Coming onto Mirtazapine

[NoPoet]

Lauz - hi, sorry we didn't end up "mirt buddies" after all, I guess life has been to busy for us both! Congratulations on finding some kind of answer to your problems. As you probably know, it's quite rare to find a biological cause, and it must be very satisfying that your doctor is trying to pinpoint exactly what's going on. Sounds like you have made a tremendous improvement. Just goes to show, meds aren't for everyone.

I have made much of issues about my relationship, thinking I am going to split up with my girlfriend. Well it seems that my negativity had carried across to her and she thought I was always trying to find fault or hint that I want to break up. Funny how you can give hints away without even realising it. No wonder we had a problem. We're off to Scotland for four days starting Tuesday, so we'll see how that goes. We are both working on our issues: she is trying to be less "strict" and uptight, I am trying to be less worrying and negative. Someone at work had started calling me Mr Negative after I had a rant about changes that are definitely going to hurt all the staff. I guess being called this to my face by two different people acted like a slap across the chops, and I have made progress in the last week.

[Monostich]

Good to hear from you Poet. I'm so glad that the CBT and mirt have helped you so much.

I ditched all the meds (vitamins as well) a couple of months ago and am finally starting to be 95% me 95% of the time which is an amazing feeling. My GP believes that something else has triggered my anxiety and depression all along (like hormones) because it's cyclical, just trying to get to the bottom of what exactly is out of whack.

Well done Lauz - this is my plan of action (to get off all the meds). A close friend of mine who struggles with anxiety and depression has been med free for 2 months now and she feels much better for it.

Just got to get off this damn Mirtazapine - been on 7.5mg for a while now, next step is halving that and going down to 3mg for a few weeks.

Glad you're feeling well!

[lauz_lea]

Thanks both - it hasn't all been plain sailing but in general, I'm miles better than I was a couple of months ago. I'm not anti-meds at all, because they have helped me so much in the past, but my experiences over the last 5-6 months have really put me off (scared me off) trying anything else, which in a way is a good thing (to a degree), but when I have a bad period, or "blip" it does feel like I'm back at square one, but the key is to remind myself that the "blips" I experience now are nowhere near as bad as they were, they just feel bad because the good periods are so good.

The good news is I haven't vomitted or retched in nearly 2 weeks and my appetite has increased although I'm still losing weight (but this has slowed down). I'm not suffering with the crippling depression and PA's brought on by the meds, I'm back at work (on reduced hours at the moment), the DP doesn't rear its head very often now and when it does it doesn't last long, but most importantly, I'm able to function more normally than I have in months, which I think is what has helped most - just getting on with things instead of wallowing self pity and constant obsession like I was a couple of months ago.

I believe that with or without meds, normallity WILL return as it has in the past (both with and without meds), it just time.

[Belleblue]

Glad things are going better for you Lauz.... hope the good days continue to outnumber the bad

Take care now.
Belle x

[paulst]

Ive been on Mirtazapine for about 3 weeks and can honestly say my quality of sleep has much imroved. I had previously taken 40mg citalopram for more than a year and found that, although I felt ok ish during the day, trying to sleep was a disaster. My brain just refused to turn off. I still wake up but find I can go straight back to sleep, something I could never do before.

[zeb]

I have found Mirtazapine to be a better antidepressant then the SSRIS, it does make you drowsy and gives you hunger pangs straight after taking it in the evening, but you do develop a tolerance to it after about six months and the drowsiness does lesson, its a good drug if you suffer bad anxiety.

[NoPoet]

Hi everyone! I would re-iterate to anyone reading this thread that for me personally, if I'd been prescribed mirtazapine instead of citalopram back in 2009, I would have been spared a tremendous amount of suffering. The mirt is definitely helping me to hold back the worst of the anxiety and I would be scared to come off it, which I definitely don't intend to do any time soon, but there lies the problem: I am very scared of withdrawal and the possibility of a relapse.

There are times when it seems I am getting close to the end of therapy, at other times it seems like there are still months to go, but I have still not lost my basic fear of what I'm going through and what I've been through, or the fear that it will get worse or happen again.

This has brought to light a serious weakness in my own mental defences. I am simply too vulnerable to fear, because I have always been an anxious person, and the coping strategies I've developed are badly flawed. I wonder how many other GAD etc sufferers are in the same boat but don't realise it? I'm gonna make a new thread about this.

[stormyok10]

Hi PP,
Hope you do make a new thread. I have just been to docs today & she has taken me off cit as the side effects were still horrendous after 5 weeks, chest pains, bad nausea,headaches all the time, shakes, light headedness, & insomnia. I have been put on mirtazapine, 15mg for 2 weeks & then up to 30mg. Reading all your posts is giving me confidence to do it, any advice would be gratefully received. Hope you don't mind me joining in?