Alternative to Meds Editorial Team
Medically Reviewed by Dr John Motl MD
Table of Contents:
- Alternative to Meds Mirtazapine Tapering Tools Work
- Steps to Health Recovery for Tapering Mirtazapine
- Have You Experienced Failed Attempts at Getting Off Mirtazapine?
- Mirtazapine Tapering Tips
- Mirtazapine Tapering Inpatient-Style
- A Global Epidemic of Antidepressants
- Want to Know More About Mirtazapine Tapering at Alternative to Meds?
Even after mountainous amounts of research, adverse reactions to mirtazapine discontinuation (Remeron) still tend to be largely misunderstood by the very people who prescribe these drugs.
Do Your Symptoms Require Mirtazapine?
Mirtazapine Tapering Tips
Guidelines for mirtazapine tapering include:
Seek competent oversight, medically trained, and familiar with the process.- Do not attempt quitting mirtazapine too quickly or all at once.**
- Check for and fix nutritional deficiencies before you begin tapering.
- Repair the microbiome/gut with fermented foods, cleansing, probiotics, etc., for proper distribution of vital neurotransmitters and nutrients.
- Try to regulate and improve the quality of sleep before and during the process of trying to quit mirtazapine.
- For tapering multiple medications, use a properly designed step-by-step process so as not to shock the CNS with too many changes all at once.*
- Where nutrition has suffered due to a compromised digestive system, try and switch to using high-quality, easily digested food in meal preparation. Choose foods that are appetizing and avoid MSG or other toxic chemicals. Avoid sugars, refined carbs, energy drinks, and alcohol. Aim for organic and some portion raw, where possible.
- Natural alternatives like essential oils, chamomile tea, St John’s wort, meditation, massage therapy, exercise, and many others can help gently manage or reduce anxiety, tension, depression, and insomnia. 8-12
* The American Psychology Association advises not to stop taking anti-depressants abruptly.
** The FDA and Health Canada have issued similar warnings concerning stopping antidepressants.
AN IMPORTANT CAUTION:
Mirtazapine may have effects on certain age groups that differ from other age groups. Ensure these are understood by researching the topic well so you don’t get blind-sided by these age-related factors.2
Alternative to Meds Mirtazapine Tapering Tools Work
Does fear of tapering off mirtazapine make you feel trapped? After a person has been taking a drug like mirtazapine for an extended period of time, the idea of mirtazapine tapering or weaning may at first appear quite overwhelming. This is understandable when even inadvertently forgetting a dosage for one day can feel like you just pressed “down” on the elevator to hell. Often, a person will try and avoid side effects by skipping a dosage. This hamster wheel is not a healthy way to live.1
However, the Alternative to Meds mirtazapine tapering program is quite the opposite, and quite gentle. That is because our clients are provided tools that work for how to get off mirtazapine in a program that has been specifically designed to soften and reduce the discomforts normally associated with mirtazapine titration.
Steps to Health Recovery for Tapering Mirtazapine
We can summarize the steps of getting off mirtazapine successfully as a three-pronged approach in our program:
- Current assessment (via testing) of a person’s toxic accumulations and getting a complete understanding of the symptoms and conditions they had prior to medication, and perhaps still have.
- Designing program steps that are directed at improving sleep, energy, and appetite, and also reducing those prior symptoms, by using effective health-restoring protocols and selected genres of therapies including counseling at an appropriate point, that can provide relief for our client.
- Reducing medication gradually and gently, with the aim of reducing or completely eliminating medications and their lingering after-effects altogether.
All three of these components are necessary if we are truly going to help someone stop mirtazapine and recover successfully. Each step has many micro-steps within it, allowing the client to become freed of earlier unwanted conditions, and well on the way to vibrant health. These are our aims regarding mirtazapine tapering at Alternative to Meds Center.
Have You Experienced Failed Attempts at Getting Off Mirtazapine?
If you have previously attempted to stop taking mirtazapine (Remeron), there may have been some basic reasons that blocked your success.3-5 These “roadblocks” can be as individualized and diverse as a person’s unique set of conditions, life experience, nutrition profile, etc. Following is a brief list of tips that may help prepare for and ease the process of mirtazapine tapering.
Mirtazapine Tapering Inpatient-Style
The medical consensus has been that stopping mirtazapine or similar and even multiple antidepressant drugs can be a rough road to travel on your own. That is why Alternative to Meds Center has been so popular in offering its services to those who feel they would benefit from a compassionate, confident, guiding hand along the way.
Alternative to Meds Center is a beautiful, restful, residential inpatient program. Clients are cared for by an attentive and competent staff roster including our licensed doctors, holistic psychiatrist, and other medical staff. All of our caregivers, clinicians, and therapists are passionate about helping people to recover. Using comfortable and relaxing detox methods a person can be guided through their mirtazapine tapering program gently and without harsh side effects.
Our clients will enjoy a low-temperature sauna, Reiki, soothing therapeutic massage, bentonite clay treatments, mineral baths, foot baths, nebulized glutathione treatments, cranial-sacral massage, and nutritional therapy, a deliciously prepared clean diet without preservatives, additives, or chemicals, and counseling in numerous genres. Therapies also include Life Coaching, music and art therapy, as well as acupressure/acupuncture therapy, colonics, Equine-assisted therapy, and targeted nutrient therapy. There are a wide variety of pleasant social activities both in-house and out in the world-class destination City of Sedona as well as enjoying hiking and photo-op tours in the surrounding majestic Red Rocks. The Center also provides mild trainer-led exercise classes, yoga classes, mindfulness relaxation therapy, and an exceptional education series that leads to a highly practical understanding of supporting brain and CNS health for sustained future wellness.
A Global Epidemic of Antidepressants
With the combination of all of the above and other services, we feel it is the best program available in the world! We offer an exceptional, restorative pathway for how to get off mirtazapine, providing exceptional quality of care. We have been helping our clients who come from Australia, Canada, Japan, Europe, and all over the world, to recover natural mental health, while successfully and safely getting off mirtazapine or other drugs.
The programs at Alternative to Meds Center offer a solution to the global epidemic of antidepressant use.5-7
Want to Know More About Mirtazapine Tapering at Alternative to Meds?
Sedona is a world-class destination in the heart of Arizona’s Red Rock country. Photos that clients take of the surrounding scenic area while hiking, just steps away from our doors, are stunning. Our program is truly unique, and a joy to share.
Combine this stunning location with the most holistic-based, science-based mirtazapine dependence treatment available, and you have the recipe for the healthiest mirtazapine tapering and recovery available.
Please contact us directly and we will be happy to provide much more detailed information about our protocols for mirtazapine tapering, to learn about our health recovery strategies, insurance coverage, and the facility itself.
for Mirtazapine Tapering Help
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2. “Dose-Dependent Sedating and Stimulating Effects of Mirtazapine” 2015, UCLA Healthcare, Vol 19 [cited 2022 July 18]
3. Scholten W, Batelaan N, Van Balkom A. Barriers to discontinuing antidepressants in patients with depressive and anxiety disorders: a review of the literature and clinical recommendations. Ther Adv Psychopharmacol. 2020 Jun 10;10:2045125320933404. doi: 10.1177/2045125320933404. PMID: 32577215; PMCID: PMC7290254.[cited 2022 July 18]
4. “Mirtazapine: a medicine to treat depression, obsessive compulsive disorder.” UK Health Service [Internet] N.D. [cited 2022 July 18]
5. Evans EA, Sullivan MA. Abuse and misuse of antidepressants. Subst Abuse Rehabil. 2014 Aug 14;5:107-20. doi: 10.2147/SAR.S37917. PMID: 25187753; PMCID: PMC4140701. [cited 2022 July 18]
6. Chiappini S, Vickers-Smith R, Guirguis A, Corkery JM, Martinotti G, Schifano F. A Focus on Abuse/Misuse and Withdrawal Issues with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs): Analysis of Both the European EMA and the US FAERS Pharmacovigilance Databases. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2022 May 1;15(5):565. doi: 10.3390/ph15050565. PMID: 35631391; PMCID: PMC9146999. [cited 2022 July 18]
7. Luo Y, Kataoka Y, Ostinelli EG, Cipriani A, Furukawa TA. National Prescription Patterns of Antidepressants in the Treatment of Adults With Major Depression in the US Between 1996 and 2015: A Population Representative Survey Based Analysis. Front Psychiatry. 2020 Feb 14;11:35. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00035. Erratum in: Front Psychiatry. 2020 Mar 06;11:171. PMID: 32116850; PMCID: PMC7033625. [cited 2022 July 18]
8. Szafrański T. Leki ziolowe w leczeniu depresji–aktualny stan wiedzy [Herbal remedies in depression–state of the art]. Psychiatr Pol. 2014 Jan-Feb;48(1):59-73. Polish. PMID: 24946435. [cited 2022 July 18]
9. Kasper S, Caraci F, Forti B, Drago F, Aguglia E. Efficacy and tolerability of Hypericum extract for the treatment of mild to moderate depression. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2010 Nov;20(11):747-65. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2010.07.005. Epub 2010 Aug 14. PMID: 20708905. [cited 2022 July 18]
10. Josey ES, Tackett RL. St. John’s wort: a new alternative for depression? Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1999 Mar;37(3):111-9. PMID: 10190758. [cited 2022 July 18]
11. Schuch FB, Vancampfort D. Physical activity, exercise, and mental disorders: it is time to move on. Trends Psychiatry Psychother. 2021 Jul-Sep;43(3):177-184. doi: 10.47626/2237-6089-2021-0237. Epub 2021 Apr 21. PMID: 33890431; PMCID: PMC8638711. [cited 2022 July 18]
12. Janda K, Wojtkowska K, Jakubczyk K, Antoniewicz J, Skonieczna-Żydecka K. Passiflora incarnata in Neuropsychiatric Disorders-A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2020 Dec 19;12(12):3894. doi: 10.3390/nu12123894. PMID: 33352740; PMCID: PMC7766837. [cited 2022 July 18]
Originally Published Nov 2, 2019 by Diane Ridaeus
Dr. John Motl, M.D.
Dr. Motl is currently certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Psychiatry, and Board eligible in Neurology and licensed in the state of Arizona. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology and minors in chemistry and philosophy. He graduated from Creighton University School of Medicine with a Doctor of Medicine. Dr. Motl has studied Medical Acupuncture at the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine and at U.C.L.A.
Social Profile: LinkedIn
Diane is an avid supporter and researcher of natural mental health strategies. Diane received her medical writing and science communication certification through Stanford University and has published over 3 million words on the topics of holistic health, addiction, recovery, and alternative medicine. She has proudly worked with the Alternative to Meds Center since its inception and is grateful for the opportunity to help the founding members develop this world-class center that has helped so many thousands regain natural mental health.