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Help with Mirtazapine (Remeron)


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I think I´ve made a mistake with Mirtazapine. As I began to feel stronger, I decided  to reduce the dose of mirtazapine. But It was too much to my body:  from 15 mg to 7,5mg  (50%)

The fifth day after reduction, I´ve began to experiment horrible symptoms, nervoussness and severe social phobia.

Today (6th day), I don´t know what to do, if return to 15 mg or try to keep it somewhere in between, like 11, 25 mg.

Obs: I do CBT, but I don´t believe in doctors anymore. I want to do this on my own. Thanks a lot.

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I personally would up dose a bit to feel stable and then begin a slower taper. You made a really big cut. I just learned the other day that this medication comes in a oral solution which would make cutting it by really small amounts much easier. I hope you feel some relief soon.
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The Ashton Manual suggests tapering ADs only after benzo WD is gone. They don´t hinder recovery and may help, indeed.

 

I had to CT both mirtazapine and escitalopram (at the same time) during WD because of a strong adverse reaction, and it was hell. However, it doesn´t last more than 4 weeks. I would have never quit if it wasn´t for my bad reaction, and maybe you don´t have to do it, either. I´m happy now to be med free, that´s true, but the stress I had from 2 CTs in the middle of a benzo wave was sort of... extreme.

 

It all depends on what you mean by "feeling stronger". If that means close to healed, then it´s a good moment to taper mirtazapine down. If not, updose and hold on. That´s my humble advice.

 

 

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Thanks for the kind words!

 

Did you feel ok on mirtazapine?

How long have you been on it?

Why do you want to come off it?

 

 

I´ve been on Mirtazapine since I finished the rapid taper of benzo (October 2012)

I think Mirtazapine helped me a lot. Helped me with sleeping, and anxiety, basically.

I want to come off for several reasons. But mainly I want to stop feeling hungry all the time, and I want to be really "clean". I´ve read a lot of comments saying the body really heal when you are totally clean. What do you think about it? But I have respect for my body. Now I know that my nervous system is still very sensitive and weak. I decided to stabilize the dose in 11,25mg. And wait more time. After a certain period, I will begin to taper very slowly.

I´ve learned: everything must be done with extreme care.

 

 

I personally would up dose a bit to feel stable and then begin a slower taper. You made a really big cut. I just learned the other day that this medication comes in a oral solution which would make cutting it by really small amounts much easier. I hope you feel some relief soon.

 

Thanks for this advice. I have planned to do exactly the way you mentioned here. I am not stable yet, but I think it will be better this week. So I hope in Germany it will be possible to find the oral solution. Anyway I am planning to do this after July.

 

The Ashton Manual suggests tapering ADs only after benzo WD is gone. They don´t hinder recovery and may help, indeed.

 

I had to CT both mirtazapine and escitalopram (at the same time) during WD because of a strong adverse reaction, and it was hell. However, it doesn´t last more than 4 weeks. I would have never quit if it wasn´t for my bad reaction, and maybe you don´t have to do it, either. I´m happy now to be med free, that´s true, but the stress I had from 2 CTs in the middle of a benzo wave was sort of... extreme.

 

It all depends on what you mean by "feeling stronger". If that means close to healed, then it´s a good moment to taper mirtazapine down. If not, updose and hold on. That´s my humble advice.

 

 

I am still very sensitive, and I need a very slow taper. Recovery is very treacherous and confuse sometimes.  By stronger, I mean: In some periods, I feel more motivation and I want to do more things.

But the CNS is still very weak in its base.

That is exactly my case.

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I tend to do many reckless things every time I begin to feel better. For example, a couple of hours ago I took 2.5 mg hydrocodone for a physical pain (non benzo related) and I started to feel mild nerve pain in the legs, a sx which I had never had. That scared me a lot, and I¨m praying that it will go when the medicine leaves the boddy. It would be terrible that this would trigger that nasty sx. Like you said, the CNS remains very weak for a while after we start feeling better, and maybe relapses often occur for not taking this into account.

 

The good news in the case of mirtazapine is that discontinuation syndrome lasts much less than benzo´s. Mine was very strong and in 4 weeks nothing remained.

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I tend to do many reckless things every time I begin to feel better. For example, a couple of hours ago I took 2.5 mg hydrocodone for a physical pain (non benzo related) and I started to feel mild nerve pain in the legs, a sx which I had never had. That scared me a lot, and I¨m praying that it will go when the medicine leaves the boddy. It would be terrible that this would trigger that nasty sx. Like you said, the CNS remains very weak for a while after we start feeling better, and maybe relapses often occur for not taking this into account.

 

The good news in the case of mirtazapine is that discontinuation syndrome lasts much less than benzo´s. Mine was very strong and in 4 weeks nothing remained.

 

Hello Laudante.  Did you find the mirtazipine helped your benzo withdrawal symptoms?  Some people here have had very good results with mirtazipine but many other have not.  How about you?

 

 

 

 

 

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Hi. It´s very difficult to tell if I really benefited, because my EX doctor put me on it some weeks before CT. Yes, the psychiarist doctor ordered CT. First, I was taking doxepine, indeed, but they discontinued it in Mexico, so I switched to remeron.

 

This means that I didn´t have anytime a WD without doxepine/mirtazapine, which would allow me to compare my state before and after.

 

And when I CT mirtazapine, things were terrible but due to new WD, and then improved. So, also, it´s difficult to tell what was caused by what.

 

What is true is that I slept well during almost all wd, if I forgot a dose things got worse, and if I increased it, anxiety, depression and insomnia got better. All the other sxs were the same increasing or decreasing it. That´s why I assume it helped me somehow. 

 

I tend not to recommend it to anyone, except in two cases:

 

a) True emergencies (in those cases almost anything not dealing with GABA receptors can be tried, and in that case it would be easily noticeable if something helps, worsens or nothing).

 

b) If they are already taking it. The withdrawal can be tough and that´s probably why the Ashton Manual (which shouldn´t be taken as a bible, just as a reference, IMO) suggest to taper ADs only after healing from benzos.

 

But yes, I´ve seen those posts that are very adverse towards mirtazapine and/or ADs in general.

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