Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11

Thread: Coming off Remeron

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Posts
    9

    Coming off Remeron

    Hi Folks,

    Glad to have found a place to be able to understand and express the journey off antidepressants.

    After trying numerous meds, I finally was able to take Remeron. All others created such horrible side effects, I was unable to continue with them. Before this, I'd tried many natural supplements, which all worked somewhat for awhile, and then quit. At the time I went on Remeron (about 8 years ago), I'd had some version of insomnia for almost 17 years. The first night I took R, I slept through the night for the first time in many, many years. Plus, after a few days, I started to actually feel some enjoyment and began to look forward to things. The only side effect was being more sleepy, which at the time was not a bad thing.

    But the drug, just like everything else, started not being effective and I went from 15 mg. to 22.5..eventually to 30 mg. and finally to max dose of 45. In the midst of the last several increases, I went through many difficult things in my life--serious, life changing car accident, death of my mother, diagnosis of diabetes, severe arthritis, asthma, then the illness and death of my partner, both cats, and 2 close friends...all within the past 5 years.

    I talked to my doctor about going down on the R and he agreed it was worth a try. For some reason, he doesn't like this drug and has often suggested alternatives. However, he gave zero direction on how to do it. I'd read it was important to go slowly, so am doing my best with that. 6 weeks ago, I tapered from 45mg. to 37.5. I had some nausea, dizziness, headaches and anger...but not too bad. After 3 weeks, I went down to 30 mg. Side effects have been more severe with this change, especially with pretty bad insomnia most nights. There's more obsessive, negative thinking than I've had in many years....the physical symptoms are not as bad with this 2nd drop.

    I purposely waited for summer to make this plunge, because I suffer from SAD in the winter... and also waited past the 1st year since my partner's death. I know I'm still grieving and the symptoms can easily be taken for that, along with the med withdrawal.

    Over the years, I've tried repeatedly to take fish oil but it actually makes me throw up. Maybe it has to do with having a vegetarian diet. I do flax oil, which may not be as good, but it's what I can take. Before I started withdrawal, I began doing qi gong (like Tai Chi, but much easier to learn). I do between 30 and 90 minutes a day of that. I think it helps enormously with both physical and emotional side effects. It's a combination of physical exercise and meditation. When I start feeling down or thinking obsessively, I get up a do a few minutes and it instantly shifts my mood. I also do daily guided imagery, which I'd been doing for several years. It helps me fall asleep and also go back to sleep, when I wake in the middle of the night. It's also helped through the grief and changes. Not sure I would have survived without it. I use a SAD light in the winter, and have used it a few times during withdrawal...seems to smooth my mood out a bit.

    I'm taking ativan maybe once a week, just so I can have 1 decent night of sleep. I've used them occasionally like this in the past and never had any problem with side effects or stopping them. My naturopath gave me a couple of different bottles of homeopathy..so far, neither has had a lot of impact. Lack of sleep is really the main problem at this point...and would love to have something that would help more with that.

    Realize I'm rambling all over the place here...I can't blame med withdrawal...my brain has been like this more or less since my partner died last year...

    J

  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    92
    Welcome Freespirit! You aren't rambling at all. My goodness you have been through so much - you are one strong person. It sounds like you are doing well with your Remeron taper and are doing many good things to take care of yourself. I look forward to hearing about your progress as you continue your taper. I love the kitty at the end of your post - very cute. :)
    2006 Rx'd Cymbalta for approx 1 yr. WD after 4 mos - didn't realize was WD,took Zoloft and Klonopin; tapered K. Spring 2012 experienced major WD symptoms while tapering Zoloft; tried to updose but no relief, back on K 1 mg. Switched over 5-6 mos from Zoloft to Citalopram. Finished Zoloft 1/13; now on Citalopram 35 mg and 1 mg Klonopin. Started to experience withdrawal symptoms from switch (?) approx. 3 months after finished Zoloft (4/13). Now at 35 mg and hoping to start slow taper

  3. #3
    Founder Luc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    4,616
    Hello, Freespirit. Welcome to IAWP. You're doing great job with the taper. One important thing though. Looks like you've been going down with the dose pretty fast, especially after 8 years of taking the drug. The safest option is doing 10% (sometimes less) drops every 3-6 weeks: http://antidepressantwithdrawal.info/en/tapering.php

    Great job about the relaxation/meditation/exercise techniques. It is really good to hear they are helping you.
    Keep walking. Just keep walking.

