Mirtazapine reduction

[Axo]

Any positive stories from others that have come off of Mirtazapine?
My DR has recommended going from 45mg to 30mg for a couple of weeks and then 30 to 15mg for a few weeks before stopping. Is that normal??
A week in and I feel really tearful which I haven’t been for years (life is stressful atm though ).

Why does your doctor want you to come off it?

Because I am fed up with the weight gain. It’s worked well but it’s been 5 years and I want to try without.

I would recommend that you don’t go down any more til your mood is stable, and go to the gp/ doctor if your mood doesn’t improve or gets worse.
Maybe ask about switching to a different medication?
I came off my meds (including mirtazapine) for the same reason and unfortunately I relapsed very bad.
Tread very carefully.
Sorry I know you asked for positive experiences.

Thank you @FullFiveFathom . Any advice is appreciated. I think that you are right, Sorry that you had a bad experience. Do you mind me asking what happened in the end? Did you go back on it?

I went from 45 to 30 over many, many weeks. Then down to 15 but I reacted badly so it was upped to 30 again.
I have a very, very poor appetite which is partly the reason I was given it. But I can get that the weight gain is a huge issue. I’ve put on a fair bit, but I needed to.
I would say take more time. Trying to reduce so quickly isn’t helping. It’s not a race.

I did eventually but it took a few years because at first I was just so determined to stay off it, I refused to acknowledge how unwell I was getting.
It was such a relief to be back on it, mostly because I could sleep and I’d been struggling with insomnia since I went off it. But having been back on it a year, I have to say, although it’s a life saver when you are desperate (especially if you have tried other things that didn’t work), being on it long term can get very frustrating.
The best way to come off it is to taper off very slowly and be open minded about going back up if you need to. You can always try again later.

I am on this and have been on it for years and it is the only one that works for me. I get the frustration of the weight gain though. I am also hypothyroid and going through menopause so triple whammy for weight gain. I am staying on it as I had no appetite without it and was underweight, it also helps with sleep problems. I have never tried to come off this particular one but I would say take it slowly and gradually taper off and make sure you are closely monitored during this time. You could always go back to it if you need to.

When I first tried to come off mirtazapine I had been on it for a long time but my GP recommended a similarly quick tapering down process as it sounds like you are doing. It didn’t go well and I got very depressed and put the dose back up. The next time I tried coming off I reduced the dose incredibly gradually over a long period. This worked much better and I didn’t relapse into depression. But, I did have extremely bad insomnia which took a long time to resolve since - I guess - my brain had adapted to the sleep inducing qualities of mirtazapine.

Thank you all, thanks for sharing your experiences. I think I’ll give the 30mg a bit more of a chance but ask for it to be longer than 2 weeks before going down to 15mg.
It saved my life when I needed it so I’m not against it, I just need to know if I can stop it I suppose. I was underweight before so needed some gain but unfortunately there’s no off switch.

Best of luck with it @Axo x

@FullFiveFathom thankyou.

@Axo did you manage to come off the mirtazapine?