Remeron when tapering with Valium.

[[JC...]]

Hi.

 

I post this question before and get some good feedback from some of you. I am wondering if anyone doing this and want to hear more from you in terms of your experience and your tapering schedule.

 

I am prescribed by my psycharist for remeron - more to help my depression and sleep. Depression part is ok, sleep part is ?. It looks like I am quite hard to be sedated - I can't imagine if I have to go to operational room one day - how much dose is required to put me down.

 

Regardless, I am planning to taper down with the Remeron and hope to get it through soon. Each day, I could only sleep for a few hours (2+ on a lucky day) and I hope the sleep will come back as I go further down. Any encouragement is appreciated.

 

Here is an article about using Remeron for tapering Benzo, only 1 case - I guess - so not particular conclusive - however, it shows an aggressive schedule 1/6 of dose reduction in 1 week. Not sure if anyone has tried this if so what reduction is used.

 

http://smj.sma.org.sg/4906/4906cr8.pdf

 

Regards

 

 

JC

[[Kl...]]

Hi.

 

I post this question before and get some good feedback from some of you. I am wondering if anyone doing this and want to hear more from you in terms of your experience and your tapering schedule.

 

I am prescribed by my psycharist for remeron - more to help my depression and sleep. Depression part is ok, sleep part is ?. It looks like I am quite hard to be sedated - I can't imagine if I have to go to operational room one day - how much dose is required to put me down.

 

Regardless, I am planning to taper down with the Remeron and hope to get it through soon. Each day, I could only sleep for a few hours (2+ on a lucky day) and I hope the sleep will come back as I go further down. Any encouragement is appreciated.

 

Here is an article about using Remeron for tapering Benzo, only 1 case - I guess - so not particular conclusive - however, it shows an aggressive schedule 1/6 of dose reduction in 1 week. Not sure if anyone has tried this if so what reduction is used.

 

http://smj.sma.org.sg/4906/4906cr8.pdf

 

Regards

 

 

JC

 

Hi JC,

 

Thank you for posting the link to the above article. 

 

When you speak of the 1/6 dose reduction are you referring to this particular patient's benzo reduction or to Remeron?

 

I found Remeron to be more sedating at lower doses (15 mg and below).  What has your experience been? 

 

Hugs, KL

[[JC...]]

It is Parker's credit to find the article.

 

The 1/6 is for the Benzo tapering. They never mentioned the Remeron tapering. But I find the following link

 

http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/remeron-ADF.htm from http://experts.wirefire.com/Herbalist/non-cgi/Forum1/HTML/000682.html

 

Parker has a better experience to get off the Remeron. I will try to PM him for response.

 

For sedating effect, conventional wisdom tell me higher the better so I have not tried lower; I am currently at 15 mg. May give it a try 1 day.

 

By the way, do you find that it takes some day for the Remeron to kick in - even for sleeping?

 

I find my mood improve right the way - that suppose to take a few days; perhaps I am very low on serotonin; that could be my problem to start with. I still remember, I just go to a vacation - same place many times - but across 12 hour time zone; come back - suddenly lost my mood to everything; insomnia kick in like crazy. 

 

 

 

 

[[Kl...]]

It is Parker's credit to find the article.

 

The 1/6 is for the Benzo tapering. They never mentioned the Remeron tapering. But I find the following link

 

http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/remeron-ADF.htm from http://experts.wirefire.com/Herbalist/non-cgi/Forum1/HTML/000682.html

 

Parker has a better experience to get off the Remeron. I will try to PM him for response.

 

For sedating effect, conventional wisdom tell me higher the better so I have not tried lower; I am currently at 15 mg. May give it a try 1 day.

 

By the way, do you find that it takes some day for the Remeron to kick in - even for sleeping?

 

I find my mood improve right the way - that suppose to take a few days; perhaps I am very low on serotonin; that could be my problem to start with. I still remember, I just go to a vacation - same place many times - but across 12 hour time zone; come back - suddenly lost my mood to everything; insomnia kick in like crazy.

