Tried but failed with Mirtazapine

[purplesky]

Ok, have been taking 7.5mg since Wednesday night, so thats 3 nights now. It seems fine so far. If anything, I am sleeping a little worse since upping the dose, so will have to keep an eye on that, hopefully it should settle. Sleep is still better overall.

I had a bit of a bad day yesterday, but that is probably nothing to do with the Mirtazapine. Just felt more anxious, but feel better today. Obviously I'm hoping that my mood will stabilise over the next month or so. We'll see, but so far so good.

Guess I'm sensitive to certain things, and feeling spaced out is not my favourite thing, so that probably initally put me off it.

The restless legs have been there a bit, but not as bad, and easy to relax through and ignore.

[purplesky]

Ok, another week on 7.5mg. I feel ok in the main, but can tell I'm on something - there is a mild spaced out feeling there, which is fine but takes some getting used to for me.

Had to go on a long trip a few days ago, and it wasn't the best. 2 days back, and I'm exhausted, tearful, nauseous. That's what travelling and trying to be 'normal' does for me...ah well.

Sleeping has been good on the whole, but I still have trouble some nights. Maybe that will change on a higher dose, we'll see.

The main thing is I feel so tired all the time. It doesn't help that I am on Propranolol as well, so tiredness was there already. Its just that feeling of heavy legs and just moving off the sofa is an effort. I hope that goes, or I get used to it. At least I am tolerating it psychologically so far, and hoping to increase dose this week. Seeing doc next week too..will update on my progress which is helpful for me, and maybe others who are considering it or perhaps having there own experiences...!

[LAURA48]

Sorry you are having problems with Mirtazapine.

I was on this medication over xmas - and tbh found it excellent for sleep was on 15mg - but as depression and anxiety were getting no better went to 30mg - sadly apart from eat and sleep that is all I found were it's benefits - was on it 6 weeks in total.

The tiredness does wear off and I found it an easy med to get started on - no nasty side effects, but do thing you need to go to around 30mg.

There are a lot of positive reviews on Mirt but have just been diagnosed with Pure OCD - so in hindsight it would not have helped me anyway.

They say the higher the dose the less sleepy you feel - sure will be fine.

Not having much luck with meds at the moment on Citalopram 8 weeks doing nothing. Am paying to see a psychiatrist - as do not seem to be getting anywhere, who wants to try Effexor. It is so tiring as was on Prozac for 15 years and it was wonderful - sadly stopped working last Oct and on the quest to find one to replace it!!

Take care

Laura

[purplesky]

Thanks, will keep going until I get up to 15mg and see how that goes. I was struck by you saying you are paying to see a psychiatrist, as I am thinking of doing the same, if only to get some decent consultation over diagnosis and medication. I was offered Prozac by my GP, but was reluctant because of the usual SSRI side effects, but must admit when I was on Citalopram it did help sleep, but then became ineffective...if only we were advanced enough to have in dividually tailored medication...! Good luck to you

[purplesky]

First day on 15mg (last night). Feel ok so far. Slept ok, but the old restless legs came back on the increased dose. I'm hoping they go quite quickly, because they do tend to negate any positive effect of a sleep aid anti depressant..!

So it took an hour or two to drop off, but I slept through from about 2.30 until 9.15, so not bad...I might try taking it earlier tonight as last night was very late...so not the best idea.

Certainly hope it will be good for me, as have had a bad time the last 3-4 days. Felt really depressed and angry, but the anger is probably a good thing as I do tend to repress it a lot. I still believe in the med, so thats got to be good.

[purplesky]

Well, I took 15mg for 2 days, and felt like absolute rubbish. Very very negative, felt suicidal and really low. Took the decision after advice from firends and family who had seen me, to go back to 7.5mg. I did that, and saw the doctor who agreed.

So have been on 7.5mg since the 28th June and my mood has been more stable. Anxiety is less, and so is depression. I do feel tearful quite a lot, but thats no bad thing. It feels like a release actually, so I count that as a positive..

No sexual side effects whatsoever, so a good option after taking SSRI's for 4 years...

The only thing is, I feel drained all the time...like really fatigued. So I am trying to work through that.

So far so good on the whole.

Oh, and my appetite has stabilised. I did have a mad day about 10 days ago where I ate 4 snickers and 6 bags of crisps in 2 days...which is a lot for me...have put on weight overall, but it seems to have levelled out. I'm guessing about 8-10 pounds overall. Not great, but will make concerted effort to shift that,..

[karenp]

Really hope you feel better soon....I've been on 45mg's and have cut down to 37.5 now to 30mg's. I just want off this drug now as it's not helped my anxiety one weenie bit and though I am always falling asleep as soon as I take it (on the higher doeses too) I haven't slept beyond 4am for weeks and am now on zopiclone and diazepam too, which don't really help with my sleep either but stop me from going into a panic attack! I think I seriously need elephant pills to knock me out though as when I had my litte boy by CS the epidural wouldn't work on me or the stronger spinal injection so I ended up going to sleep to have him!
I'm tapering off Mirtazapine now 7.5mg's a week and seeing how I go! Perhaps the higher doses have just been too stimulating for me making my anxiety miles worse than when I first started out!

[purplesky]

Well, an update after 3 months...I am still on 7.5mg of Mirtazapine. It works very well for me. Helps with sleep, has helped with IBS a lot, and just generally takes away that awful constant feeling of anxiety. Whether that is in your stomach or head, it is gone. I have started work after over a year off, and while I still have to manage my workload and stress levels, everything is so much calmer than before.

So for me, it has helped me sleep, reduced anxiety dramatically, and generally made me a nicer person to be around (more my old self). The appetite has stabilised, and I am having some success shifting the extra stone I put on. I'm certainly not getting bigger, so will power is helping, and to be fair, I don' get the cravings I had for a couple of months...mainly in the evening it has to be said. Plus I am working, so that helps shift a few pounds..

For anyone considering it, having problems with it, or suffering, please take heart from my experience if it helps. I had an awful few weeks when I first started. If you feel it is right for you, then try to persevere, perhaps with a lower dose. Good luck to everyone.

[karenp]

That's brill to hear. I've come off it altogether now as it never did a thing for me, only made me more anxious and instead of making me sleep, it's made me an insomniac. I wonder if all i needed was a very low dose as I was put on 30mg, then up to 45 but it just seemed to hype me totally up. Quitting after 7 months has been really hard too. Apparently most people come off it just fine but me and old Mirt just don't seem to get on at all as the WD has been horrible.

[purplesky]

Well, an update after just over 6 years..! It may help someone considering or worrying about going onto Mirtazapine.

I did eventually get settled on the 15mg dose, after a few months or so of trying....and then I hit a very bad patch in June 2013, so 8 months after my last post on this thread. During this depression I actually went up to 30mg of Mirtazapine.

So within a year I'd gone from being ultra cautious about the Mirt, to taking a higher dose. Weird eh.

In the years since then I've been on 30mg with the occasional increase up to 45mg, but that didn't work for me...too medicated. Hey ho.

And in November 2018 after feeling well for some time it was decided to take the plunge in reducing to 15mg. Over 6 weeks I got down to 15mg and have been on that for 4 weeks now. The idea is to reduce and cross over to another less sedating med, and one that has less overeating side effects. Sadly my weight has increased by 2 stone on this med....it's SO tough not to over eat...!

Anyway lots of I's in this post, but it's difficult not to when describing how meds make you feel.

It truly is a good medication and has served my life well, but I need a change from it now.

Good luck to anyone going onto it, and I hope you benefit like I have.