As per my previous post, I have recently experienced a marked decline in mental health triggered by severe insomnia. my insomnia is now under control in that I have been prescribed Zopiclone or Phenergen 50mg both of which appear to help me sleep, in that I don't recall being awake. the problem is that during the day- from afternoon through to evening- my brain is still in a completely wired state. you know that feeling of sleepiness and release of drifting into sleep? its not physically possible for my brain to do that at the moment because it's on such a permanent state of high alert and in constant fight or flight mode. this brings about mental exhaustion and the cycle continues. I believe I need some kind of antidepressant but I don't think the Sertraline I've been on (very low dose) for years is helping because it's a stimulant. My gut feeling is that I need something to calm me down and stop the worrying and panic and eventually switch off that inner part of my brain that thinks it has a lion to fight somewhere. I've only ever taken SSRIs so i'd be keen to hear from anyone who has taken other more sedating ones - SNRIs maybe? Mirtazipine? And what your experience is of these for acute panic and anxiety, which is all I can compare this to. I feel the key is in finding something to dampen down the hyper overly alert part of my brain that has got jammed and I want to find the right medication for it, which I don't believe is an SSRI because of their stimulating effects.... all opinions welcomed!
I believe I commented on your last post regarding mirtizapine having a sedative effect.
when you say you are on a small dose of sertraline is there any reason why you haven’t increased this beforw giving up on it?
when I started my GP said alot now average 100mg but can go as high as 200mg. you may just need a higher dosage persoanlly for me 50mg done nothing 100mg helped and 150mg was where I have stayed all this year up until the last couple weeks when the dosage has being dropped to 100mg to see if the weight gain I have will start to diminish. If it werent for that I would still be taken 150mg all day long.
for short term you can use diazepam ro help with the anxiety feeling
I stayed on 25mg of Sertraline for years purely because I had horrific withdrawal effects trying to come off it. I had been on 50mg in the past but have to take any increases of Sertraline very slowly as they are super strong for me (ironic considering I can take enough sleeping pills to knock out a horse and they have no effect). I feel that Sertraline is a stimulant “happy” drug and what I need is something to calm down my acute anxiety. My anxiety and mental exhaustion caused by the initial insomnia is now so bad that I literally haven’t been able to do anything for the last 3 days except lie on my sofa and shake uncontrollably. I’m caught between total mental exhaustion from lack of natural sleep which comes in waves and not being able to switch off this hyper alert part of my brain that causes the shakes and a rash and head rushes. I have just got off the phone to my psychiatrist and he has suggested either Mirtazipine or Escitalopram and that I should decide overnight which to try and he will write me a prescription tomorrow. He says Escitalopram is very good for anxiety but I’m hesitant because it’s just another SSRI. Do you have any experience of this or Mirtazipine for acute anxiety/panic disorder?
buspirone help me a lot !!! i tried clonazapam and also celexa bt im too sensitive to those so they make the symptoms worst … bt buspirone its the one for me !!
thats interesting, thanks for your reply! I’ve not heard of buspirone, I assume it isn’t an SSRI? is it a sedating antidepressant?
I think I have decided to go with escitalaprom and a low dose Mirtazipine in the evening which my psychiatrist also said was an option. I have read good reviews on the combination and hope the nightly Mirtazipine will be an alternative to the 2mg valium I’m currently having to take for acute anxiety - it’s the only thing that has stopped me shaking all afternoon. I’d like to hope for no or little weight gain on low dose Mirtazipine but that’s probably being optimistic. But I’m so desperate to be well again in my mind I’m willing to deal with it 