Hello all. Just to give an update. As I was getting worse with high levels of anxiety and sleeping very badly I went to a new doctor to ask for a second opinion. I was having antidepressants (SSRI's), 20mg Lexapro and 7,5mg Mirtazapine and was clearly getting worse. Before the appointment with the new doctor I wrote my clinical history so I could not skip any important informations. He conclude that I could have a good probability of having a bipolar disorder.
In this way I am removing the antidepressive medicine and introducing a mood stabilizer (Valproate 1000mg) and a antipsychotic (Olanzapine 10mg). The result is that on the 3 last days I had a decent sleep and I am also better from my mood swings. I hope I will be fine on the next days
It is good to stick with your doctors recommendations. Everyone reacts differently to drugs and dosages. Monitor how you are feeling and record any symptoms you may find strange or unusual so that you can continue to inform your doctor of your experience. Hopefully you will notice an improvement soon. Let us know how you are doing!
Benzo's will call to you. With me, I would start to get that edgy feeling, almost like ants crawling on me. I had to say is this the benzo, or is it me. If after fifteen minutes I could not make the anxiety go away on my own then I took the benzo and never, ever felt guilty. it allowed me to continue the CBT without interuption from the anxiety. This way I knew for sure it was me not dependence.
Today I thought more about what I was doing and I arrived at the conclusion that I need to follow the orders of my doctor. He must know what he is doing. I will try his recommendations and see how things goes.
His recommendations are:
20mg of Lexapro mornings
50 or 100 mg of Seroquel dinner
7,5mg of Mirtazapine bedtime
benzos if I am feeling very anxious (as is the case now)
I hope I could start feeling better in a few days.
Hello Ashley. I will read the relaxation techniques and will experiment to apply them during the day and at sleep. I imagine I already could be doing some of this techniques while practicing yoga.
Just to update my progress. I increased the dosage of Mirtazapine from 15 mg to 30 mg at bed time to help with my sleep and decrease the dosage of Lexapro from 20 mg to 15 mg. The decrease in dosage of Lexapro was because at afternoon I was feeling with very agitation and an increased heart rate and read that this could be the symptoms of a serotonin syndrome.
I already told my doctor about this and he said to not reduce Lexapro and to take some benzos instead. The problem is that I am with this symptoms for 2 months now and they do not disappear. I will see if this works.
Have you tried practicing using the Relaxation Techniques auxillary session in order to relax you for sleep and throughout the day? Many members report this being helpful. The more you practice relaxing the body the better you will get at it.
My recovering has been very slowly and right now one of main challenges is the lack of sleep. I talk several times with my psychiatrist about this and he said that besides 20 mg of Lexapro (morning) and 15 mg of Mirtazapine (bed time) I should have 100 mg of Seroquel (dinner) to help with my sleep.
I have tried Seroquel but the side effects are nasty. Last night after taking Seroquel my eyes get irritated and I barely could watch TV. I have vivid dreams during the night and this morning I wake up with an hangover. What a ride for a med! Heavy stuff the Seroquel!.
Because I wanted a second opinion I had an appointment with my GP. He said that instead of Seroquel I should try to increase the dosage of Mirtazapine to 30 mg at bed time to see if it helps with my sleep. I will try this on the following days and see how things work.
It’s been a while since you were active on this site. Please extend your session below
You have been logged out due to inactivity.
Please sign back in.
We use cookies to help us learn about how our platform is used and how we can improve your experience. To
learn more please see our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.