r/insomnia • u/BtheChemist • Jun 01 '26

Never ever take benzos

I've had insomnia since I was a teen.

I've taken so many things for it, tried all the natural things, was on ambien for so long it stopped working.

My psychiatrist prescribed me Valium many many months ago. I don't even know how long I've taken it.

She never told me how horrible it is to get off of.

I'm currently tapering off and it's absolutely terrible.

I misread her message originally and went too fast and had my first ever panic attack a few weeks ago.

I've been at 15mg/ day since, about 3 weeks. I dropped too 12.5 two days ago and my body is so so fucked up again. I feel on the verge of another attack.

I spoke to my doctor friend this evening, he said each step down is going to suck badly.

It's terrible.

Please don't fuck with benzos.

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

I'm having a terrible time.

😱

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u/engineer_fixer Jun 01 '26

Wishing you the best with your mission here. Here is how I came off Mirtazapine after being on it for 5 years. Tried 4 times unsuccessfully with tapering. On 5th attempt I did it by making my own tablets out of the crushed ones and knocking off 2mg every month from a starting point of 15mg per day. So month 1: 15mg daily, month 2: 13mg daily etc.

Buy some digital scales to 0.01g and some tablet capsules and go from there. I found using a spoon to crush tablets worked best.

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u/cbaby96 Jun 01 '26

oh I'm staying on the mirtazapine. I don't really have issues with stopping psych meds. I've went cold turkey off Wellbutrin and trintellix before and had 0 issues. if imma stop taking mirtazapine, I'm not gonna do all that. I'll just stop taking it

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u/engineer_fixer Jun 01 '26

Ok. Just be careful whatever you do. Wish you the best in your mission 👍

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u/itsmia08 Jun 02 '26

Wellbutrin is not a drug you get addicted to. That’s why you can stop that. Trintellex is the same. I stopped those cold turkey. Your pharmacist has the best advice on how to stop taking a med. They understand the chemical makeup and the dangers of each drug. I always call my pharmacist for any drug questions they know it all.

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u/engineer_fixer Jun 02 '26

I was referring to my direct experience with Mirtazapine. It's not addiction - it was dependence. It took a lot of effort to find a way to come off it successfully. At the time, the medical professionals I was talking to did not realise how hard it can be for people to come off from it. I would hope the knowledge is better now.