Mirtazapine

[sunshine!]

My doctor prescribed me Mirtazapine this week, she said it would be perfect for me because it's good for anxiety, not sleeping, etc. I told her it doesn't seem like a good drug for me due to weight gain - risperidone made me overweight and i still haven't been able to shift it :S, but she ignored this and gave it to me anyways :\

She said it would make me drowsy, but this doesn't seem normal! I fall asleep within an hour of taking it, and can easily stay asleep for 14 hours, how long will this last? Also it makes me feel so dopey - It's taken a long time to write this message, I feel like I can't really read what i'm typing, not sure how to describe it? Perhaps like i'm reading everything but nothing is going in.

Errr, and i'm hungry all the time! I don't know if it's just my imagination though, cause i know about the weight gain side effects, so i'm just tricking myself into thinking i'm hungry or? surely it couldn't have that effect so quickly?!

Anyways, does anyone have experience of this drug?

Has anyone found any antidepressants that work well with limited side effects? My doc seems fairly open to suggestions.

Thanks x

[The 666th Pope]

hey there i was on this med for a bit, for about 3 months i think so have a bit of experience with it.

i remember all those things you said the drowsiness goes away after time, for me it was about 2 weeks till i felt completely normal all the time. it never made me sleep tho just made me feel tired.

but for me the reason i stopped was the weight gain. i didnt know that this was a side effect so i didnt pick up on it for awhile. like you said i was constantly hungry like i would wake up twice a night to eat near the end so if you have a problem with gaining wait id have second thoughts about this one or just really pay attention to what you eat.

anyways good luck k

[anabelleagain]

Hey. First off, meds side effects can occur much quicker than their beneficial effects. It's unfortunate, but very true. I throw up constantly the first few days I start any med. You have to try to just push through it.

But, I think you're having such strong side effects, you can consider what Mirtazapine is. It's tetracyclic, and doesn't really deal with serotonin, which most recommended antidepressants do (i.e. Celexa, Zoloft...) Wellbutrin XL (Bupropion) is supposed to help with all of the side effects you're talking about-- adds energy and motivation, helps concentration, helps with meds that cause weight gain (I've dropped more than a pound a month on it), etc. It is a wonder drug, and has it's own classification. Mirtazapine is mostly good in addition to another drug. So, you might talk to your doctor about adding an SSRI (which can cause weight gain) or Wellbutrin, or Prozac (also supposed to have side effects opposite of what you're describing, as in more anxious, lack of sleep, etc.) Look up antiepressants, and see which ones you feel might help your symptoms (only you know what you'd want fixed more, i.e. anxiety over depression if you have both-- just an example.) You can also get an idea of the side effects, too. It's good to do your homework. :)

Sorry you feel ill, but ride it out the best you can. Look into other drugs to add to Mirtazapine. *hug*

Want to add: side effects are different for everyone. Just because 66th^ felt the drowsiness went away in 2 weeks doesn't mean you will or it'll take you that long. With any meds, you have to see how they fit-- it's like trying on a shoe that take 5-7 weeks to see if it truly fits. In the end, if it does fit, you're excited about a wonderful pair of Manolos. All I'm saying is, look into the side effects of other drugs and compare them to what you've tried. For example, if you know you gain weight on meds (as do I), try to maybe be avoidant of drugs that have that as a likely side effect (look at the common side effects, b/c every drug has at least one guinea pig who had every side effect in the book.) I suggest looking into Wellbutrin, only because it has been a godsent drug since it's inception, whereas all the others have had some debate.

If you want to talk more, feel free to PM me. I'm a psych major, my sister is a nurse, so I'm all about this kind of thing. :)

[sherlock holmes]

I was on mirtazapine for a year or so.

For the first two weeks it felt like a truck hit me everytime I took it, it literally knocked me out. I was so tired I slept most of the day, and I ate whenever I wasnt sleeping.

Those side effects will calm down, you shouldnt feel too tired during the day but it will still make you sleep lots at night.

Your appetite may be increased but it can probably be managed through a good diet and exercise.

Mirtazapine was a wonder drug for me, until one day it just stopped working which unfortunately is common.

[rockaroni]

When I was on a lower dose, the knock out drowsyness was much worse. First time I took it I slept for 16+ hours straight. But it does get better, especially if your dose gets put up.

Personally, it hasn't made me gain weight or made me feel hungry or anything but it's different for everyone. The worst one for me was I was really really angry for the first 4-6 weeks, but apart from that, this is the med that had the lease side effects for me.

[plastic rose]

Like others have said, the side-effects of psychiatric meds usually come way before they start to have benefits, and it's usually worth sticking with it for a couple of weeks to see if the side-effects will calm down and to see if it starts to do its job.

However, there's a line over which the side-effects of medications can become unbearable. I have once been on a drug and stopped it within two weeks because the side-effects were literally intolerable. It made me so ill that my family were really really worried about me. I was barely recognisable. That was an extreme, but extremes do happen. You do have a right to stand up for yourself in these situations. My psychiatrist wanted me on Mirtazipine too, but I told her I wasn't comfortable trying it because I was really really ill with an eating disorder so I knew if I gained weight on it, that was a huge risk and my ED could have become so out of control that my life was in danger. So it wasn't worth the risk.

I guess that's what you have to weigh up here. Do the potential benefits outweigh the risks. That's the decision we make before trying any new medication, and you know yourself and your body best. Give it a try. If it's still unbearable in a couple of weeks and you're not getting any benefits from it, then at least you can say "look, I tried it. The side-effects are unbearable. We need to try something else."