 

Hi JC,

 

I think you may have discovered why you may be having difficulties with insomnia due to being jet lagged.  This should get better, particularly if you try and maintain a regular bedtime and wake up time within 7 to 10 days.

 

Remeron actually is more activating the higher the dosage - most activating at the 45 mg. dose according to what I have read.  In lower dosages it tends to saturate the antihistamine receptors and this is why it can be sedating for many. 

 

I would speak to your doctor before you increase your dose, especially if you have intentions of lowering the dose in the near future.  Increasing your dose may not help with insomnia.

 

I started on Remeron at 15 mg. when I initially jumped and it may have helped me with my sleep and the high anxiety I was feeling.  I believe I am now coming to the end of the acute phase as my levels of anxiety are becoming more manageable and respond to coping skills and reassurance. Ten days ago I started tapering down on the Remeron to 11.25 mg and now  I am  down to a little bit over 7.5 mg. (1/2 tab + 1/8 tab = 7.68 mg).  In another 7 to 10 days, I will begin tapering using a pharmacy compounded Remeron (mirtazapine) suspension with a concentration of 1mg/ml. The Remeron solution is not available in the US, but I believe it is available in the UK. From what I understand, Remeron is partially soluable in water.  I believe it is compounded in the US using a standard suspending vehicle.

 

I can tell you that I forgot to take it one night about 2 weeks ago and the vivid dreaming was so intense that I thought I was experiencing "hallucinations".  I was not hallucinating, but this experience tells me that I definitely need to taper off this drug to minimize or avoid any withdrawal. 

 

Please check with your doctor before you make any changes to your dose.  Hugs, KL

 

 

[[pa...]]

Hi JC - I'm not sure of your question, but are you trying to figure out how much of your benzo dose to cut while you are taking Remeron 15mg at the same time? 

 

I dont' have specific tapering advice for you regarding the valium. What I know of tapering valium is from the Ashton manual. I believe she recommends about .5mg every week or two to be conservative. However, other buddies may recommend that you hold at any particular dose until you feel you have stabilized, before cutting again.  Maybe some other buddies can chime in here.  It would help if you go to your profile and then change your signature so that we know what meds you have been on and at what doses. 

 

Beyond that, I didn't use Remeron during my actual benzo taper. I rapidly tapered off of my meds (see my signature below) and one week later, I was unable to sleep or eat without vomiting, so I was prescribed Remeron 15mg at that point. I took it for 6 weeks at that dose and it helped me sleep 9-10 hours.  The first night, I actually took 2 pills at the doctor's direction  (30mg) but each night afterwards I took 15.  I then tapered it and spent the next month on nothing.  I restarted the Remeron at month 3 at about 3/4 of a tablet (11mg) and 1 month later, I have tapered it to 7.5 over a course of about 2 weeks.  Now I'm continuing to taper that - I took 3/4 of the 1/2 pill (or about 6-ish mg) last night. And I will old that for at least another week before cutting again.  Remeron has a half life of 20-40 hours - usually close to the 40 hours for women.  So, in my case, since I am a woman, typically one cut would be fully "realized" within about 8 days.  Therefore, I hold my cuts until at least 8 days before attemtping to cut again, allowing my body time to adjust. I will make sure I'm stable before cutting. So far, I am sleeping well. I have a few days of sporadic crying as each cut registers, but that is expected with a loss of serotonin, however, then I level out and feel even better than before. So far that is the pattern for me. But that is tapering the Remeron, and I feel that your question may have to do more with tapering valium....

[[pa...]]

Oh - sorry JC. I see that you do have a signature.  Sorry. I was looking at the wrong place. :)Parker

[[JC...]]

Many thanks for the info.

 

The jet lag is close to a year ago - I was fine for the first week, 2nd week, thing fall apart.

 

The question is more for Klonder on how to taper off the Remeron. It looks like it is not as bad as the Benzo; that is good.

 

I hope I could taper off the Benzo with the help of Remeron

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing the info.