Remeron (Mirtazapine) Withdrawal Support Group

[[ju...]]

  I didn't feel good, but I was able to live my life, and I took care of myself using all the tools I learned from the benzo withdrawal.

 

 

Thanks about the detailed information. Could i learn these tools, because my anx. is sometimes so crippling happened due to drug history. It has never stabilised, on the contrary it got worse. Fortunately i have had two windows in last two months and i know they ll be steady. What about the anx. I think it is not close to ct a drug or benzo wd. I cant differentiate the tapering anxiety from my ct anxiety. I had holded it at a fixed dose for 5 months and i decided to push it because of persistent anxiety. So, i am taking my steps slower. I have tried weekly 0.15, then changed it to 0.3 for 3 weeks. I am just trying. Thanks again

[Guest [Lo...]]

Did you get withdrawal from only tapering 4 months?

I feel like it. But how many other things can I factor in and still know why I feel anything: I jumped from Benzos in 2016, lost parents, have a lot of muscle and joint stuff, and I think the corona quarantine is giving me a nervous collapse. (not totally) plus the unspeakable that we all have. I feel like I have maximum anxiety with no way to know what it is, or if it's temporary.

 

I was on 3.75 for 5 years and I just had to get off. I had a Dr tell me to just stop but I thought 4 months was a good medium. I didn't want to take years if I didn't have to.

 

I still have two more meds to drop, but it's hard to feel poised to do anything.

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your parents and all you have been through.  Do you feel it helped you get off the benzos?  Keep you chin up, you have conquered a lot!

 

Thanks Lookinup! Oh Yeah. You know when I was trying to keep my job and life together (benzo madness) I was dancing with remeron. It helped me to survive this no question at all. It's a demon though. I was only on benzos because of remeron (30mg) discontinuation anyway originally, so I have a deep fear of it.  Stay safe!

[/quote

I used I to get dose down on Klonopin, then jumped at 1.8 mg. And went to tailspin,  Caused me to use more K and had to add Ambien for lack of sleep.  Horrible and went to rehab- worsened after taking me off quickly.  And added 3.75 mirt back!  Now I am getting symptoms from that.  Doesn’t work.  That drug is just a bad as benzos if not worse.  Thanks for getting back!

[[Po...]]

I’M OFFFFFF!!!! Took my last 0.1mg dose of mirtazapine 3 days ago after a 18 month taper  .

I’m still having sxs but now we are not sure if it’s WD or the beta blocker I’ve been on for 8 years. I recently had a bout of atrial flutter that landed me in the hospital for 3days early March. Since then I had a right atrial ablation. Some of the thinking then was that my persistent fatigue and malaise was due to the AFlutter. Since the ablation in mid April I’ve still had the fatigue and malaise. I’ve had multiple heart tests and they’ve all been normal showing I have a pretty good heart for a guy 71. Now the thinking is it’s the BB that’s causing my fatigue and malaise. BBs are notorious for making people feel crappy. AFib can make you feel similar as well, but the monitor I wore for 14 days revealed I was not having AFib. So now they have me tapering off the BB thinking it’s the culprit. Time will tell I guess if it’s the BB or protracted WD sxs from the mirtazapine OR protracted WD sxs from the benzo I was on for 20 years but got off of 6 years ago. My whole point is various drugs can really screw a person up.  I hope you all are doing well. I’ll stop back by now and then to see how you all are doing. The biggest thing I’ve taken away from this forum is that people here care about each other and try and help. The world needs more of that 🙏😊

[[ja...]]

Congratulations Pokey!!! 🎉

 

Jackie  :smitten:

 

 

[[Be...]]

Hooray you did it! I bet the longer you are away from Mirt the fatigue and malaise will lessen. It did with my last AD. Good luck. Jackie jumps next. Good luck to Jackie.

 

Becky

[[Po...]]

I hope you are right Becky. Good luck to you, Jack and Jackie.

 

Jackie, you go girl :smitten: When do you anticipate being off??

[[no...]]

I’M OFFFFFF!!!! Took my last 0.1mg dose of mirtazapine 3 days ago after a 18 month taper  .

