Mirtazapine

[Katze]

About 3 months after my son was born I started to have difficulty sleeping. At first I put this down to my sleep patterns being disturbed because of his waking in the night but my sleeping gradually got worse as his sleeping got better. I tried acupuncture, homeopathic remedies, flower essences - these all worked for a bit but the insomnia always returned. After about 6 months of bad sleep I was diagnosed with depression and was prescribed mirtazipine (15mg.) Within a few days I was sleeping solidly through- 8 hours a night - it was amazing after such a long time without proper sleep. After about 4 months of being on it I reduced the dose to 7.5mg and gradually stopped. However within 3 weeks the insomnia returned - I couldn't get to sleep or if I did I would wake up at 3 in an anxious state and not get back to sleep. I desperately want to come off the mirtazapine as I want another baby but I can't cope with the insomnia. I think I have a hormonal imbalance as I definitely haven't been feeling depressed. Does anyone have any tips for coming of mirtazapine so as to avoid the insomnia and/or has anyone had a baby while taking mirtazapine?
Hope someone can help.

Hi katze

I honestly could have written your story about myself. I have such a similar experience.

I stopped sleeping properly when DD was about 6 weeks old and it gradually deteriorated, so as she started sleeping longer and longer in the night I just got worse and worse.

I was so upset and frustrated, and obviously a wreck during the day, surviving on so little sleep.

I started on citalopram but they made my sleep much worse. Also tried the homepathy, and also did some CBT, reflexology too.

Eventually was put on mirtazapine 15mg. Like you it did wonders and I slept about 10hrs a night for the first two weeks!! Then the sleep got worse again for a while but then finally levelled off. I am still taking the 15mg a night and my DD is 2 now.

I also would like to have another baby and am thinking of weaning off, but am terrified on the insomnia returning. I don't know what the best thing to do is.

I am planning on shaving tiny bits off my 15mg tab and reducing really, really slowly, I mean like over the course of a year.

Perhaps you came off too quickly??

xxx

hi there - im coming of these at the moment - ive been on them for 3 years and am doing it very slowly its gonna take 6 months at least - im on 45 mg and so am doing one day 45mg and the next 30 mg ,then down to 30mg for a few months and then repeat the every other day with 15mg and the 30 mg then staying on the 15mg for a few months and then half it so 7.5 mg
i have felt sick and had a headache but so far have been sleeping ok
i just love the way it helps me to sleep so am too worried about not being able to sleep without it

Hi candy, Hope it goes well for you too as you come off mirtazapine. It's great that so far you've still been sleeping well whilst you've been reducing your dose. I think you are right to do it really slowly.

good that we can talk about it together
im here most days if either of you want to chat

great thanks candy. I am getting off lithium first, and once I'm off that I'm going to start tackling my mirtazapine.

I have been feeling really sick as I have been coming off the lithium. It's really frustrating I can't say anything because people immediately assume you are pregnant (which I'm not BTW!). The only person I've told is DH and his first reaction was "you're not pregnant are you?"

Grrr.

hi - been feeling really sick the last few days and have got a really bad headache ,plus im really sleepy and my heart has been beating faster - not sure if thats all normal - hope ive got the strength to see this through ???
how have you been

Still feeling really really sick. I am losing weight now (not a bad thing! just concerning)

Don't want to tell my CPN as she will probably raise an urgent call with the psychiatrist to see me and they will most likely want to put my medication back up.

But my mood is great, so have no intention of doing that.

Are you still able to get up to see to your baby/child in the night when you are on mirtazapine? (I'm talking about both the initial stage and subsequently).

waves to arcadia96 !

Hard to say really as it affects everyone differently.

I would have contingency plans in place for the first two weeks of taking it just to be safe.

It certainly did knock me out. I think I still would have woken to DD if she cried but thankfully DH was on hand.

i started on it after my baby started to sleep through the night but having said that it does make you sleep deeply but i would always wake if my son needed me i think as a mum its been inbuilt in us to keep one ear open for them.

Yes hi there GetDownYouWillFall I'm still lurking around! Still struggling with the sleep but hoping that it is getting better. Trouble is when I have a bad night I feel like it isn't getting better (obviously!) and today I feel so shattered that I feel ill.
In the last three nights, DP had a night that he couldn't sleep and disturbed me, then DD was up the following night, then last night I couldn't sleep (well I did but was awake from 3am til 6 then DD woke up). Feels like we're never ALL going to sleep!
Trouble is that DP is really struggling too with tiredness now and baby not sleeping too well so even if I were to take something like mirtazapine it would be really hard.

I know what you mean, when I have a bad night I do get that feeling of panic like I'm back to square one again.

I also get really bad nausea when I've not slept well.

Can you take the nights in shifts for a while whilst DD is not sleeping so well? Then at least your DP will get an undisturbed night every other night and you will get a good shot at one too?

Maybe wait till your DD is sleeping better before trying the mirtazapine, or at least until you DP is in a better place to support you if the drug makes you very drowsy and you are unable to get up in the night.

