ANY EXPERIENCE WITH MIRTAZAPINE (REMERON)?

I'd love to hear people's experiences with Remeron. I saw a new Pyschopharmacologist and he wasn't for dispensing Valium for my taper from .5mg Klonipen, which was dispensed by my PCP for surgery.  BUT...the Pyschopharmacologist did me a favor on our first meeting and prescribed sixty 2mg Valium...and he said it's the only one he will do. I have some 5mg so I think I may be okay.

 

He also disagreed with the Ashton Manual. He said .5mg of Klonipen = 7.5mg of Valium. What's true?

 

I asked him for Remeron because I read here that is was useful for sleep while people were tapering.

 

Please tell me your experiences with it if you have used it.

 

Thanks

Hi Seeking,

There are no hard and fast equivalencies for benzos unfortunately ....

I have been taking 5mg of Mirtazapine - Remeron to help with sleep and it's a godsend.  (It's a low dose -- low doses tend to be more sedating than higher ones)  Also I cut mine from a 15mg pill with a scale.

It's works very well for me as insomnia was making the taper unbearable.

Hope that helps

Wishing you well

SS

 

Thanks

Hi

 

I have been prescribed remeron. It was bad for me. It kicks in and you want to eat everything. You care about nothing but not in a good way. So you are trying to eat and then you have to go sleep. If I remember correctly the mg dosage was exactly how long I slept. Like 10 mg is a solid 10 hour sleep. And it's not a good sleep. Not at all. Very disturbing. I wish I could tell you that it worked well.

 

Have you talked to your dr about clonidine. It is not a controlled substance thank goodness. It's a blood pressure med that slows things down at night and really does make me sleepy. The racing heart feeling is way down.

 

Wish you all the best.

Hi Seeking Advice,

Good to know that there are many meds that affect people differently - Remeron being one of them.  I haven't had the experience of my appetite getting out of control, and find the sleep on the med to be quite refreshing! 

So yes people respond differently...  that's one of the challenges with all of this.

Hope it all goes well

SS

I took a tiny mirtazapine dose for under a year and started to taper it. After my last valium taper crash---should have done liquid taper.

 

I'm having to make a 100ml solution of mirt per builder's guidance. 15mg(not my dose) + 30ml vodka + 70ml water= 100ml batch that lasts a long time.

I started at about 2mg equivalent which was 13ml I took out of 100ml batch. I notched down every 3 days by a 1 ml. 12, 11, 10 etc.

 

At 3ml got a little tougher as I was cutting larger than 10 %. So now cutting by .2ml. So 3ml, 2.8, 2.6.

 

Some are able to get off mirt with relative ease. But not all of us. Even though it's a tiny amount it's nasty to me if I cut more than around 10%. Hoping the

rest of the cuts will be smooth as these have been. At 1ml or so I'll prob have to cut by .1ml. Such as .9, .8. .7 every few days or more.

 

infoshare

I took Remeron/Remergon (Mirtrazapine) quite a few times but I don't think you really want to hear my experience.   

 

Anyways you asked for it. Kept me in bed for over 38 hours, knocked me out cold for 24 hours deep sleep. If I would wake up I got severe sleep paralysis. I was awake but couldn't move my entire body for about 5 to 10 minutes. I kept trying until my system woke up. It was the most horrific experience of my life. I was like crawling and dragging myself a way on to the bathroom. Could hardly get out of bed for using #1 and 2. The day afterwards felt like utter crap which should be to no surprise if you think about it. I couldn't even eat or drink because I just couldn't wake up enough to do so and to drag me out of my bed. I made it one time to the bathroom and one time for a glass of sports-drink. No food ! I rather kill myself than ever taking that stuff again. And they say benzo's are bad ...   

 

 

Hi Seeking Advice,

Good to know that there are many meds that affect people differently - Remeron being one of them.  I haven't had the experience of my appetite getting out of control, and find the sleep on the med to be quite refreshing!

So yes people respond differently...  that's one of the challenges with all of this.

Hope it all goes well

SS

 

 

LOL   

Well it is  love that sleep and the dreams that come with it!

 

Well it is  love that sleep and the dreams that come with it!

 

Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm happy it works so well for you. I just wish it would do the same for me. Isn't it funny how different drugs have a totally different effect on different people ? I had special dreams too when I was on it , I rather not talk about it. Like I was fighting an ET out of space and could travel through space and time. Not really the kind of stuff you want to get involved with ...  I saw a big flash of light and was just in outer space somewhere in between God and demons, like I was a football and they were figthing over me ...

 

 

Just got tossed into gabapentin w/d, courtesy of the medical establishment, and I am terrified. Clean from benzos for 3 years (although I have chosen to occasionally take a bit of xanax for sleep, confined as I am to a night shift and unable to sleep during the day--have done so a total of 5/x during the last 365, so I am not yet concerned about a defacto relapse) and unable to reinstate.

 

Won't go into the details other than to say that I've been on 2400 mgs of gabapentin for many years to stabliize mood and deal with post benzo  anxiety. Can't see the doc for a long time--no fault of mine. I happen to have a stash of mirtazepine that he gave me for sleep and that I couldn't take b/c of the rabid appetite and weight gain. I find it to be bad shit, even though it gave me some insane dreams that although unpleasant, I would gladly revisit because they were so damn interesting.

 

That said, I may have to take it again. I don't want to..... :'(

Hi juliad, my husband was on both valium and remeron for 4.5 years. Neither of us could ever tell that the valium helped, but the remeron definitely helped him sleep at night. It initially gave him a headache, but he reduced the dose and was still able to get the benefits for sleep. Retrospectively, it might have been better to only be on remeron. I think it may have kept him somewhat steady during the valium taper, but he's definitely getting hit with some hard remeron withdrawal effects now. His take on it was "it worked, it did everything it was supposed to do, but those were some wild dreams!"

Mirtazapine was horrible for me. Gain weight and leg swelling were out of control, muscle issues, depression, suicidal compulsions, OCD -- caused by Remeron. My motivation was 0. All I did was sleep and eat, eat and sleep. Didn't care about anything. I had to cold turkey off of it, because of suicidal compulsions. Remeron withdrawal was almost worse than benzo (especially physically), but mental recovery was relatively fast (less than 2 months) although physically I'm still not back to normal (because Remeron is a powerful antihistamine, it was suppressing my histamine for 2.5 years, so now I am reacting to pretty much all foods -- I had allergist test me, because he didn't believe it's possible to be allergic to all foods. well, it sure is after extended Remeron use.) That being said, Remeron did help me get off of Ativan once. I personally wouldn't use it anymore, but if you want to try it, make sure you don't take it every day and don't develop dependence on it.

I was on Mirtazapine for over 6 years.

Started on 15mg for insomnia.

The lower doses are apparently more for insomnia, higher doses apparently don't work much for sleep but are more targeting depression.

Apparently. Because over the years I went from 15 to 30 to 45... and they all zonked me within half an hour for sleep.

 

The first month was... difficult. Major sweet tooth and munchies. Huge.

Gained probably around 10-15kg over the first couple of years. Because the sweet craving never really left.

Weird leg feelings for the first couple of weeks was yuck as well.

 

I seriously needed it though. It was a lifesaver for my insomnia.

But... every night I'd have some weird amnesia.  When I'd take my nightly dose, if I was watching a show in bed.. I wouldn't remember anything about the show the next day. So that was a bit annoying.

 

And morning time was very unpleasant. Husband eventually learned just not to talk to me for the first half hour of waking up and just give me a wide berth. Grumpy. With capital G. This may have been unique to me though. But since I've not been on Mirtazapine, It's been a huge difference how I feel in the morning, so I know it was definitely the med that gave me the crankies.

 

Glad I had it. Also glad I'm not on it anymore. But I'd almost run out of options due to going through most of the other meds that were suitable for me at the time. So it was a med I was happy with despite all the negatives I had to deal with.

 

Edit: forgot to add the withdrawal.

Due to being put on Ativan, and on 3mg/day for the last few months.. my insomnia just disappeared, so I'd end up naturally falling asleep quite a bit before I could take my usual Mirtazapine dose.

So I went through some kind of totally not planned taper, but didn't have any withdrawals when I missed doses or stopped completely.

 

if I missed a dose, (before the Ativan) I just couldn't sleep. That was about the only side effect I experienced from a missed dose (happened rarely, only if I'd run out, knew that night was my last tablet, wouldn't think about it until the next night when it was time to try and sleep, but obviously by then the pharmacy would be closed... bah...)

Hi juliad, my husband was on both valium and remeron for 4.5 years. Neither of us could ever tell that the valium helped, but the remeron definitely helped him sleep at night. It initially gave him a headache, but he reduced the dose and was still able to get the benefits for sleep. Retrospectively, it might have been better to only be on remeron. I think it may have kept him somewhat steady during the valium taper, but he's definitely getting hit with some hard remeron withdrawal effects now. His take on it was "it worked, it did everything it was supposed to do, but those were some wild dreams!"

 

After some serious reflection and research, we've decided that the symptoms my husband has been experiencing lately were not remeron withdrawal, but rather that the remeron had been masking some of the more severe benzo sympoms. He's just restarted remeron and after just 1 dose is doing much better. Hoping that it will take away some of the other bad things that have come up lately!

 

 

 

 

Edit: forgot to add the withdrawal.

Due to being put on Ativan, and on 3mg/day for the last few months.. my insomnia just disappeared, so I'd end up naturally falling asleep quite a bit before I could take my usual Mirtazapine dose.

So I went through some kind of totally not planned taper, but didn't have any withdrawals when I missed doses or stopped completely.

 

if I missed a dose, (before the Ativan) I just couldn't sleep. That was about the only side effect I experienced from a missed dose (happened rarely, only if I'd run out, knew that night was my last tablet, wouldn't think about it until the next night when it was time to try and sleep, but obviously by then the pharmacy would be closed... bah...)

 

Am I reading this right? you've been put on 3mg of Ativan for sleep to get you off Remeron?  Many on here are struggling hard to get off Ativan so please be very careful -- If I'm reading this right.......

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: forgot to add the withdrawal.

Due to being put on Ativan, and on 3mg/day for the last few months.. my insomnia just disappeared, so I'd end up naturally falling asleep quite a bit before I could take my usual Mirtazapine dose.

So I went through some kind of totally not planned taper, but didn't have any withdrawals when I missed doses or stopped completely.

 

if I missed a dose, (before the Ativan) I just couldn't sleep. That was about the only side effect I experienced from a missed dose (happened rarely, only if I'd run out, knew that night was my last tablet, wouldn't think about it until the next night when it was time to try and sleep, but obviously by then the pharmacy would be closed... bah...)

 

Am I reading this right? you've been put on 3mg of Ativan for sleep to get you off Remeron?  Many on here are struggling hard to get off Ativan so please be very careful -- If I'm reading this right.......

Ah no. I probably didn't explain that last bit right. I was put on Ativan for anxiety. It just happened that the Ativan fixed my insomnia. So I was falling asleep often before I got to take my usual Mirtazapine dose. Before Ativan there was zero chance of me falling asleep naturally without taking the Mirtazapine.

 

I'm now falling asleep fine, but having other sleep issues lately of waking up stupidly early (like 2,3,4am and not getting back to sleep.

 

I've literally this week been scripted from Ativan to valium and will be tapering off. But thankyou for your concerns 

 

 

 

 

Edit: forgot to add the withdrawal.

Due to being put on Ativan, and on 3mg/day for the last few months.. my insomnia just disappeared, so I'd end up naturally falling asleep quite a bit before I could take my usual Mirtazapine dose.

So I went through some kind of totally not planned taper, but didn't have any withdrawals when I missed doses or stopped completely.

 

if I missed a dose, (before the Ativan) I just couldn't sleep. That was about the only side effect I experienced from a missed dose (happened rarely, only if I'd run out, knew that night was my last tablet, wouldn't think about it until the next night when it was time to try and sleep, but obviously by then the pharmacy would be closed... bah...)

 

Am I reading this right? you've been put on 3mg of Ativan for sleep to get you off Remeron?  Many on here are struggling hard to get off Ativan so please be very careful -- If I'm reading this right.......

Ah no. I probably didn't explain that last bit right. I was put on Ativan for anxiety. It just happened that the Ativan fixed my insomnia. So I was falling asleep often before I got to take my usual Mirtazapine dose. Before Ativan there was zero chance of me falling asleep naturally without taking the Mirtazapine.

 

I'm now falling asleep fine, but having other sleep issues lately of waking up stupidly early (like 2,3,4am and not getting back to sleep.

 

I've literally this week been scripted from Ativan to valium and will be tapering off. But thankyou for your concerns 

Hopefully you weren't on the Ativan for long?  It's one of the meds that we're all struggling with so hard!  So again, even if you've been switched over to Valium it's a benzo..... mirtazapine isn't...  better to sleep with the Mirt....