Mirtazapine withdrawal cold turkey!

It has now been ten days, the last 7 of it cold turkey from 30 mg mirtazapine. Was on it for 2 years for insomnia from Parkinson's, but it does not help anymore. I was planning on doing it by tapering off, but by day 4 that plan went out the window. I am always a spur of the moment kind of guy. At day 4, I just decided to get it out of my system. so jumped in with both feet:scared15:

The list of possible side effects from going cold turkey is quite large.:scared15: I was not sure if it was the right thing to do,:shrug: but I wanted it out. I never realized until I came on this site that it was addictive, and that scared me. My doctor never told me about that little point. If I had known I never would have started it.:mad: Guess I should have done some research:doh:.

I have always had a very high tolerance to any kind of drug. I have never had any side effects to any drug that I have ever taken. So I wondered if the reverse would be true. Would I have any withdrawal symptoms? I was willing to test the theory:scared15:.

Day 1: reduced to 15 mg. No effect.
Day 2: 15 mg. No effect.
Day 3: 15 mg. No effect.
Day 4: cold turkey. No effect.
Day 5: cold turkey. No effect.
Day 6: cold turkey. No effect.
Day 7: cold turkey. I feel behind my eyes like my sinuses are acting up. Minor effects.
Day 8: cold turkey. Feel blah:weep:. Tired and my head is stuffy. Minor effects. After all I have Parkinson's. I always feel blah, now I just feel a little bit more blah.:weep:. Minor.
Day 9: cold turkey. This night had the first real symptom to note. I had the night sweats. Not that bad, was not totally soaked, only a little damp. One weird thing. I usually wake on average 5-7 times a night because of my Parkinson's. This night I only woke up 2 times, and felt like I had a real sound sleep. That is different. I always feel like I am on the edge of sleep/awake. Never sound. So it was a pleasant change.:yahoo:
Day 10: yesterday. cold turkey. Back to waking up 5-7 times. No night sweats. Minor effects.
Day 11: today. Regular bad sleep again last night. No night sweats. Minor effects.

I do not know if there is going to be more to this story or not. Maybe I am not out of the clear:unsure:. I will update this in another 10 days. One thing to note. I do not dream any more. I have not had a dream in like 4 years:huh:. Maybe Parkinson's killed that part of my brain.

Hi Woody,

Good luck with the continuing withdrawal. Overall, it doesn't seem to be going too badly. Any drug that plays around with neurotransmitters (as does Parkinson's also) will have some withdrawal effects. If only people could withdraw from Parkinson's! Best of luck.

Hi there new to this forum. Just wanna share my experience with mirtazapine and to see if anyone can help.
I started on 15 mg bout Feb 2016 and first nite it knocked me out I slept for hours but felt really groggy the next morning which also contributed more to my low mood as I'm not a morning person anyways. Took this for 2 weeks and I cudnt handle the feeling the next day so they tried me on citalopram 20mg. I took this on a Sunday nite and I cudnt sleep had stomach cramps was awake all nite sweating being sick blood I phoned an ambulance went to hosp waited round for ages just for someone to come talk to me and they got me in contact with a crisis team. In the mean time they gave me one diazapam while I was sat in the hospital.
I got an app with crises team went thru and explained all that had happend in my life and he prescribed me with promethazine at that that wud work and I'll be right as rain. Wrong. It didn't do out
I started to get more depressed as I want sleeping so Bak to docs they tried trazadone took this for 2 days I was really angry cudnt sleep so Bak to docs got put Bak on mirtazapine 15mgs. Again first nite knocked out and went to sleep felt really groggy the next day. I persisted with this as I wanted it to work. Started getting really good sleep which was good I liked the sedation it have u on a night also i was eating more. Then few weeks in felt like it stopped working. So they upped me to 30mg. Took this and it sedated me loads which was ok but agen groggy next day but by the afternoon I was ok. Eating loads aswell which was ok with me. Then I felt it was too much so I cut some in half for 4 days and I went backwards I had low mood agen doc sed shudnt of cut in half it don't work like that. So went Bak up to 30mg was ok for few days. Then went up to 45 mg and this is where it all happened. First day or two felt ok then the next 2 weeks have been hell been really suicidal and racing thorts of anything and everything and can't get thorts out my head like I need to do it. Phoned my doc and pschayatrist and both sed stick at it it'll go so I did and it got even worse to the point I was so close so doing something stupid. So last nite I only took 15mgs to c if I wud feel any better. Fell asleep as they say it's more sedating at lower doses woke up tossed n turned. But slept a bit. Had racing thorts agen of wots the point all time but that probs coz I was just laid there. So dragged myself out of bed and sat down stairs with my mam. Thorts Wernet as racing as on 45 mg. but I still feel a little down and a bit shaky. I read the paper and do this book thing and feel a litle better. Anyways sorry for the long post just wanted to know if anyone else felt suicidal on the 45mg. Was it too much. Plz reply soon

Hi John,

Welcome to NMP. I can't say about the 45 mg dose, but changing doses and taking different meds over the space of several weeks might be more disruptive than helpful. You seemed to be best at 30 mg mirtazapine per day. It might be best to stick with that, even if there are patches where it doesn't seem to be working so well. Good luck with it.