Question: I am 53 year old married with 2 children.
I have been on SSRI's (Paxil, Cipralex, Cymbalta, Pristiq & Zoloft since 1998.
The only rewason my family doctor changed the meds was because of sexual side effects.
I had been on Zoloft since January of 2016. In the first week of April, this year, I came home with an overwhelming case of GAD and then depression. Usually work related. My doctor double the dose of zoloft and after a week I still felt the same. Then he prescribed 15mg of mirtazapine. Within that 2nd week he said I could increase the dose to 30mg if I felt I needed it. When I came to see him in the third week I was a little better but still feeling anxiety. He increased the dose to 45mg. From that time on I noticed that when I went to bed I would start having breathing panic attacks. When I was awake it was OK. I went to see him on the 3rd week and he precribed 50mg of trazodone. I found it made me drowsy but the panic attacks in bed continued. I took clonazepam and it allowed me to go to sleep. I never had these panic attacks before. Never in 18 years I was on ssri's. I am very nervous with anxiety before I sleep now becuase I do not want to rely on clonazepam.

Can you please help me?
I am very worried and nervous the closer it gets to bedtime.
Even when my (Generalized Anxiety) was very bad I was always able to sleep.
I don't know what has caused the panic attacks when I go to bed in the past week or so. The only coincidence is the panic attacks started when my doctor increased the mirtazapine dose from 15mg to 45mg.
Due to the panic attacks I have been having in the past week or so.
Although clonazepam has worked this week I do not want to rely on them.