Avsd me and Mirtazapine

[avsd]

Greetings to everybody out there!

If you don't mind I'll give you an overview of my (comparatively very brief) experience with psychotropic drugs.

Amisulprid:

Duration = roughly 6 weeks, varying doses from 200 mg to 600 mg.

I was quite sleepy but I definitively didn't have any withdrawal symptoms and did not have acute gynecomastia, which is an reported adverse drug reaction.

Mirtazapine:

Duration = roughly 9 weeks. First on 60 mg, then tapered to 45 mg for 4 days, then went down to 30 mg for a week or so, subsequently dropped to 15 for 1 day, then down to zero. (Thus having ignored all you're warnings about rapid withdrawal)

I am now suffering from moderate insomnia. Moderate is to say I can kinda nod off but havent truely slept for 3 days or so -- nevertheless I'm feeling quite awake, which is a tiny bit baffling though. I may have some concentration issues which is supposedly related to my (partial) sleep deprivation, that's all. This is latest news as of time of writing.

Note 1: While being on 60 mg I began to develop slight facial muscle twitches which may be termed myoklonus / benign fasciculation. As I'm not a health professional and my knowledge of stems from wikipedia this diagnosis may not be true. Those twitches began to decrease in strength and frequency and have virtually disappeared after I stabelized myself on 30 mg. Slight is to say those twitches seldomly totally disappeared at any point in time during that period however they were so weak that they were often not visually observable but could be felt, which was a little annoying but not more, so I wouldn't overrate this, but I've added it for completeness.

Note 2: I developed near total stagnation of facial hair growth while on 30 mg which is unchanged as of today plus some days after that started I noticed some one sided (left side of my body) slight but tactible gynecomastia (actually diagnosed by a doctor with an ultrasonic device), which was enough motivation for me to come off from 30 mg to zero. However unlikely I cannot exclude with certainty that my slight gynecomastia was already present earlier or even already present before the time I took Mirtazapine.

Don't think of me as an hypochondriac or so I'm just trying to be precise; I know very well that you may have some more severe withdrawal cases than I do.

I'm very interested in your oppinion on my case in particular whether you advise me to go on mirtazapine again to fight my insomnia.

Also I'm wondering whether this slight gynecomastia may be a late effect of amisulprid, which I quit more than two months before my slight gynecomastia started to become tactible. (Gonna ask that question to a doctor and tell you what he said) I will take your oppinion as an advice and will furthermore consult an health professional of choice, so feel free to tell me anything that comes to your mind.

Thank you very much for helping me & Best wishes, AVSD

[dalsaan]

Hi avsd.

 

Welcome to the forum. I am currently tapering off mirtazapine

 

I have a couple of questions for you. Why did you go on both medications and the off them again in a relatively short period of time?

 

When did you take your last dose of both medications?

 

What was your sleep like before he meds?

 

Dalsaan

[tezza]

Hi Avsd,

 

Welcome! I'm glad you've made your way here. You will get lots of friendly support and really good advice.

 

When you get a chance, please add your history by following instructions in this link:

 

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

 

Also, please read through the 'Symptoms and Self-Care' forum. There's a lot of helpful information.

 

As for your question, if it were me, I would probably try a small dosage of mirtazipine for a few days to see if it might help. You could try 3.5 mg just to see how it goes.

 

I'm tapering mirtazipine also and I crush my tablet and mix with water. You may find this link helpful.

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2028-tips-for-tapering-off-remeron-mirtazapine/

 

Tezza

[basildev]

Hi Avsd,

 

welcome to the forum.

 

I've never taken mirtazapine, but I can tell you that withdrawal insomnia is like a dog with a bone - it just hangs on and can get much worse. Reinstating a small dosage as tezza has suggested would be a good idea.

 

You have to listen to your body and go with what it needs.

 

I hope you feel better soon.