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    1,081
    wecome to the iawp freespirit! your in good hands here, how long have you been at your current dose of remeron? parhaps a nice long hold is on order?

    nice to hear about the qi gong, I have done a bit of this myself, great for moving those engerys around the body and out!

    keep us informed on your progress. xx
    Put on citalopram July 2009 during a physical illness - didnt need it. 40mg
    went down to 20mg July 2010 CT in Jan 2012 - 2.5 years on.
    Tried to restart July 2012 due to 1 panic attack (never had one before - start of CT W/D) - adverse reaction
    Down to 1.5mg from the failed RI
    Now at 0.48 and trying to stabalize - been 6 weeks
    now have SEVERE anxiety, akathsia, feel like Im on acid 24/7 depression, D/P, signed off work. Scared of everything..please God let me heal from this

  5. #5
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Posts
    9
    I've been on 45 mg. of Remeron for about a year and a half. I realize that I've been going down more than the recommended 10%. For one thing, it's next to impossible to split the rapidly dissolving tabs into smaller pieces...they tend to just disintegrate. This is the only form I've been able to tolerate..the regular pills made me sick for some reason. Liquid form is not available in Canada either.

    I didn't want to sound like a flake, but I've been doing shamanic practice for awhile and am following guidance of my helping spirits. I realize that sounds out there, but advice for other things has been spot on.

    I am going to slow it down and decrease the next amount every other day to begin with. Remeron has a half life of over 20 hours, so this should help to keep things in better balance. I've also discovered if I do more qi gong in those first days around the dosage change, it minimizes the side effects.

    I've had intermittent insomnia just like this this my partner died, so it's hard to know for sure if the cause is decrease in meds. I slept a whole lot better when I was only taking 15 mg. than I did on each of the increases.

    I realize it's important to go slow....part of my motivation for going off them was with the hope of some weight loss, along with wanting to not live in a state of anesthesia anymore. In spite of eating very healthy and getting exercise every day, I've had very minimal weight change. The diabetes, asthma, and arthritis will all be greatly improved with carrying fewer pounds. I've put on a ton of weight from these pills..

    J

  6. #6
    Founder Sheila's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Northern California
    Posts
    4,412
    Welcome freespirit!

    I would look into algae oil. It’s available. EPA + DHA from the original source. Skip the fish. Omega-3 is a way for you to increase your fat intake, if that’s what you need, too.

    I’d love to hear *how* you get the guidance. I get some guidance – words in my head or answers to a yes / no question or synchros after I ask a question. Do you have any insights into how to tell when you’re getting guidance and how to tell when you’re misperceiving it?
    Meds free since June 2005.

    "An initiation into shamanic healing means a devaluation of all values, an overturning of the profane world, a peeling away of inveterate handed-down notions of the world, liberation from everything preconceived. For that reason, shamanism is closely connected with suffering. One must suffer the disintegration of one's own system of thought in order to perceive a new world in the higher space."
    -- Holger Kalweit

  7. #7
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Posts
    9
    Sheila, I journey often for information or healing...a minimum of several times a week. When I'm having a hard time, I may journey more than once a day. When something is a big issue, it generally takes me several journeys of asking questions. I most often hear things in the experience, but the big one for me is how it resonates in my body. Usually the things that are the answers I want or expect to hear are suspect.

    As best I can, I try to follow not just the advice, but my intuition in daily life..and again, I most often see how things feel in my body. It's an experiment, where I see what happens when I trust what I'm being given or sense. Is my life better this way? Do I have fewer regrets? How do I feel about myself? What happens when I go against my intuition?

    I have what I think is a healthy skepticism about pretty much everything. I'm a "prove it to me" kind of gal, or one that is focused on whether something is beneficial or not. Sure, I do plenty of reading and research on things...but very often, what seems to work for other people doesn't for me. For example, everyone was all about the standardized extract for St. John's Wort, but it had the same side effects for me as the worst antidepressant I tried (effexor). Instead, I took capsules that were made from oil which came from the whole plant. Theoretically, it shouldn't work because of the small amount of active ingredient, but it worked like a charm. I'm all in favor of natural things over drugs whenever possible. However, natural things are still something else for the body to process and are subject to side effects. Natural isn't always safe either.

    I appreciate the info on algae oil and will keep it in the back of my mind. I'm going to stay with flax oil for now. My body doesn't do well with too many changes at once. Many things end up being a major problem for my gut...which wreaks havoc with blood sugar, which is bad for my health and makes me feel miserable.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Moui's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    175
    Hey, welcome.
    Uff, you've been hit hard on several fronts.. It might be good to let things settle for a while. It often seems to be good to take things slow with both weaning and changes (supplements etc, one at a time to know what is what and so on). I don't know how much you've read these forums but the wean you made was pretty rapid like Sheila said.
    I'm curious what journeying is..

    You can use gel caps and a cheap jewelers scale (gemini-20 is popular) to wean with pills. My pills are pretty solid and easy to scrape bits off but I've heard others complain about the crumbling and they put it in those 0-shape gel caps and then weigh. You can get down to very small amounts this way.

    I think the others can give better info on the slow wean, I'm not very familiar with this as I've always dabbled with such small doses. Just from following peoples progress though the turtle-weaners definitely seem to be winners of this race. Well, actually that's the point it's not a race at all. And reinstating can get messy so it's good to not play with that..

    Be safe.
    Acceptance. Time. Habit.

  9. #9
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Posts
    9
    Okay...I get it..everyone thinks I need to go slower.

    I didn't just wake up 6 weeks ago and decide to go off my antidepressants. I started working with a naturopath 2 years ago in order to work up to this. He let me know it would be a long process, given what I had been through and was going through in my life. I've seen him monthly (or sometimes more often) throughout this time. I've had IV vitamins, bodywork, homeopathy, supplements, plus done trauma therapy, imagery, meditation, and massage to get me up to this point. My adrenals were already in excellent shape before I started going down on the pills. My immunity the same...mood, sleep, etc. I cleaned up my diet, got more exercise and basically did everything I could to eliminate the need for antidepressants.

    I haven't read other people's stories too much on here, but I'd also done a lot of psychotherapy over the last 30+years (some of it helpful, a lot not so much), acupuncture, bodywork, hypnosis, art therapy and have had a meditation practice for almost 30 years. I have many tools to work with emotions that come up..and antidepressant withdrawal is a walk in the park compared to the things I've been through in the past few years

    It took almost a week, but the homeopathy kicked in and I no longer have headaches or nausea, and slept great last night. If I need to do 2 hours of qi gong a day, plus the meditations that go with it, that's what I'll do. The qi gong and work with the naturopath is to treat the underlying conditions that lead to the depression, as well as working with the WD side effects.

    I don't think my situation is typical for everyone on here. Everyone's body is different. I'm listening to my body and working closely with the naturopath, who I trust implicitly. He's helped many people get off their meds, treated people with almost every disease imaginable and is considered to be the best in the province. I'm in good hands and I trust myself and my own path through things. All the difficulty I've been through hasn't been for naught....I'm stronger, wiser, and better able to follow what's true for me...

    What I'm doing may not be right for any other person...but it's what's right for me.

  10. #10
    Founder Sheila's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Northern California
    Posts
    4,412
    Freespirit -- Thanks for explaining so thoroughly about how you consult guidance. I like how you feel how the guidance / intuition feels in your body. It's great you're studying what happens when you do or do not heed the guidance / intuition.

    I thoroughly advocate not making too many changes at once in w/d and doing your own research. Just for your consideration, I don't think we can get enough DHA via flax. ALA converts pretty inefficiently to DHA, and we really need to eat "preformed" DHA, which you could get from algae -- at some point. :)
    Meds free since June 2005.

    "An initiation into shamanic healing means a devaluation of all values, an overturning of the profane world, a peeling away of inveterate handed-down notions of the world, liberation from everything preconceived. For that reason, shamanism is closely connected with suffering. One must suffer the disintegration of one's own system of thought in order to perceive a new world in the higher space."
    -- Holger Kalweit

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts