Just started..

[Doze]

So I took my first dose last night. My initial impression was WOW, I'd gone from feeling manically anxious all day to feeling relatively normal with ten minutes. I only took 7.5 as I thought it would be a better introduction than the full 15. I settled down in bed hoping to be whisked off into chemical slumber. Only it didn't happen. i spent a nice 4 hours feeling very happily half asleep, I think I even briefly drifted off. But then after being awake for a while I felt really hungry and had to get up and eat. I spent the next 4 hour feeling the effects of the Mert wear off, which hasn't been pleasant. I'm back to feeling anxious and on edge again, although not as bad as before, which I'm most grateful for.

My sleep pattern is completely messed up. I have barely slept in days, but before that started I was going to sleep around 8am. I'm thinking maybe my body clock is still expecting sleep then, and not a more normal 10pm (when I took the Mert). I think I may take the other half around 8am and see if I can sleep then.

Has anyone ever split the dose like that? Taken 2 small amounts instead of one?
Hmm.. I doubt any of you will be awake in time to answer this anyway.

Also. I know people say the groggy after effect wears off, but is the initial sedative knockout something that stays, or does that change when you acclimatise?

I really don't sit well with chemicals, but anything is better to how I felt yesterday. I look forward to a slow improvement.

Sorry the long and rambling post. I only hope it's coherent enough.


Edit:

I just want to add for clarity, especially for anyone reading this whose considering taking Mirt and looking for others experiences on it. I have severe ME / Chronic fatigue, also I'm going through an anxiety / sleep related breakdown at the moment which involves not sleeping, being incredibly anxious all day and also being bed ridden with exhaustion.

[hanshan]

Hi Doze,

It's mid afternoon Saturday in this part of the world, so no worries. Mirtazapine has a mix of anti-histamine, serotonin and noradrenaline effects. These affect different people in different ways. Some people find 7.5 mg is fine for a night's sleep, but you may need 15 mg, which is also a standard sleep dose. You can take it an hour or two before bed-time., and splitting a dose over the course of a day is quite common, particularly for anxiety or depression.

It's probably best to get your body's sleep cycle back in sync with night-time, as the light and dark alternation helps produce melatonin, the body's natural sleep hormone. Try to get as much bright light during the day, then dark at night.

Also, mirtazapine stays in the body for some time, so it takes a few days to build up a steady base level. Best of luck with it.

[Doze]

Thanks Hanshan.

I've been feeling increasingly anxious as the night has gone on, so I think I'm going to take the other half, taking me up to 15g for the day. Hopefully I will get some sleep and once that happens I can balance my sleeping time out. I had hoped the Mirt would knock me out enough to force it back to normal but no such luck. Taking it and not sleeping has not been a fun experience.

[Istherehope?]

So sorry to hear you've had a rough night, I started on 15mg and took it all at once and it really knocked me out for 12 hours.

I hope you're able to get some rest, I understand how awful anxiety feels xx

[Doze]

Cheers Is.

I took the other half about an hour ago as I had started to feel naturally sleepy. It's had even less effect than the first. I just feel kinda wired and odd in my brain rather than a relaxed sleep state. I just don't think I can use sedatives to sleep. This is really disappointing.

I will maybe try the full dose this evening and see if that does the trick. If not I guess these aren't going to work for me and god knows what I'll do.

[Istherehope?]

I really hope the full dose helps you tonight, let us know how you get on.

[hanshan]

Hi Doze,

It's really early days - although mirtazapine is generally faster acting than most ADs, you need to give it at least one to two weeks to see what regular effect it has on you. It's not a sedative like benzodiazepines or the z drugs. Be patient and give it time to start working, then re-evaluate.

[SmilingAlbert]

Good luck with it all Doze. It does sound like your system and sleep pattern is a bit messed up, and you are highly stressed. The body won't switch overnight, but this medicine is generally very good for situations like yours. As Hanshan says, it may take a while to all settle in.

My advice:

One way to help jump-start things, if you can, is to take some pretty exhausting exercise during the day, which presumably is possible on the weekend. My thing is swimming, but a very long walk (6 miles or so) can do much the same thing. Appreciate for whatever reason this might not be possible, but if you can, I recommend it.

Maybe listen to some nice podcasts at the same time; the BBC site has loads of good ones. A good one I can recommend is BBC Soul Music, which looks into famous pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact. The one on Brothers in Arms (Dire Straits) is especially good and thoughtful, but there are many other good ones.

Then take the pill around an hour or 2 before you want to sleep, then settle down with a good book (no TV: this will just excite your mind too much). Keep reading until you feel really tired, then go to bed. Don't stress too much if sleep doesn't come, as that very act can act as a hindrance too.

It is good that you're eating: that is the first thing to go when I have problems. Try not to get too carried away here as it is easy to put on weight with Mirt; for some this is useful, but many it is not.

Best wishes,

Albert

[Doze]

Update. I persevered and managed to fall asleep. I was out for around 9/10 hours, and had some wild dreams. It's a shame that it had to be through most of the day, but small steps. If I can get back to just sleeping every 16 or so hours that will be a great first step.

Thanks for all the support guys. It feels good to have people who understand to talk to.

Thanks for the advice Albert, I'd love to do some vigorous exercise unfortunately I have ME / Chronic fatigue, so it's not an option for me sadly. It's incredibly frustrating when you're full of anxiety and adrenalin and your whole being is crying out to run around the block or just do something, but all you can do is lie in bed cause you're utterly exhausted. The ME / anxiety combination is what has messed up my sleep pattern so badly, it's something I've battled with for years unfortunately.

I've read that the 15mg dose is good for sleep but people often have to make the jump to 30 to get the full benefit of Mirt as a AD, is that right? Or is it one of those horse for course things.

[Doze]

Todays update.

Took the full 15mg. Didn't seem like I was going to sleep to start with. Just lay there enjoying the relaxation of the Mirt for about 4 hour, thinking some crazy stuff to try and convince my brain to go through sleep. Eventually I managed to switch off enough to doze off. I then had above 8 hours of broken dream filled sleep. Woke up feeling pretty weird. Which is to be expected I guess. But two full nights of sleep is pretty good.

Feeling pretty out of it so far today. I guess that's both the Mirt and the odd sleep. Been getting pretty bad acid reflux, going to get some Peptac to get rid of that. And have been slightly jittery as well which I guess is the Mirt. Small steps in the right direction though.

---------- Post added 07-12-15 at 01:45 ---------- Previous post was 06-12-15 at 22:21 ----------

My mood is definitely a lot lower today. Struggling a bit. Can't really do much more than just lie there staring off into space, which probably isn't helping. Going to try and shake myself out of it. I felt so positive yesterday, frustrating to feel so low now.

It hard to not question if the higher does of Mert is making this happen and maybe dropping down to lower dose could help. But it's only been two days. You can just go round and round in circles with this stuff in your head.