IF YOU HAVE ANY WEIGHT ISSUES PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE TAKING MIRTAZAPINE!


Ok, so I have posted a similar thing in response to someone else's weight worries about mirtazapine, but I thought this warranted it's own post. I hope it helps someone who was as confused/upset as I was

I have been taking 30mg of mirt for around 4 months or so now, and I had written a review after a few weeks of being on it (which I still stand by) however I had no idea about one particular side effect.

Unprecedented weight gain!!

Now for me, my weight/size is an area so sensetive I can barely describe it. I battled for years with bulimia and many dismorphic ideas about my appearance. But after a long road of therapy I was finally a healthy weight and had learnt so much about good nutrition, exercise and calorie intake in a healthy way.

But because of this over-sensetive approach about weight I can be 100% sure, without a shadow of a doubt, the weight increase was directly caused by the mirt.

How much weight?

TWO STONE! 28lbs! In around 4 months.

As I keep stressing, I am monitor my calorie intake very closely and I can assure you there was absolutely no differnce in the food or the amount of food I was eating nor the amount of exercise I was doing each week.

Obviously I was really upset, but I never imagined it could be the mirtazapine. So I was harsher on myself (thinking my metabolism was slowing or I was doing something wrong ) and after 3 months on continuous weight gain, I cut my calories down to 600 a day! All calories came from fruit and veg, fiber and protien, very low fat/carbs.

And what happened?

Nothing. My weight just about stayed the same. I didn't lose a pound I had put on, I was just stuck two stones heavier!

So I scoured through my diaries, trying to pin point what had changed or what I had been doing differently to cause this awful weight gain. I was SO upset, honestly I felt disgusted with myself and all the issues I had spent years taking control of were starting to creep back into my life. I was a mess.

Eventually, I managed to put two and two together and after looking at my diaries and my weight chart (yes some habits of bulimia never die) the only correlation I could find was starting the mirtazapine.

I did what 99% of people with access to the internet do.. I googled it

My god, the results are overwhelming! (I did plan on linking here but there are so many sites I couldn't choose which ones to include. Type in "mirtazapine weight gain" into google)

Page after page after page of upset people who were totally unaware of this side effect.

I am really annoyed that I wasn't told by my GP about this, especially considering my history and also that I didn't do more research on it before I started taking it.

YES, theres no denying that mirtazapine is the best AD I have ever taken, and trust me I have taken my fair share over the years! As a long term insomnia girl I was so grateful of the sedation it gave me at night.

But as a recovered bulimic and life long body-dismorphic... The weight-gain side effect would prove far more potentially life threatening than even the darkest of my depressive fluxes.

I have (rightly or wrongly) gone cold turkey on mirtazapine as of last night as I couldn't bear the thought of something coursing through my veins that could hinder my ability to maintain a healthy weight.

I completely understand how to some people that is irrational and down right stupid, but for anyone with a little knowledge of body-dismorphia or bulimia, the guilt and disgust you put on to yourself for weight gain is unbearable.

Under no circumstances do I suggest people who are having the same problems with mirtazapine as me go cold turkey! See your GP and explain your situation.

And if you havn't started taking it yet... Then think really hard! Can you be happier and heavier? I wish I could, because mirtazapine really is a wonderful AD.

Hope this helps someone who is as upset as I was!

Babs,

x