Best Antidepressant

[juanna]

Hi I am taling 30mg of Mirtazapine at night & for the last couple of nights have had horrid very real nightmares & have been having brain shocks during the day. I just can't take this drug anymore & because of the nightmares; am petrified of going to sleep !! Has anyone ever found an anti-depressant that does agree with them ?? Would love to hear your experiences etc !!

[keta]

Hi Juanna

Well I found Citalopram the best for me but it's more for anxiety than depression. I guess it's individual, but maybe your dose is to high for you or go back to GP to talk about it.
By the way as we all know best would be not taking any tablets but i know it's easily said than done. Hope you feel better soon!

[Vanilla Sky]

Mirtazipine was the best one I took for depression and Citalopram the best for anxiety. Best thing is talk to your GP about it

[NoPoet]

I have found that escitalopram is probably rated as the most effective SSRI for anxiety and panic attacks. It's a refined form of citalopram (citalopram is also effective against anxiety). Escitalopram and citalopram are both SSRI-class medication.

There are newer SNRI-class medications which may be more effective against anxiety but the very highly effective types tend to have shorter half-lives, which means you can suffer negative side effects if you miss even a single dose.

Your best bet is to consider escitalopram since it is just about the best all-rounder when it comes to anxiety (good half-life so missing a dose isn't a big deal medically speaking; easier to reduce or stop your doses than the best SNRIs; a proven track record of success).

I would say that your current medication has nowhere near had enough time to work yet. Any medication can give different side effects when you get used to it. Nightmares are just a reflection of your stressed, unhappy and confused state of mind. Your mind is being bombarded by this new drug and it doesn't know how to cope yet, so you get random firing of the imagination as your brain vents its fear and frustration; it's no surprise that your imagination has taken a walk on the dark side for the moment, and it's no indication of any lasting harm.

Speak to your doctor about changing meds, but only do it if you feel you have to.

EDIT: Researchers are now saying regular gentle exercise is at least as effective as a low dose of antidepressants.

[Ingenious]

Funnily enough, I had a pretty dire time on Citalopram and it was Mirtazapine that saved the day. However I did get the freaky dreams like you - at one point I was similarly reluctant to go to sleep and kept the light on. Some of the dreams were so vivid and surreal I was amazed my brain came up with them, others were nightmares.

However I can confirm these dreams do subside and do so fairly quickly.

Also the head shocks - these too will pass.

So try and stick with it

The thing to remember is advice from any one person saying tablet X is better than Y is useless - we are all different, there are in infinite number of factors that can affect things, so only YOU can decide, by trial and error.