Remeron (Mirtazapine) Withdrawal Support Group

[[ja...]]

I hope so too, keep us,posted

[[ja...]]

Well day 6 into cut and it was a rough night, did not sleep but 10 minutes here and there.  Hoping things start to improve, other withdrawal effects have.  I am cutting the 7.5 tablet and wind up with tiny pieces which I weigh and have been putting them into a gel capsule, but when I take them at night I remove them from the capsule and swallow the pieces, would swallowing them in the gel capsule I measured them into affect the efficacy of the mirtazapine?

[[Ja...]]

Well day 6 into cut and it was a rough night, did not sleep but 10 minutes here and there.  Hoping things start to improve, other withdrawal effects have.  I am cutting the 7.5 tablet and wind up with tiny pieces which I weigh and have been putting them into a gel capsule, but when I take them at night I remove them from the capsule and swallow the pieces, would swallowing them in the gel capsule I measured them into affect the efficacy of the mirtazapine?

 

It may. It depends on how long the gel cap takes to dissolve. I am not sure where mirtazapine is absorbed most effectively. It hits peak plasma levels within 2 hours which leads me to believe that most of it is absorbed before it even hits the small intestine. They make mirt transdermal patches so I know it can absorb through the skin. I think it starts to absorb pretty much instantly wherever it makes contact. The gel cap would certainly delay this for sure. My concern is that it would delay it to a point where it would cause a missed opportunity for maximum absorption but that is probably unlikely.

[[30...]]

hey jack,

I've been worried about you and hoping you are doing well.  I have a question for you and the group --

 

so, I am on 15mg of mirtazapine and became acute in my taper of Xanax (had been down to .65 from 1mg) about five months ago when I came off a bunch of supplements.  I updosed to 1mg of Xanax on 8/5 and have held. I crashed and went from functioning to non-functioning, able to work to not working and consumed with agitation/dysphoria/intrusive thoughts, etc

 

each night I get a window from like 10pm to 2am (I push myself to stay awake to catch this window) and I can read, smile, feel somewhat human..    each day, however, when I get up between 9am and 10am -- I have this horrible agitation -- like electricity pumping through me, feel terror and dread and like a mild form of akathisia.......I battle this on some level throughout the the day until the evening "window"

 

my mind is wanting to convince me that this is mirtazapine causing the morning rush of adrenaline and the daily terror/agitatoin.........has anyone else heard of that or does it seem to make better sense that this is benzo related? 

[[Ja...]]

hey jack,

I've been worried about you and hoping you are doing well.  I have a question for you and the group --

 

so, I am on 15mg of mirtazapine and became acute in my taper of Xanax (had been down to .65 from 1mg) about five months ago when I came off a bunch of supplements.  I updosed to 1mg of Xanax on 8/5 and have held. I crashed and went from functioning to non-functioning, able to work to not working and consumed with agitation/dysphoria/intrusive thoughts, etc

 

each night I get a window from like 10pm to 2am (I push myself to stay awake to catch this window) and I can read, smile, feel somewhat human..    each day, however, when I get up between 9am and 10am -- I have this horrible agitation -- like electricity pumping through me, feel terror and dread and like a mild form of akathisia.......I battle this on some level throughout the the day until the evening "window"

 

my mind is wanting to convince me that this is mirtazapine causing the morning rush of adrenaline and the daily terror/agitatoin.........has anyone else heard of that or does it seem to make better sense that this is benzo related?

 

My guess would be Xanax.

[Guest [Jb...]]

hey jack,

I've been worried about you and hoping you are doing well.  I have a question for you and the group --

 

so, I am on 15mg of mirtazapine and became acute in my taper of Xanax (had been down to .65 from 1mg) about five months ago when I came off a bunch of supplements.  I updosed to 1mg of Xanax on 8/5 and have held. I crashed and went from functioning to non-functioning, able to work to not working and consumed with agitation/dysphoria/intrusive thoughts, etc

 

each night I get a window from like 10pm to 2am (I push myself to stay awake to catch this window) and I can read, smile, feel somewhat human..    each day, however, when I get up between 9am and 10am -- I have this horrible agitation -- like electricity pumping through me, feel terror and dread and like a mild form of akathisia.......I battle this on some level throughout the the day until the evening "window"

 

my mind is wanting to convince me that this is mirtazapine causing the morning rush of adrenaline and the daily terror/agitatoin.........has anyone else heard of that or does it seem to make better sense that this is benzo related?

