Finaly am on medicine....need your help ,using these for the first time..

[Hun]

Hello all

So i hope you all are doing well...I joined this forum a while ago and mentioned that am using a herbal and vitamins approach to cure anxiety. But sadly after taking them for about a month and more my anxiety turned even bad and it reached to the point where i could not eat anything at all and i was feeling short of breath all the time.

Finally decided to follow the psych's prescription. I started with 30 mg remeron (Mirtazapine) 3 days ago. The next day was terrible for me..i was so dizzy, feeling lightheaded...heart was sinking. Am just 25 and very slim also was lacking any food intake, talked to the doc he suggested to reduce the dosage to half..now its my second day on 15 mg...


On 15 mg.. i still feel a bit short of breath in eve...Its been only two days i have started remeron. I sleep good with this medicine but i feel anxiety is still there to some point. Am young and its the first tym am using any such drug. I need your support and words..that I will be fine. Share your experiences please.

Thanks and stay blessed

[needtogetwell]

Hi Hun,

It is a tough decision to try meds, but sometimes they really are the best option to help you get through this.

Not feeling well on them for the first 2 weeks or so is not unusual. It does help knowing to expect a rough time at the beginning, and just ride it out. It does get better.

Also, it helps to understand that this first med may not be exactly the right one for you. If it is then that's amazing. But keep an open mind, it you aren't getting relief after trying it for a couple of weeks, then speak to your prescribing doc, there are many other options out there and your doc has likely given you the one with the best success with the least amount of side effects to start with.

I applaud your decision to take control of your life with help. We are always around here if you have questions or concerns about the meds or anything else. Many many of us have been exactly where you are right now.

All the best,
Pam

[Hun]

Thanks for ur positive reply .... I just hope it turns me back into a positive person and suits me well soon. Am facing a lot of side effects...such as inability to focus..foggy mind etc...Hope they go away soon

[needtogetwell]

Hun,

The side effects will ease up. Be kind to yourself, keep your expectations on the low side, the beneficial effects take time but you will start to see everything get better slowly.

Keep posting here as you feel the need, sometimes just a little reassurance from people who have been where you are can help a great deal.

I'm hoping today is an easy one for you.

Cheers
Pam

[Dahila]

I am sorry the herbal thingy did not work for you. I am herbalist, you could say doing it for years. Unfortunately nothing, not the best mix of herbs worked for me, i am on meds. Of course I still use herbal like lemon balm aka Melisa
or Valerian root from time to time. gives me extra power to control the anxiety.
You are on meds and after adjusting time, you can work on strategy, with quiet mind. Good luck Hun:)

[Ritch]

Hey Hun,

As it has already been mentioned it is not uncommon to experience adverse side effects when starting an anti depressant medication. The side effects should die down within a couple of weeks and it can also take between 2-8 weeks to feel any benefit. The medication will hopefully help you and relieve the majority of your anxiety but you may still experience some anxiety. But the important thing to remember and tell yourself is that anxiety/panic cannot hurt you no matter how uncomfortable it feels.

Before you started the medication did you usually experience a shortness of breathe throughout the day or just at night time?

Unfortunately I can't do anything to address the side effects of the medication but I can perhaps suggest something that will help with the shortness of breath. I am going to post a short little exercise below, practice it when you are feeling short of breath..... It takes a little time to get the hang of it but if you persevere it will help.

Breathe in through your nose and out of your mouth. Lay down and put your hands on either side of your stomach but make sure your fingers tips touch each other. When breathing in make sure that your stomach goes out words and not inwards ( e.g. when some people show others their stomach they pull their stomach in or breathe in as some people call it, that is the wrong way to breathe in.) When breathing in your finger tips should no longer touch because your stomach has gone out and allowed your diaphragm to expand, then slowly release the breath and repeat. start with in 4 and out 4. don't just pull air in and push it out control it.

When doing this focus on the breathing and nothing else, feel it come into your nose down your throat and into your lungs. Then feel it leave. If you lose your concentration and begin to think about something else that is okay. But as soon as you realize you have wandered bring your thoughts back to your breathing. Perform this exercise for a minimum of 3-5 minutes, if you practice it enough it will help.

You are in good company on this forum, I hope you feel better soon :)

[Dahila]

Ritch we have a nice thread about Meditation support , with a lot of links, it would be good if you post the exercise there, too.