I’m still having sxs but now we are not sure if it’s WD or the beta blocker I’ve been on for 8 years. I recently had a bout of atrial flutter that landed me in the hospital for 3days early March. Since then I had a right atrial ablation. Some of the thinking then was that my persistent fatigue and malaise was due to the AFlutter. Since the ablation in mid April I’ve still had the fatigue and malaise. I’ve had multiple heart tests and they’ve all been normal showing I have a pretty good heart for a guy 71. Now the thinking is it’s the BB that’s causing my fatigue and malaise. BBs are notorious for making people feel crappy. AFib can make you feel similar as well, but the monitor I wore for 14 days revealed I was not having AFib. So now they have me tapering off the BB thinking it’s the culprit. Time will tell I guess if it’s the BB or protracted WD sxs from the mirtazapine OR protracted WD sxs from the benzo I was on for 20 years but got off of 6 years ago. My whole point is various drugs can really screw a person up.  I hope you all are doing well. I’ll stop back by now and then to see how you all are doing. The biggest thing I’ve taken away from this forum is that people here care about each other and try and help. The world needs more of that 🙏😊

 

Pokey, congratulations!

 

After I jumped, I found that some lingering sxs waxed and waned for a few months before finally abating. You sound like you are in good form and I think it is full speed ahead for you!

 

Best wishes and hang in there,

 

Dave

[[ju...]]

Congrats Pokey. I remember you screamed like that "i want off, off" in Sept or Nov and then we encouraged you to push it. I celebrate you for this long journey and i hope we ll be there one day at a time. I am curious about your tapering shape. How much dose and how long had been you using when you started tapering? You used cut&hold method or tiny reductions?

The last thing i ask i dont remember you complained about anxiety. Havent you suffered in the way you pushed?Thanks

[Guest [Lo...]]

I’M OFFFFFF!!!! Took my last 0.1mg dose of mirtazapine 3 days ago after a 18 month taper  .

I’m still having sxs but now we are not sure if it’s WD or the beta blocker I’ve been on for 8 years. I recently had a bout of atrial flutter that landed me in the hospital for 3days early March. Since then I had a right atrial ablation. Some of the thinking then was that my persistent fatigue and malaise was due to the AFlutter. Since the ablation in mid April I’ve still had the fatigue and malaise. I’ve had multiple heart tests and they’ve all been normal showing I have a pretty good heart for a guy 71. Now the thinking is it’s the BB that’s causing my fatigue and malaise. BBs are notorious for making people feel crappy. AFib can make you feel similar as well, but the monitor I wore for 14 days revealed I was not having AFib. So now they have me tapering off the BB thinking it’s the culprit. Time will tell I guess if it’s the BB or protracted WD sxs from the mirtazapine OR protracted WD sxs from the benzo I was on for 20 years but got off of 6 years ago. My whole point is various drugs can really screw a person up.  I hope you all are doing well. I’ll stop back by now and then to see how you all are doing. The biggest thing I’ve taken away from this forum is that people here care about each other and try and help. The world needs more of that 🙏😊

I’M OFFFFFF!!!! Took my last 0.1mg dose of mirtazapine 3 days ago after a 18 month taper  .

I’m still having sxs but now we are not sure if it’s WD or the beta blocker I’ve been on for 8 years. I recently had a bout of atrial flutter that landed me in the hospital for 3days early March. Since then I had a right atrial ablation. Some of the thinking then was that my persistent fatigue and malaise was due to the AFlutter. Since the ablation in mid April I’ve still had the fatigue and malaise. I’ve had multiple heart tests and they’ve all been normal showing I have a pretty good heart for a guy 71. Now the thinking is it’s the BB that’s causing my fatigue and malaise. BBs are notorious for making people feel crappy. AFib can make you feel similar as well, but the monitor I wore for 14 days revealed I was not having AFib. So now they have me tapering off the BB thinking it’s the culprit. Time will tell I guess if it’s the BB or protracted WD sxs from the mirtazapine OR protracted WD sxs from the benzo I was on for 20 years but got off of 6 years ago. My whole point is various drugs can really screw a person up.  I hope you all are doing well. I’ll stop back by now and then to see how you all are doing. The biggest thing I’ve taken away from this forum is that people here care about each other and try and help. The world needs more of that 🙏😊

 

Pokey, congratulations!

