Great, @Pokey449 I am happy you have a good plan now. You can be proud of yourself, because you have taken good care of yourself. You have invested money to get trustworthy advice. That’s smart. 💯

If your CNS is so sensibilized, wait a little bit more, @Pokey449 upon my opinion, 1 or 2 days more. 

Svetla

I started splitting my dose this morning as Horowitz recommended.  1/2 dose at 8am, the other 1/2at 9am. Will do that tomorrow as well and then move the 2nd dose to 10am for 2days. Horowitz thought changing the time for the 2nd 1/2 each day would be fine but I’m going to go for every 2days just to be more conservative. No reason to hurry. 
I got more sleep last night night but woke several times feeling like hell. I think part of my misery is from my straight CPAP. I hate it, total pain in the ass. But feeling better now that I’m up. & had breakfast.  You all have a good day. 
Pokey 

2 minutes ago, Pokey449 said:

I think part of my misery is from my straight CPAP. 

Spell check and auto edit is very irritating. I never typed the word Straight in my post. I’m  not going to like AI doing my thinking, speaking, writing for me. 

46 minutes ago, Pokey449 said:

I started splitting my dose this morning as Horowitz recommended.  1/2 dose at 8am, the other 1/2at 9am. Will do that tomorrow as well and then move the 2nd dose to 10am for 2days. Horowitz thought changing the time for the 2nd 1/2 each day would be fine but I’m going to go for every 2days just to be more conservative. No reason to hurry. 
I got more sleep last night night but woke several times feeling like hell. I think part of my misery is from my straight CPAP. I hate it, total pain in the ass. But feeling better now that I’m up. & had breakfast.  You all have a good day. 
Pokey 

Good news Pokey! I like your idea to hold a day. No rush as you say! Hope this helps once you get the dose further apart.

 

You have 60 mins from posting where you can edit your post just so you know. 

Morning Folks. Well I got some sleep last night but it was riddled with multiple awakenings and I often feel very unwell when I wake up. This has been going on off n on for some time.  I thought at first it was due to congestion while on CPAP. Hard to breathe and keep one’s oxygen levels up when you’re plugged up but I wasn’t that congested last night. My pulse oximeter readings didn’t look that worrisome for the most part. Heart rate was within normal limits all night. Wondering if I’m to sedated by the doxepin-mirtazapine combo?? But Horowitz said I wouldn’t become more sedated as I lower the dose. I don’t know what the hell is happening but it’s in my sleep & it’s scary!!!

My sleep doctor wants to do another sleep study on me in the sleep lab. Problem is I can hardly sleep in such a clinical setting with all kinds of wires & gizmos hooked up to me unless I’m drugged. I’m talking Valium or Ambien. I don’t think I want or should add either one of those drugs to my brain now, even for just one night. I need to find out what’s going on but I don’t need to be messing up my doxepin taper. I may just do the study w/o any sedation, cross my fingers and hope they get some useful data to tell me what’s happening in my sleep. 
That aside I split my dose for the first time yesterday per Horowitz’s recommendations. Will do so again at the same time today and then tomorrow take the 2nd 1/2 of my dose 2 hours after the first. Gradually taking it later & later until I’m taking the 2nd 1/2 at bedtime. 
Hope everyone is having a good day. B sounds like you got some respite. That’s great and I’m sure was welcome. Cheers. 
Pokey 

4 hours ago, Pokey449 said:

Hope everyone is having a good day. B sounds like you got some respite. That’s great and I’m sure was welcome. Cheers. 
Pokey 

Thanks @Pokey449 yes I have lifted a bit mate, which is a godsend, Please be careful with the benzos Pokey

a bit dodgy are them buggers. Take things easy Bud.

Take care,        B.🤞

Hey Pokey. Glad you got some sleep sorry it wasn’t the best by the looks of things. 
 

Just echoing B. You’re right to not touch the benzos. They will not help your situation one bit. 
 

Sounds like your split is going ok. Good. Nice and gentle. Ease it over no rush. For it crossed as you move it you see some change over night. 🤞

 

Yes, @Pokey449, don't touch any other psychiatric drug, stay away from this poison.