[Hun]

Thankyou so much everyone for your replies...you all are so great. Ritch, I experienced shortness of breath whenever i was anxious but mostly at eve....thanks for this breathing exercise...I'll practice this too. I feel my shortness of breath is getting better..and my anxiety is reducing but still I cant seem to concentrate on anything...I mean its hard to read on screen....to see somewhere continuously. Also, my neck muscles are sort of twitching and I cant seem to focus at one point.

Is this a normal reaction for Anti-depressants? I mean can it be a side effect of the medication that will go away with time??? It's my 5th day on remeron

[needtogetwell]

Some of what you are feeling could be meds related, but I am thinking that the muscle twitching probably has more to do with chronic stress.

Keep working with the relaxation techniques, and maybe look into some massage therapy for the muscular issues.

Hang in there.
Pam

[Dahila]

Hun I got something for you :)) Jon is waiting for you, click me please (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS5QpPRFdbg)

This guy made a huge difference for me, he is the Mindfulness meditation teacher, quiet famous, give it a try, he is teaching in "Total body scan" how to breath properly :)

[JohnC]

Hi Dahila,
I have been trying to teach myself the meditation and breathing thing but it is tougher than it sounds. Anyhow I tried to check out the video's and they did all pop up but I could not get them to load for viewing ( i'll try later again ).
Is the link you have above the one you think I should start with?
Thanks
JohnC

[needtogetwell]

Hey John,

Yes the breathing techniques and quieting mind exercises are tough to do, they actually take a lot of concentration at first, which is great for quieting the brain cause you truly can't focus on more than one thing at a time.

They do get easier with practice and will become second nature. They are really invaluable to me.

Pam

[Dahila]

John clear the cookies from cashe, they load for me beautifuly. I practise it for years but lately i discovered, acutally my friend here was recommending him. It is so easy to do guided meditation and still it brings the same benefits. I started from body scan which I put on my mp3 player. I stayed with it for a long weeks , every day, finally my body got the idea of relaxing. Try it. I bet you would like it. In my opinion any meditation is miracle, but with Jon Kabat zinn is really easy to start. Would be nice to listen or to read his book which is "Full catastrophy" I think that the title. He is explaining in it a lot about his program , teaching the mindfulness meditation.
Another book by him worth reading is "Wherever you go you are" Fantastic read. No jumbo bumbo about religions or nirvana but real knowledge served in very simple way:)) Good luck John:)

The guided meditation is the easiest in my opinion (I wish i knew it ten years ago) you do what he says to do nothing more nothing else... easy breazy

[JohnC]

Thanks Dahila and Pam,
One of the hardest parts for me is finding a place that I can have quite. 3 kids, 2 dogs, 1 cat inside and free range chickens outside. I guess i could walk down to the river thats on my property but thats not going to be possible every day. It is so peaceful down there though. I'll check out those video's .

Thanks again
JohnC

[Hun]

Thank you Pam and Dahila...You all are being a great support. Dahila thanks for the video, its so lovely and calming but yes I agree with John that it takes time to practice to get deeply involved in such exercises... For me, I cant get anxiety out of my head at all.Need to practice....

Its my 6th day on remeron and last night I felt a bit jerking in my body :( am scared. Why my body sort of jerked for a moment before falling asleep...Is it normal for medicines..? Still feeling tired in the morning and a strange throbbing sensation. Oh I just hope the side effects go away sooon

[needtogetwell]

Hi Hun,

You have absolutely nothing to worry about with the jerking feeling when falling asleep.

I did quite a bit if research on sleep cycles recently and very very often people experience that falling or jerking sensation when you start to pass from the lightest stages of sleep (you might not even think you are sleeping) into a deeper stage.

Everyone can experience it, even those who don't have anxiety issues. We are just the lucky ones who have really sensitive nervous systems and brains that think something is wrong when it's not. :(

Hopefully you won't experience it again, but if you do, remind yourself that you are definitely ok.

Cheers
Pam

[Hun]

Hey thanks again Pam... Glad I didn't feel the jerk again and I guess this is normal.

Its my 7th day on Remeron... Again feeling panicky for no reason today. Throat tightness makes me anxious immediately. Yesterday was a better day and today am again panicking. Don't know how long the medicine will take to start functioning properly :(

[Dahila]

Hun get to the video put your headphones on and do it. There is not wrong way of doing it. It will help. You can even keep your eyes open :))