 

After I jumped, I found that some lingering sxs waxed and waned for a few months before finally abating. You sound like you are in good form and I think it is full speed ahead for you!

 

Best wishes and hang in there,

 

Dave

 

Congratulations, Dave.  What dose did you taper from?  I am getting ready to taper from 3.75 and am using a compounding pharmacist.  Not sure what to make the reductions. Thanks!

[[Ja...]]

Congratulations Pokey! I was having a rough day and this news certainly brightened my day. I hope you get relief from the remaining symptoms soon. Please keep us updated on your recovery.

[[Wa...]]

Lookinup, I can't advise you on which medication to taper from first. My benzo withdrawal was so difficult that I needed the Remeron to get through it. From your post, it sounds like your Valium taper is already under way.  So, I read that as you already had an idea, based on your own wisdom, which one should go first.  I say follow your wisdom. 

 

June, I know how debilitating the anxiety can be.  My tools are my coping skills.  My husband and I call it my "tool box' that I need to draw from when things get rough.  I'll list them, but the bottom line is that for me, gentle distracting activity was most important in helping me cope with it.  If I sat around and thought, got into my head too much, the anxiety was worse.  I distracted myself as best I could while my body healed.

 

Morning anxiety was the worst so this was my routine:

I got up and ate breakfast to get my blood sugar back up.  I stayed away from all news and social media. 

 

Yoga-I'm not a big fan but it definitely helped my anxiety.  I make myself do 15 minutes of gentle stretching/restorative yoga. 

 

Walking-In early withdrawal from the benzo, I could only walk around the block and my husband had to support me.  Now I'm up to a couple of miles.  By the time I get home, my anxiety is diminished even more. 

 

Warm bath/shower to relax me even more.

 

During the day I used other gentle distractions to take my mind off any anxiety and my other symptoms:

 

Crossword/jigsaw puzzles, podcasts, reading uplifting stories, nature videos (Creationscapes videos were my go to when anxiety kept me on the couch), listening to quiet music.

 

I go outside- in the midst of benzo withdrawal, I watched a YouTube video called "How Forests Heal".  I took it to heart.  While I don't have a big forest near me, I do have trees around, so I get outside, even if I am just sitting, and look at the trees and listen to the birds.  Or I do some gardening. Very healing.

 

I contact a friend-in early withdrawal, visiting with people made my anxiety worse, but I knew that if I isolated myself it would feed my depression, so I took baby steps and texted, then called, then made brief visits as I felt better.  Even if I could only tolerate a visit long enough for them to pray with me, then that was good. I only contacted friends that would respect what I was going through and respected my boundaries.

 

I watched calming TV shows like The Waltons.  When I could tolerate the stimulation of comedies, I watched old sitcoms. 

 

I went for a drive on country roads.

 

I hung signs around my house, in my own writing, like "This is NOT your life.  This is only withdrawal."  When the psychological symptoms were very bad, these helped me to stay grounded.

 

Deep breathing exercises

 

Meditation/prayer-doing this with my eyes closed was out.  If I did this, or any type of body scanning meditation, my anxiety would skyrocket because I was focusing on my body. I meditated and prayed with my eyes open, usually while being outside.

 

Finally, especially in the months following benzo withdrawal, I had significant anxiety when it came to going to bed. Between the nightmares/terrors and insomnia, the idea of going to bed filled me with dread. This is what I did:

 

When I got up in the morning, I made my bed and never got back in to it, even if it meant I was spending the entire day on the couch because I was feeling so bad.  I wanted my mind to associate my bed with sleep, not the place of withdrawal suffering.  I kept a nighttime routine, going to bed at the same time every night.  Sometimes I took a warm bath or shower if my restless legs and "body buzzing" was an issue.  I made sure my blood sugar was stable and that I had quiet time leading up to it, usually reading, doing a puzzle or listening to music. 