 

Most likely remeron is giving you a window and when it wears off you experience those symptoms.

[[30...]]

thanks jack

you holding up?  any improvement since going up to .75?

[[Ja...]]

I’m not sure. Yesterday was pretty decent. Today sucked. I am scared about tomorrow. It is hard to tell if things are getting better or not. Every time I think they are then they get worse again.

[[30...]]

jack, yeah, I can appreciate that -- I am so sorry I know that has to be so disheartening.  please keep me posted--- sending lots of healing your way.

[[30...]]

Jbreezy

thanks for replying....yeah, I was thinking. maybe that was the case as well -- thing is I don't take the mirtazapine until like midnight --- my window actually starts about 2-3 hours before I take the mirt -- but maybe what you are saying makes sense - it is allowing me to sleep but my ten hours later it is starting to wear off a bit and the regular withdrawal breaks through and then at night things start to settle in general just like they do for most of us in withdrawal in the evenings -- thanks so much

[[Ja...]]

Jbreezy

thanks for replying....yeah, I was thinking. maybe that was the case as well -- thing is I don't take the mirtazapine until like midnight --- my window actually starts about 2-3 hours before I take the mirt -- but maybe what you are saying makes sense - it is allowing me to sleep but my ten hours later it is starting to wear off a bit and the regular withdrawal breaks through and then at night things start to settle in general just like they do for most of us in withdrawal in the evenings -- thanks so much

 

Have you considered crossing over to valium? It seems that 2 months is a long time after a significant benzo updose to wait for stability although you did get rocked by all those supplements. I bring this up because I could not for the life of me stabilize on Xanax. I hit tolerance hard and could not taper down at all. In the hospital they CT’d me off of Xanax for a couple of days and when they realized it was a mistake they reinstated me on Ativan. Not at all the way to do a crossover. The doc said I might so better on Ativan than on Xanax because he has seen that before. I thought it was ridiculous. However, a few weeks in I did start to stabilize some on the Ativan and I tapered the Ativan down in about 6 weeks and with the help of Remeron. It was a noticeable difference I think unless it was just the Remeron. Nonetheless, my experience was that Xanax was just too short of a half life to stabilize a CNS on. If I could go back in time I would have done a crossover to an equivalent dose of Valium.

[[no...]]

Jbreezy

thanks for replying....yeah, I was thinking. maybe that was the case as well -- thing is I don't take the mirtazapine until like midnight --- my window actually starts about 2-3 hours before I take the mirt -- but maybe what you are saying makes sense - it is allowing me to sleep but my ten hours later it is starting to wear off a bit and the regular withdrawal breaks through and then at night things start to settle in general just like they do for most of us in withdrawal in the evenings -- thanks so much

 

Have you considered crossing over to valium? It seems that 2 months is a long time after a significant benzo updose to wait for stability although you did get rocked by all those supplements. I bring this up because I could not for the life of me stabilize on Xanax. I hit tolerance hard and could not taper down at all. In the hospital they CT’d me off of Xanax for a couple of days and when they realized it was a mistake they reinstated me on Ativan. Not at all the way to do a crossover. The doc said I might so better on Ativan than on Xanax because he has seen that before. I thought it was ridiculous. However, a few weeks in I did start to stabilize some on the Ativan and I tapered the Ativan down in about 6 weeks and with the help of Remeron. It was a noticeable difference I think unless it was just the Remeron. Nonetheless, my experience was that Xanax was just too short of a half life to stabilize a CNS on. If I could go back in time I would have done a crossover to an equivalent dose of Valium.

 

Man, it's almost stunning how similar our withdrawals were, Jack. Like you, I hit tolerance with the Xanax, was given Ativan and rapid tapered the Ativan in about the same amount of time - about 6 weeks, maybe slightly longer. I was hospitalized the day after I jumped.

 

And absolutely agree. If I had the knowledge then, or could go back and do it over again, I'd have done the Valium crossover. No question. I think it would have been far less painful.

[Guest [is...]]

I was a disaster when I hit xanax tolerance and when I switched to valium per the ashton protocol things got way better really fast.

