Mirtazapine/Sertraline/Valium - Severe Generalised Anxiety

[Mermaid16]

Mirtazapine/Sertraline/Valium - Severe Generalised Anxiety (Have posted under Mirtazapine also)

Hi Everyone!

I'm am relatively new here. Have been taking Sertraline (100mg) for around 10 years. Recently my anxiety coupled with panic attacks have been through the roof (for about the last 3 weeks). I was prescribed 5mg of valium for one week from my psychiatrist to see if this would allow me to calm down at all. I was allowed to take 2mg through the day if needed, but because I am worried about taking it because of tolerance etc, I decided to tough out the anxiety. This would leave me in tears by the end of the day and almost frantic with anxiety at night. I have two children to look after that are around 10 so I am trying to function without them noticing too much if that makes sense. I went back to the psychiatrist today and he has prescribed 7.5mg of Mirtazapine at night with 2.5mg of valium. He then advised to take the other 2.5mg during the next day if I feel I needed it due to anxiety. I have a family outing planned for tomorrow, and am more than a little shitting myself about what state I am going to be in with taking the Mirtazapine for the first time. The psych has reassured me that valium and mirtazapine are safe to take together at night as they act differently on different parts of the brain. I have checked and double checked with him as I am a nervous wreck at the moment. How have others tolerated the 7.5mg of mirtazapine. I am doing this for a week and then he is going to try and get me off the sertraline as he doesn't think it is working anymore. Any advice on how others have felt on mirtazapine would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Tracy

[Shazamataz]

The Mirtazapine can help with sleep at that low dose. You may find yourself feeling quite groggy in the mornings. I guess just try it and see?

[Mermaid16]

Thanks Shaz. I'm thinking of either just taking a quarter of 15mg tonight or giving it a miss altogether till tomorrow night. Have organised a day bushwalking with a group of people and couldn't think of anything worse than feeling groggy and doing that. Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it x

[Shazamataz]

I'd say wait another day and take the 7.5. I hope you enjoy the bush walk. It's a lot warmer where you are, than here I expect. We had snow nearly to sea level in good old Dunedin, NZ overnight!

[Mermaid16]

Yes, I think I will hold off. Should be 20 degrees during the day so should be a good day for it. Would love to see snow sometime, even though I'm not a huge fan of the cold, would be great to experience x

[NoPoet]

I'm on mirtazapine. You should not take it at any time of day except straight before you go to bed, as it will very quickly knock you out! Don't be afraid though, you will get the best night's sleep you ever had. I must emphasise that you will not be able to do anything within an hour or less of taking your dose so never take it in the daytime.

Mirt also increases your appetite so watch out for weight gain. It doesn't just increase your appetite (in my experience it causes hunger pangs), it increases the pleasure you feel while eating, so you will eat. A lot.

I never had any other side effects to mirt. It doesn't affect serotonin and it seems that serotonin medications are the ones with the horrible side effects.

EDIT: Strangely, lower doses of mirt are more sedating. I started on 30mg and am still on it. 7.5mg is supposed to have the most powerfully tranquilising effect.

EDIT 2: I was also able to go straight onto mirt without horrible side effects, whereas I had to go onto citalopram, then, sertraline, then strattera very slowly. You may not need to bother cutting your mirt tablets.

[Shazamataz]

I'm on mirtazapine. You should not take it at any time of day except straight before you go to bed, as it will very quickly knock you out! Don't be afraid though, you will get the best night's sleep you ever had. I must emphasise that you will not be able to do anything within an hour or less of taking your dose so never take it in the daytime.

Mirt also increases your appetite so watch out for weight gain. It doesn't just increase your appetite (in my experience it causes hunger pangs), it increases the pleasure you feel while eating, so you will eat. A lot.

I never had any other side effects to mirt. It doesn't affect serotonin and it seems that serotonin medications are the ones with the horrible side effects.

EDIT: Strangely, lower doses of mirt are more sedating. I started on 30mg and am still on it. 7.5mg is supposed to have the most powerfully tranquilising effect.

EDIT 2: I was also able to go straight onto mirt without horrible side effects, whereas I had to go onto citalopram, then, sertraline, then strattera very slowly. You may not need to bother cutting your mirt tablets.

Wow, it doesn't knock me out at all (30 mg) but did make me hungry all the time for a while and I did put on quite a bit of weight :(

[NoPoet]

That's weird, when I took my first dose my body was flobbing all over the place, I couldn't stand, I was dizzy and confused! These days it doesn't affect me anything like so much but it is still a decent knockout.