mirtazapine ended

[prue1956]

I had been on mirtazapine for about 17 yrs but my doctor told me just over a week ago to stop taking them,she said over the next 2 nights just take half of a 15mg tablet,ive not been well since nausea and my ibs going haywire,i still take amitriptylene at night and diazepam as and when needed,but was it too quickly to come off mirtazapine.

[Istherehope?]

That does sound very quick to me particularly after you'd been on Mirt for so long. What dose were you on? Did you literally just take 7.5mg for two nights then stop? It seems pretty irresponsible of a doctor to tell you to stop so abruptly, particularly as Mirt can be pretty tricky to withdraw from.

[SmilingAlbert]

Sounds too fast for me.

There is much on Dr Google on this subject; some people say to taper off over several months. I am not surprised that you are having side effects; I suggest if these continue you go back to your doctor and request a more long drawn out withdrawal; this GP advice suggests stopping Mirt over 1 month:

http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=1651179592

Perhaps print this out and show it to him/her (grr - they should know all this already) if you need to.

I sympathise; I once stopped Paroxetine cold turkey (useless GP gave me no guidance on this subject) and thought I was going mad. BUT: this lasted only a few days.

Albert

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's far too fast.

This is what the psychiatrists say, to back up Albert's link:

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/treatmentswellbeing/antidepressants/comingoffantidepressants.aspx

DURING
•Reduce slowly
•Research suggests:
•if treatment has lasted less than 8 weeks, stopping over 1-2 weeks should be OK
•after 6-8 months treatment, taper off over 6-8 weeks
•if you have been on maintenance treatment, taper more gradually: e.g. reduce the dose by not more than ¼ every 4-6 weeks.

•Stay in touch with your doctor
•Be prepared to stop the reduction or increase your dose again if needed
•Keep a diary of your symptoms and drug doses.

Mirt has got an elimination half life of 20-40 hours but women eliminate it much slower so they have a mean average of 37 hours vs. 26 hours for men. Two days will barely get you down much past 50% of that med going before you end up stopping completely. To me, that's virtually a cold turkey withdrawal.

If you are now suffering withdrawal symptoms, could your GP reinstate the dose and then you withdraw at a slower pace?

Sadly, GP's seem to not understand these meds and are causing a lot of hard times for us putting us through unnecessary protocols.

[prue1956]

Thankyou for all your replies i thought it was too quick ....we have numerous doctors at our practice so i intend to go and see another one next week i really dont know where to put myself at the moment sit down stand up its terrible,i will certainly have a look at the link thankyou once again.

---------- Post added at 08:30 ---------- Previous post was at 08:28 ----------

Yes i took 7.5 for 2 nights then stopped.

[MyNameIsTerry]

It sounds like you are suffering from agitation. I had that when starting my current med, I have spells of it form time to time with even now, so I hope you get some respite soon as that was one of the hardest side effects I've ever had. :hugs::flowers: