Lizum: Nausea after stopping mirtazapine

[Lizum]

I’ve been on mirtazapine for 6 years and venlafaxine for 5 years. I started tapering off mirtazapine last year and stopped completely 5 weeks ago. I’m still experiencing nausea. My GP said it would be a couple of weeks before it went but it’s been longer. Is this normal?

Edited March 26, 2019 by Shep
added username to title

[Shep]

Hi, Lizum.

 

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants.

 

Are you still on venlafaxine?  Please note that if you did a fast taper from mirtazapine, you may benefit from reinstating it, since you've only been off for 5 weeks. Please give us more information about how you tapered so we can help you decide if a reinstatement is the right path. 

 

Here is some information to get your started. Please note the combination of mirtazapine and venlafaxine is sometimes called "California Rocket Fuel".

 

About going off mirtazapine plus venlafaxine (Effexor) aka "California rocket fuel"

 

Tips for tapering off Remeron (mirtazapine)

 

Tips for tapering off Effexor (venlafaxine)

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms 

 

Some helpful links on withdrawal:

 

How psychiatric drugs remodel your brain

 

Healing from antidepressants. Patterns of recovery video (4 minutes)

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

You may find some helpful information to handle your symptoms here: 

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements, as many members report their nervous systems are simply too fragile to handle them. However, magnesium and fish oil tend to be calming to the nervous system and many people report they do help. Please only add in one supplement at a time and at a small dose. For more, please see:

 

 King of supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker

 

17 hours ago, Lizum said:

I’m still experiencing nausea.

 

Yes, nausea is a very common symptom. Some people find ginger and peppermint teas helpful. Others like to use seabands (acupressure wrist bands). Here is some information with more ideas: 

 

What to do for dizziness, queasiness, nausea

 

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As you provide more information, we can better guide you and provide advice. Please continue to use this thread to document your taper and to ask questions. 

[Lizum]

I was put on mirtazapine at the beginning of 2013 and venlafaxine at the end of that year. In Feb 2016, I suffered a concussion and have had persistent symptoms ever since, including fatigue. I was advised last year to stop the mirtazapine.

 

I started tapering off 30mg mirtazapine in August last year. I can’t exactly remember how I got from 30mg to 15mg but I think it was every few tablets was one of the lower dose, then increasing the frequency of the lower dose. Each step I reduced the dose by 1/2. The major effect was severe insomnia so it took a bit of time and fiddling around to minimise the nights of insomnia whilst also reducing dosage. Insomnia is less of a problem now that I’ve been off for a few weeks but the main problems now are itching (controlled by loratadine) and nausea and vomiting (not so well controlled by prochloradine). 

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Lizum.

 

Are you taking any other drugs now? What is your sleep pattern?

 

When did the nausea start? Does it occur at any particular time of day?

 

Have your symptoms changed over the last 5 weeks?