 

When my anxiety hit during the night, I practiced deep breathing, maybe getting up and walk around a bit to ground myself if I had to shake off a nightmare/terror.  I told myself that if I didn't sleep well that night, that I would sleep eventually because my body would take over, just as the Ashton manual said.  By the time I jumped from the mirt, I had good sleep hygiene in place and insomnia wasn't a severe issue. 

 

I also want to share with you something that my GP told me.  My world was shrinking and eventually I ended up not wanting to leave the house and then my recliner became my world.  When I told him about this he said "You're going to have to start doing things afraid."  It was the best advice.  I began to gently challenge myself, I just started doing things even though I was afraid, and eventually my mind learned that the things that I thought I was afraid of, were not a threat at all.  My world started to expand again and my agoraphobic anxiety went away. 

 

I hope this helps in some way. 

Blessings

 

 

 

[[Wa...]]

Congratulations Pokey!

[[ja...]]

Thank you Becky! Pokey, I should jump in 4 months at 0.002 Grams. Excited and a little scared. Making another cut in a couple days. 0.008 grams. Please keep us posted and let us know how your doing. All my best to you.

 

Jackie 

[[ju...]]

Thanks for your advices. I am trying most of them, but i ll try the other which i havent done yet.As far as i understand, the rem wd anx. is not comparable with CT anx. or benzo wd anx. Thanks again...

[Guest [Lo...]]

Lookinup, I can't advise you on which medication to taper from first. My benzo withdrawal was so difficult that I needed the Remeron to get through it. From your post, it sounds like your Valium taper is already under way.  So, I read that as you already had an idea, based on your own wisdom, which one should go first.  I say follow your wisdom. 

 

June, I know how debilitating the anxiety can be.  My tools are my coping skills.  My husband and I call it my "tool box' that I need to draw from when things get rough.  I'll list them, but the bottom line is that for me, gentle distracting activity was most important in helping me cope with it.  If I sat around and thought, got into my head too much, the anxiety was worse.  I distracted myself as best I could while my body healed.

 

Morning anxiety was the worst so this was my routine:

I got up and ate breakfast to get my blood sugar back up.  I stayed away from all news and social media. 

 

Yoga-I'm not a big fan but it definitely helped my anxiety.  I make myself do 15 minutes of gentle stretching/restorative yoga. 

 

Walking-In early withdrawal from the benzo, I could only walk around the block and my husband had to support me.  Now I'm up to a couple of miles.  By the time I get home, my anxiety is diminished even more. 

 

Warm bath/shower to relax me even more.

 

During the day I used other gentle distractions to take my mind off any anxiety and my other symptoms:

 

Crossword/jigsaw puzzles, podcasts, reading uplifting stories, nature videos (Creationscapes videos were my go to when anxiety kept me on the couch), listening to quiet music.

 

I go outside- in the midst of benzo withdrawal, I watched a YouTube video called "How Forests Heal".  I took it to heart.  While I don't have a big forest near me, I do have trees around, so I get outside, even if I am just sitting, and look at the trees and listen to the birds.  Or I do some gardening. Very healing.

 

I contact a friend-in early withdrawal, visiting with people made my anxiety worse, but I knew that if I isolated myself it would feed my depression, so I took baby steps and texted, then called, then made brief visits as I felt better.  Even if I could only tolerate a visit long enough for them to pray with me, then that was good. I only contacted friends that would respect what I was going through and respected my boundaries.

 

I watched calming TV shows like The Waltons.  When I could tolerate the stimulation of comedies, I watched old sitcoms. 

 

I went for a drive on country roads.

 

I hung signs around my house, in my own writing, like "This is NOT your life.  This is only withdrawal."  When the psychological symptoms were very bad, these helped me to stay grounded.

 

Deep breathing exercises

 

Meditation/prayer-doing this with my eyes closed was out.  If I did this, or any type of body scanning meditation, my anxiety would skyrocket because I was focusing on my body. I meditated and prayed with my eyes open, usually while being outside.

