Posted by bleauberry on September 17, 2011, at 17:53:38
In reply to Taper schedule for Remeron and Lexapro, posted by maggiemae on September 17, 2011, at 10:22:46
I think in contrast to the horrible withdrawal you had from effexor the withdrawals from remeron and lexapro could be bad but not at all in the same league as effexor in that regard. Both will probably have some nausea, malaise, off balance a bit, difficulty sleeping, fogginess, and anxiety. Not for sure, but those would be the ones I would expect from those meds just based on personal experience.
The speed at which you wean off the meds will ultimately be determined by how tolerable it is to you. If it seems smooth enough and not what you expected then you can probably wean down fairly aggressively. If it seems a lot more troublesome than you expected, then you can adjust by decreasing in smaller steps (customize the pills, it's easy) and staying at each new lower step a bit longer.
I did a similar wean years ago and reduced both meds at the same time until I got to a low dose (2.5mg lex, 7.5mg rem) at which time I continued weaning off lex but kept the remeron. The remeron helped with the sleep, appetite, and anxiety. Remeron actually became more potent as a sleep med in the 7.5mg range than it was at 15mg or 30mg. I finished remeron later.
Anyway I guess you'll just have to see what fits your comfort zone and go with that. I'm sharing some things that worked for me. Nothing is painless, but I made it as smooth as I could for myself. For me lexapro wasn't that hard to get off of but remeron took some time.
poster:bleauberry
thread:997001
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110914/msgs/997034.html