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mirtazapine insomnia

Posted , 4 users are following.

susansasha
susansasha

Please can anyone help me? I have come off mirtazapine after ten months and I tapered over six. Can not sleep at all. Does sleep return? At my wits end. Thanks

0 likes, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • la12
    la12 susansasha

    Posted

    what dose, i was on thirty for nearly a year and didnt have much trouble coming off it over about 12 weeks, sleep will return easier if you came off slowly, i found just staying up till i was super tired helped.
    • susansasha
      susansasha la12

      Posted

      Hi I was on 30 mg for six months. Then went to fifteen and tapered to 1 mg over four months. I bought a weighing machine that measured mg so I had to cut the tablets up. Nightmare! I had no sleep last night getting me down. Thanks for your reply.
  • sheila65847
    sheila65847 susansasha

    Posted

    Hi there,

    good sleep hygiene, sure you've heard it all before tho! No caffeine afternoon, warm bath, eat a banana, lavender spray, camomile tea etc. No TV or electronic device in bedrooms, no lookin at a screen 2 hours before bed, daily fresh air and exercise tho not just before bed! Read a book, nothing too stimulating, play radio 4 quietly and relax! The way I look at it is my body is resting even if I can't sleep. Go to bed only when you are really tired. Sleep will return. I thought I would never normalise. The longest period without sleep was 70 hours and I've survived. I accept that I am a poor sleeper, slightest noise wakes me. Also I function on 3 or 4 hours okay, often with a waking hour or 2 between. There are lots of meditation /gentle music/talk downs on Internet, try those. Above all cease worrying about it. It just becomes more difficult and makes me angry and wound up.

    • susansasha
      susansasha sheila65847

      Posted

      Thank you for your reply sheila. Were you on mirtazapine? So frightened that I will never sleep again. I managed two hours this morning and that wasn't proper sleep. X
    • susansasha
      susansasha sheila65847

      Posted

      Hi Sheila how long did it take for u to normalise? I got about three hours last night. I am becoming obsessed about sleep which I making my anxiety through the roof trying to relax but sooo hard. Thanks Susan x
    • sheila65847
      sheila65847 susansasha

      Posted

      Hi susansasha,

      my normal seems to be around 5 hours per night. I just have to accept that. I've read that the standard 8 hours needed is nonsense. So I suppose that you will find what is normal to you. The way I view it is I've got extra hours for doing things!

    • susansasha
      susansasha sheila65847

      Posted

      I wish i could get five hours. Did u only get a bit of sleep after stopping mirt? And then improved? Sorry to keep asking but I don't want to take tablets. And I slept so well before mirt. Xxxx
    • sheila65847
      sheila65847 susansasha

      Posted

      Hi love, I've always been a very light/poor sleeper. My obsession for sleep has led me to some very dark places. In my teens/20s I used to use alcohol every night to sleep, a bottle of wine or couple bottles of very strong lager - carlsberg special brew. This led into complete reliance on alcohol, I could not sleep at all without it. Needless to say I became alcohol dependent, an alcoholic. I did getting sober eventually, after losing jobs, relationships, my driving licence twice. My GP prescribed me zopiclone, a sleeping pill which was utterly fantastic. I took them for years as prescribed. But then a couple of years ago research showed that zopiclone ( & other 'Z' drugs) were linked to some cancers,dementia and other serious conditions so this group of drugs were reclassified to a C drug. So GPs stopped prescribing them. Of course by then I was dependent on them! So I has to learn to sleep, not easy as I had used chemicals since my teens, over 30 years ago. Mirtazipine was prescribed as an AD probably 6 or 7 years ago and I find it very effective for my depression and anxiety. Personally, I don't think it helps me with sleep. Currently I'm on 30mg, I have been on 40mg but I felt like a zombie, overly sedated. I am not planning to stop mirt. I have been on other ADs and mirt works best for me. Why do you wish to stop them? Are you switching to another or do you just want to be pill free? Xxx
    • susansasha
      susansasha sheila65847

      Posted

      I am so sorry u have had such a rough time over the years. You are amazing how u cope. I was put on mirt. Last July as went through lot of stress and ended up having heart palpitations which were diagnosed as an ectopic heart beat due to stress. I could not sleep as a result as I was scared and they were uncomfortable before this I have slept 8 hours all my life. I don't want to take AD i want to be pill free. I am determined to get through it just hope sleep comes back. Thanks for replying Sheila. I hope things get better for u mxxxxx
    • sheila65847
      sheila65847 susansasha

      Posted

      Hi love, now I understand how your fears started. Perhaps you've touched on where my fears began, ironically. I was born with a condition called supra ventricular tachtachycardia (SVT). Basically, my heart would race for no apparent reason . Sometimes it would beat in excess of 280 beats per minute. I recall having it as a child, fearful I was going to die -perhaps that's where my sleep difficulties arose from, funny I hadn't thought of that so I'm grateful to you for your honesty. My SVT was diagnosed when I was 17, it was explained that an electrical impulse was stuck in one of my heart chambers and kept bouncing around, it was not painful as such. Just very uncomfortable, I was made very breathless. I have been in so many A&E depth up and down the UK and abroad. I was put on a beta blocker which helped but did not always work. I have had my heart stopped and was restarted with a defibrillator more than once. Eventually about 10 yr ago it was sorted by a medical procedure called an ablation. So I wonder if you and I have the same underlying fear of dying which has manifested in sleep problems? Worth a thought. Perhaps we both need counselling not pills, what do you think?
    • susansasha
      susansasha sheila65847

      Posted

      Hi Sheila. My ectopic heartbeat is much better now and the cardiologist did all tests. I have a healthy heart but the anxiety caused massive adrenaline rushes and made some cells in the heart to start misbehaving that's how he explained it. Apparently it got into a bad habit. I had them years ago when my dad died but never worried me. They went away for 10 years and then returned with the anxiety. So initially yes I was scared but not now. It is the not sleeping that is worrying me now. It seems one thing after another. Like u say maybe counselling may help. I just want my life back. Thanks for telling me your story. Lots of hugs Susan x
  • Mermaid3011
    Mermaid3011 susansasha

    Posted

    Sheila gave very good practical advice! Sleep hygiene is important! But also the ruminating about sleep is just so awful! I can relate!!

    I for myself can say that my sleep was all over the map before Mirt. After getting off Mirt my pdoc instantly prescribed me a different sleep aid, because getting enough sleep is one of the most important things when fighting depression and anxiety. 

    We (my pdoc and I) have discussed that I will be taking only as much as I need to get a good night sleep and taper off the sleep aid slowly after 4 weeks to see if I can sleep on my own again. We are trying to get me back into a sleep routine.

    Maybe this is something you could discuss with your GP. 

    I have been taking Zopiclone for quite a while, it has a short half life (4 hrs) and makes it easy to fall asleep, but doesnt make you drowsy the next day, though the aftertaste is awful.

    So now I am on Zolpidem, but instead of needing 5 mg I only need 2.5mg, so I am cutting my sublinguals in half.

    At the next visit I'll ask for an even smaller dose (like 1 or 2 mg) to slowly taper out of that.

    Sometimes you need to take the detour of sleep aids to get back into a routine after mirt! 

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