 

Finally, especially in the months following benzo withdrawal, I had significant anxiety when it came to going to bed. Between the nightmares/terrors and insomnia, the idea of going to bed filled me with dread. This is what I did:

 

When I got up in the morning, I made my bed and never got back in to it, even if it meant I was spending the entire day on the couch because I was feeling so bad.  I wanted my mind to associate my bed with sleep, not the place of withdrawal suffering.  I kept a nighttime routine, going to bed at the same time every night.  Sometimes I took a warm bath or shower if my restless legs and "body buzzing" was an issue.  I made sure my blood sugar was stable and that I had quiet time leading up to it, usually reading, doing a puzzle or listening to music. 

 

When my anxiety hit during the night, I practiced deep breathing, maybe getting up and walk around a bit to ground myself if I had to shake off a nightmare/terror.  I told myself that if I didn't sleep well that night, that I would sleep eventually because my body would take over, just as the Ashton manual said.  By the time I jumped from the mirt, I had good sleep hygiene in place and insomnia wasn't a severe issue. 

 

I also want to share with you something that my GP told me.  My world was shrinking and eventually I ended up not wanting to leave the house and then my recliner became my world.  When I told him about this he said "You're going to have to start doing things afraid."  It was the best advice.  I began to gently challenge myself, I just started doing things even though I was afraid, and eventually my mind learned that the things that I thought I was afraid of, were not a threat at all.  My world started to expand again and my agoraphobic anxiety went away. 

 

I hope this helps in some way. 

Blessings

 

Great advice. Thank you for sharing.  Congratulations for reaching the end!

[[Po...]]

Congrats Pokey. I remember you screamed like that "i want off, off" in Sept or Nov and then we encouraged you to push it. I celebrate you for this long journey and i hope we ll be there one day at a time. I am curious about your tapering shape. How much dose and how long had been you using when you started tapering? You used cut&hold method or tiny reductions?

The last thing i ask i dont remember you complained about anxiety. Havent you suffered in the way you pushed?Thanks

 

 

June:

I started my last taper from 7.5 mg. I had previously tapered from 15 and once I got to 7.5 I held there for some time. Then from 7.5 I cut ~10% every 3 weeks. But once I got to about 2 mg I cut 0.2 mg at a time. I didn’t see the advantage to making cuts any smaller than that. When I got to 0.2 mg I then went to 0.1 for 10 days and stopped. I figured “ Enough”!! and stopped.

[[ju...]]

Hi friends. Although i havent made dramatic changes, i am living crushing anxiety which make me think not to go to job sometimes in these days. I am going to 13th month, i have had some little reliefs in recent times, the biggest was 8 days. But, when i compained all the times about anxiety, i could somehow go to the job. I am asking all to you, how did you overcome this incredible anxiety and keep your hopes alive in wd. Jack Jackie, please tell me, please. How did you push it? Yes, i know my brain is adjusting, but suffering is too much sometimes...

[[Ja...]]

Honestly, when the anxiety was at it’s worst there was nothing I could do. I could not even play my guitar because my hands were shaking so bad. I was physically shaking, like I was terrified of something even though there was no actual threat. It was the most scared I have ever felt and there was not even anything to be sacred of. Walking and pacing was the only thing I could do. Sitting still was too brutal. I don’t know if your anxiety is this bad or not. I found I had to stay busy no matter what. Music was out so I worked on an old truck I had at the time. I would find any project to keep my hands and mind busy that did not require fine motor skills.

[[ju...]]

There is no shakiness, but sometimes i feel i am near to shakiness, feeling of air suffocation, disturbed breathes. I have started to take mag again in small amounts. I hope this crazy wave soothes a little. I cant walk anymore for the level that i want, because rem is giving also fatigue. Concentration is too difficult, but i am trying to do some distractions. Pray for me...

[[Ja...]]

There is no shakiness, but sometimes i feel i am near to shakiness, feeling of air suffocation, disturbed breathes. I have started to take mag again in small amounts. I hope this crazy wave soothes a little. I cant walk anymore for the level that i want, because rem is giving also fatigue. Concentration is too difficult, but i am trying to do some distractions. Pray for me...

 

I will. I tried magnesium this week. It backfired on me again and triggered pretty severe anxiety and some other benzo symptoms. I don’t know if I will ever be able to take magnesium again. I am not sure if it is now some permanent benzo damage. I used to take magnesium no problem and now it sends me back into benzo withdrawal every time I try.

[Guest [Lo...]]

There is no shakiness, but sometimes i feel i am near to shakiness, feeling of air suffocation, disturbed breathes. I have started to take mag again in small amounts. I hope this crazy wave soothes a little. I cant walk anymore for the level that i want, because rem is giving also fatigue. Concentration is too difficult, but i am trying to do some distractions. Pray for me...

 

I will. I tried magnesium this week. It backfired on me again and triggered pretty severe anxiety and some other benzo symptoms. I don’t know if I will ever be able to take magnesium again. I am not sure if it is now some permanent benzo damage. I used to take magnesium no problem and now it sends me back into benzo withdrawal every time I try.

So you tapered benzo first completely then started on Remeron?

[[Ja...]]

Yes I completely tapered Xanax and then waited 8 months before I started tapering Remeron.

[[Po...]]

Jack, Jackie, June: Do you have any insight into how long after finishing my mirtazapine taper I might continue to have some WD sxs? The way things were going I thought Id be almost sxs free by now...well, that aint the case    PLus I was trying to taper off a beta blocker I have been on 10 years. Ugghh!!!  to much to soon, so I reinstated my regular BB dose, but I assume I'm still having mirt WD sxs, despite my best hope.  Jusr wondering when you think I might be free and clear of the mirtazapine WD stuff? Hope you all are doing well. thanks

 

Pokey

[[ju...]]

Jack, Jackie, June: Do you have any insight into how long after finishing my mirtazapine taper I might continue to have some WD sxs? The way things were going I thought Id be almost sxs free by now...well, that aint the case    PLus I was trying to taper off a beta blocker I have been on 10 years. Ugghh!!!  to much to soon, so I reinstated my regular BB dose, but I assume I'm still having mirt WD sxs, despite my best hope.  Jusr wondering when you think I might be free and clear of the mirtazapine WD stuff? Hope you all are doing well. thanks

 

Pokey

 

Actually, we cant answer this exactly, because we all havent finished this way. But i can send a comment written on a Facebook group like that. It is from someone going from 90 to 1 mg in 3 year then stop.

 

It is like that: "I stopped at 1 mg. I tapered over a three year period. I think the sickness that comes is the cumulative effect from all the wd along the way not just the tiny cuts. You could stay at whichever dose you are on that makes you feel okay for a long time. It's so small the body could adjust slowly to this new low. I just couldn't take it anymore so I stopped at 1 mg. I felt fine for a month or two then felt wd again for another month or two and then gradually starting feeling better. "

 

But it depends not only the period you use, but also depend your history, genetics and any other variable that is related to tapering. How aggresive you tapered is an important effect and the cumulative effect of tapering may make one's brain harder to adopt. As far as i know you were on the slow side of this journey, so i think and hope it wont last so long. Fingers crossed.

[[Ja...]]

Jack, Jackie, June: Do you have any insight into how long after finishing my mirtazapine taper I might continue to have some WD sxs? The way things were going I thought Id be almost sxs free by now...well, that aint the case    PLus I was trying to taper off a beta blocker I have been on 10 years. Ugghh!!!  to much to soon, so I reinstated my regular BB dose, but I assume I'm still having mirt WD sxs, despite my best hope.  Jusr wondering when you think I might be free and clear of the mirtazapine WD stuff? Hope you all are doing well. thanks

 

Pokey

 

Pokey,

Obviously I can’t speak from experience on this yet. From what I have read even after a taper withdrawal can last 3-6 months. Dave recently mentioned in a post he wrote to you that even after his extremely slow taper he continued to have symptoms for a few months after taking his last dose.