![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by g_g_g_unit on October 24, 2008, at 20:59:16
last night i went out to celebrate my birthday and had a bit to drink which included red bull. so in order to stave off insomnia i took a single 15mg dose of remeron which reliably knocks me out, instead of my normal 10mg of nortriptyline, which will activate me for a bit before i get drowsy. is it okay to go back to the nortriptyline tonight?
Posted by X-ray on October 25, 2008, at 2:34:58
In reply to one-off remeron dose-did i do something dangerous?, posted by g_g_g_unit on October 24, 2008, at 20:59:16
Hello,
I have switched from Remeron to Elavil (amitryptiline) without problem.
The answer to your question:
It's okay.Best regards,
X-ray
Posted by Phillipa on October 25, 2008, at 11:45:15
In reply to Re: one-off remeron dose-did i do something dangerous?, posted by X-ray on October 25, 2008, at 2:34:58
Agree with the above poster and good luck you'll do fine. Phillipa
Posted by yxibow on October 25, 2008, at 12:31:07
In reply to one-off remeron dose-did i do something dangerous?, posted by g_g_g_unit on October 24, 2008, at 20:59:16
> last night i went out to celebrate my birthday and had a bit to drink which included red bull. so in order to stave off insomnia i took a single 15mg dose of remeron which reliably knocks me out, instead of my normal 10mg of nortriptyline, which will activate me for a bit before i get drowsy. is it okay to go back to the nortriptyline tonight?
Probably nothing. If it's one-off I'm missing how it would activate you. Neither should be taken at the same time as drinking alcohol, especially nortriptyline.
They're very sedating agents normally and can contribute to CNS depression along with the alcohol.
-- Jay
Posted by g_g_g_unit on October 25, 2008, at 21:18:16
In reply to Re: one-off remeron dose-did i do something dangerous? » g_g_g_unit, posted by yxibow on October 25, 2008, at 12:31:07
> Probably nothing. If it's one-off I'm missing how it would activate you.
>
> -- Jaysorry, i guess i was still a little scrambled at the time i wrote that. i've been trialling 10mg of nortriptyline at night for the past 2 weeks and do feel some initial activation upon taking it, meaning i generally have to dose it around 6/7pm if i want to fall asleep by midnight. because i didn't want to exacerbate my insomnia that night i thought i'd skip the nortriptyline, but since i didn't have any benzos, i still needed a sleeping aid since i find lying awake drunk pretty unbearable. i know nortriptyline has a long half-life so i imagine there was still some in my system when i took the remeron and i just wanted to make sure it wasn't dangerous.
Posted by yxibow on October 26, 2008, at 23:40:32
In reply to Re: one-off remeron dose-did i do something dangerous?, posted by g_g_g_unit on October 25, 2008, at 21:18:16
> > Probably nothing. If it's one-off I'm missing how it would activate you.
> >
> > -- Jay
>
> sorry, i guess i was still a little scrambled at the time i wrote that. i've been trialling 10mg of nortriptyline at night for the past 2 weeks and do feel some initial activation upon taking it, meaning i generally have to dose it around 6/7pm if i want to fall asleep by midnight. because i didn't want to exacerbate my insomnia that night i thought i'd skip the nortriptyline, but since i didn't have any benzos, i still needed a sleeping aid since i find lying awake drunk pretty unbearable. i know nortriptyline has a long half-life so i imagine there was still some in my system when i took the remeron and i just wanted to make sure it wasn't dangerous.
Curious -- usually the TCAs are neutral to sedating but everyone is different.If you were worried about the interaction, now I see -- the dose you took wouldn't have caused Serotonin Syndrome on a one-off, it basically has no properties there -- in fact its a debate how much it has at a high dose, though I believe it helped me that way at one point except for the weight issue.
It's best to clear your system of alcohol (i.e. wait the number of hours of alcohol that you've drunk, at least some of them anyhow) before embarking on your nighttime agents, even if they seem activating, are potential CNS depressants.
The only time I blacked out in my life that I can recall was with Trazodone and uncleared alcohol. Don't do this at home folks, please.
Amitriptyline is more dangerous with alcohol and dose in general -- I won't go into the reasons for obvious ideation, but just to warn people not to go there.
Insomnia is a problem for many people with depression including myself -- its gotten worse over the years, I've been through sleep medications, basically no benzo-related medication will work because I'm still on a (now lower) dose of Valium. So I'm left with Trazodone (thats a non starter I think now because of mCPP) and the TCAs.
Sometimes though one just has to go natural with sleep cycles, it can take weeks to correct your sleep pattern by going to bed at the same time each night, i.e. backpedaling until you reach an optimal time.
That hasn't worked for me yet but ultimately all sleep aids have their life cycle and its rinse and repeat :/.
-- Jay
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.