Menopause Matters Forum
General Discussion => This 'n' That => Topic started by: Dyan on April 29, 2013, 11:17:59 AM
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Hi all,
I have been prescribed Mirtazapine 15mg at night for anxiety.
I have been on it now for 3 nights and feel it is already doing something.
It relaxes me so I sleep well but in the morning it's hard to wake,I'm zonked :-\
I know it's early days but does this wear off with time and how long?
I don't wake with anxiety in the mornings just difficult to get up.
I come round later in the day though and have feelings of normality.
Dyan X
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Oh the Hung Over Effect ::) .......... you may find if you take the doseage earlier in the evening? Or you may get used to the effects. Sometimes I feel like that, but considering how I would feel otherwise ;) but I don't have to go to work any more. Can 'come to' in my own time.
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Yeah thats it CLKD - the hangover effect.
I have work tomorrow starting at 9 so I think I'll take it earlier tonight.
I have to drive there and I'm worried about that.
I will just have to see how I am though.
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I can't remember - do you work every day? Maybe next week, once the drug is 'in the system', you could take it either much earlier in the evening or miss out the nights that you have to be up for work the next day? Sometimes it's a bit swings and roundabouts and we have to 'self medicate' in order to find out what suits our heads the best ::)
Particularly as you know that the drug works, so you know that when push comes to shove you can take it and get a 'good result'.
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CLKD- I work 2 days a week.
I took the tablet at 8.30 last night and I don't feel too bad now-8.15am.
The most important thing- waking up with no anxiety- :spin:-
Don't think I could do that - not just yet anyway ;D
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The drug is working, PHEW! don't run before you can walk though ;) - don't take on too many committments because you are beginning to feel better, get used to the 'good' feelings - sit and absorb them ........ ;)
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:great: CLKD. Wise words as usual.
I'm sitting here now with a cuppa and slice of cake DD made and
ABSOOOOoooorbing! ;D
The medication is working on my anxiety but I've yet to come out of the bubble.
I was fine at work today,just floating,if you know what I mean.
Hard to describe.
Thanks for your support CLKD!
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:hug: it will take a while for you to become used to the hung over effect ;) ::) ......... <hands over plate for CAKE> ;D : what, all gone :o .......... :D
Some mornings I feel like I'm back to square one, doom and gloom on waking - I have to remind myself that this no longer lasts as it did in the 1990s and after breakfast I potter until I begin to feel human .........
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Have you come out of your bubble yet Dyan?
Do you feel better for going to work?
X
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Hi Dyan
do you have depression as well as anxiety? Have you tried any anti-depressants like Prozac? My daughter has extreme anxiety and needs more help than she is getting at present. GP wants her to up her Prozac to 40mg but what she really needs is to see somebody who can help her to talk through her many anxieties. She's had counselling but nothing long term. I am struggling to find help for her, just wondered whether Mirtazapine might help her in the short-term.
I take sleep aid at night sometimes, or temazepam, and that has a hang over effect. As CLKD says the solution is to take it earlier. If you are feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed at 8.30am I would say that is a good result :) Long may it continue.
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Try the added dose of Prozac. If this works for 3-4 months, she may be able to drop the doseage and use an added amount as rquired.
There are various charities who help: MIND, several phobic groups etc.. Names escape me right now though >:(
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No Panic, Samaritans (she regularly rings them).
She's had CBT but her problems are long term and she needs long term help. We are just being fobbed off by the GP atm >:(
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Hi,
Littleminnie- No not completely yet but i feel it is coming.I felt awful yesterday morning driving to work and nearly turned the car round to come home but I didn't.
I told myself "you're ok,you're ok" and got there.
By about lunchtime I felt much better and when I got home I felt more human.
Milliemoo- yes I do have depression too.
I take Prozac 80 mg each day for my OCD (accompanying anxiety & depression) and have done now for 8 years when I was first diagnosed.