Svetla 

@NT1100B @Chippy @skamen im

in 100% agreement about not taking any psych meds so they can get a sleep study. I tend to think it’s the taper that’s screwing up my sleep more so than the cpap therapy. I just know I wake up feeling like I’d been knocking on deaths door. When I look at the print out of my sleep for each night it’s scary. I have an SD card in my cpap machine along with software that looks at multiple sleep parameters. Long story short my sleep is a mess. And I feel like I’m slipping a little bit further into the quick sand each day. Between the taper issues & my cpap struggles worried I won’t wake up some morning or something will give out physically 

7 hours ago, Pokey449 said:

@NT1100B @Chippy @skamen im

in 100% agreement about not taking any psych meds so they can get a sleep study. I tend to think it’s the taper that’s screwing up my sleep more so than the cpap therapy. I just know I wake up feeling like I’d been knocking on deaths door. When I look at the print out of my sleep for each night it’s scary. I have an SD card in my cpap machine along with software that looks at multiple sleep parameters. Long story short my sleep is a mess. And I feel like I’m slipping a little bit further into the quick sand each day. Between the taper issues & my cpap struggles worried I won’t wake up some morning or something will give out physically 

I agree I think it’s likely the meds/taper causing all this. Bit of time and patience now get that doxepin moved and go from there. You’re gonna be ok just one step at a time. I know what messy sleeps like mate I’m right there with you. Times seeing some really good progress there for me you’ll get that too. 
 

Chippy

Thanks @Chippy  thing is if the taper is negatively affecting my sleep & cpap therapy I’m not sure I’m going to survive until I’m off the doxepin a year + ( at least) from now. I’m awakening with some scary sxs. And my sleep doctor is clueless as to how my taper figures into my sleep problems.  Specialists can’t seem to think/analyze beyond their narrow specialty. They all are siloed and can’t look at the WHOLE person & their integrated problems.  

@Chippy  I have a question. AR is asking me to use my email

address, not by my user name  to sign in on my computer. It does ask me this on my phone. What’s making the difference??

 

1 minute ago, Pokey449 said:

@Chippy  I have a question. AR is asking me to use my email

address, not by my user name  to sign in on my computer. It does ask me this on my phone. What’s making the difference??

 

Hey Pokey
 

For security reasons we use email to log in. I left it both user name and email for a couple of weeks to make sure everyone got in ok. But it’s now email only regardless of device you login on. 😀
 

Chippy

@Chippy @NT1100B  Hi Chippy and B. So far, so good on splitting my dose. Im moving the 2nd dose a 1/2 hour later each day, nice and slow. So far so good. I think maybe?? I slept a little better last night??? But Im still waking up, albeit later in the morning somewhat anxious and uncomfortable, but I believe a little better. Thats all I'll venture for now. Keeping my fingers crossed

@Chippy OK, thanks for the heads up. Works for me, just didnt understand the difference

10 minutes ago, Pokey449 said:

@Chippy @NT1100B  Hi Chippy and B. So far, so good on splitting my dose. Im moving the 2nd dose a 1/2 hour later each day, nice and slow. So far so good. I think maybe?? I slept a little better last night??? But Im still waking up, albeit later in the morning somewhat anxious and uncomfortable, but I believe a little better. Thats all I'll venture for now. Keeping my fingers crossed

Looking good mate! Hope this continues!

11 hours ago, Pokey449 said:

Hi Chippy and B. So far, so good on splitting my dose. Im moving the 2nd dose a 1/2 hour later each day, nice and slow. So far so good. I think maybe?? I slept a little better last night??? But Im still waking up, albeit later in the morning somewhat anxious and uncomfortable, but I believe a little better. Thats all I'll venture for now. Keeping my fingers crossed

Hi @Pokey449 Very good news my good man, I have everything crossed for you, Keep taking it slow and

🤞you are onto a winner. You very much deserve this Pokey, I hope it keeps going well.

