it.

Big mistake as after a few days I started to feel very light headed & giddy on waking. I also feel very flat & annoyed at myself for being so impulsive. I have been back to my GP and they advised going back on the dose I was last stable on. I have done this but still feel unwell although the giddiness has become less. Any advice pls?

[cymbaltawithdrawal5600]

Penfield,

 

Please follow these directions NOW and put the amounts of the drugs you are CURRENTLY TAKING into your signature. We have no idea what/how much and now when you are taking anything.

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

I've just read through your thread and you don't directly answer any questions put to you. You never said what you were doing with the prozac that was asked when you first came here.

 

You also do not follow the suggestions that were given to you: it was suggested 8 MONTHS ago (Nov 2015) for you to rapidly taper and get off the pregabalin but you stayed on it and now it must be slowly tapered yet here you now state you are down 100 mg in the space of 8 months later and then dumped it completely. It is not advised to drop any drugs that rapidly and how you are feeling now is directly related to that.

 

These drugs are very dangerous to the body when you yank the doses up and down like that. We have already given you a managed taper plan and all the supporting information on the rationale is given in the links placed in your thread. You absolutely have to read and understand them, we cannot write out the information for you each time you are having problems.

 

Please do not feel I am attacking you because I am not. I am just evaluating your situation based only on the words written here and using strong language hoping to wake you out of your dangerous fog. You seem more likely to follow your own intuitions than our reasoned advice and we have found that just does not work. You've started feeling ill as a result. Once you start feeling ill because of ill considered drug changes, the body does not often come back to a level of homeostasis unless you STOP changing the doses of drugs, pick a dose and stay on it AND STAY THERE FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES FOR THINGS TO SETTLE DOWN. The more changes you made, the longer you need to take to stabilize and it could take UP TO A YEAR.

 

Notice I did not say it WILL take a year but I am sure you will read that and I assume it WILL take that long. As I see it now, what might have taken 15 months (which you despaired at hearing) is now going to take very much longer because your nervous system is rebelling. It has to settle down before you can change the doses of any of your drugs again.

 

Please tell us the dates you started and stopped the Prozac. We need to know. And if there were any other drugs, list them too. Otherwise we cannot give you our best help and you will be getting inadequate advice.

 

You've been gone for 3 months with no updates. That does not help either. We find that people who post often seem to have the best success following directions and understanding your advice. But if you feel your only option is to go to a rehab or listen to the psych then we won't be of much help. Their advice most often runs contrary to what we have demonstrated as a better course for getting off these drugs safely. Then it is up to you to learn how to manage your emotions without chemical interference, a task difficult enough without having these drugs try to do it for you. They really do make a mess of things and create more problems when you try to go off them that people mistake for their REAL feelings and they are most certainly not. They are drug induced and very powerful.

 

So the choice is up to you . Fix your signature and read the links you were given and understand what this is all about or give the responsibility for your life up to the doctors. Or follow your own advice and see where that takes you. All are options, we only advise, we are not doctors.

 

And list the entire results from the drug interactions checker, just copy and paste the results. Do this now please.

 

Did you read anything in our topic about tapering lyrica (pregabalin)? Members who add their experiences with the drug are most informative. It's not the easiest drug to get off.

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2381-tips-for-tapering-off-lyrica-pregabalin/#entry231759

 

(Post edited because I had the date on the pregabalin wrong)

Edited June 15, 2016 by cymbaltawithdrawal5600

[cymbaltawithdrawal5600]

The above post was edited several times. Please re-read to get all the new information I added.

[Penfold]

Penfold, that friend is what we would call a frenemy.

 

Please read Tips for tapering off Remeron (mirtazapine)

Just to clarify the first AD I was prescribed was Prozac. I took it for approx 3 months & it lifted my mood but I found it too alerting & it affected my sleep which already wasn't good. I went back to the Doctor & she prescribed Mirtazapine instead to help my sleep.

 

I'm not deliberately trying to ignore people's advice & all I can say is that my judgement has become very clouded with this medication. I try to explain that to the people closest to me but they just think I'm making excuses.

 

I will stay on 100mg of Pregabalin & keep to the same dose of Mirtazapine in the hope that I stabilise again. I am trying to avoid emotional stress but it is very difficult as I have had to move back in with my mum. She is finding my current mood very difficult to live with & said to me yesterday that I am 'dragging her down.' I found this very upsetting as I'm finding things hard enough at the moment.

[cymbaltawithdrawal5600]

Boy do we ever know how bad that can be, moving back in with the parents. I myself have lived with my 91 y.o. mom for 8 years now (4 yrs while still on meds, now 4 yrs  almost after a cold turkey off them) so I can sympathize.

 

We still need the start and stop dates of the prozac and good! you fixed your sig.

 

Just stay on what you have for now and keep track on paper when you take your doses and how you feel after taking them and just keep doing this. Many people don't do this and when you don't, we have no way of knowing how your body is reacting to the drugs.

 

It is as simple as:

 

Woke up groggy, ate breakfast. Took meds with meal.

1 hour later feeling dizzy and nauseous and threw up (I could see part of the pills in the toilet)

Mid morning: feeling much better

Noon: went for a 2 hour strenuous walk, felt worse when I came home so I laid down for a nap

Woke strangely refreshed (or not) 4 hours later and had supper. Took meds again.

Watched TV rest of evening and felt ok.

Took bedtime meds, fell asleep around 11pm.

Tossed and turned all night and had vivid dreams (not nightmares though) and finally fell asleep,    last time I looked at the clock it was 3am

Woke at 6 and extremely groggy.

 

Stuff like that. We want to see how your body reacts to the drugs and to eating and activity. You'll soon see a pattern that we can then take action on.

 

Got it? Things will gradually get better but you must stabilize first before you can make changes or else you  never will feel good enough to get off the meds safely. Read all you can in the meantime, from the links you were given.

[cymbaltawithdrawal5600]

It's sad you mother is unable to be more understanding... If she only knew that it is the DRUGS leading your behavior she might look at things differently.

 

These drugs cause us to be irritable, argumentative, moody, all manner of generally 'negative' emotions and behaviors. I have no idea why they do not make us wise, erudite, pleasant on all fronts, beautiful (and with big hair should we wish that), witty, kind at all times (and to a fault) but darn it they do not.

 

Have you looked in our Relationships forum for some hints on what to say to people so they might give you the space you need while these drugs are yanking your feelings around? My only recourse at times has just been to either avoid vexing people or (as in the case of my mom) just stop engaging with her.