Mirtazapine 15mg - Six months on

[Ingenious]

Hi everyone, I see in my mood diary it is now over 6 months since I started on 15mg Mirtazapine so I thought I would post a "what's happened" report. For me it has been all good news, and in part I wanted to post about it so those poor frightened souls who are thinking about starting on this or other medications and are worried by all the side effects threads, will have some re-assurance.

I started Mirtazapine 15mg because after six months on Citalopram (getting up to 40mg) it was starting to have detrimental effects on me and faced with either going up yet again in dosage or trying something new, I decided to try something new.

The initial side effects were fairly predictable and included being knocked out at night time (severe drowsiness for the first few days), massively increased appetite (which lead to weight gain, but I should add I enjoyed every single bit of food and have since dieted most of the weight off), totally unreal dreams.

One amazing side effect was it cured my hayfever. No really - usually have to take two different antihistamines together and still suffer awfully - on Mirtazapine didn't need to take anything and was virtually "cured".

As I settled down on this drug I found the side effects so much better than Citalopram because they were all "friendly" and physical side effects - sleep, dreams, appetite (whereas Citalopram were unfriendly and mental side effects - anxiety, confusion).

For the first time in years I was motivated to start exercise and have since been doing up to an hour a day on the bike and this has worked hand in hand with Mirtazapine to give me a double boost. As a result I remained on 15mg and no plans to go up to 30mg (would be more likely to come off it than go up, such is my improvement).

So, six months on. My mental state is still moving in the right direction. I'm starting work again, I have 99% great days and only 1% off days. Importantly my down days are limited, instead of spiralling down and spending weeks in a black pit I just have a day or two feeling bored or out of sorts, then bounce back to normal.

The side effects have settled down and I currently suffer from...

1. Still have an increased appetite but have learned to ignore it!
2. Occasionally have what I call a "mega" dream which is a dream of such clarity I wonder how my brain could have produced it - these are not unpleasant I should add.
3. Sweating. Never had this problem before, but now if I start to sweat, I sweat buckets. Oddly, I don't sweat more than normal until I get hot or physical but once the point is reached when I would normally start to sweat, I sweat profusely. Not really an issue day to day but it may become one once I start back to work, we shall have to wait and see.
4. Complete cure of my hayfever.
5. Some visual effects at night time, such as "flashing" across my vision, even with eyes closed - a bit odd at night but I got used to it.
6. Now and again, "restless legs" more especially at night, my legs feel uncomfortable and I have to keep moving them - gets on my tits some nights, fortunately only happens now and again.
7. Noticeable drop in libido. A bit sad this, though I have to say as a typical bloke that thinking about sex LESS (being a single bloke and all that) does remove one of life's complications. It has had no effect on ability to reach orgasm - unlike when on Citalopram - I'm just not that interested in it. Friends have noticed this too, but they have also noticed I'm so much happier, and they agree the trade off is worth it. I did wonder if all my exercise would restore my old libido back but it didn't.

Well don't let the list of side effects put you off this medication, they are all mostly low level and manageable Six months on and I am a new person, I get up in the morning and I am "me", I feel pretty much there, back to normal, back to life, so far removed from the suicidal wreck I was last year.

[eva82]

It's always so great to hear the positives of this medication! I have been on 15 mg for about 2 months now but I am upping my dosage to 30 mg as I've had some major difficult life events that happened recently. I have had minimal side effects and I hope to stick to this med as it has been helping me so far. Oh and I got so excited when I read the part you wrote about it curing your hayfever. I have the worse spring allergies so we'll see if I get that awesome side effect too!!

[Belleblue]

Hi Ingenious - it's so good to hear from you again and to know that you are thriving. I'm glad you posted about mirtazapine being a good med for you. As you may know I came off it unfortunately - it just didn't do much of anything for me, but I'm glad I tried it. I was very disappointed that it didn't really work for me - but hey! thems the breaks and all that. I still think it's a good med even though it wasn't for me and I would recommend it to anyone. The side effects are so much less crap that any of the others and withdrawing from it was easy.

Wishing you well.

Belle x

[Ingenious]

Thanks - yes it is a surprise to hear that something which worked so well for me had no positive effects on some other people. But then I really didn't gel with Citalopram and other people swear by it, just goes to show how difficult it can be finding that one medication that "clicks" with you.

[JT69]

Hi Ingenious,

I mirror most of what you have wrote and am glad that someone else has got their life back as I did mine.

The positives of this med far out-weigh the negatives.

Onwards and upwards matey!!!

TC

Jo.xx

[ZHBully]

Good to start this thread, Ingenious!

I guess when someone asks me point blank about side effects, I can't deny them. (and I would ideally like to shift this extra bit of weight still hanging round.) But they are only a side story!

For me, like you, I think/know the positives outweigh the bad. After nearly six months (3 1/2 years total of a-ds), they helped get me to where I felt stable enough to start coming off them. Now after a month of tapering I'm med free (save for omega-3 fish oils...not too sure about them)!

Another vote for onwards and upwards!

[MardyBum]

This post has really let me see a more positive side to these meds. I tried cit at 40mgs n had terrible side effects and have been worried about picking this script up (i havent as had no spare money and also fear) but now feel abit more positive about starting these. I was worried that 15mg wouldnt do anything for me as such but its nice to see it has for you...

I was just wonderin how long into taking the tablets did u start to feel more happier and calmer about things?

Fab post and im soo pleased for you x

[Ingenious]

I was just wonderin how long into taking the tablets did u start to feel more happier and calmer about things?

Looking back in my diary again, it took about a month to start to level me out and from there another couple of months of gradual and steady improvement to a place I think of as "normal" or "the old me". So it can take a little while I'm afraid, but these things tend to take time.

[ZHBully]

@Mardybum My experience of 'recovery' (touch wood, don't want to jinx myself!) has been roughly:
1st 1.5 months: I continued to spiral down (dr gave me diazepam to cope while the mirtazapine kicked in), though side affects also lessened during this period.
Rest of 2nd month: improved rapidly to the point where good days were equal in number to bad days
3rd, 4th months: continued to improve
5th, 6th months: felt 'normal' (well as normal as things ever were, it's not all rosy!)
7th month: tapering off my dose, I've continued to feel 'normal'. I'm thankful that I haven't been bothered by withdrawal issues.

Sorry if that's confusing! But hope you see that although things may not be totally smooth, there can be light!

I use Moodtracker. It's an easy to use website to track depression, anxiety, irritability and sleep. I'd recommend it if you don't use something similar already. It's reassuring to see that I definitely have improved (sometimes I blot from my memory what the bad was like!), and also useful for seeing patterns in my mood and anxiety levels - I noticed that sleep has a major impact on my feelings (sleep = good mood!). So simple but I'd never made the connection before!

Good luck x

[Downsouthdevil]

I have been on 30mg now for 11 weeks to tackle obsessional thoughts that cause me great health anxieties. I found the first month unbearable, but I think I was hoping for a quick fix, the 2nd month certainly saw improvement, however I was still obsessing. I have just had my dose upped to 45mg to help tackle these obsessions, as I have just been diagnosed with full blown OCD, which does not help the HA.

I hope that the increased dose continues the progress that the last dosage made now that the DR is aware of the OCD issues that are hampering my full recovery.