12 hours ago, Marie said:

Hello. Lots of things happening to me but at least my taper is going well. It started in January with covid for a month. Covid ended then I had the eye problem. Yesterday I was on the treadmill and accidentally hit the 10 button, when I only go up to 2.3. I tried lowering the number quickly and it did not work. I have the attached safety wire but did not get a chance to pull it so I fell on my hands and knees. The treadmill did not stop even though the safety wire came off. No more treadmill for me. Luckily, I only have a knee burn from the moving treadmill.

 

I'm going to see a theater show on Saturday night, 2/28, and then cut mirt from .2 mg to .18 mg. I'll keep going. Marie.

Hi @Marie glad your taper is going well. You’re really getting close now. 🙂

Sorry about Covid not nice is it and your treadmill accident doesn’t sound good at all but you seem to be ok! That’s good. 
 

Hope you enjoy your night out tomorrow. 
 

Chippy

Thanks Chippy. This is the second time I've seen Spamalot. It was a lot of fun. I cut to .18 mg last night which was exciting. I'm just tired because I got home late. I think I will try to nap today. If all goes well, I should be down to .12 mg by the end of this month. Marie.

3 minutes ago, Marie said:

Thanks Chippy. This is the second time I've seen Spamalot. It was a lot of fun. I cut to .18 mg last night which was exciting. I'm just tired because I got home late. I think I will try to nap today. If all goes well, I should be down to .12 mg by the end of this month. Marie.

Sounds fun! 🙂 

 

Congrats on the cut hope it goes well.

 

Steady on the cutting, 10% of your last dose per month 🙂 Your call of course, but wouldn't want you to rush off as you have worked so hard to get here. 🙂 

I know I've been going fast now Chippy. My taper is 6 years at this point. I think I am riding the edge of w/d at this point. When it gets strong I stop the taper. The cuts will accumulate and pile on.  I have a plan to slow down before I end the taper completely. I was thinking holding a month, but now i think maybe 1 and half months before jumping off. I had an experience with trazodone withdrawal at one month and a half off. It was so bad i had to reinstate. I think though it's a balance now because the taper has to have high high percentage cuts. I'll never get off otherwise.

 

What's your opinion Chippy on how long to spread out the taper of .18 mg? Thanks.

13 hours ago, Marie said:

I know I've been going fast now Chippy. My taper is 6 years at this point. I think I am riding the edge of w/d at this point. When it gets strong I stop the taper. The cuts will accumulate and pile on.  I have a plan to slow down before I end the taper completely. I was thinking holding a month, but now i think maybe 1 and half months before jumping off. I had an experience with trazodone withdrawal at one month and a half off. It was so bad i had to reinstate. I think though it's a balance now because the taper has to have high high percentage cuts. I'll never get off otherwise.

 

What's your opinion Chippy on how long to spread out the taper of .18 mg? Thanks.

Hey @Marie

 

It's a tricky one I know. You are now below 0.3mg and it feels like time to get it done and off!

 

What I would say is it's been seen as very important by members on SA in the past to not jump too soon. You are showing signs of WD symptoms so as you said a hold makes sense. Id then continue to drop 10% of the last dose personally and then take it from there.

 

It is better to be stable and still tapering then off the drug but in WD. Just my thoughts.

 

Have a read if you haven't already 🙂 

 

Managing the End Game

 

Chippy

Thanks Chippy. I am going to build longer holds into the rest of the taper, including a longer one right before the taper end.

 

Now the friction burns from the treadmill accident have gotten infected. I am taking antibiotics for it and it's helping. So far 2026 has not been good for me. I find though that with all this battering from drug w/d and tapering it's made me pretty resilient. It's a silver lining I guess.

Marie.

9 hours ago, Marie said:

the friction burns from the treadmill accident have gotten infected. I am taking antibiotics for it and it's helping. So far 2026 has not been good for me. I find though that with all this battering from drug w/d and tapering it's made me pretty resilient. It's a silver lining I guess.

Oooh that’s nasty. Glad it’s healing up now though. 
 

I truly think we gain super powers through this experience. Not that I’d ask for it, be glad of it, or wish it on anyone! But silver lining, yes maybe!

I'm sorry Marie for the treadmill incident. I am certainly glad you didn't get seriously hurt. And I hope that they fix the treadmill safety feature. It's safer to clip it to your clothing so it will automatically tug on the magnetic shut-off. 

Good job on another reduction. 

Hi Now, thanks for stopping by. The two burns on my knee are improving. It's slow though and will probably take a total of 3 weeks. The burns need to close up. I then will use a lot of vitamin E to help with scarring.

 

It's no reason to pause the taper. I feel fine so I'll cut .02 mg on the 10th. This will bring me down to .16 mg mirt. Your trazodone taper looks good to me. I believe I was cutting 5% at your dose. I found trazodone less potent than mirt. I remember having not too bad w/d symptoms after I was off. Keep going. It gets better. Marie.

Thanks Marie. Can you remind me of what your jump dose of trazodone was? Did you have to go as low as Mirt? I know you stopped too early and had to reinstate at one point. 

 

Thank you. 

Hello NOW. I tapered all the way to .04 mg dry cutting the trazodone. I am not sure that I had to go that low (.04). I wanted to though because I was probably still in ambien w/d, taking mirt, and a bad reinstatement. Would I be okay topping mirt at .16 mg? Probably, but I want to make sure there is very little w/d after I finish the taper. I am able to put whatever w/d I have now in the background so it's okay. Good luck with your tapers.

Marie.

Hello. Tonight I'll lower my dose to .16 mg mirt. I am lowering .02 every ten days. Emotions are coming back, sometimes stronger than i like. Overall I feel positive and proud of myself for getting through this. Be well. Marie.

8 hours ago, Marie said:

Hello. Tonight I'll lower my dose to .16 mg mirt. I am lowering .02 every ten days. Emotions are coming back, sometimes stronger than i like. Overall I feel positive and proud of myself for getting through this. Be well. Marie.

Hi Marie. 

At what dose would you say you were able to start a linear taper of 0.02 mg every 10 days instead of a % reduction? I know it's different for everyone but I have heard from others too that below a certain dose it's possible to linear taper and therefore go a bit faster. What's your experience? 

I think it was about .45 mg when I felt an unusual strong withdrawal. I held longer and then I restarted the taper. Long holds build in stability so now the cuts became easier. It has been more than 10% a month after about .5 mg. I've done cuts every ten days because I felt I could. I will take a long hold if the cuts catch up, or I will just make a long hold for stability. Stability at this tiny dose will hopefully insure a much easier time when I'm done. I do not want to get hit at 6 weeks out like trazodone. Maybe I will take a longer hold after this cut. These small cuts seem easier but they pile up, then surprise you.  I'm not in a rush but I don't like how stress/anger hits me. And I do want to finish lol. Marie.

Hello. As predicted the cuts caught up with me. The spring transition also does it to me every year I've tapered. I slept straight for 5 hours then insomnia for most of the early morning. Woke up with a migraine that caused nausea. I had this the previous night. My long hold that I've talked about has come. This should serve me well before I taper off the last little bits. We are getting big swings of weather here. It went from me gardening in short sleeves to getting my snow shovel ready. This creates a problem for me in w/d too. Coffee and eating helps the headache/nausea for me. I go into w/d mode when it hits me. I stop all supplements and cut back coffee.

 

Since I'm fasting by not eating after 6 pm, if w/d keeps up, I may eat a little bit in the evening. This may help waking up with nausea. I have lots of distractions. I'm going to another theater show this weekend and I am looking forward to that. More roses are coming for my rose garden. I have to replace a few plants so a garden visit is in order soon. My burns are almost healed. I lost a couple more pounds. I need to shop for clothing since things are just too big. I'll keep going. Marie.

Hello. I am feeling better now. My sleep was good and the migraines and nausea are gone thankfully. I think it's because of stopping supplements/too much coffee. It could be too that with this tiny dose it hits fast and leaves fast. I'll hold off on my supplement for a while. This spring season coming up I'll just be more mindful with tapering since every spring my w/d gets worse. I will hold at .1 mg for a bit, maybe another cut, and then walk off mirtazapine. Be well. Marie.

 

 

 

Hi guys. I feel pretty good so tomorrow I will lower the dose to .14 mg. There will be another one this month to get me down to .12 mg. I am going await next month so I'll wait until then to get me down to .1 mg. I'll be finished in May the latest. I remember reading somewhere early in my journey saying "the only way out is through". This is so true. To those people who are tapering, just keep going. Marie.

Good job, Marie. I am so very happy for you.

Will you come back to keep us updated from time to time? ♥️

Yes of course I'll come back with updates. I might have to take some time away from the forums to try and figure out my life at that point. I've changed do much in 12 years of these nasty meds. Everything feels different. I will be fine though.

 

I didn't make my cut cause I had some insomnia. I'll go down to .14 mg mirt tonight. It will be interesting once I get to .1 mg. Be well. Marie.

Hello. I am down to .14 mg mirt. This cut feels easy. Maybe I'll drop one more time to .12 mg before my trip. I have a lot going on though since I'm hosting the holiday. I am in a great mood today, singing to music on this spring day. Some days recently I had waves of sadness, but I had nothing to be sad about. Weird symptoms just keep hitting me and I am not fazed anymore. Be well. Marie.

 

 

@Marie I'm glad you feel good.

 

I'd emphasise that the goal is to maintain feeling good and not race to a particular dose, if the pace you're going at is tolerable I'd suggest sticking with it. You have had some withdrawal symptoms still as well, which reinforces the idea that speeding up or rushing to cut faster risks worsening them.

 

If you're doing well, let's keep it that way and carry on as you have been, slowly and steadily?

 

Thanks Luke for your message. I've always leaned to a slow and careful taper. I want to be off already. I'm sick of the process. I want a new start. I'll drag out the taper though. Marie.

 

 

On 3/26/2026 at 12:03 PM, Marie said:

Hello. I am down to .14 mg mirt. This cut feels easy. Maybe I'll drop one more time to .12 mg before my trip. I have a lot going on though since I'm hosting the holiday. I am in a great mood today, singing to music on this spring day. Some days recently I had waves of sadness, but I had nothing to be sad about. Weird symptoms just keep hitting me and I am not fazed anymore. Be well. Marie.

 

 

Hi Marie

Great job. Sounds so nice to say or write 0.14 mg. You are almost there. Enjoy your trip and your music. 

 

Thanks now. I've decided to hold my dose of .14 until I get back from Vegas. The place is too stimulating lol. I'll cut the night I get back. I'm hosting Easter too so I need to get things done. I've dropped a few more pounds. It's because of the lazy intermittent fasting, the clean, healthy food I eat, portion control, and coming off mirt. I've lost all the polydrugging weight. I figure I'll keep going though to get me slimmer. I kept adding different things until I finally saw significant weight loss since mirt messed me up. I want to get as healthy and strong as I can. The drugs did a number on me. Be well. Marie.

12 hours ago, Marie said:

until I get back from Vegas

Have fun!