A couple of weeks ago I made a thread asking for tips with my depression, I first want to say thank you for the replies and I have been following the advice given, using it to try and help my anxiety and to talk to close friends and family about how we can get through this and what we can do to help if I'm having a "bad day". I saw my GP the other day, and after talking and finding no real improvement on fluoxetine, I have now been prescribed mirtazapine. I've been told to take one every night before I go to bed, one thing I've found with it is that it makes me drowsy very quickly and knocks me out around 30-40 minutes after taking it. Thankfully it seems to have at least put an end to my messed up sleeping patterns and I was told that it is quite normal, I just want to know if that is a regular thing that will carry on or a side effect that wears off. Also, I've found that I wake up with terrible headaches, another thing listed as a side effect. Can I ask if there is a specific reason for this? What is the best way to get rid of them and will they continue as long as I am taking the medication? Thanks and I appreciate any help.
The only real help I can give you with headaches is that if they're situated at the front of your head, between the temples, then you're dehydrated. Otherwise it's one of a number of different headaches. I found this list may be useful. Could it be a migraine perhaps? I would think just checking in with your GP would be a good way to go as they'll be able to tell you if you can do something with eating/drinking something or certain light conditions or activities you do before bed. Doubly so if it's a listed side-affect. Could you phone them up to save time rather than going to see them?
For the drowsyness, it will probably carry on. One of my meds does the same thing. As rosina said, you may be dehydrated, certain meds, especially antidepressants, can do that. Drink plenty of water and try and stay cool during the summer months. Since you said that the med is regulating your sleep cycle, the headaches can be from actually getting the amount of sleep you need, and your body adjusting to this. It should go away within a few weeks. If not, talk with your doctor.
The tricylic medications (TCAs) like mirtazapine are old medicines. They aren't prescribed as often since there are some newer medications like the SSRIs. The TCAs had a wide variety of uses- for depression, for sleep disorders, for pain control, ADHD, etc. But they also had a lot of irritating side effects- like the drowsiness, These drugs change the chemistry of the brain by changing levels of neurotransmitters. One of those chemicals is serotonin. Serotonin has a connection to headaches and migraine headaches in particular. For some people, serotonin helps reduce headaches. For other people, it makes them worse. You may be one of those people whose headaches get worse when you take this particular TCA. All of the anti-depressants have side-effects. Physicians tend to prescribe them without really talking about the possibility of side-effects. In general, when you take an anti-depressant, it becomes a fine line between the beneficial effect of the medication and the non-beneficial side effects. You can give it more time and see if the headaches get better. While some side effects like dry mouth and sleepiness are pretty common in TCAs, the other side effects vary between different medications. If the headaches don't get better, you need to talk with your doctor about changing to a different medication to see if you can find one that benefits you but has fewer side effects.
