Hello Friends,

This is my very first post here and am hoping to find support and some much needed reassurance.

I started Mirtazapine in December 2024 after strong course of antibiotics for a stomach infection lead to severe anxiety.

I was started on 15mg and never went higher as the side effects were horrendous.

It never helped with my anxiety nor did it help me sleep but instead I constantly felt drugged and weird.

I was briefly put on Lexapro in addition to Mirt but had an adverse reaction to the drug after it caused me Akathisia so I quickly tapered off.

In July 2025 I did a 3 month taper off Mirtazapine which I know was too quick but I was desperate to get off and be done with it.

The taper was not too bad but as I got to the lower numbers things got harder.

I finally jumped in October 2025 and have been off for 6.5 months and am not taking any other meds or supplements.

Here is a rough summary of what I experienced post jump:

Week 1 - Feeling physically unwell

Week 2 - Severe motor Akathisia

Week 3 - Windows start to appear

Week 4 - Feeling unwell and anxious

Week 5 - Feeling unwell

Week 6 - Windows appear again

Week 7 - Mental symptoms ramp up

Week 8 -10 -Severe Akathisia + terror

Week 11-13 - Akathisia vanishes

Week 14 - All symptoms both physical and mental ramp up, Akathisia returns

Week 18-24- physical symptoms become extreme as does Akathisia

Week 25 - Surprising 2 day window and a reduction in symptom intensity

Week 26- Current Week 29 - All symptoms return with vengeance but hyper arousal is replaced in with crushing fatigue + anxiety

I’m currently in Week 29 and have symptom rotation from day to day, hour to hour.

I have a total of 60+ symptoms but they all wax and wane.

Here are my symptoms that I struggle with daily:

(1) Bursts of Akathisia that comes in waves accompanied by tinnitus

(2) Flu like malaises and chills accompanied by severe Anxiety

(3) Fatigue all day OR in waves accompanied by anxiety

(4) Muscle pain accompanied by anxiety

(5) Derealisation accompanied by anxiety

(6) Insomnia, night terrors, sleep paralysis

(7) Adrenaline dumps

(8) Sudden paralysing fear in the morning

Any advice and suggestions would be much welcome.

Thanks

Hi @Sunset Superman

Welcome to the forum!

 

This is a volunteer-run, community forum aimed at helping those who are tapering and/or experiencing difficulties with psychiatric medications and withdrawl syndrome. We are not medical professionals and cannot offer medical advice. We simply offer support and opinions which you could use as talking points with a medical provider knowledgeable in withdrawing off psychiatric medications.

 

Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules and the disclaimer located here: Guidelines

 

Please make sure your signature is kept up to date with your drug history. This will allow members to see some basic information about your drug history and situation so that they may help you best. Information on how to do this is located in the FAQs section above, but here is a direct link: Update Signature

Once this is done, future posts made by you will have this signature turned on by default. For this reason please keep it clear but condensed as possible.

Please use the format outline here Preferred signature/drug history format

I also took Mirtazapine in 2024 (March) and had a reaction to it. I understand that feeling only too well. I was on it less time than you and stopped it abruptly on the doctor’s advice.

Luke (who runs this site with me) and others on here have had similar experiences to you. Luke and I are both from the uk too.

I’m really sorry to read what an awful time you are having. If it helps things will get better. It can take some time to recover from this, but things do, slowly, improve.

Clearly your nervous was knocked by the antibiotics you were given. We have seen similar on here before. This leads to symptoms that look like a mental health condition, so ads are prescribed to treat, and as the nervous system is dysregulated, it’s like fuel on a fire. Unfortunately often leading to more drugs.

You’ve had some really clear signs of healing. Those windows are evidence of this. Healing is unfortunately non linear.

A worsening some months out, is very common. Including some worsening after a period of feeling better. You are not alone.

To reassure you everything you are going through is typical of an injury from these drugs. We all understand here.

Please hang in there. I’m very glad you found us. You’ll get lots of support here for sure.

Biggest thing apart from time, and the standard list of things I’ll link to you below, is coping skills. Have a good read of that area of the forum when you have a chance. It’s good to start to build up your knowledge in this area, it can help a tonne. As well of course does community with people who understand.