[[30...]]

so, I would love to taper over but we did my genetics and it appears I am a very slow metabolizer of valium and the fear is that it would build up in my system and cause some bad issues.  librium, the other choice, is difficult because it is alwasy on back order.  jack, now, and issey - can you tell me how often you were dosing xanax?  I am dosing five times a day --- I guess I could always see if tranxene might be an option.......I agree, the Xanax is really tough and I am not sure what to do ----- but valium scares me because of the genetics......

 

I could always increase the frequency to dosing six times a day ---- but I don't know if I am getting true interdose withdrawal or not as some days I am okay and others I am terrible ---- sometimes I feel awful right before a dose and some days just doesn't matter.........

 

I tried klonopin once and it made me super depressed........and I think that is a really hard one to come off as well. 

I was doing fine on Xanax until the supplements left the picture -- I think they were both potentiating the Xanax and masking a whole bunch of issues......

 

so, the thought is this is probably more of a benzo issue than a mirtazapine issue, right?

[[ja...]]

Well today sucks and what makes it worse is it’s my bday.  I am 10 days into my last cut and usually things are starting to even out by now but not this time.  Things are still rocky with sleep being the worst, only slept about 2 hours last night in several 10 to 20 minute increments here and there.  I went on this drug due to insomnia and it was the only thing out of many tried that seems to help, at least the first couple months.  I attempted to get off once before and made it off only to crash and burn 3 weeks later when everything had improved considerably except sleep, couldn’t sleep more than 90 minutes each night.  This time the tapering is much harder for me.  Sorry to vent and ramble, just very disappointed that things are not improving yet after the last cut.  Guess I’ll continue to hold some more and hope for the best. 

Jack, oz, now, issy, 300, anyone,  how long does it normally take to start seeing improvement after a dose reduction.

[[Ja...]]

Well today sucks and what makes it worse is it’s my bday.  I am 10 days into my last cut and usually things are starting to even out by now but not this time.  Things are still rocky with sleep being the worst, only slept about 2 hours last night in several 10 to 20 minute increments here and there.  I went on this drug due to insomnia and it was the only thing out of many tried that seems to help, at least the first couple months.  I attempted to get off once before and made it off only to crash and burn 3 weeks later when everything had improved considerably except sleep, couldn’t sleep more than 90 minutes each night.  This time the tapering is much harder for me.  Sorry to vent and ramble, just very disappointed that things are not improving yet after the last cut.  Guess I’ll continue to hold some more and hope for the best. 

Jack, oz, now, issue, 300, anyone,  how long does it normally take to start seeing improvement after a dose reduction.

 

It really varies. Also cuts are cumulative. You may feel like you stabilized from your last cut but there was still some minor stuff that had not and then it compounds with the next cut. There was a point in my taper where things built up so bad and seemingly out of nowhere and that time it took months to stabilize.

[[Ja...]]

My son just tested positive for covid. Just what I effin needed right now.

[[no...]]

My son just tested positive for covid. Just what I effin needed right now.

 

Aw Jack, I'm sorry to hear that man. That's a curve-ball. I hope your son handles the virus alright and that the rest of your family is spared contracting it. My thoughts are with you.

 

Hang in there.

[[30...]]

jack,

so sorry to hear about your son -- please keep us posted.

[[30...]]

jas,

I am so sorry to hear you are having such a hard time - -its hard to celebrate our birthdays, or anything else, when we are feeling so rough.  hope you start to stabilize soon!

 

[[Ja...]]

jas,

I am so sorry to hear you are having such a hard time - -its hard to celebrate our birthdays, or anything else, when we are feeling so rough.  hope you start to stabilize soon!

 

I think I am starting to stabilize. Not stabilized but starting. But now I am so afraid that I will catch covid. Then again two weeks ago is when my skin and tongue and mouth started burning like this and my fever went from a few hours a day to 24 hours a day. I was around people who had covid around that time. Wonder if I’m the carrier. Either way, I’m getting tested tomorrow.

[[Ox...]]

Fever is a strong indicator. It's possible.

[[30...]]

jack

how are you doing?

[[30...]]

anyone heard from jack?  I know he wasn't feeling well and thought he might have covid - and his son had it --- anyone hear from him?

[[Ox...]]

No, and I am worried too.