The gp wanted me to try Mirtazapine to see if it helped with the anxiety I have at the moment,which is my worst meno symptom.
You might have read in my other posts that I went to the priory 8 years ago
Because I was so bad with OCD I couldn't function.
I was diagnosed with OCD after 30 odd years.
I was put on Mirtazapine then for anxiety but a very much higher dose.
I also had CBT when I came out of hospital.
My OCD is controlled but when the old meno anxiety comes it rears its ugly head.
Prozac was a life saver for me.
Sorry to hear of your daughter milliemoo.
I really hope she gets the help she needs.
Dyan XX
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Hi Milliemoo
Your Daughter sounds like me... CBT does work if done properly but often needs to be done alongside 'talking' therapy, which you don't get on the NHS. I was lucky enough to get a private Therapist through my Brother for which I don't have to pay.
If you had asked me last September if I would ever feel better I would have said never but after doing CBT and talking I am feeling more like my old self but this has taken 8 Months.
There may be a Community Interest Company (CIC) in your area which will offer this service either for free or for a very reduced rate as they charge on a persons ability to pay.
I have to say I was only offered medication by my GP but I chose not to take them.
Good luck
Smudgesmum xxx
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CBT helps if someone's problems are 'caught' early enough. For me it was useless as my phobia hit when I was a few hours old ...... so my reactions were deeply ingrained.
I did find talk therapy helped to put things into perspective - I was able to talk to a complete stranger who knew nothing about me. So I could vent, vent, vent ........
I often look back and wonder how I DID survive those awful anxiety surges :-\
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CKLD
Curious to know how a new born can have a phobia. Was this something that your mother told you. I have emetaphobia [sp] and I can trace it back to when I was about ten years old. What phobia is it that you developed so early in life.
Honeyb
x
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Emitophobia - I was intubated as a baby due to feeding difficulties and it is believed that the responses learned at that time have deeply embedded in my brain so that I cannot over-ride the physical feelings. I was diagnosed as anorexic at the age of 5 .......... :-\
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Thanks All
she had some very successful CBT when she was 15 and then again a few years ago. She is now 24. Her problems are complex.
Smudgesmum I'll message you later re the company you mention as I'm not sure I am understanding it correctly. Meno brain plus too much sun!!
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Just an update on the Mirtazapine I've been taking for one week.
On a positive note I do feel as though they are kicking in as I have no or very little anxiety but on the negative I feel so distant and numb and down not depressed as before.
I know it is still early days but is there anyone out there who is taking this AD and felt the same?
I googled Mirtazapine and it said that it is one of the fastest ADs to work.
Usually beginning to work within one - 2 weeks.
I have never been on an AD that has started to kick in so quickly
I am on 15mg.
It would be reassuring to hear of anyone else's experiences of this AD.
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distant; numb; that's how I am on a 'good' day ::) - then I need to remember how I feel when not on medication ........ hopefully these feelings will pass, or you will become used to them. Are you less 'hung over'?
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:rofl:CLKD - yes I'm less 'hung over' ;D.
I'm taking the tablet earlier now.
I should know better really because I've been here before and I know this distant feeling etc etc will pass.
I was shopping this morning and I saw a friend of mine who I hadn't seen for a long time but knew she suffered from depression.
While I was talking to her I became very anxious as she was telling me that it has been 3 years shes been on different meds and she's no better.
I just wanted to get out of the shop.
I kept telling myself " you're ok,you're ok" as I did the shopping and really felt for my friend.
I know I'll be fine once I'm over this blip.
My friend is 39,so probably not menopausal yet ,so she has all this to come as well.
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"I know this distant feeling etc etc will pass .... "
knowing isn't the same as 'being' though ;). I can tell myself when the phobia kicks in all kidns of positive re-inforcements, but the brain doesn't tell the gut >:( and the anxiety can take over until I am unable to move :-\
At least you are getting some relief. That has to be a good start. As for the person you met who hasn't had a result from medication in 3 years ??? - go back to the GP perhaps!