I have been taking Remeron(Mirtazapine) for 5 1/2 years for insomnia and anxiety.
It has many side effects; non-stop appetite, weight gain, lethargy, depersonalization,
derealization (removed from reality), nightmares, memory problems(foggy head)
. I have tried to quit a dozen times or more. I've tapered slowly, quit cold turkey,
and substituted other medicines such as elavil. Elavil caused me bone marrow
depression,unknown to me, white blood cells did not produce and I did not know why I was getting so sick. Had pneumonia, major sinus infections almost had to have nasal surgery.
But after extreme research discovered that though rare, this bone marrow depression can
Occur. Quit Elavil and got well after mega doses of levaquin, augmentin, cefzil etc…
Last Friday 3-6-09 I decided to quit remeron cold turkey with my doctors help. My withdrawal From Remeron includes many hellish side effects such as; nausea, brain shocks, insomnia, flu like symptoms, Insomnia being the worst by far. I take meclizine for the nausea, valium for the brain shocks, and now Seroquel for insomnia. Valium I can quit cold turkey(long half-life). Its seroquel that has me concerned because it antagonizes many parts of the brain that Remeron does creating a sedative effect possibly making it addictive. Am I robbing Peter To pay Paul???? Has anyone had experiences with Remeron(mirtazapine) or Seroquel (quetiapine). Particularly withdrawal Experiences. Has anyone successfully quit Remeron After five years??? Had any experience with seroquel addiction or withdrawal?? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening.

Hi!
I have no experience with the "Remeron" whatsoever, I do however have years of expereince with Seroquel. You are surely are aware that the company has had a number of class-action lawsuits due to some folks developing maturity onset diabetes. There are a number of possible ( in some cases, irreversable side effects. Anyone considering this med. should read the literature. I guess you need to weigh the risk/benifit.

On the positive side, although rebound insomnia is going to happen with any hypnotic medication, I do not recall having a miserable withdrawal. Personally, I found Seroquel to be the Cadillac of sleep preparations. I do not know of ANY other sleep med. where tolerance iss not an issue, most all sleep meds. lose effectiveness after a month or so. Seroquel kept working for me years after I started taking them. There are no whoozy, sedation effects, no smearing the TV screen with Rocky Road ice cream, etc.

One thing, unlike the popular (heavily marketed sleep meds.) you do not need to go straight to bed, ( at least not in my case ) for the most part, I could read, watch T.V. a couple of hours, then finally, drift away into sleep mode. It is quality sleep ( REM ) with no drug hangover the next day.

Not sure if this helps. Good luck!
David

Rocky Road Ice cream.LOL
I'm a chocolate chip mint fan myself.
Jokes aside, I am aware seroquel can cause type 2 diabetes and brain damage via its dopamine antagonistic effects. However, I only intend to take it until my nausea, flu like symptoms, and anxiety dissipate. Hopefully no more than a month or two. Are you still taking seroquel? If not, how was your withdrawal if any?? Thanks for the reply and
any info.

Hi Nemesis!
Given my druthers, I'd "druther" have frozen yogurt from my old Sweden soft serve machine! (Dang)

I DID (sort of) cold turkey from the Seroquel. When I relocated here, I was no longer qualified for the companies, (Astra Zeneca) assistance program. Even with my health insurance plan, just too expensive.

I asked the Doc. to D/C the Seroquel and try another (cheaper) sleep med. I knew full well that without SOMETHING that I was in for hellish rebound insomnia. Compared to Seroquel, "Ambien" is fairly worthless, but "something" is better than nothing and I supplemented this by taking two of my prn Xanax.
(not a good idea, but I was not prepared for insomnia AND starting a new job.)

While this "new" regimen was not ideal, (and it took several nights of little sleep) it was better than WIDE AWAKE for days on end.

Since (to my knowledge) I haven't had any really untoward side effects after years of Seroquel use I am thinking of writing the company to see if mabe they will at least partially cover the expense.

I hope you are able resolve the sleeper issues soon, I know how awful chronic insomnia is! Keep me posted.

David

Homemade ice cream really is the best. I am very happy to hear or see that someone can come off seroquel easily. I only intend to use seroquel for 2 weeks(50 to 100mg) a night. And then I am going to phase into diphenhydramine or doxylamine and then natural sleep. Of course this includes weaning off of valium 20mg a day. One at a time. Given the time and patience I believe this is possible.
Thanks again for your info.

