I have been using Mirtazapine (remeron) since mid November. Remeron is NOT and SSRI. Its a tetracyclic. It worked great for me in the beginning. At my best I would still wake up a couple times a night but fall back asleep and generally feel rested and in a decent mood the next day. It takes about 2-3 weeks for the anti anxiety and anti depressive stuff to start to work with this drug. I didnt have depression but after a couple weeks on it I felt happier. Like singing along with the radio…etc… I started out at 7.5mg but after about a month had to bump it to 15mg. I’m now at the point where I’m not sure it is going to work for me much longer. It just doesnt seem to get me to sleep or keep me asleep. I had a rough week and last night I had to take 15mg Remeron, 2 Klonopin and an Ambien just to fall asleep and stay asleep. Remeron becomes less effective at doses past 15mg for sleep so raising the dose will make things worse. If you are under 15mg… there is a chance you can stop taking it and start taking Trazodone with no sort of withdrawal symptoms. I may be heading in this direction because I really dont want to be taking Klonopin more than once a week. If you do switch to Trazodone… you can raise and lower the dosage to get you the right amount of sleep without being groggy.
Things I am in the process of trying…
Kava Kava … it should help increase GABA at night
Passion Flower extract … also a GABA agonist.
Things I have tried.
LiftMode Sleep Caps … These completely knock me out for a full night of sleep but you must becareful and only use them once or twice a week.
Phenibut … tried it once and this knocked me out for about 10 hours of solid sleep. You have to be VERY careful not to use this more than once every 4 - 5 days or you will build a dependence.
Supposedly the sleep caps and Phenibut are not cross tolerant but I would be very careful using them within a few days of each other.