u/FireGolem1

Hi all, I wanted to share my experience on this medication since there are many negative posts about it.

TL;DR - I enjoyed my 10 years on this medication, tried to quit twice but failed, finally managed to quit using a compound pharmacy.

I was on Mirtazapine 15mg for about 10 years due to insomnia. Only a psychiatrist would prescribe it; no GP would even recommend or suggest it for me even though they could have (this is in Australia). I had never even heard of it before the psychiatrist visit.

It worked like a charm... however no one told me about the side effects. The major ones for me were the intense hunger pangs, weight gain (I gained about 15-20 kg's) and feeling drowsy the next morning.

I really enjoyed getting a great night's sleep for once in my life. It was like a miracle. I've had a lot of hardship growing up but things are a lot better now comparatively.

I did try to quit a couple of times over the years. One GP would say just stop taking it (cold turkey), however my current one said to just take it every other day for 4 weeks then stop. These of course were awful suggestions.

My withdrawal symptoms included:

• Hands shaking
• Brain zaps
• Sweating profusely
• Panicking
• Not able to concentrate or think properly due to these symptoms

The worst one was the brain zaps as they were unbearable. I ended up taking Mirtazapine 15mg again after 1 hour of brain zaps.

How did I quit?

I noticed there was a compound pharmacy near my new place and I researched it. I told my GP I want to quit slowly week by week by using this pharmacy. He agreed to this and wrote me a prescription for it.

• I reduced the dosage by 1mg per week until I reached 1mg
• I then went to 0.5mg
• Finally, I dropped to 0

It's been almost 3 months since I successfully quit. Just wanted to say that my overall experience on this drug has been positive and it is also possible to quit taking it. I'm aware it's very difficult, but these steps helped me do it.

For many of you it may not be possible to follow these steps (e.g no compound pharmacy nearby), but I'm just creating this post for awareness as some people already know a brief version of my story and have asked how I'm doing. There might also be folks out there reading this who have been prescribed it but are too scared to try taking it.

I am able to sleep without it now. My sleep isn't perfect but any lack of sleep these days I attribute to major events happening in my life. I've lost about 3 kg's since I stopped taking it.

In saying all this, I'm not a medical professional. Best to seek medical advice from a medical professional regarding your own situation as we are all different.

Even though my GP's didn't help me to quit at first due to their terrible advice, at least my current one agreed the compound pharmacy was a good idea and wrote the prescription for it. 😄

Thanks for reading. I wish you all the best with your Mirtazapine journeys and hope you have a positive outcome.