Went to pick up my prescription and found that my doctor has changed my meds without warning. Been waiting for him to look into something else as the Sertraline was really unhelpful, so it's not out of the blue, but it wasnt discussed, and no information was given to me about it (i'll be having words about that one, dont worry) including no leaflet from the pharmacy.
Had a bit of a google, but figure there's probably a lot more wisdom to be found in you RYLers on the topic than you can find on any side effects checker.
On 30mg nightly (in addition to lorazepam) if that of any help.
Any wise words or info about start up side effects, adjustment period difficulties, things to watch out for, things that help with side effects, etc?
I found first of all that Mirtazapine knocked me out quickly when I first started it. Although I didn't find it too bad in the morning, but if I tried to do much after taking it I was too tired/sedated.
Also, I found the increased appetite a big issue. I gained quite a bit in a short time; so my GP always said to try to watch out for it and curb my cravings if I can.
You should really speak to your doctor if he changed them without warning.
I found mirtazapine to be a sedating and very helpful medication. But the downside for me was the increase in appetite,
but then the side effects can vary from person to person x
If when you take it, you feel extremely sedated and sleep LOTS- don't worry, it wears off.
Make sure you take it before bed for this reason though. When I first started it, ten minutes after taking it I would feel like a massive wall of tiredness hit me and I would go to bed and sleep 13 hours. I'd wake up for a couple of hours, eat, then go back to bed.
After two weeks the heavy sedating effect reduced until I could function during the day, and I didnt get the strong wave of sleep hit me at night, though the sleep at night remained around 11 hours.
Mirtazapine helped massively with my mood, but as others have mentioned, increased my appetite.
Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back, everything is different…
you once called your brain a hard drive, well say hello to the virus.
I slept for 24 hours when I was first put on it. Now back to insomnia.
It's not at all beneficial to me and I want to come of it. But I know for some it's *really* helpful. Try asking Katie (Stellata) for her opinions if she's up for it because I know she likes it.
^ I wouldn't say I like it! But it does 'chill me out' nicely at bed time, and I generally sleep a good night's sleep. Occasionally I need zopiclone or a complementary medicine alternative in addition to help me sleep when things are really rough. I've never over-slept on it, but then I've had insomnia all my life. I also have a quirky metabolism or whatever, so I've never gained a significant amount of weight with it, it simply brought me up to 'normal' and kept me there. I've been on it 6 years now, and no significant side effects.
I take it when I go to bed sometime between 9-10.30pm, and manage to get up in the morning at 6.30 for work with no trouble.
i found it completly knocked me out, i am normally quite sleepy and this made me worse, but it did help with my mood a lot, but after a few months on the highest dose it stopped working for me, but i dont think that happens normally haha. i didnt have any other side effects as far as i remember. Docs told me its a med with one of the highest sedative side effects.
I gained a lot of weight on it in the three months they managed to keep me on it, I loved the sleeping side effect but the eating was a nightmare.
Also found that I couldn't wake up properly in the mornings which really was not helpful when you're trying to get back into education!
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" - Alice, Alice in Wonderland
♥
I'm on 45mg. I gained a bit of weight but I'm also on Quietiapine which was doubled at the same time I started Mirtazapine and is also a weight gain drug. I have to say though it doesn't affect your metabolism so as long as you don't eat more than you're having now then you wont gain weight.
I'm very resistant to sedatives so it didn't do much there either. It has been really helpful for the depression though and I haven't had any other side effects.
I found the lower dose knocked me out but when it was put up the higher doses werent so sedating. I did have a massive increase in appetite but i have rubbish will power so consequently put lots of weight on. If you can manage the appetite side of things then you shouldnt put weight on though.
It did help my mood i think but ended up coming off it purely from the weight gain.
dear god- watch what you eat 'cos it makes you pile on the pounds in no time! it's supposed to be a good one... i've been on it twice but i freaked about my weight... then got put on venlafaxine...and trust me...you don't want to go on that stuff cos coming off it is a bi**h and makes yu feel cruddy...so i hope mirtazapine works for you! xxx
I put on a little weight when I was on this (though I put on a lot more when I was taking it with another drug), and found that the sedation mostly wore off It didn't do much for me though, so yeh.
I would speak to your doctor if they were changed without warning as that seems a little out of order.
'It's an impossible choice ... I'll just have to hope that when I flip the coin it somehow explodes and kills me.'
"You're not scared of climbing mountains. You're scared that you can't make them move."
Trying this drug for the 1st time ever this evening - actually a 1st drug ever for depression so I'm a little curious about how people are reacting. I'm having problems sleeping and maintaining my weight so this might be a nice side effect. Maybe one of the reasons I was prescribed this.
Like most, I had huge amounts of sedation. I don't even know what dose I took, but I'd sleep 11-12 hours consistently per night, if not more. I had an increased appetite so I gained a little bit of weight too. Out of any anti depressant I've been on, which there has been a fair few, it actually helped me the most. It takes a very long time to work (at least it did in my case and most other cases) considering what type of medication it is (reading up on things on google/wikipedia certainly wouldn't be a bad idea). Although the side effects were very much immediate. It's alright I suppose, if you like marathon-type sleeps.
Everything passes, everything changes. Just do what you think you should do.