mirtazapine for sleep, non existent?

Posted , 3 users are following.

Hello, long term chronic insomnia sufferer, mainly sleep worry/anxiety through the day and night.

Been on mirtazapine roughly 8 days now at 15mg per night prescribed by the local GP, also he's given me 3.75mg of zopiclone to couple it with.

I heard from many sources that the mirtazapine alone should knock me out at night, but this hasn't been the case?

Also struggling some nights even with the low dose or zopiclone to even fall asleep too.

At say 14 I'm to double my mirtazapine to 30mg, im just wondering would this add to the sedation or should I phone my go and tell them it doesn't seem to be working?

Any advice welcome, thanks

1 like, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Edited

    Hi,

    I found that I slept really well right from the first dose but it might not be the case for everyone. Lower doses of mirtazipine are meant to be more sedating but maybe your GP wants to increase the dose with a view to treating the anxiety more effectively?

    • Posted

      Thanks for the reply, I maybe the unlucky one for it. On 2 nights I tried with just mirtazapine as sleep, i couldn't sleep at all... Just left me with heavy fatigue the next day.

      I have tried miry in the past at 7. 5 dose for sleep to n avail, so I'm hoping 30mg may be my magic number.

      Maybe he is trying to address. My anxiety but I've had so many sleepless nights I love been losing the will to live

      I

    • Posted

      Chronic insomnia is the worst. If it's racing thoughts that are keeping you awake then calming them with the medication might be what is required. Do you do any form of relaxation techniques prior to going to bed and practise good sleep hygiene like no electronics etc etc?

  • Posted

    Considering my own experience with Mirtazapine the lower doses were more sedative. I used initially 15 mg as help in conjunction with a benzo during clinic recovery session, then discontinued for a few months. Later on the doctor advice started again at 30 mg which was also OK for sleep but soon the secondary effects were too heavy and I had to withdraw. During taper I experienced more sedation at all doses till reaching 0.5 mg. So I think that if you cannot fall asleep at 15 mg probably the antihistamine receptors blocking mechanism of mirt as sleep aid is not working for you and it is not worth to still try it considering the future withdrawal journey.

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