withdrawel symtoms while on the med?

[MadJam]

Hi guys! I had been doing really well finally after 5 months of getting used to these drugs and suddenly last week woke up to a big anxiety attack and a really low mood. I also, last night experienced some sort of 'brain shake'? I know some people experience this when coming of a drug but has anyone out there experienced this while on a drug? I just don't feel right on this drug, although takes away panick attacks and have booked to see a phy. doc. next week to hopefully get some answers.

[Vixxy]

Are you sure you took the pill today/yesterday? Have you had an upset stomach? Or started a new packet? Or could you be getting a cold or something?

[MadJam]

No I have not been ill although I do have bowel problems but that is all anxiety related. I have felt so disconnected and in my own little world and it's so hard to act 'normal' in front of my husband and children.

[Going home]

Yes you can experience withdrawal symptoms while still on a drug, it happens if your body gets used to the dose and becomes immune to it, so the origional problems, plus the added withdrawal problems, return and this is the main reason why the docs give higher doses, although alot of doctors these days are reluctant to keep upping the dose and would prefer to change the medication instead. Have a word with your doctor about this.

Anna xx

[MadJam]

Thank you for your reply. It will prob explain my dips in mood and everything else that's been going on.

[ElizabethJane]

Dear Anna I disagree with you over whether doctors change a med rather than increasing a dose. In my own experience my own psychiatrist has increased the dose of mirtazapine and added in another med rather than making me go through another change. Upping the older tricyclics such as dothiepin (which I took for sixteen years increased sedation) I was commonly on anything between 150mg-200mg a day. With mirtazapine when this was upped to 45mg I experienced no sedation. So on this point we beg to differ.

[Going home]

Thats Ok Elizabeth Jane, we both have different experiences of it maybe. But the main point is that it is possible to have withdrawal symptoms while still on the medication, and how that's dealt with is up to the individual doctors I guess

Anna xxx

[ElizabethJane]

I have been on mirtazapine twice. The first time I tried to come off then I experienced tremdendous anxiety and depression. This was interpreted by my GP and my psychiatrist as a re occurence of the original illness. I was encourage to go back on them and the symptoms eventually ceased. I did eventually come off them but unfortunately I relapsed and went back on them again. Our symptoms are often interpreted in different ways by our doctors. I originally took mirtazapine to augment the dothiepin and lithium I was already on. Dear Madjam what dose of mirtazapine are you taking?

[MadJam]

I think this is a big problem for doctors. They cannot differ between withdrawel or symtoms of original illness. I know when I stopped mirt last time (was only on half a 15 tab), the withdrawels kicked in 2 weeks after and they were terrible....worse than my original problems, don't even like to think about it. I think once you have started a drug it lifts anxiety and depression, you then stop it and your brain must go into overdrive.

[MadJam]

ElizabethJ I am taking 15ml and really don't want to up my dose. I am on the waiting list for CBT, so hoping this will help.