Just started..

[Doze]

Third dose.

Had a bit of strange one yesterday. The first half of my day I was deeply depressed, then later I came out of it and actually felt quite good, not manic good, but just normal. That continued till bedtime. When it came to taking my Mirt I had chopped it up into 3 to slowly take it over the evening, but hadn't taken any by bedtime. So I took a swig of water and dropped two thirds of 15mg. I was amazed at how normal I was still feeling. And thirty minutes later still normal. I took the final third. I was getting small waves of sedation but not the full knockout, this was very strange. I slept fairly well though.
By the morning, still feeling relatively normal, I figured I must have somehow not taken the larger half, and sure enough a quick search of the floor were I was standing to take it turned up half a tab of Mirt.

In a bit of a quandary now. I've still definitely taken 7.5mg, but I do feel so much brighter not being under the groggy fog of the full dose. Going to see how the day goes and take it from there.

[Doze]

This place seems very quiet.. I will continue with my ramblings.

Day 5 still percivering. Still on 15mg. It's making me feel pretty rubbish and out of it. Wake up feeling kinda high and wired, even though I've slept I don't really feel rested. That continues for the next few hours, until my mood just drops dramatically. I don't have much of an apatite, which seems odd, so I fcould r e down some lunch. I then struggle through a pretty depressed day, but come evening time (about 4/5 hours before bed) I feel much brighter, my head clears and I feel almost normal.

[SmilingAlbert]

Please feel free to ramble on Doze!

Sorry to hear you're still getting ups and downs.

Albert

[Doze]

Cheers Bert. My mood has been tolerable today, so I'm a relatively happy bunny. Or as happy as somebody with pretty severe depression can be.

I imagine ups and downs are to be expected. A mental health practitioner just told me around week 2 or 3 I could expect a 3 or 4 day dip so where I feel like the meds aren't working. So I've got that to look forward to.

[Istherehope?]

Sorry I've been quiet - been feeling pretty low/anxious last few days, hoping its side effects that will pass but like you my head goes round and round trying to work it out. I have ended up feeling quite low in the day, with a couple of hours respite in the evening too. I wake up pretty anxious. It's early days for me on 45mg so I'm hoping another week or two and it will feel better, but it's hard to keep hoping when it hasn't helped so far (apart from sleep which I'm very grateful for). The others who have been on it for longer might have more wisdom/experience, but really hoping it works for you soon x

[Doze]

Thanks IS. Stay strong, my heart goes out to you. Hopefully you're just going through that blip before things start to get a lot easier. I'm still only on week one, whilst you're getting closer and closer to that finish line. Soon enough you'll be cheering me on, letting me know it does get better.

-

My daily update for anyone still interested in the progress of a Mert newbie, is that the foggy sedation seems to have worn off. Feeling much clearer today. There isn't quiet the wash of sedation when going to sleep, which is a little unsettling as I'd come to rely on that to whisk me off to sleep, but I'm still sleeping ok so I guess they're still doing their thing, just in a subtler way.

[Doze]

It's all gone a bit tits up here. 15mg seems to stimulate my brain as much as it does sedate me, so I didn't fall asleep after taking the last dose. So frustrating. I just don't know if my subconscious can handle its natural sleep mode being messed with by chemicals. I get to the end of my day and begin to feel naturally sleepy, so I take my pill and it wakes me up. It's looking like I'm not going to be able to live with the Mert after all.

[sandie]

I really do feel for you Doze.

My story with Mirtazapine has not been a good one either. Nor was my brief experience with sertraline. I am beginning to feel that ADs in general are not a way forward for me.

I started on sertraline in September - horrible side effects and came off them after 4 weeks. GP switched me to Mirtazapine on 19th October - 2 weeks at 15 mg, and then increased to 30 mg. The whole sorry saga has messed with my sleep and I am now luck if I manage 3 hours - and I usually awake in a sweat.

My GP won't give me anything to help with the sleep - and I am barely functioning. Who can on just 3 hours every night ?

I awoke at 2.20 am on Wednesday morning - bed and me drenched, so Wednesday decided that I would start to reduce, with the idea of weaning myself of these blasted meds.

So cut the 30mg pill in half and I had the best night I'd had in ages - and consequently a much better day. Did the same last night, and managed 2 1/2 hours sleep before I awoke - again, me and the bed absolutely soaked.

My husband has been away for some weeks now but returns on Saturday morning. I can't go on like this - at least while he has bee away I have been able to move onto the other side of the bed when I awake, but I won't be able to do this any more, and if I awake in a sweat I shall have to move into another room.

I am due to see the GP on Monday so will discuss with him, but he has not been especially supportive. I get to see him once every 4 weeks and even have to wait for 2 or 3 days if I want to talk to him on the phone.

I am hoping that if I wean down to 7.5 I might get the sleep that other Mirt users seem to enjoy. Perhaps if I had been started on this small dose I might have had the benefits from the onset and not had the meds increased at all.

Any Mirt users on NMP who have weaned themselves off or gone cold Turkey ? Any noticeable side effects ?

[karenp]

I find Mirtazapine does help me sleep (15mg) but it also makes me feel terribly depressed so I have decided to quit it. I was on it before in 2012 whilst going through a nasty divorce and it made me suicidal thoubh my GP says it was the divorce not the meds but I am just finding I feel so low yet again on it and want to cry all the time. It's just not for me but have kind of run out of what to try now so think i will go meds free and see if I improve as my bf was on Latuda (he is American and my GP here had never heard of it) It is prescribed for Bipolar, he also took a high dose of Klonopin, has gone totally meds free and is absolutely brilliant now...no anxiety, no depression! He may just be lucky but I am sick of taking drugs that just make me feel a whole lot worse. So I am gonna give it a go xxxxx I can always go back on something, the best of luck with your start up. I know Mirtazapine has helped a few of my friends but just doesn't seem to help me at all.

[Doze]

Sandie I think the general opinion is that you need to be taking 30mg at least to get the positive AD effect from Mirt, and to give it a couple of months before giving up on it. Doctor also told me that once that kicks in it should also help with sleep. The idea that you're happier and so sleep better seems likely enough, although plenty of insomniacs will tell you they're not depressed.

There a couple of threads here about coming off this stuff. Best done very gradually cause it's not meant to be easy apparently, so it may be worth sticking with them for a little longer.

Karenp sounds like we're kinda oposites. I've felt quite good on the Mirt even though it's only been a week, but I can't deal with not sleeping as that's the reason I started on the in the first place.