I was on remeron at one time, but had to stop. I couldnt take the foggy head anymore. I remember it made me sleep real well and have wierd lifelike dreams. Aslo I remeber before falling asleep I would see bright flashes of light with my eyes closed. It was a stange antidepressant. I have been persribed about every kind of antidepressant and have yet to find one that I can deal with. They all have too many sides. The latest one I was taking was effexor, but it gave me migrane headaches. So I am giving up on them all together. I guess I'll just take a clonny, valium, or xanax when I feel the anxiety. I know the docs told me it is only a short term solution, but I just cant handle the sides of these drugs they keep perscribing me.

I never would have thought that anti depressants would be so hard to quit.

Exactly my point. The docs quit perscribing me clonazapam because it was only a short term solution and was habit forming. But what about these antidepressants? you have withdrawals when quiting so whats the difference? The clonazapam worked just fine. I dont have anxiety all the time, just sometimes. I do have some depression issues, but when I take a clonny I have neither. I wasnt even taking it everyday, just when I felt I needed it. Thus not abusing it. Now when I dont have clonazapam, valium, or xanax. I tend to drink to unwind myself. Which is worse IMO.

Alcohol is a hard drug when consumed in moderate to large quantities. Side effects of withdrawal are harsher than benzos. I'd go go with valium as it has a long half-life, somewhat of built-in tapering off system. I have always found easy to quit as have many others I know. On the topic of withdrawing from AD's vs. benzos. I would definitely prefer benzos or norcos or both after
experiencing this remeron withdrawal. I have known bodybuilders that would use remeron as needed. They used it for sleep and to increase their appetite when bulking up. I personally would not. They also used GHB, I have as well. Not that is a dangerous drug. Take a little too much and it will drop you like a rock. Plus it gives you what is called dopamine rebound, a side effects that makes your skin feel like its
on fire and major insomnia when you quit. Its what I call a trap drug. Once you take for a week or more you find yourself needing more and more to achieve the same effect, eventually you get to point where you cant function plus it has the stigma of being a date rape drug. Stay away from that Sh*t!!

I agree GHB is a good drug to stay away from. Not only dangerous, but as you say has a bad rep. I never used the remeron on an as needed basis for bbing. I use it everynight for anxiety and depression. I just couldnt handle the foggy headedness the next day. Otherwise it did have the fewest sides of any antidpressant Ive used. Maybe I didnt give it enough time, maybe the foggy/light headedness would go away after time. Did it for you? I did like the appetite increase for obvious reasons. But after reading your post Im kinda glad I may not have givin it time. Sounds like your have a world of hell getting off of it. Effexor is the same however you do taper down, but the headaches are terrible both when you first start and when you end. Have you tried antthing besides the remeron? Most if not all of them also have sexual sides which to me defeats the purpose. If I cant have sex, Im going to be really depressed. Its kind of a catch 22.

I take 150 mgs of zoloft. I have without any side effects quit remeron about two years ago. No side
effect other than feeling like my mind and soul were set free, foggyheadedness and lobotomy like feeling gone. It was summer and I was doing some outdoor work with my father at his ranch in CO, I felt great. So nine weeks down the road I had a sleepless night even though I had worked that day, had no worries, just could not sleep. The next the night the same. So in the middle of the night I dug out my mirtazapine(remreon) and took a half pill. I took a quarter pill the following night to taper off. The next day I feel nausea and had hardcore brain zaps( like someone sticking a cattle prod randomly to my brain. In the midst of setting the foundation for my fathers new barn I knew I had to get some rest for the following day back so I went back to 15mg a night. The foggy headedness has stuck with me through the nearly six years I took remeron.
Day to day life was so much easier without it. For those 9 weeks I was off I had boundless energy. I had no sexual side effects. Though I have this time around, not directly, but feeling and nauseated for the first two weeks. Nausea is gone though I do feel a little weak. But not so weak I couldn't have sex. The first week of withdrawal I had no desire to, too sick. Remeron never affected my sex drive while on it though the zoloft does a little. Some time in the next 4-6 months I'd like to switch to wellbutrin Slow Release. That actually increases your sex drive. I have bottles of paxil, cymbalta, effexor, wellbutrin immediate release, strattera, and sertraline(generic zoloft. All those I mentioned tend to lessen your sex drive with the exception of wellbutrin and remeron. THough effexor is a strong nor epinephrine reuptake inhibitor. You may have a loss of libido when you come off that. Strattera is a SNRI not SSRI. A selective nor epinephrine re-uptake inhibitor. That may help you when quitting effexor. Ask your doctor. You have to take it in low doses as it has side effects too. Time, nutrition, and exercise are your biggest elements to consider.
Ive tried to taper more times than I can remember. Went cold turkey this time with valium to aid my anxiety for the first week. Or two. I'm in week four and I'd say I'm at about 65 to 70% normal. Once I can start hitting the gym again I believe my anxiety will subside and my sleep will improve. I use benadryl or tylenol pm to aid my sleep. Though its nothing like remeron sleep. Think remeron is an evil med. JMO. Trazadone is ok if dont have nightmares from it and can take the lethargy. Elavil is even better so long as you are not allergic to it(I am), caused me to have bone marrow depression thus slowing down my white blood cell production. Had walking pneumonia for
4-5 months and sinus issues. Six doctors could not figure it out, though none them did blood tests. I guess they thought I was just a hypochondriac. I take doctors advice with a grain of salt. On the issue of the dbol, yes it is vet quality but made in the same lab as human quality barring the equipoise. I have had
problems with human quality being fake(pure cottonseed oil). This was my first purchase of deca, the the first time I used gear. once the word got out that this guy was sell fake gear, and I'm not talking half and half, completely fake, he split town. I have used human DBOL pills and anadrol but your right it does have to pass through your liver twice as opposed to oil just once. Hope this answered your question if not let me know. HAGD.

