mirtazapine for HOCD?

[melfish]

I am taking a low dose of mirtazapine to help with sleep and appetite (7.5mg), but my health anxiety is out of control. The intrusive thoughts and constant checking is wearing me the hell out. Life is horrible because of it.

Can mirtazapine help with this? If so, at what dose?

[hanshan]

Hi Melfish - sorry to hear about your health OCD. I have only very mild OCD symptoms, mostly to do with checking doors etc, but it's exhausting and maddening when I have to go back and check again. I take mirtazapine and it doesn't seem to have had a big effect on those symptoms (but helped with other things, particularly sleep and night-time anxiety). It's also not one of the first line meds for OCD according to guidelines of one OCD foundation. However, a quick check with reviews on Drugs.com shows that some people say that it helped them considerably with OCD. You need to take a med like this for up to twelve weeks, and probably at a greater strength than 7.5 mg - you can go up to 45 mg daily. Talk to your doctor about this, and the possibility of switching to another med if it doesn't work out. Good luck.

[melfish]

Thanks so much, Hanshan. I am in the process of getting established with a PCP, so hopefully I will get something in place soon. Can't keep doing this :wacko: