Delayed Ambien withdrawal or Remeron Side Effects

[[yu...]]

I am posting this as of course my psychiatrist thinks the answer is neither, it is just me!

 

I have not had to take a leave from work in 7 years and frustrated that most of it was caused by medication reactions/withdrawals/poop out etc.  My psychiatrist at least got it insurance approved so by a miracle I was paid but it also made me feel obligated to try some other medicine options.  (Also back in June I had a failed up dose attempt with the Lexapro from 10 to 15mg but had to come back down it was like my body was rejecting the med even though i have been on that dose years ago. That is a post for another forum)

 

After my own thinking and opinions here I realized the Ambien was doing more harm than help.  I could not get stable and was having memory issues and a host of other issues.  As an aside my p doc did not give me the Ambien, it was started by an emergency room doc when I went nearly four days with no sleep back in May and he agreed to let me continue as I was so fearful it was the only thing that would get me sleep. 

 

As you can see in my sig I did a fairly rapid taper of the Ambien and I still slept (not so great) on the three nights with 5mg and the one night on 2.5 was rough but still did it. I wanted to prove to myself that sleep was attainable. My P Doc wanted me to do 5mg one night and zero the next with starting the Remeron.

 

I then started on 7.5mg Remeron.  First three days the grogginess cancelled any anxiety and I slept fairly well however within two days I started getting very red eyes and some burning and aches around them and ghosting vertical double vision in the evening when driving.  I am prone to eye issues and get ocular rosacea from time to time.  The redness has subsided and during the later part of week 1 I started getting random bad muscle pains that would be in small waves and some vibrating in my upper legs. This second week I am getting odd burning sensations on my skin and I feel just sore and not great and getting random joint pains as well. (more so in the evening) prickling feelings in hands and feet as well (also only certain times of day) It is also not as sedating and that is good and bad. 

 

I went back to work today and functioned fairly well.  These sx are not subsiding much and are scaring me.  I am going to cut to 5mg tonight using my Gemini scale but maybe I should jump right to a quarter mg.  I am discouraged as I have some stability but don't want to get to far along on this med where I have to do a long taper. My gut is saying it is the Remeron and not the Ambien as I did three quarters of a 15mg Remeron for one night as a test and a felt more symptoms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[id...]]

Remeron nearly cost me my life, so my suggestion would be to run away from it. I had to CT off of 7.5 mg of Remeron after 2.5 years and it was worse than benzo withdrawal in many ways.

 

I did get all the side effects that you are mentioning while I was on it (the eyes issues were worse during WD from it, though). My side effects were getting worse every month I was on it, until left me pretty much a psychotic vegetable and I had to CT.

[[yu...]]

Update: 

 

I know there is a small subset of users on here that use a z drug with their benzo like I was.  My immediate goal was to get more stable and back to work then tackle the Ativan later.

 

I am 29 days off the Ambien and I no longer have the breathing issues that were very concerning to me, my memory is better but not 100% (more on that later) and a bunch of symptoms that would happen in the evening before my next Ambien dose.  Long story short it was destablizing me daily!  I was so afraid from my lack of sleep in May that I felt i could never give up the Ambien and all along it was making many things worse.  So this is a mini success and I dont want to reinstate even though I have some issues still.

 

My biggest issues and I am thinking they are from Remeron is the aching in my legs and around my hips that is worse from 3PM on and peaks in the early evening (some days are better than others). It feels like the muscles are stiff/brittle and even over my bladder area as well.Then even though I am tired enough for bed i get what I call wrestless hip syndrome where i have this creepy feeling on one or both sides and an urge to kick my whole leg.  I have to get up and then go back to bed later when even more exhausted.  I also am very angry in spells also maybe the Remeron as I tried Elavil years ago and I wanted to punch someone after one dose.  My anxiety is very low but it does nothing for my mood at this dose.  Still have some memory and fogginess but it is much less and that could be everything combined.

 

I think I may cut my remeron to 3.75 and maybe come off in the next two weeks but I don't want to unravel and was hoping it would be some stability while tapering Ativan. I have ordered some Inositol and 1mg Melatonin and hoping to use those if i come off the Remeron totally. 

[[me...]]

Yes, it sounds like the Remeron is not a good fit for you. Your Pdoc is right--no need to taper Ambien, it doesn't really make sense since you are already in withdrawal every day from it (half like is VERY short), so I wouldn't worry about that.

 

Try not to add too many things, even supplements, as it can get very confusing what is actually going on. I would also keep careful notes.

[[Ro...]]

Update: 

 

I know there is a small subset of users on here that use a z drug with their benzo like I was.  My immediate goal was to get more stable and back to work then tackle the Ativan later.

 

I am 29 days off the Ambien and I no longer have the breathing issues that were very concerning to me, my memory is better but not 100% (more on that later) and a bunch of symptoms that would happen in the evening before my next Ambien dose.  Long story short it was destablizing me daily!  I was so afraid from my lack of sleep in May that I felt i could never give up the Ambien and all along it was making many things worse.  So this is a mini success and I dont want to reinstate even though I have some issues still.

 

My biggest issues and I am thinking they are from Remeron is the aching in my legs and around my hips that is worse from 3PM on and peaks in the early evening (some days are better than others). It feels like the muscles are stiff/brittle and even over my bladder area as well.Then even though I am tired enough for bed i get what I call wrestless hip syndrome where i have this creepy feeling on one or both sides and an urge to kick my whole leg.  I have to get up and then go back to bed later when even more exhausted.  I also am very angry in spells also maybe the Remeron as I tried Elavil years ago and I wanted to punch someone after one dose.  My anxiety is very low but it does nothing for my mood at this dose.  Still have some memory and fogginess but it is much less and that could be everything combined.

 

I think I may cut my remeron to 3.75 and maybe come off in the next two weeks but I don't want to unravel and was hoping it would be some stability while tapering Ativan. I have ordered some Inositol and 1mg Melatonin and hoping to use those if i come off the Remeron totally.

I had to jump in I almost died from ambien w/d. It is a drug from hell and if you do not taper it you will have more pain and brain fog. It has already destroyed your GABA receptors. Those pin and needles are muscles that have been affect. You may have trouble walking or dragging a leg and the list can go on and on. It affects every muscle in your body.