Mirtazapine, insomnia and brain fog

[friend_ofafriend]

Hi there,

I've had chronic insomnia for 3 1/2 years and insomnia for probably another year before that. I've had two lots of CBT (therapy), tried melatonin which gave me very bad nights sleep and then eventually mirtazapine which I've been on for about 6 months.

Whilst the mirtazapine does help me to fall asleep I don't feel anymore refreshed in the morning, even when I get on average 7 hours sleep. In fact I feel like I never went to bed in the mornings, thankfully it gets more bearable over the course of the day.

Before mirtazapine I used to use the weekend to catch up on my sleep and I would usually feel 'normal' 2 days a week which kept me sane. Now I never wake up refreshed, it doesn't matter how long I sleep and I seem to have a permanent feeling of brain fog.

The brain fog worries me most because I feel like my IQ has been halved, I can't remember facts and figures which makes it difficult to articulate at all.

I wondered if anyone else has had this feeling of brain fog when taking mirtazapine? I'm thinking of coming off the drug because of it.

Topics: Clouding of consciousness/depersonalisation/derealisation/depersonalization

[cpe1978]

Mirtazapine did not work at all for me. Now I don't know what would have happened if I were to have persevered, but I put up with it for a couple of months.

I can associate with almost everything you say. It certainly helped me to fall asleep. In fact the first time I took it was like I had drunk ten pints, I was slurring speech and everything, literally could not keep my eyes open. But I also never felt refreshed when I woke up. Fortunately my wife works in the same place as me so I could persuade her to drive each day as I was just out of it until about 10am each morning.

I decided to come off it and tackle my anxiety in other ways. That said I think meds certainly have their place and each drug and each person's reaction to it is different. I for example really got on with citalopram at one point, although you hear people say all sorts of terrible things about it.