 

In the mean time this is what I would do if I were you:

 

-Stay Hydrated 

 

-Eat a good clean whole food diet, avoiding processed foods and sugars.

 

-Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and antihistamines and any other psychoactive substances.

 

Supplements are to be avoided initially, as they often irritate our nervous systems. Try to get your nutrition through food.

 

Down the line, you may wish to introduce Fish Oil and Magnesium. Those who can tolerate them have found them calming to the nervous system. Be careful try one at a time and start low and see how you get on should you choose to try them.

 

A daily walk is very important as much as you can manage, if you can manage it. Gets you your fresh air and Vitamin D does wonders for your mind!

 

You are very welcome here and I hope you find the site supportive.

Chippy

Thank you so much Chippy for the comprehensive reply. I’ve followed you and Luke from SA and always found your discussions helpful.

You guys do such an awesome job here and this is such a tremendous resource for all those inadvertently suffering medical malpractice from Psych drugs.

I don’t know what your thoughts are Chippy. I raise this because it maybe applicable to you. I’ve never reacted this badly to any drug in my 50 year life!

I had a H Pylori infection at the start of 2024 and had to take a boat load of antibiotics. I believe this hyper sensitised my CNS. I stared feeling anxious as soon as I finished my course of antibiotics.

We were both on Mirtazapine for a short period of time and on a low dose. I believe this was the catalyst to a major CNS injury which was already sensitised.

The subsequent side effects and severe withdrawals are were probably exaggerated by the dysregulated CNS.

The short period on Mirtazapine was horrific. I never in my life had SI thoughts and ended up in the Psych Ward at A&E whilst on this drug only to be prescribed more psychoactive drugs!

This is when I knew that it was time to get off the meds as I felt no better but in fact far worse!

I don’t know how you feel @Chippy but this has truly been the most difficult experience of my life and I’ve got a military background!

I’m nearing the 7 month off mark and even now I still have days where I want to exit the planet because it feels never ending and the suffering is on a indescribably level.

For me personally, the 60 symptoms would be a walk in the park if it was not for the anxiety. That is my major issue where it’s sometimes so aggressive that it makes just surviving a challenge.

One of my symptoms is Akathisia and as you know all to well it’s a type of hell that is just inhumane.

How are you doing Chippy with your journey. Has any of your symptoms improved?

Would love an update

Thanks

Edited April 17Apr 17 by Sunset Superman

13 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

Thank you so much Chippy for the comprehensive reply. I’ve followed you and Luke from SA and always found your discussions helpful.

Pleasure mate. I’m glad you found something in our journeys helpful. 😀

Some good coming from all those posts!

15 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

You guys do such an awesome job here and this is such a tremendous resource for all those inadvertently suffering medical malpractice from Psych drugs.

Appreciate that. We hope we can build a good resource and support network for years to come. It shouldn’t be needed. But unfortunately it is.

16 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

I had a H Pylori infection at the start of 2024 and had to take a boat load of antibiotics. I believe this hyper sensitised my CNS. I stared feeling anxious as soon as I finished my course of antibiotics.

We were both on Mirtazapine for a short period of time and on a low dose. I believe this was the catalyst to a major CNS injury which was already sensitised.

The subsequent side effects and severe withdrawals are were probably exaggerated by the dysregulated CNS.

Yes certainly. The nervous system, once it gets injured, doesn’t tolerate any psychoactive substances. They just make it worse. Unfortunately it often takes some time to work this out before harm stops happening.

18 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

This is when I knew that it was time to get off the meds as I felt no better but in fact far worse!

I get that. That is why I ctd. I just wanted it gone.

18 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

I don’t know how you feel @Chippy but this has truly been the most difficult experience of my life and I’ve got a military background!

Same for me. Completely disrupted my life.

19 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

I’m nearing the 7 month off mark and even now I still have days where I want to exit the planet because it feels never ending and the suffering is on an indescribably level.

I’m sorry to hear this. SI is very common. Keep yourself safe. It’s not you, it’s an actual symptom of injury from Mirtazapine. 7 months off is very early days still. You’ve got so much room for improvement from here!

21 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

For me personally, the 60 symptoms would be a walk in the park if it was not for the anxiety. That is my major issue where it’s sometimes so aggressive that it makes just surviving a challenge.