Thanks for the info. I dont know, Wellbutrin xr was the first antidepressant I was perscribed. I couldnt handle it for some reason I was bouncing off the walls and would lay in bed at night and feel my heart palpitating. I only tried it for a week, but it was a week with no sleep. I agree about the remeron sleep, its almost like a coma. I am currently being perscribed trazadone, it does help me sleep, but I wake up 3 or 4 times a night because my mouth is so dry. I asked the doc if that was normal and he said it varies from person to person. As far as gear, yeah I know there are alot of fakes around, even with vet gear. Its a gamble if you dont have a trustable source. I hate to think Im injecting something someone made in thier bathtub....lol. You do always use test as a base for each cycle...correct?

Just a quick aside, Wellbutrin is like one molicule away from amphetamine, (actually used "recreationally" by prisoners in jail via "snorting") thus, your symptoms described are not surprizing. As for me, (As one poster knows) I am actually scripted a schedule 2 amphetamine type medication, (I am ADD) for me, amphetamine actually has the opposite effect of most, it helps "slow" down, and makes my thought processes more focused.

For most folks, taking Welbutrin, it would be contraindicated if the med. provides too much, "speed-like" effect.

JMHO

quote:

Originally posted by ~David~:
Just a quick aside, Wellbutrin is like one molicule away from amphetamine, (actually used "recreationally" by prisoners in jail via "snorting") thus, your symptoms described are not surprizing. As for me, (As one poster knows) I am actually scripted a schedule 2 amphetamine type medication, (I am ADD) for me, amphetamine actually has the opposite effect of most, it helps "slow" down, and makes my thought processes more focused.

For most folks, taking Welbutrin, it would be contraindicated if the med. provides too much, "speed-like" effect.

JMHO

That explains it! Thanks for the input David

If your coming off an anti-depressant that makes somewhat makes you speedy. Effexor, wellbutrin did for me but I was also taking zoloft and that makes me kinda speedy too. I could not handle both wellbutrin and zoloft. I would bounce off the walls too. You would have to taper very down slowly and increase in baby doses the new AD.
Wellbutrin maybe a molecule from being speed but that does make addictive difference. Imodium AD(loperamide HCL) OTC is one molecule away from being morphine. I wish you good jbol with the trazadone. I'm sure you feel the next morning that when you eat breakfast that you feel a little tired at least. This is because trazadone is vastly absorbed through the large instestine. I took it for a year as needed with no problems and then started having nightmares more like terror dreams out of the blue. Ive had friends that have thought trazadone was the perfect AD for only to hear a week later that they quit cold turkey because of the night terrors. I dont want to scare you but the dreams I had were as if all of my worst fears were wrapped into one dream, heart palpitation, waking up sweating. The fear of having another one forces a great many people to quit cold turkey, I know it did me. If anxiety is your original reason for taking an AD then wellbutrin is not for you. I would stick with klonopin and maybe a low dose SSRI exercise if you have depression. Do you feel lethargic or tired from taking trazadone? Especially after you eat?