insomnia

[Hellofrom]

insomnia with side effects from mirtazpine 7.5mg. Any alternative

[10gingercats]

There probably are alternative from your GP but Mirtazapine is meant to be a soparific.I take 3.75mg nightly and was told a side affect was it made you dosy. Not dosy enough for me unfortunately but that is what the specialist who prescribed them said.

[Ppiman]

I have had insomnia for many years. Despite its being reported in the media as a commonplace issue, my experience of meeting people over many years suggests that transient insomnia does affect lots of people, but that chronic insomnia is much less common. What makes my own hard to deal with is the way it seems to add to my anxiety load, which is naturally always high. I am sure, too, that it makes heart arrhythmias much worse.

Mirtazapine was useless for me, and, not only didn't help my sleep, but made me feel horribly thick-headed for the whole of the following day. These kinds of drugs are basically antihistamines or antidepressants that cause drowsiness as a side effect and appeal to GPs for that reason. Their efficacy for treating insomnia is largely untested in my reading around the topic. A friend has recently been given mirtazapine, however, and he is happy with it saying he'd never slept better for years, so it has some success.

The more effective drugs are, without doubt, zopiclone and zolpidem. Like the older benzodiazepine drugs such as temazepam and nitrazepam, the "Z" drugs, although far less likely to be troublesome, are still considered potentially habit forming and thus not prescribed easily or willingly. Also, their effects are not long lasting as they have a half-life of three hours, so they won't keep you asleep for the night. My own insomnia allows me to drop off easily, but then wake after a couple of hours. I tend to take a quarter of a zolpidem (2.5mg) at about 3.30 am and hope to wake at about 6.30. That would be a good night indeed, however. On bad nights, I might occasionally take one quarter tablet at about 1.30 and a second quarter at 4.00pm.

Safety-wise, after many years I have never developed side effects, tolerance or anything untoward. I feel fine the next day, too, considering I generally feel tired.

Steve

[Hidden in reply to Ppiman]

I don't know what the OP is from but just FYI I have been prescriped Zolpidem/Zopiclone for many years for my chronic early waking insomnia but recently there's been a change in the UK and now my GP is unwilling to give me an ongoing prescription. I had a long conversation with him about this as I was pretty frustrated by it, and he told me that there is now more information about the potential effects of these medications, particularly on older people, and that they can cause/contribute to the development of dementia among other things. I haven't been able to find any further information about this - certainly on the NHS website all that's discussed is the habit forming aspect of these drugs.

[Ppiman in reply to Hidden]

I seem to recall that there was some evidence of such a link a few years ago but, to my knowledge, it was soundly disputed, if not completely scotched. Partly, I think it was a cause and effect issue. People with insomnia - treated with drugs or otherwise - might be more prone to various conditions and, indeed, take multiple drugs. To separate out possible contributory causes is very difficult given the chronic nature of such long term illnesses.

I’ll spend some time later looking for these studies and post them. Overall, like benzodiazepine drugs, these “Z” drugs have become tainted by a few things in my view:

- a societal misunderstanding and belittling of conditions like insomnia (even depression and anxiety)

- a love affair of the medical profession with SSRI drugs and antidepressants in general, as opposed to anxiolytics.

- an overly strong belief in the effectiveness of talking therapies.

- a lack of knowledge of exactly who and how many people might become adversely affected by such drugs. From my reading, it seems under a third people might become dependent on benzo drugs, for example and far fewer on Z drugs; and that leaves two thirds or more in whom they might be very helpful.

Luckily, I have a very understanding and compassionate GP. I hope yours sees the light for your sake.

Steve

[Hidden in reply to Ppiman]

I completely agree with your points, Steve. I pointed out to my GP that chronic lack of sleep is very bad for us too! And I was receiving a prescription of 10 Zopiclone that I only filled about every 3 or 4 monthss. It's a 'failsafe' for me. He did eventually give me one more prescription, but very unwillingly, and I doubt my chances to get another one, which is very frustrating.

Though happily I'm going through a longish phase of sleeping better, yay! 🙂

But yeah....SSRI's get handed out like Smarties and, in my opinion, for far too long. I have several friends who've been taking them for many years.

Helen

[marcyh]

A very low dose of melatonin works best for me. Surprisingly, most people take too much. I have to special order mine which is 300 micrograms (mcg). Taking two is about right for me. After trying 8 antidepressants, they are the last on my list.

[Ppiman in reply to marcyh]

That’s interesting and something to try. I’ve looked into melatonin often over the years (not at low dose) and tried it many years ago with no success. It has never been shown to work in many clinical trials thatI recall but if it does work at all, it should only be in sleep-onset insomnia, I’d guess.

Steve

[marcyh]

It's actually being recommended more and more as a regular, ongoing sleep aid. But unfortunately in pharmacy-level doses (lowest available is 3 mg) which did not help me sleep. I can't explain it. Even taking two 300 mcg can cause me to have hangovers the next day, which happened to me yesterday. I don't take it at all if I don't think I will need it, and I didn't last night. I feel more awake today. We each have to find what works for us.

It helps me with sleep onset and also with staying asleep or going back to sleep. I know my insomnia is hormone related and I'm forever grateful someone on this site suggested the extra low dose.