I get it. Symptoms imo split into two causes. WD and injury. They can look the same. Hard to unpick. I say this because, as your brain adapts to the drug being gone, these symptoms will lessen. You were on a short time and so this process should be faster for you than a long term user. I found my WD passed after about 8 months maybe. After that it felt like an injury. Less severe in some ways, but more entrenched.

My thought here is the WD symptoms were mainly the neuro emotions like strong anxiety you mention. That’s all gone for me now. It’s mainly exhaustion. Head pressure. Sleep disruption. And a bunch of other niggles that fluctuate. I do have some mild neuro emotions. But they come and go. A bit of emotional numbing still. It fluctuates. But my point is, I hope in the coming months the bulk of this will reduce and be more manageable for you.

All this will be a distant memory one day!

Chippy

@Sunset Superman sorry to hear about your suffering.

4 hours ago, Sunset Superman said:

Week 25 - Surprising 2 day window and a reduction in symptom intensity

This is promising. 💯

Since Mirtazapine affects histamine, have you tried a low histamine diet. High histamine can cause anxiety. It is linked with adrenaline.

Are you avoiding alcohol, caffeine (chocolate, black tea, green tea, etc), msg, sodium nitrates, sugar, tobacco, etc?

Keep trying to make an environment of calm. Stress really exacerbates withdrawal. I hope you are able to find distractions that work for you.

Thankfully you weren't on it long. Definitely the antibiotic treatment you received had repercussions.

Many have healed before us.... time and patience. ❤️🙏

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, all of what you're describing is "classic mirtazapine" in terms of what it's like when it harms people.

People can and do recover from being harmed by this drug, just like many other psychiatric drugs, it's just that mirtazapine in particular can be pretty bad for inducing a wide range of very difficult physical symptoms. I would imagine that this is because it's a relatively "dirty" psychiatric drug pharmacologically (which means it affects a wide range of receptors/systems in the body). It would stand to reason that when this goes wrong or you react adversely to it, the consequences can be quite wide-ranging.

However, as I'm sure you're aware, next to no objective science has been done to look into this.

As @LostinCanada suggests, it's worth looking at low histamine diets. My experience was that none of this made any difference and dietary histamine just was not a factor in my symptoms. However, it's absolutely worth a try in case you can find anything that is contributing that you can avoid.

Windows are a good sign, even if they're fleeting, especially at this stage. Having made no real progress at this point is not uncommon, but I understand why it is disheartening. I hope that you start to improve more steadily soon.

20 minutes ago, Luke said:

As @LostinCanada suggests, it's worth looking at low histamine diets. My experience was that none of this made any difference and dietary histamine just was not a factor in my symptoms. However, it's absolutely worth a try in case you can find anything that is contributing that you can avoid.

Agree 100%. I have, and still do, make some effort in this area, but I’ve seen no noticeable effect. I have a good strict diet, that is very healthy. I don’t eat much sugar really. Even cut out chocolate mostly now. No caffeine. It all helps I’m sure, gives you the best most healthy platform to work from. But as Luke said. Nothing seems to obviously help, but time, and lots of it. You’ll get there.

Thank all for the valuable input!

In terms of diet, my experience has been the same as @Chippy in so far as results have been limited with a low histamine diet. I’ve gone back to a mostly plant based whole food diet and it served me better not fussing round with everything bit of food on a banned list.

@Luke I’ve read that Mirt hits 36 individual receptors and H1 alone has countless functions from gut to mood to immunity. I’m almost certain “the experts” have no clue about the full picture when it comes to neuro chemical interactions. I myself didn’t know that H1 affects dopamine which now makes sense as to why I got Akathisia the second I reduced my dose!

Today we are waking up to a beautiful sunny day here in London which I’m observing with measured enthusiasm.

There is this weird feeling that I wake up to most days, a sense of something being deeply wrong with the world. Sometime ominous, dark and evils despite my surroundings being peaceful. This is combined with a deep sense of irrational visceral fear that means you’re constantly threat detecting and unable to be present in the moment or relax. I guess these are the neuro emotions that Chippy describes.

At month 7 the derealisation has rammed up so the world not only appears ominous but also dream like.

When you combine these mental aspects with crushing fatigue, head pressure and brain fog it becomes a story of surviving not living.

I know I’m very early on in the grand scheme of things things but I just wanted to know from you guys how you functioned under these circumstances?

I mean as in going to work, taking care of kids, relationships etc? For me trying to warm something in the air fryer has become tantamount to an iron man competition!

Anyways hope you both make the most of the beautiful weather and let’s pray for no more heat waves like last summer 😅

Thanks

For the benefit of other sufferers I’m posting my list of symptoms post discontinuation of Mirtazapine. Obviously I don’t have them all at once, rather then cycle and morph day to day.

1.Head pressure
2. Flu like malaise
3. Chills
4. Burning eyes
5. Tachycardia
6. Night terror
7. Flank pain
8. Tinnitus
9. Derealisation
10. Low mood
11. Flash backs
12. Crushing fatigue
13. Akathisia
14. Anhedonia
15. Racing thoughts
16. Mental anguish
17. Brain fog
18. Muscle twitch
19. Muscle pain
20. Muscle tension
21. Hands and feet tingling
22. Brain tingling
23. Eyes watering
24. Zero appetite
25. Vivid dreams
26. Sleep paralysis
27. Headaches
28. Nausea
29. Dizzyness
30. Sensitivity to light, sound, smell
31. Tongue burning  
32. Brain burning
33. Skin burning
34. Itching
35. Excessive yawning
36. Dry eyes
37. Jaw clenching TMJ
38. Ear pressure
39. Blurred vision
40. Brain zaps
41. Sudden energy crash
42. Chest pain
43. Brain reboot
44. Black outs
45. Visual snow
46. Anxiety
47. Panic episodes
48. Fear
49. Despair
50. Zero motivation
51. Insomnia
52. Exploding brain syndrome
53. Jelly legs
54. Internal tremors
55. Ice cold pain feet
56. Aeroplane takeoff sound in ear
57. Abdominal pain
58. Constipation
59. Rapid shallow breathing
60. Air hunger

Edited April 18Apr 18 by Sunset Superman

19 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

In terms of diet, my experience has been the same as @Chippy in so far as results have been limited with a low histamine diet. I’ve gone back to a mostly plant based whole food diet and it served me better not fussing round with everything bit of food on a banned list.

Same. Basically vegetarian. So some eggs and cheese but no meat. I think giving your body a balanced diet is best. It needs it to heal.

20 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

@Luke I’ve read that Mirt hits 36 individual receptors and H1 alone has countless functions from gut to mood to immunity. I’m almost certain “the experts” have no clue about the full picture when it comes to neuro chemical interactions. I myself didn’t know that H1 affects dopamine which now makes sense as to why I got Akathisia the second I reduced my dose!

Yes. Sadly it is a nasty drug.

22 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

Today we are waking up to a beautiful sunny day here in London which I’m observing with measured enthusiasm.

I’m from the south east not far from London; but live in Northumberland now. Weathers not so sunny today. But dry and windy. I’m out in the hills now. Beautiful out here.

23 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

know I’m very early on in the grand scheme of things things but I just wanted to know from you guys how you functioned under these circumstances?

This is very personalised. The main thing is time. So in order to get that time you have to do what ever you need to do, to make the day pass. Main strategy here is routine. That ca be the structure to house as myst distraction as you can come up with. That is the key in the early days. Anything that keeps the mind busy and passes the time. You don’t have to enjoy it, just give yourself something, honestly anything to do. Household tasks, YouTube videos, gardening, walking, little games or something , anything you can make work for you will do. As time passes, you’ll start to learn other techniques like acceptance which can drastically reduce the suffering, but this might not be where you are yet.

27 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

mean as in going to work, taking care of kids, relationships etc? For me trying to warm something in the air fryer has become tantamount to an iron man competition!

Again, everyone is different. For me it was fairly easy. I’ve got a lot less work responsibilities these days. I got rid of all that a few years ago before moving, so I can all I need to do from home. We have one lad, who is great and no bother at all. He had a rough time at school his first few months of starting secondary, which tied in with me being very bad. That was hard. But we worked it out between me and my wife and resolved the situation for him. My wife’s very understanding and had had significant issues herself healthwise. We think much of it aggravated by drug harm, we now believe.

I hate the hot weather, but here it didn’t get much higher than 24c!

Chippy

20 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

For the benefit of other sufferers I’m posting my list of symptoms post discontinuation of Mirtazapine. Obviously I don’t have them all at once, rather then cycle and morph day to day.

1.Head pressure
2. Flu like malaise
3. Chills
4. Burning eyes
5. Tachycardia
6. Night terror
7. Flank pain
8. Tinnitus
9. Derealisation
10. Low mood
11. Flash backs
12. Crushing fatigue
13. Akathisia
14. Anhedonia
15. Racing thoughts
16. Mental anguish
17. Brain fog
18. Muscle twitch
19. Muscle pain
20. Muscle tension
21. Hands and feet tingling
22. Brain tingling
23. Eyes watering
24. Zero appetite
25. Vivid dreams
26. Sleep paralysis
27. Headaches
28. Nausea
29. Dizzyness
30. Sensitivity to light, sound, smell
31. Tongue burning  
32. Brain burning
33. Skin burning
34. Itching
35. Excessive yawning
36. Dry eyes
37. Jaw clenching TMJ
38. Ear pressure
39. Blurred vision
40. Brain zaps
41. Sudden energy crash
42. Chest pain
43. Brain reboot
44. Black outs
45. Visual snow
46. Anxiety
47. Panic episodes
48. Fear
49. Despair
50. Zero motivation
51. Insomnia
52. Exploding brain syndrome
53. Jelly legs
54. Internal tremors
55. Ice cold pain feet
56. Aeroplane takeoff sound in ear
57. Abdominal pain
58. Constipation
59. Rapid shallow breathing
60. Air hunger

I could have written most of this.

@Sunset Superman hey, just here to send some love.

My best suggestion for passing the time and coping is learning to accept everything instead of fighting and resisting the symptoms, I have also my own mindset strategy in the coping area.

We will all make it and shall do our best to have good times even in withdrawal ❤️

19 hours ago, Sunset Superman said:

(4) Muscle pain

For myself, I noticed quick warm showers (even 30 seconds, but make it as long as needed, just go in and wash yourself just for symptom treatment purpose) can help with the pain and calm it down.

23 hours ago, Sunset Superman said:

I know I’m very early on in the grand scheme of things things but I just wanted to know from you guys how you functioned under these circumstances?

I mean as in going to work, taking care of kids, relationships etc? For me trying to warm something in the air fryer has become tantamount to an iron man competition!

I was totally unable to, for a very long time.

It varies for everybody. Much of your symptom list is familiar to me, but some of them did not fluctuate much for me, for a very long time which prevented any kind of normal functioning. For example, the fatigue was very severe for me, as were some of the other symptoms like cognitive impairment and a number of the other physical unwellness type symptoms.

I still have symptoms, and of your 60ish I probably had 50+, and others not listed, but a huge proportion of them are now gone or at least rare for me.

All you can do is function to whatever level you can and look after yourself however you can and get through the time. It's brutal, but it's a brutal truth.

@Luke If I’m not mistaken, this month will mark your 3 year anniversary? Firstly congratulations!

It’s so frightening that you were on Mirt for even shorter than I was an had to suffer for so long.

That’s the thing about nervous system or brain injuries; recovery is not measured in days or weeks but rather years.

Nelson Mandela said “you don’t understand the gravity of time until you are confronted with it” - 27 Years in a prison cell!

Thats the biggest thing for me right now. Going from an active workaholic to a couch potato. But not just loafing around sedentary, rather quietly fighting each minute of physical and mental torture whilst the rest of the world obliviously hurtles on ahead. It’s a big lesson in the art of patience and perseverance.

@Chippy @Luke I wanted to ask you whenever you get a moment. Would you guys agree with me that the mental aspect of the withdrawal far supersedes the physical?

The anxiety, mental anguish, fear, dread, hopelessness and for me the Akathisia just mean I’m not only in a type of physical prison at home but worse still an inescapable prison of the mind.

Did you both see an easing of metal symptoms and if so how long in your journey?

The first 6 months were an anxiety filled Akathisia hell but now I’ve been hit by a truck of fatigue.

I don’t know if this is natural, the sympathetic nervous system has crashed after running hot for months?

Sadly I’d be ok if this was just the fatigue but it’s combined with a high baseline state of anxiety. So I simultaneously want to lie down and also pace the house. Totally inhumane…

Did you guys feel like your personality has changed forever in withdrawal and that this is your new norm?

Right now I’m at the stage where things change by the hour; 1 hour of feeling calm and normal, next hour severe anxiety, next hour flu like unwell feeling, next hour crushing fatigue and so on.

Is this sign of dynamic change for the better? That my system is trying to recalibrate and falling miserably?

Thank you for the awesome advice both of you and I hope you guys have a lovely weekend!

Thanks

21 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

That’s the thing about nervous system or brain injuries; recovery is not measured in days or weeks but rather years.

Nelson Mandela said “you don’t understand the gravity of time until you are confronted with it” - 27 Years in a prison cell!

Sadly this is the case. I wish it wasn’t. We must just remember, that although recovery can be long and difficult, it will happen, and is taking place right now

22 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

@Chippy @Luke I wanted to ask you whenever you get a moment. Would you guys agree with me that the mental aspect of the withdrawal far supersedes the physical?

The anxiety, mental anguish, fear, dread, hopelessness and for me the Akathisia just mean I’m not only in a type of physical prison at home but worse still an inescapable prison of the mind.

Did you both see an easing of metal symptoms and if so how long in your journey?

My mental symptoms were very strong. But they came in very obvious waves, like you’ve seen. They pretty much dried up around 8 months or so. It’s all been physical and sleep for me since. Or mainly.

23 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

Sadly I’d be ok if this was just the fatigue but it’s combined with a high baseline state of anxiety. So I simultaneously want to lie down and also pace the house. Totally inhumane…

This is awful. I’m really sorry to read. It’s sadly not uncommon. I didn’t have aka at all. I’m glad I only took Mirt for 6 weeks. I hate to think how bad I would have been if I took it for longer.

24 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

Did you guys feel like your personality has changed forever in withdrawal and that this is your new norm?

I wouldn’t say I’ve ever lost who I am, but certainly from an outsiders perspective, I look to be quite different. Not to my wife and son, but neighbours and other family have certainly noticed a real change in behaviour. For me it’s just a defence mechanism. Locking down to heal. This is normal. How can you be the same when suffering so much!

But it’s not permanent. You are who you are. Wd won’t change that.

26 minutes ago, Sunset Superman said:

Right now I’m at the stage where things change by the hour; 1 hour of feeling calm and normal, next hour severe anxiety, next hour flu like unwell feeling, next hour crushing fatigue and so on.

Is this sign of dynamic change for the better? That my system is trying to recalibrate and falling miserably?

This is very normal. It’s a good sign. Your brain is working very hard to adapt to the missing drug. As it does, these will fade and become less frequent.

Everyone experiences wd/injury differently. So many variables. We are also biologically independent of each other. But there is one main common pattern. Over time, things get easier. Sometimes it won’t feel like it. Sometimes, and more often at first, you’ll feel stuck, but slowly things will get a bit better. You’ll look back and say, I’m a bit better than 6 months ago. And then probably dive back into it. But as time passes the suffering will lessen and the better days will increase.

I had to stop focusing on others healing after a while. I felt so different from everyone and decided I should just focus on myself and taking each day at a time.

22 hours ago, Sunset Superman said:

@Luke If I’m not mistaken, this month will mark your 3 year anniversary? Firstly congratulations!

In a few days, yes.

22 hours ago, Sunset Superman said:

That’s the thing about nervous system or brain injuries; recovery is not measured in days or weeks but rather years.

For some, others are doing well far sooner than that.

The majority of users on this site are not at 2 years off.

22 hours ago, Sunset Superman said:

@Chippy @Luke I wanted to ask you whenever you get a moment. Would you guys agree with me that the mental aspect of the withdrawal far supersedes the physical?

It varies for everyone. I experienced high levels of disability and physical illness, as well as immense psychological symptoms.

22 hours ago, Sunset Superman said:

Did you guys feel like your personality has changed forever in withdrawal and that this is your new norm?

Yes, I'm going back to my pre-drug personality now, slowly.