I'm so up and down at the moment, is this normal?

Hey I have bn on my mirtazapne 15mg for nearly four weeks and I feel that I am now getting better. I was a bit like yourself over Christmas and they changed my meds. The difference is nite and day. I'm now back at work after 4 months. Obviously one tab can work for one person but may not be so effective for another. It sounds that ur med mite not b suitable for you and you may have to see ur gp . Mirtazapne is one of the antidepressants that work quickly. I was on citalopram at one time and I had terrible suicidal thots ... yet it can b great for others. Its such a terribly debilitating illness... this is my third episode in ten years but u will gt better. Hang in there and gt back to your gp .

Hey I have bn on my mirtazapne 15mg for nearly four weeks and I feel that I am now getting better. I was a bit like yourself over Christmas and they changed my meds. The difference is nite and day. I'm now back at work after 4 months. Obviously one tab can work for one person but may not be so effective for another. It sounds that ur med mite not b suitable for you and you may have to see ur gp . Mirtazapne is one of the antidepressants that work quickly. I was on citalopram at one time and I had terrible suicidal thots ... yet it can b great for others. Its such a terribly debilitating illness... this is my third episode in ten years but u will gt better. Hang in there and gt back to your gp .

Your body could be also just allowing the med to get into your system it can take 4-6 wks but as I say if it's terribly troublesome see ur doc.

Hi Fluffy

I can only speak from my own experience, but I think 3 weeks is very early to be saying that Mirtazapine isnt working for you. In my own case it was about 7 weeks before I felt better, and the first 6 weeks I really felt worse than I had before I started taking them! And thats hard to take - my moods were like a pendulum in that period and at times I just wanted to give up. But because they had worked for me a couple of years ago, I knew it wouldnt be quick and from what I read none of the others are that much better or quicker acting.

I would say give them another couple of weeks, but talk to your doctor before making a decision as coming off them might need to be tapered.

I am on week 9 now and feel fine aprt from first thing in the morning when Im a proper ratbag. Hang in there, there is light at the end of the tunnel, I think Mirtazapine is a very clever drug but takes time to work......

Yes I agree with Jane... I'm on week 4 going into week 5 and I'm now feeling the benefits ... as I said before worked wonders for me.. hope u feel better soon.

I have gotten quite bad now. I walked 50 minutes to A and E yesterday because i felt scared and i didn't know what else to do. I am feeling like i can't take anymore of living like this. I told them that i had wanted to take all of my tablets because i couldn't cope with it anymore, and they know i have hurt myself before, but they didn't do anything to help me, they just checked me over, made sure i hadn't taken anything had a psychiatricperson have a chat with me then said there ism't really anything else they can do. She made me feel like it was my fault i was like this and basically said that if i don't try to get better then i won't. But does she not understand that's why i was there because i am tired of trying and desperate to get help.

I think that u really need to gt back and c ur gp ....

Will it mean another change me medication. Mirtazapine has meant that i have been able to sleep every might for the first time in months. I can't say that it is the only thing keeping me sane because obviously it isn't normal to be suicidal but it was torture to be lying awake at night.

Oh dear sunset that sounds awful for you!

I have just started a coule of weeks ago on mirtazapine, 15mg at the moment, and I also had sudden suicidal thoughts. I'm seeing a psychiartrist and she says that, as weird as it sounds, it is a kind of self-soothing mechanism, your brain going, yes, I feel crap, but I can make it stop. Obviously not ideal, but that's the disordered thinking that comes with severe depression! The psych who spoke to you at the hospital needs a clip alongside the ear. The fact that you took yourself to a safe place like A&E shows that your ARE trying to take care of yourself, and as you say, you need help to do it.

My own psych is not concerned, and neither am I, that I will actually attempt self-harm because as soon as one bit of my brain goes "I want to kill myself" another part says "Oh hell no you aren't!" Image that in a Samuel L. Jackson accent. And then imagine the rest of me sitting back and watching Part A try to figure out how to do it quickly, painlessly, and without distressing anyone else, while Part B alternates between pointing out the flaws in A's reasoning and just flatly declaring that we are not going to kill ourself so you can just shut the f*** up.

It was very distressing and if that's what was hapening to you I'm not surprised you took yourself to A&E. I'm no doctor but the fact that you did take yourself to a safe place makes me think that, as scary as the the thoughts are, you probably won't hurt yourself. Do see your regular doctor though and tell them exactly what you've been thinking.

It's been about a week since I had one of those episodes and I'm not sure if that's because the mirt is starting to take effect or if it's because I've had some time off and been really gentle on myself - they were happening when I was really pushing myself to carry on as normal during the switchover from SSRIs to mirt. I go back to work tomorrow, so I guess I'll see.

Hi Kate, thankyou for your reply.

I feel the same way as you, although I had those thoughts, I didn't feel as though I would be able to go through with harming myself, basically because I didn't want to harm myself I just had no other way of coping. However on the occasion that I went to A and E I did feel as though it was getting harder for me to stop myself, I felt very low and was struggling to see how I was going to cope with it any longer, and feeling that I couldn't live like that forever. It was distressing and I didn't feel safe. And A and E weren't in the least bit helpful, and in fact made me feel worse.

I haven't had feelings like this again though since then. I did have an idea the next week that i would just drive off somewhere to get away from it all because I was fed up of having to talk about it, having to see this doctor and this nurse, and talk to this counsellor, and try this tablet and that tablet, but decided that was a silly idea aswell.

I have felt a lot calmer since about a month ago, I think it is down to the mirtazapine. I also think it was down to the mirtazapine that I was feeling more anxious and suicidal in the first place, and I understood that mirtazapine could do this, but that was still all they could offer me as help at A and E. I was very annoyed with them, I didn't need them to tell me why I was feeling like that I wanted them to f***ing help me! I do feel as though I should make a complaint but I know it won't get anywhere so don't think there's any point. The first nurse I saw was actually very nice, she was an ordinary nurse who assessed me before waiting to see a doctor, she made sure that I wasn't going to leave before seeing a doctor and came across to check on me whilst I was waiting.

Glad you are feeling that mirtazapine is starting to help you. I feel that it's helping me too, it has improved my symptoms of depression, but I still have anxiety although it is less severe.

Take care.