is weight gain inevitable with mirtazapine?

[rubytuesday]

hey there, another query for you mirtazapine takers. do you know if gaining weight is inevitable on this med? i have just been reading loads on another forum where people are saying they gained a considerable amount of weight.

do you know if this is inevitable or is a result of increased appetite which can be a side effect. i'd be really interested to hear peoples experiences.

thanks, amy

[Ingenious]

Well given the choice of being the right weight but wanting to kill myself, or being a little more chubby around the waist and really happy, I'll take the latter any day. You see it's easier to put on weight, then try and diet afterwards with a smile on your face, than attempting to live with severe depression or other mental health problems.

Or to put it another way: I went out with a friend last week and a tried to do up my coat. Three months ago it was a loose fit and now I couldn't do the buttons up.I stood there beaming with such a smile because it really was quite comical. Three months ago when my coat did fit me - I could barely leave the house and wanted to crawl under a rock and die. The moral of the story there is concentrate on your mental health first and worry about your weight later!

I pat my love handles now - they're like a couple of friends reminding me of how much I've improved, and how much I enjoyed all those double cheeseburgers and packets of crisps at 3am

[Belleblue]

Yes, but you're a fella Unfortunately weight gain in women is viewed very negatively in our society. And so many women feel depressed when they gain weight. This can feel bad enough for a woman who doesn't suffer anxiety/depression or self esteem issues but for a person who has all of this to cope with already, adding a weight issue on top can be very demoralizing.

Having said that, you make a very good point about concentrating on your mental health and worrying about the weight (which you may not get!) later. It puts the whole thing into perspective I guess

BB x

[sunshine-lady]

I have been taking Mirtazapine for several years along with other medications to help control bipolar. Mirtazapine has not had a huge impact on my weight like other medications I have taken in the past. I do watch what I eat and I have a cross trainer and excersie bike which I use a couple of times a week. Like most females I would like to lose a few pounds, but I am not overweight.
Mirtazapine (taken with my other meds) works well for me. Good luck x

[evil monkey]

With mirt all i can say is that for 12 hours it made me feel like moving in slow motion - which could have a big impact on how quickly calories are being used up

[crumble]

Hi amy,

I just made a comment on appetite on another thread, but thought I'd post here too.

I was worried about this side effect too and read about it before I starting taking them. I have put on some weight, about half a stone, which isn't too bad I suppose. This is over 3 months.

I find it to be similar to comfort eating. I'm not physically hungry but I get cravings for foods not long after eating a reasonably sized meal. It hasn't got any worse over time... nor has it gone away. I find it's worse at home when my mind isn't occupied when watching tv. If I could just learn to ignore it.

I'd say give it a go, and try to tackle it before it becomes an issue.

[deepreason]

The two side effects I had with Mirtazapine were a switch in my appetite from savoury to sweet things and not knowing when I was full. It is quite a common side effect because the Mirtazapine does something or other to the switch in your brain that tells you when to stop eating. Mirt does also have one of the worst reputations our of the ssri's/snri's for causing weight gain.

In opposition to the above though, Mirt has one of the best side effect profiles in other ways so it's worth a try imo.

[Belleblue]

I've been on Mirtazapine a week now and I'm finding the side effects quite tolerable - much better than any other med I've tried.

However..... I weighed myself this morning and I've put 2 lbs on since starting this. I know this is not a huge amount - but I started thinking what if I go up by 2lbs every week - I'll soon become undesirably heavy. I've never had weight issues so this would feel totally alien to me.

When I started this med I was determined that I would not be one of the people who put on weight - so I ate the same as I did before the med and exercised a little more. So where did the extra weight come from?? Can it be true that you gain weight on this regardless of what you eat?? Does it slow down the metabolism in some way?

I am aware that it might be a small price to pay for some happiness... but still...

BB xx

[Belleblue]

From what I've read on here and elsewhere this med is less sedating at 30mg. I was wondering if it has less impact on the appetite at this dosage??

BB xx

[deepreason]

From my experience the increased appetite went up with the dosage. It was only the sedating effects that seem worse at low dosages.

Bottom line is: yes you will probably put on weight with Mirt and it will be worse the higher the dose is. But, that's got to be better than depression.