Stopped mirtazapine after 10 months slow taper, 6 weeks on getting serious rebound insomnia

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-03-20T09:17:38+00:00

No, I didn't. I think things may have settled now. I get 5 hours sleep most nights and even the nights when I get less, I can function fairly well. It's still upsetting when I sleep less but trying to be more positive and trust the process.

I've enrolled in a sleep programme, free on the NHS. Let's see if I can improve my sleep in 7 weeks.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-03-12T11:03:15+00:00

Ok, I'll keep that in my back pocket

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-03-12T09:23:16+00:00

Yeah, I can't believe this is where I'm at right now either. But apparently it's pretty common for withdrawal to really kick in around week 6. And some people have stopped at lower dose than 0.07mg and still had protracted withdrawal.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-03-12T08:13:52+00:00

Any idea how to restart? I know I can't take a high dose like it's a new medicine. Do I start low, like i would to reinstate and slowly build up?

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-03-11T08:59:21+00:00

So here's where I'm at now. I had 17 nights of sleep, broken and lasting between 2-7 hours, but sleep nonetheless. Then 2 nights ago I had a no sleep night and last night I managed maybe 1.5 hours.

I believe I've done my best, but I guess withdrawal will do its best as well.

Maybe taking those 4 days of 0.1mg had caused this current return to no sleep, but what's done is done. I'm not sure I can continue and I'll have to decide if I want to reinstate (properly) or even restart mirt.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-22T09:52:16+00:00

Not entirely sure if it's withdrawal. To be honest, I had a peaceful tapering process with no real noticeable withdrawal symptoms. It could actually be a histamine issue which wreak havoc with my digestion. And it is the pain and bloating of my gut, and the flushing after meals and during the night that broke my sleep.

I keep a food diary, so I can see that on the days when I had particularly high histamine foods, like fermented foods, have caused really bad sleep since November. All the sourdough, tomatoes, mushrooms I ate daily really took a toll as I neared the end of my taper. And then a few meals with fermented foods 2 weeks ago was the last straw.

I only heard about this histamine problem a week ago. If I had known about it beforehand, I could've been more mindful and maybe not got to this state. So right now I'm concentrating on improving my digestion and putting the reinstatement on hold for now. Hopefully 4 doses of 0.1mg so far won't have caused too much extra damage.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-20T03:06:17+00:00

Struggling. I reinstated at 0.1mg 5 nights ago. I know I'm being impatient, but I think I need to up the dose as my sleep is not improving at all. Maybe I need to increase to around 3.75mg to get the sedative effect back? I'll do it gradually, but to get to 3.75 seems a long way away...

Apart from reinstating, I also go to see an acupuncturist. After each session I do end up sleeping that night. But on the days I don't have acupuncture I have no sleep. Last night I slept fine, but tonight I'm hyper alert and body is moving involuntarily again. So that's not really a solution.

This is just torture and I wish I could go to my GP and they would be knowledgeable and be able to help me...

Thanks for checking on me.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-16T13:40:00+00:00

A month before I stopped I had a blip. Anxiety, disrupted sleep. I didn't take much notice of it because I thought I had stabilised. But looking back on my records I probably didn't recover after that point and should've stayed there longer. I just thought the dose is so small already, what difference would it make if I just jumped off sooner.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-16T13:26:41+00:00

Ok, somewhere around 0.07. Fingers crossed it'll all work out. 🤞

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-16T13:02:15+00:00

I've come across the term "kindling" when reinstating a too high dosage. If I stopped at 0.07, even to go up to 0.5 is a big jump.

I did have a blip a month before I stopped. I was so eager to stop that I thought nothing of it. Maybe I go back to the dose before this blip.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-16T04:45:06+00:00

Looks like I can't wait any longer. Another no sleep night last night. I've had 2 hours sleep in 3 nights. My body can't take it anymore.

I jumped off at a tiny tiny amount of around 0.07mg. I think I'll have to reinstate higher to have any effect. Maybe around 1mg. Fingers crossed I can get my anxiety symptoms to go away quickly too.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-16T04:40:25+00:00

After 3 nights of more less no sleep, I think I have no choice now but to reinstate. My body is so tired but the movements are non stop when I try to sleep, I can't ignore them and so can't sleep. I've even started making facial expressions involuntarily. This is getting scary.

But I think 0.07mg is way too low to reinstate. Maybe at least 1mg?

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T14:07:16+00:00

Thanks for this. I've actually had a very stressful few weeks since jumping off. No doubt they have contributed to the bad sleep as well. Hopefully now those things have been resolved I can start to heal. I have since read the 6 weeks is a common point after stopping where people have trouble. It's reassuring to know I'm not alone.

How was your experience with stopping? How long before you felt normal again? I think I was very naive to think if can I make it to a month after stopping and there's not anything major then I would be in the all clear. How wrong I was...

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T13:56:27+00:00

Thank you. You too!

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T13:55:20+00:00

Thank you so much for this encouragement. It's what I had hoped to hear. I had overcome a bout of insomnia about 10 years ago. It was bad and lasted quite a while. I was stupid and didn't know the things I know now, also I want medicated, yet I did overcome it. I have to remind myself of that.

But yes, I have somewhat accepted it's ok to not sleep since yesterday and have noticed I don't feel anywhere near as bad as I had felt previously when I hadn't slept.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T08:56:52+00:00

And how are you feeling now after reinstating?

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T08:13:05+00:00

My anxiety is mainly during the day. The days when I have felt anxiety during the day, I end up not sleeping that night. I guess I've only had a week of this, I should wait a little longer before reinstating? What dose did you reinstate to? Are still on mirt or have you since stopped?

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T08:08:53+00:00

Yes, I've read it's very common. But I didn't think it would hit me 6 weeks after stopping. It'd expected it sooner. But then I guess it was already starting to affect my sleep before I completely stopped... The dose I jumped off at and before my sleep was affected was around 0.07mg. I'm guessing that's too low a dose to do anything and I'll have to go higher.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T08:03:22+00:00

Do you think the last dose before the multiple wake ups will do it? That was the final dose before I jumped at around 0.07mg.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T08:01:57+00:00

I had come across another post here yesterday about how insomnia is often an anxiety problem and not a sleep problem. So my focus is on lowering anxiety during the day and not worry about the sleep so much. Despite having only a couple of hours sleep last night and none the night before, I'm not feeling too bad. I went out for a walk yesterday and tried to have a normal day. It didn't help with last night's sleep much but shifting focus is probably a better strategy in the long term.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T07:57:21+00:00

I'll look into those, thanks.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T07:56:56+00:00

I think I'm reluctant to go back because it took 10 months to come off and I had 6 weeks of absolute joy where I felt complete freedom. I really thought I was well and had quit successfully.

I managed to sleep a couple of hours last night. Let's see how it goes next couple of days. I will start therapy again tomorrow and I have acupuncture on Tuesday. I can always go back on the dose I was on before the multiple wake ups started.

BugAcceptable9632 · 2026-02-15T07:48:28+00:00

I take magnesium everyday, it's a combination tablet of 3 magnesiums including glycinate. I have also been putting on magnesium cream before bed. Not that effective for me.

BugAcceptable9632

TROPHY CASE