Take great care and wishing you all the best.          B.🙏🙏🤞👍 

Morning Everyone. Had a terrible night last night. Awoke multiple times feeling awful!! Restless, nausea, anxiety, headache, fear of dying. I can’t figure out why the night before I slept much better, awoke 2-3 times but went back to sleep to awaken finally when it was daylight outside and feeling OK. Last night a totally miserable different story and finally got up in the dark at 530. The days are so long when getting up that early. @NT1100B B I don’t know how you do it like you do in the wee hours every day?!?!
Im in the process of splitting my doxepin dose so I end up taking 1/2 in the morning 1/2 at bedtime for the purpose of eliminating the interdose symptoms I was getting due to doxepins 15hr 1/2 life. Dr. Horowitz recommended this approach. I’ve been slowly taking the 2nd 1/2 of my dose 30 minutes later each day. Horowitz offered that I could likely go faster than that but I’ve elected for a slower pace. But at that it seems to much for my system if in fact that’s what is causing my night time sxs. I don’t think this is what’s causing me to feel bad at night, but I’m not sure what is. I think it’s still possible that I’m having an adverse idiosyncratic reaction between the mirt & doxepin regardless of when I take the doxepin. But if that were the case why would I have days where I feel much better. I can’t make sense of it all. 

Today is supposed to be a health club day for getting some exercise. I sure don’t feel up to much of anything now. Hopefully i will pick up later in the morning. 

I hope everyone is doing well. Take care

Pokey 

Sorry about your night Pokey. Think your slowly slowly approach is sensible. Hope the split helps once you’ve got it done. Don’t rush though. Maybe pause here and there if you’re worried. 

I’m totally useless today. I can’t get beyond my recliner to do anything. I’m exhausted!! This splitting my dose from morning only  to 1/2 @ 8 in the morning & 1/2 at bedtime is sucking me dry. It’s day 5 of splitting and im only at 1030 a.m. for the 2nd 1/2. I’ve got another 10 days at least to go. Hopefully it won’t be this rocky all the way. I’m so sick of this S**T!!!

4 hours ago, Pokey449 said:

I can’t make sense of it all. 

None of us can @Pokey449 They are very dangerous poisons we have been given, brain battering bloody

poisons. Legal TORTURE nothing less. I am worse now than I was. Making a lot of mistakes because my BRAIN

isn't working properly, we are like lab rats.....Sorry Pokey I am having an angry rant. Please keep taking it SLOW

Bud, one second, minute, hour and day at a time. WE ARE WITH YOU ALL THE WAY.

Take care,         B.🙏🤞  

8 minutes ago, Pokey449 said:

I’m so sick of this S**T!!!

@Pokey449 Me too Bud, ME TOO.        B.🤬

Thanks @NT1100B B. Hard for me to fathom that you’ve been drug free, what 14-15 months and PWD is still hammering on you. SUCKS!!!  I told Horowitz that once I’m off the doxepin free & clear I said I may just leave the mirtazapine alone and not taper it. That I didn’t want to spend the rest of what years I have left tapering and dealing with all the misery that goes with getting off this crap. He said he certainly understood that thinking but encouraged me to try and taper to a lower dose at least such as  3.75. He said mirtazapine is a particularly bad drug. You wouldn’t know it to hear what doctors say about it.  There’s lots of articles toting how “ safe” it is for helping us older folks with sleep. I’m 76. I don’t want to be dealing with this misery in my 80s, if I make it that far. Hell I don’t want to dealing with it 2 years from now. But the mess I’m in is all my fault. I should have known better. I just didn’t listen to my wiser self because deep down I did know better. 

A really a bad “side affect” of this misery i think is it saps your energy to the point you just don’t feel like exercising like you should. I need to walk a couple miles but I just don’t have the energy to do it today. I probably shouldn’t be driving either to the health club I’m so tired. I’ve gained to much weight too. There’s more detrimental affects on a person than just the WD symptoms. Ones overall health is impacted from these poisons.  I guess all we can do is take the best care of ourselves as we can. For me today that means resting, I’m just to tired today. 

Oh, @Pokey449, I am so sorry for us. The suffering is unbearable, Mirtazapine is a pure Evil. I am on .3 mg and my Hell is an indescribable. We have to evacuate this poison from our brain, entirely.

Svetla