Thanks GDYWF, do you generally find you get back on track again naturally?
It's soooo frustrating. But we've been through all this before, haven't we! (and so has BeckyBendyLegs)!
In every respect I am so much improved from how I was but a bad few nights still throws me and takes on more of a sense of significance than it should.
We do take the nights in shifts but it is a tiny house so hard not to hear what is going on.
Poor DP getting very tired, he's been so great.
Luckily am going to stay with an aunt next week who is going to help with nights and they have a big house in the country. Hopefully I'll catch up and relax a bit then, and DP will have a good rest back here!
I am still holding off on the mirtazapine or any other ADs for that matter. Have been taking the amino acids and have been feeling so much better and everyone has noticed. Just the last few nights have been hard, and DD whingy in the daytime (teething etc.).

Thanks for all your help and advice!

Thankfully now I do seem to get back on track naturally. I just keep telling myself "I will sleep better tonight because I'm more tired". Keep up the Positive Sleep Thoughts! You feel stupid doing it but they really do help!

That's wonderful you've got a bit of time out with your aunt. Big house in the country sounds perfect. Chance for you all to re-charge.

Arcadia it's me again! I've had a bad night. I had a run of not brilliant nights with DS3 then I went out on Saturday night, back 1am, slept badly, woke 6am. So last night I was soooo shattered that I panicked when I didn't fall asleep and ended up taking a horrible, horrible, evil zophiclone tablet and still didn't sleep brilliantly. So today I am back there in the well of depression. DH thinks I should just keep battling it as when I sleep well I'm happy and getting on with things and enjoying life but on days like today I just want to crawl into a hole and die.

Arcadia I do wonder what will happen to us both in the next few months as we are going through such similar issues. I do hope we continue to get better and better. I'm terrified it will get worse. Like you I have felt much better (with homeopathy for early waking, hypnotherapy for anxiety, omega fish oils and B-vits and magnesium for PMT) but when I am down I am soooo down. Like today. I feel close to tears all the time and look at my three boys and think 'I can't do it'.

Hi everyone, I had an awful night. Fell asleep at 2am, woke at 3.30am wide awake. Is this PND? I keep asking this. I can't go on like this. Any suggestions? It was anxiety about falling asleep and also I just wasn't sleepy enough despite having been walking most of the day and knackering myself out. I can't live like this

hi becky,

you poor thing, i really know how you must be feeling. i was like that when i had pnd the first time, i didn't properly sleep for days at a time.

this time the pnd has affected my sleep but not to such a great extent but i have more general anxiety.

however i am starting to feel better. i've been on a relatively low dose of ad's for three weeks and they're ones which make you sleepy so they're ideal for us insomniacs. they're called dosulepin.

my gp also prescribed diazepam which has been amazing. i take 5mg before bed if i'm feeling anxious and i sleep well. even if i don't sleep well i feel relaxed so i don't care. i was prescribed them in january and i've only taken ten in total so it's not like i have to take them every night.

i went through the whole, i'm a failure for having pnd AGAIN and i got really bad when i first starting taking the ad's as it felt as if i'd given in and given up. but do you know what? once they start kicking in you won't even care that you're taking them. you'll just be so relieved that you have some happiness in your day again.

i'm not saying of course that ad's are necessarily the answer for you but they have certainly helped with my mood and most importantly my sleep.

myabe it's worth a visit to the gp just to see what they say?

Hi countrylover thanks so much for this. I have some diazepam from when I first went to the doctors in January and I've taken about 8 in total as I am really scared of taking any sort of sedative pills. I also have some zopiclone but really, really hate taking them. I took them for two weeks in January then stopped. I have about 10 left but only resort to them when I am really, really bad. I just hate taking pills! If I have a headache I suffer rather than take a pill.

I think I might have to visit my GP again if things don't get better. What worries me though is that he didn't seem to know much about PND and last time just gave me fluoxitine (prozac) which has insomnia as a side effect. I had gone to him in a state of sleep deprivation saying I couldn't cope due to insomnia. I went home, three days later I was ten times worse (sleeping 2 hours a night every night) from taking the pills he gave me! I was suicidal by that point so stopped taking them.

I'm so glad you are feeling better though. I remember you being in a similar state to me when I posted ages ago about sleep! It gives me hope that I can get better if I get the right treatment somehow, whether by myself or by the GP.

I slept ten hours last night and woke up late, had to drive the DSs to school without my glasses as I couldn't find them! I must have been sooooo tired. Well I was, I knew I was. I still needed Paul McKenna on my ipod to get me to sleep though. I just want this to be over now. I want to be normal again.

i'm really glad you finally slept becky. try and remember that you do always sleep eventually and without medication. you deserve a pat on the back for that alone...

Wow Becky 10 hours! That's brilliant. Hopefully that has given you a bit of confidence that your body does know how to sleep and you will be back to normal again!

good on you girl - ive only got 2 more 45 mg's to take then im down to 30mgs ,they make me feel so nauseous though but im hoping it will settle down ,next step is to get down onto the 15 mgs ,going very slowly though ,keep posting on here so we can help each other xx

Hi candyfluff hope it's going well and you're feeling OK.

I hope everyone is having a good, restful, Easter. Candyfluff it sounds like you are doing really well. GetDown you too!