blandthrax Tapering and jumping off Remeron

[blandthrax]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum but not to psychiatric meds. Recently I tapered off of benzodiazepines and I've been free for 9 weeks. During that time I've also been taking Remeron to help me sleep and to sort of cushion the benzo withdrawals. I've been taking 15mg since January and has seemed to help to a certain extent, but I want off of it as well. The sleep it engenders is reliable enough, but hardly rewarding, and it's my ultimate goal to be off all drugs.

 

In mid-May I started having terrible dreams and nightmares, which isn't anything new given my history with benzos, but these seemed more a result of the mirtazapine. One night I woke up hallucinating and decided I really needed to get off asap. I even saw a shrink the following week but he told me he couldn't help me unless I was on an AD. He prescribed me another AD but I threw away the script and didn't go back.

 

Since then I've cut my dose down to 3.7mg and I've experienced an assortment of withdrawals including heightened anxiety, depression, insomnia, dp/dr, and flu-like symptoms. Today is the first day I've felt better in over a week.

 

I know I need to head down the rest of the way slowly. This isn't a problem because I have plenty of refills. I can do the 10% every few weeks if necessary, but the question I have for everyone is, at what dose can I jump? When I tapered off of Valium, I jumped at .6mg but I had the Remeron to absorb the blow. Now I'd be tapering down and jumping without a net and I want to do it right so once I'm done, I'm done for good.

 

 

[nz11]

Welcome blandthrax,

Sounds like you got stuff sorted.

Ultimately i guess one should go as low as possible. I think this may be even more critical if one has had long term use of psychotropics.

I think moderator Brasmonkey is now on 0.62 mg pill weight.

While waiting for others to comment you might like to put up your drug signature. This can help the moderators.

[Ibid]

I tapered mirt for about a year and a half and seemed to have no wd symptoms at all. I jumped at about 1.5 mg/day and then the wd began. See signature. I wish I'd continued tapering on the 10% rule till I'd gotten down near zero. Don't assume that doing OK when on a very small dose means you'll also do OK on none at all. 

 

My example may not apply at all; I was on it for about 15 years and was sometimes on 30 mg, though only briefly.

 

By the way, I was originally given mirt for sleep, same as you. In about a year sleep became difficult again. So what did my shrink do? Added lorazepam to the cocktail. I still haven't gotten off that.

 

I doubt your taper will be a difficult or painful one, but if it seems to be going well, don't get overconfident the way I did. Good luck.

[KarenB]

Welcome Blandthrax,

 

So glad to hear you threw away that script!  Good for you - less complications to manage.  You'll want to give yourself a decent period of feeling stable before you reduce your dose again.  At these lower doses people often need to go slower than 10% monthly - but it's very personal so just pay close attention to how you're doing.  NZ11 mentioned another moderator called Brassmonkey who is managing the end of his taper really well - you might find it very useful to read some of his Intro thread. 

 

Also, are you taking the 3.7 each day, or occasionally?  (Getting all your drug details in a signature would be great - thanks). 

 

We have a thread about dropping to zero with some useful discussion:  http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/11051-when-to-end-the-taper-and-jump-to-zero/  The fact that you are still experiencing a number of symptoms when you reduce is an indication that it's not time to jump off yet.  Tips for Tapering Remeron mentions that tapering remeron too fast can cause insomnia, which makes it very important to taper it gradually.  It's hard to cope without good sleep...

 

We also have threads on managing symptoms which can be very useful:  http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/forum/8-symptoms-and-self-care/

 

It's good to have you here Blandthrax.  Please have a read of those links and feel free to ask more questions here in your own thread.

 

Karen

[nz11]

oops correction i meant t say Brassmonkey is 0.64 mg active  iingredient

[Santino]

Blandthrax... Welcome friend.

 

It seems we have similar story my friend. I have 28 days taking 15 mg Remeron each night in order to be able to taper 2-3 month of usage of benzo. Not sure whether I did the right thing and now I do not know how will I go off Remeron. How did you wean off from 15 to 3.75 buddy...???