Starting on Mirtazepine

[steviepal]

Hi everyone.
I'm new here.

I was hoping someone could give me their experiences of starting on Mirtazepine. I have been on citalopram previously which worked well for several years. I tapered off and felt fine for a few months but relapsed. I have tried to get back onto the citalopram but the onboardiing side effects were so gruesome that I had to stop. After a couple of months 'clean' so to speak my GP has put me onto Mirtazepine

On 15mg it was akin to a miracle. The anxiety vanished....overnight! Going up to 22.5mg seemed ok to for a week. Then up to 30mg and my anxiety went through the roof.

I appreciate that we are all different but if someone has had similar experiences I'd love to hear from you, Did you stick with the 30mg and if so how long before things settled down? Part of me wants to stick with the higher dose and ride it out but if the way I'm feeling right now continues for too long it will seriously disrupt my life.

Hang in there folks x

[Bigboyuk]

Hi Steviepal yeah we are all different lol tbh with you I am not a great lover of meds, but saying that if you are finding it helps then great As for changing doses I would always consult via your Gp! Have you thought about the therapy route and may be combine the 2 together? Cheers

[steviepal]

HI bigboyuk, Tanks for the reply.
I know what you mean by not being a fan of the meds however citalopram at least works for me. Three months off it and I nose dived even though everything in my life was tickety-boo. When I see my GP next week I'll as about a referal to mental health services, maybe even a psychiatriast.

[aprilmoon]

Hi Stevie
I've been on Mirt for a few years now but can remember a similar thing happened to me when I first started.
It soon leveled out though.
I do also take Ven and this combo has worked well for me.
Good luck with it.

[Maca44]

I have been on Mirt for a couple of months now went upto 30mg dose about a month ago and found that 15mg knocked me out for a while then it levelled out so was put on 30mg which kicked in and I'm happy at that dose the drug is working very well for me but I can have bad days. Give it time to work and for your body and mind to get used to the increase before giving up on it. I am looking more long term so I have no plans to stop taking it even though I feel better. Hope it works for you as well as it has for me

[Bigboyuk]

Hi Steviepal Np I am currently waiting for therapy since march/april so not happy about this (: Feel free to pm me any time Cheers

[steviepal]

Hi again folks,

Thanks for your replies and thanks for the pm offer bigboyuk. Same goes for you.

The 30mg of Mirt was putting me into citalopram onboarding style chaos. Suicidal ideation, massive anxiety etc etc. Bumped myself back down to 22.5mg. Stil anxious from the moment I wake until about 10-11 O'clock in the morning. I can cope with that so I guess I'll stick here for a while and hopefully the see saw will stop rocking and maybe then I'll think about upping to 30mg again.

Anyone had noticable theraputic benefit from being on 22.5mg for a while. I understand that the minimum theraputic dose is supposed to be 30mg but as antidepressants in general seem to be such an inexact science it'd be good to hear a couple of stories.

Take it easy folks

Steve

[Ash J]

Hi Stevie,

I can say I had a similar effect to you. I started on 15mg which seemed like an overnight cure but after 2 weeks this tapered off so GP increased to 30mg. Although I started off ok I found my panics becoming more frequent and intense so went back to GP who upped the dose to 45mg. This didn't seem to change anything so I have dropped myself back down to the 15mg so I can at least sleep ok.

Hope you start feeling the benefit soon.

[Bigboyuk]

Thanks Steve Appreciated Cheers

[Shazamataz]

Hi Stevie

I had a similar experience where I went off an SSRI and then going back on was sheer hell! I was switched onto Mirt (15 I think) and didn't really notice many benefits and ended up stopping. I was so ill I was worried the Mirt was making things worse.

Anyway, a while later the psychiatrist insisted I try again and I was given the choice of Mirt (30 mg right away) or Venlafaxine. I was so scared of the Ven I started on Mirt and, to be honest, it really only had a very small benefit, I was still very anxious.

Ultimately I added in Venlafaxine with a slow taper on and only up to 112.5 and finally started to get some relief. Seems this was the kicker. I tapered off Mirtazipine when things started to settle and felt so much better off it.

I guess we all have different responses to meds. Mirt was not effective for me but I understand it is more for depression? I was indeed depressed but it was BECAUSE of the anxiety. Once anxiety improved, so did my mood. Hope this helps?