marmar: Attempting to taper off Mirtrazapine 1st time

[marmar]

Hi Guys,

 

I have been reading these forums for these last few weeks and I have finally plucked up the courage to make an account. Just to give you all a brief history; My mum was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus after giving birth to me and she died when I was 12. My Dad at the time was working for a big bank and was declared unfit to work shortly before she died. He had been battling Diabetes, MD and BP for quite some time. After she died ,he fell into a permanent state of Anhedonia and his health went downhill really fast, and consequently ended up being amputated in 2012. Growing up, this had a negative impact on me and suddenly from an outgoing young man ,I turned into an  anxious mess. When I finished school at 16 I spent 4 years doing odd jobs but not really working. I finally got a full time job when I was 19 and it was a horrible job full of toxic people which only exacerbated my anxiety. Regretfully, I made the very bad decision of reaching into my dad's prescription drawer and took one of the short term acting benzo's he was taking. What followed was a 3 year battle to stop this medication, going from taking upwards of 7 pills a day to 0.  I found a great group of people to work with and I had some really good friends as support and I managed to wean down very well.  I was doing so well, I even managed to get into a relationship with a girl at  work. I also started seeing a counsellor for my past issues and the CBT was helping a lot.  In May 2017 my dad passed away and I moved in with my sister temporarily. I was dealing ok with the loss even though I did not seek the help of a therapist, however my relationship was starting to suffer. After 4 months I had to move back to my dad's place as I was feeling as if I had over stayed my welcome. That is where the real problems started... I started paying less attention to my relationship, started staying awake till 4 5 am on weekends, started becoming depressed and more disillusioned with my job. Last December I went to see the Counsellor  again, however things did not really improve this time around as I found it very hard expressing my emotions. My relationship continued to suffer...I also made a very bad decision to change jobs last March in order to make extra income. My sleep problems started from there...the night before my 1st day at work I lay in bed with my heart thumping out of my chest. This continued on to the 2nd night and I had to call in sick. After taking Atarax and Melatonin I got my sleep back somewhat back on track for the week. However, the following week, the same problem occurred and I had to call in sick again. At this point my girlfriend decided to end things after 2 years as she felt as if she could not help me. I was devastated and the insomnia was crippling so I decided to go see a psychiatrist.

 

I was prescribed 15mg Mirtrazapine this April along with Quetiapine(instructed to use this drug with mirtrazapine when it was not sedating enough by itself) in order to help me sleep. I asked the Dr whether thsi drug was addictive in any way and he said no... when i asked for a long term solution other than meds he advised that I would need to take meds all my life. Very regretfully I started taking the Mirt..  Immediately,  it helped me sleep, and gave me a temporary boost, however it was very limiting as I could not have a social life. My whole schedule was  structured around taking the pill at the same time every night in order to knock me out. The effects started weening after a month and I went back to the Psych , he advised me to go on Cipralex in the am and another antipsych to help me sleep. I took the Cipralex the following morning and had very adverse reactions to it; my pupils became very dilated as If i were on Ecstasy , I had diarrhoea, I felt confused and agitated. I messaged the Psych and he advised that if I want to stick to the medication I should give it a few days. This was not possible as I could not turn up to my new job in that state so I tried quitting everything cold turkey as I had a few days off so I figured the worst would be over by the Sunday. I started feeling a little more despondent on the 3rd day, and then the re-bound insomnia kicked in fully on Sunday. I regretfully went back to taking the Mirtrazapine and managed to sleep properly on the Wednesday. I started doing a lot of research on this drug and that is where I came across this forum. I would really like to taper off this drug as soon as possible and would appreciate any help. I am taking 15mg tablets of Mirt and that is the least the dose comes in where I live. Also, there are no compounding pharmacies in my country..

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you

 

 

Edited June 7, 2018 by ChessieCat
added spacing

[Gridley]

Hello, Marmar, and welcome to SA.  Sorry you've been suffering.  Please be aware that very, very few doctors know anything about withdrawal from psychiatric drugs or tapering off them.

 

At Surviving Antidepressants, it is recommended that a person taper by no more than 10% of their current dose with at least a four week hold in-between decreases.  

  

Before you begin tapering what you need to know

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

This link explains why it is important to taper slowly:

Brain Remodelling

 

Please read carefully the following link on tapering Mirt.  The fact that you have no compounding pharmacy is not a problem.  You can either make a liquid to taper by 10% or cut the tablets and use a scale, as described in the link.  Do you have Amazon.com in Malta? The Gemini-20 scale is available on Amazon for around $23.  If not, you can make a liquid, which is also recommended.  The link describes how to do it.

 

Tips for tapering off Remeron (mirtazapine)

 

This is your introduction topic -- the place for you to ask questions, record symptoms, share your progress, and connect with other members of the SA community.  I hope you’ll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation.  I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but I am glad that you found us.

[marmar]

Thank you for your message Gridley,  I appreciate you taking the time...We can order stuff from other amazon sites like amazon.co.uk or amazon.de. I have already bought a scale, however I mis-read and didn't realise it only goes to 0.01g  so I can use it for the time being until I taper down to 10mg

[Gridley]

The Gemini-20 scale goes to .001g (1mg).  You might consider switching scales.

[marmar]

Hi @Gridley yes I will be buying a more adequate scale later on, the one I bought will serve it's purpose until I go down to 10 mg. thank you

[marmar]

Hey Guys,

 

Just to keep you updated... As I explained in my introductory post I have been on Mirtrazapine since the beginning of April this year and I started tapering off the medication in the beginning of June. I am currently down to 12mg. The side effects are bearable however it's now taking me longer to be able to sleep. I'll see how I'll deal with work this week,hopefully everything will go smoothly... I am off for 7 days in a week and I plan to cut down the Mirtrazapine to 7.5 mg at that point and ride out any withdrawals for the week. I am currently taking L-tyrosine first thing in the morning along with Raw Zinc, Glutamine, Kelp, ProBiotics and Complex B Vitamin which includes; Niacin(not niaceminide which I heard is recommended instead of Niacin when you're taking Mirt), Folic Acid, Biolin and rose Hips.  I also have L-Tryptophan and 5-HTP ready for when I taper to really low doses.  Due to gas and bloating issues I've had for years I also eliminated all gluten, dairy, soy and processed food from my diet and I now consume most stuff organic which has helped. I'm also planning on removing legumes from my diet. 

 

I'll try and keep you updated during the tapering week, however I'm also cognisant of the fact that lingering for a long time on these types offorums seems to be very insidious for myself in terms of anxiety exacerbation...

[ChessieCat]

Hi marmar,

 

I've moved the new topic you created.  Your Intro topic is where you ask questions about your own situation and journal your progress, including tapering updates.

[ChessieCat]

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