Starling: please help me understand my mirtazapine withdrawal

[Starling]

I would greatly appreciate your wisdom and experience in helping me understand my mirtazapine withdrawal experience

 

My name is Terry and my general practitioner prescribed mirtazapine for insomnia, emotional burnout, anxiety, and depression. I was desperate at the time and did not know what I was getting into. Instead of taking time off work and focusing on myself, I decided to take the pill. I was on 7.5 mg from March to July 2021 and then decided to taper off it. I followed a tapering plan I had found here: http://www.citap.org.uk/SSRI-Tables.pdf

 

I decided to taper and stop the drug because the side effects started outweighing the benefits. 

 

I have been off mirtazapine since September (over three months now) and I would like to share my withdrawal symptoms with you. I am not sure if the protracted withdrawal is due to mirtazapine and the way I tapered or 1) if I am simply losing my mind or 2) I have a serious underlying health issue.

 

Generally speaking, I feel like someone has hacked into my mind and body and has programmed it to malfunction and go berserk.

 

At the moment, I am suffering from:

 

• Insomnia (I might get one solid night's sleep a week, if I am lucky; otherwise, I have broken sleep or very little or no sleep at all.)
• Lightheadedness 
• Nausea
• Heart palpitations (my heart races and feels like it is beating hard)
• Nervousness
• Anxiety
• Hot flashes (in the middle of the night)
• Depression (often feel like crying)
• Numb and burning hands
• Feeling unsteady on my feet
• A general state of lethargy, weakness, and fatigue

 

I had blood work done and everything was normal. I also had a cerebral MRI and it was normal.

 

Are my symptoms part of mirtazapine protracted withdrawal? Is this "normal" in terms of withdrawal or should I be worried that it is due to something else?

 

I would greatly appreciate any reassurance and sharing of experience. I feel like I have become a hypochondriac because I do not know what is abnormal and what is due to the poison my body is trying to adjust to not having anymore.

 

Thank you for your time and help.

 

Terry 

 

[Frogie]

Hi @Starling

 

Welcome to SA. I'm sorry you are going through this but glad you found the site. We are all volunteer and have been through what you are going through, or we are going through it right along with you.

 

This is your page to receive information, ask questions, make comments and meet members like you. We ask that each member only have one page so we can keep all your information easily accessible.

 

First can you please create a signature.

 

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

I think in your case you are going through withdrawal. You could always reinstate a small amount and stabilize then taper off slowly to hopefully avoid more symptoms. I am going to give you a bunch of information for you to read and then you can ask all the questions you may need.

 

One Theory of Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome

 

Brain Remodelling

 

Digestive problems:  Nausea, Diarrhoea, Bloating, GERD

 

Emotional Numbness see Anhedonia

 

Fear, terror, panic, and anxiety

 

Reinstatement Suggestions

 

Here is some information on Melatonin.  It helps a lot of members on here with insomnia when taken in small amounts.

 

Melatonin

 

We don't suggest alot of supplements on here. But we do suggest magnesium and omega. If you want to try them take them one at a time and wait a few days to see how you react.

 

Magnesium

 

Omega-3 Fish Oil

 

I think I've bombarded you with some information for now. At this point, I think a very small reinstatement might help you. 

 

Read the information that I gave you on reinstatement and let us know if we can help you in anyway.

 

Please let us know if you have any questions we may be able to answer for you. You can always tag someone by using the @ sign then type the name. A list will come up and just select the members name on the list and then we will get your message faster.

 

Take care,

Frogie xx

Edited December 27, 2021 by Karma
Name update

[Starling]

Thank you very much for all the links and sound information, @Frogie, and I will look into them.