I quit Mirtazapine, I've lost 16lbs in 12 days.

[Anxious_gal]

Antidepressants can cause weight gain or loss.
They can cure depression or make you suicidal .
So anythings possiable really.
Being honest is not a bad thing.

My friend has a fear of being sick so she ate very little.
She went onto this one antidepressant and within a year she went from being way smaller than me, size 8 to a size 14-16.
It was shocking really to see it happen.
She went down to her natural weight when she stopped taking the antidepressant .

[unintended]

Hi All, I had been taking Mirtazipine for 5 years +. I found it to be a perfectly good anti-anxiety/antidepressant, however, I have, in the last year or two, gained a lot of weight. Strangely, I stopped taking the Mirtazipine with my GP's help about 4-5 weeks ago. I feel fine, and guess what? I too have lost nearly 1.5st! since I stopped! So, that proves to me that mirtazipine does have an effect on weight loss.

I would not tell anyone to stop taking a med to lose weight though, I will stress that right now, however, if you are taking this med and you are gaining weight, regardless of whether you are eating more or not, then go back to your GP if this is an issue for you.

[ElizabethJane]

Hi I have been taking mirtazapine for four and a half years. Initially I gained weight. Now I am losing weight whilst still being on 45mg mirtazapine. It takes lots of hard work but it can be done. Do not not be discouraged. I have resisted the urge to overeat and try to eat fruit and healthy snacks. I am 8lbs short of my goal weight for weight watchers and have a healthy BMI. I take lithium as well but that has not caused me to put on weight. EJ.

[Belleblue]

Hi All, I had been taking Mirtazipine for 5 years +. I found it to be a perfectly good anti-anxiety/antidepressant, however, I have, in the last year or two, gained a lot of weight. Strangely, I stopped taking the Mirtazipine with my GP's help about 4-5 weeks ago. I feel fine, and guess what? I too have lost nearly 1.5st! since I stopped! So, that proves to me that mirtazipine does have an effect on weight loss.

I would not tell anyone to stop taking a med to lose weight though, I will stress that right now, however, if you are taking this med and you are gaining weight, regardless of whether you are eating more or not, then go back to your GP if this is an issue for you.

Hi unintended and
I found your post very interesting. I have been on mirtazapine for about 9 months now and have luckily only gained about 5lbs in that time. But even that small amount meant I had to go up another dress size!... a very small price to pay in my case.

I was wondering if your weight loss was a result of you eating less now that the mirt is no longer stimulating your appetite or if it has 'just fallen off' due to metabolism returning to normal?

I'd also be interested (as I'm sure others would too) what the withdrawal was like after 5 years?

Congratulations on successfully stopping the med and your weight loss

Belle x

[karenp]

I've lost weight on it as I am so anxious and walk miles every day and hardly eat anything until night time, then I can binge eat and thinner than I have been for years which for me is th eonly good thing I've found aobut Mirt as it's turned me into an hypoer insomniac and I am finally going to quit it this Monday despite being terrified of withdrawal when I am so poorly incase it really is ME and not the Mirt. I've been on it 6 months so don't see it suddenly making me better now. I'd be really interested to hear what withdrawl is like too though and the best way to go about it. One of my doctors said missing a tablet the first week, then 2 the next and so on until I sm off it but another says splitting the tablets in half every fortnight until I am free of them. I did read that Mirt can be very hard to come off so I am just terrified of feeling even worse than I do now which is pretty terrible right now ):

[Belleblue]

Hi Karen - Yes, there are some who have found it extremely difficult to withdraw from. But overall from what I've read it seems to be one of the easier ADs to come off. My GP said she found mirt to be the easiest of all the ADs to taper people off. So I hope you won't have too many problems. Do let us know how it's goes. I think six months is long enough to try anything for.

Take care now.

Belle x

[karenp]

I came off Citalopram last July and didn't feel a thing but I was 100% well on that. I've had a panic attack this morning as the Mirtazapine isn't helping me at all so I am so worried about withdrawing and still being so poorly but I think it could be the actual Mirtazapine giving me panic attacks and my anxiety as I have never been right since I've been on it, my anxiety is defo miles worse unless I was just always going to end up this ill. Ta for your reply Belle xxx

[nicola1980]

Hi Karen, i struggled withdrawing from mirt but was so desperate to get off it as it made me a suicidal anxious wreck that i went from 30mg to nothing within 2 weeks, it was tough going but im now settled on venlafaxine xx

[kat_well]

nicola1980 - I too am on Mirtaz & have been for 5 months (30mg, already down from 45mg) & put on nearly two stone in weight. On my last visit to the GP she mentioned changing me to Venlafaxine if the weight kept creeping on. I am going to her again on Tues with the hope she will change me. Hope my changeover goes ok & the weight comes off me.

[Almost]

you describe my experience spot on babbikins. The first thing i'd say is BE AWARE that weight changes can happen, and get into some routine for weighing yourself.

I put on 3 stone over 5 months (16st to 19st), and ended up diabetic, which unsurprisingly put me into an awful depression spiral for quite a while. I was eating lots without any exercise, but then i'd been eating lots without any exercise for the past few years and had a stable weight. i dieted for several weeks and managed to shift 7lbs, but nothing else would go.

So when i decided to come off mirt, i reduced to 30, and a week later, i lost 7lbs in a week, dropped to 15, and a week later i lost 7lbs in a week, and again when i came off altogether. And here's the big thing - i'd stopped my diet, and i was doing NO exercise (wasnt even leaving the house because of how i felt about myself). So whilst i accept that half of the weight gain was calorie based, half of it wasnt. I'm still 1st over what i was at the start of my illness, but at least i feel i'm in control of that, and could lose it "any time i can be bothered".

I never felt that i got any benefit from mirt - though some ppl must benefit hugely from it, or else it wouldnt get prescribed. But mirt is specifically associated with weight gain (in the warning leaflet) so just BE AWARE.