Started on mirtazapine, question about weight gain....

[Clarinha]

Hello all,

I've just started taking Mirtazapine a couple of days ago as I was really struggling with my anxiety, feeling on edge constantly and needing some rest from it!
My doctor put me on Mirtazapine but she really made a big deal about weight gain on it. The thing is, I've been doing Weight Watchers for a couple of years, have lost about 10kgs on it and still have a couple to lose (so I'm pretty much at my ideal weight) and gaining weight would really bother me!
So far, I've only taken two tablets at night and they've totally knocked me out (am taking 15 mg) but I felt a relief and a noticeable decrease in my anxiety levels from day 1 and haven't really noticed a change in appetite yet (but it's very early days). Felt extremely foggy-headed for the best part of the day too with real difficulty in pulling myself out of bed and keeping my eyes open to get to work.
So, I was wondering, for those of you who have experience of taking this med, do you find that the weight gain is due to you eating more because it gives you a greater appetite or do you find that somehow, without eating more food, you still gain weight? I think I could cope with an increase in appetite as Weight Watchers has really taught me to manage my food intake and eat healthy snacks in case of munchies...
Any advice would be MUCH appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Clarinha :noangel:

[BobbyDog]

I take 45mg at night and after about 20 minutes of taking my medication I get the munchies. I also feel that it slows the metabolism down a little. This is only my experience. You should have no problem, what you have learned at Weight Watchers should help you through.

[hanshan]

Hi Clarinha,

I've found mirtazapine increases my appetite.

I've dealt with it by finding ways of dealing with appetite outside of mealtimes that don't carry many caloies, eg a small mandarin orange (small amount of juice and lots of fibre), or a serving of miso soup with seaweed (seaweed swells up without providing too many calories).

I've also used a basal metabolism website to calculate how much energy I need each day with respect to my age, sex, height, current weight and activity level. This tells me how much energy I need to take in each day to maintain or reduce my weight, which is helpful in deciding what I eat.

Note - I've edited my first post to make it relate only to my own experience.

[Smallie]

Hi Clarinha,

My opinion, for what it is worth, is that mirtazapine decreases your sense of fullness, and increases appetite.

But either way, whether it makes you hungrier, or simply processes the same amount of food to make you heavier, the remedy is the same - eat less than what makes you feel hungry each day.

Not a lot less, so you only feel a little hungry. Don't get anorexic, but learn to live with a bit of hunger.

After that, I'd strongly recommend going to those websites that calculate how much energy you need each day with respect to your age, sex, height, weight and activity level. These will quickly tell you how much energy you need to take in each day to maintain or reduce your weight.


I feel the same. I only get a craving for chocolate. I remember the first night i took it i suddenly woke up and ate almost 2 packs of rolos lol

[Clarinha]

Thanks BobbyDog, hanshan and Smallie for your responses, much appreciated!
So it sounds like it's possible to get the weight gain under control by veering towards healthy options and staying away from the bad stuff, that's a relief! Makes me think I should be alright since I don't tend to eat junk food anyway, phew!

All the best :hugs: