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Mental health

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Flip

Original poster

Not yet feeling the benefits.

10 replies

SagacityNell · 26/06/2010 12:36

I think i have been on Mirtazapine for 2 weeks now (will check dates on threads in a min) but all i have felt is side effects. I need to make an appt anyway for some blood results. Is it worth asking for a change in ADs?

I am trying to balance out my need to be available for my children and the need for me to not hurt myself.

OP posts:

orangeflutie · 26/06/2010 19:16

It may take another 2 weeks for you to feel any benefits, but if the side effects are unpleasant, there's no harm in speaking to your GP as you're going anyway. FWIW Mirtazapine didn't work for me. I had a severe reaction to it. Am now on Dosulepin, .one of the older tricyclics which suits me much better, so always worth asking for alternative ADs. Hope you can get something that works for you soon.

GetDownYouWillFall · 26/06/2010 19:31

Sorry you are still suffering You probably do need to give it a bit longer TBH. They do not normally switch until you've been on it 6 weeks at least (unless the side effects are totally unbearable).

Original poster

SagacityNell · 26/06/2010 20:13

Are there any that take less time to feel the benefits from? Life in general is unbearable and potentially about to get worse (which i didn't think possible but there we go) and i can't see the point in carrying on with something thats not working tbh

OP posts:

GetDownYouWillFall · 26/06/2010 20:15

the feeling of pointlessness is part of the illness. You need to keep going to get the benefits and to start getting better.

Can you get a short course of diazepam to help you through the next few weeks?

What sort of side effects are you having trouble with?

Original poster

SagacityNell · 26/06/2010 20:22

I am far too tired. I am sleeping now which i wasn't really before-maybe 4 hours a night. But I am not waking when the DCs needs me and it would take a nuclear bomb to wake DH. DS2 has night terrors and has been known to let himself out of the house so i need to be able to wake up if i hear him wandering down the creaky stairs!

I am struggling with the need to eat all the time because i have a history of EDs and only just got a handle on the last recurrance and got back to a "sensible" weight.

I feel a bit detached sometimes too. As if i am watching myself doing whatever.

I know it sounds like nothing and maybe it is and i should just stop moaning.

WHat is diazepam and what will that do?

OP posts:

GetDownYouWillFall · 26/06/2010 20:27

It's not moaning, when it's clearly bothering you very much and making you miserable. 4 hrs sleep a night doesn't seem much still, when I started on mirtazapine I went from zero sleep to about 10hrs per night!

I can understand it is a problem if you are not waking when DS wakes. That's a worry if he can get out. Can you put a stairgate across his room, and leave a potty in there if he needs the loo in the night?

The appetite thing does settle down IME. I am at my normal weight again now, and that's not with making any special effort or anything or any diet as such.

Diazepam is anti-anxiety, but if you are feeling tired all the time that will only make you more drowsy.

Maybe one of the more activating ADs would suit you better? What was the reason you were given mirtazapine, was it for your eating disorder?

BeckyBendyLegs · 26/06/2010 20:31

Diazepam is basically vallium. It will chill you out and help you sleep if you take it at bedtime but needs to be treated with some degree of caution as it can be addictive. But if you need just a few nights to get back on track then it could be benefial (what it was perscribed to me for a while back), or for the odd night.

Original poster

SagacityNell · 26/06/2010 20:36

sorry- it was 4 hours before the ADs - sorry. Should have made that clearer!

DS2 is 5 and can open the stairgate that we have on DS3s door (he's 2.5). He shares a room with DS1(7) and if left with a potty it would be all over the place! He has aspergers tendancies which they are waiting to see if they develop into more of a problem and in which case will give him (and me) a dx of aspergers. If we introduced a different place for him to go to the toilet that would become the only place he would go!

I was given this AD because citalopram didn't work and fluoxetine made me worse. This one was because of the side effects as well as the AD side of it and that its none fatal if taken to OD - I admitted to self harming and feeling suicidal.

OP posts:

GetDownYouWillFall · 26/06/2010 20:47

Oh dear then you need to put a chain on your front door - high up and make sure you put it on before you go to bed.

That must be really tough to deal with.

The tiredness really does wear off, for me it was two weeks, but it may take a little longer, everyone is different.

Sorry you are feeling so bad, are you still feeling suicidal?

Original poster

SagacityNell · 26/06/2010 21:00

Our landlord won't let us put one on. It's a uPVC door so needs a particular one. For now we are locking the door and putting the key on the top corner of the door (if that makes sense?)

I still pretty much the same as i did when i went to the GP. Although the thoughts of wanting to commit suicide are not the same as they were. I still think about it for probably 99% of the day but i don't know if that's because i self harm more often than i used to...? cba trying to figure it all out tbh.

OP posts:

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