Mirtazapine and weight gain

[Feellikearightungreatfulcow]

Not an AIBU but I've never posted anywhere else. ..

Anyone else been on Mirtazapine and gained weight?

I'm on it as an antidepressant but realised that whilst away for a week mid June I gained weight, which I always do on holiday especially as we eat healthy normally.

Showed a gain of almost a stone on our return (never gained that much even going 2 weeks all inclusive) but thought what goes on quick comes off quicker too, or at least some of it, as in it's not possible to really gain a stone in a week, so expected at least a few pounds/bloating to go reasonably soon after getting back to healthy eating.

Back on healthy eating now for almost 3 weeks, and have started running again and not a single pound has budged, in fact I'm a couple of pound heavier than when I got back.

I'm finding it really disheartening especially as I'd been losing weight steadily before going away (0.5-1lb a week).

I'm now the heaviest I've ever been (albeit just over a healthy bmi) and it's really getting me down

I have literally nothing that fits and so I feel fat and uncomfortable in this weather, and that makes me struggle to feel motivated especially as I'm in a low mood most of the time anyway hence the meds

Anyone else got advice on how to deal with this or success stories about changing meds?
I've been put on these as sertraline didn't seem to be helping any more.

Mirtazipine makes you gain weight - well known side effect - I piled it on when prescribed it - it also made me very sedated. I think you put on weight because it increases your appetite.

Another poster mentioned quetiapine - all the anti-psychotics cause weight gain - increased appetite plus as they sedate you tend to move around a lot more - eat more, move less.

Thanks for all the replies, feel assured I'm not going more crazy

I was on sertraline but felt it was no longer helping hence why meds were changed

Appreciate the pp who said it's preferable to being dead but right now I actually feel worse than before, whether that's the weight gain or other side effects but I truly hate myself right now

I definitely would never stop without seeing a Dr just wanted reassurance it wasn't just me.
Thinking about it I believe I was on the soltabs of mirtazapene when I was at uni though don't recall weight gain.

The frustrating thing is I follow weight watchers and had been losing weight steadily and sensibly before these meds, so whilst it may affect appetite I know exactly what I've eaten and it isn't more than usual.

Will try to get a Dr app ASAP

Thanks all

It's shit. I'm on venlafaxine and lithium. Venlafaxine makes me chronically constipated and need to were all the time. The lithium gives me carbon and sugar cravings and hungry all the time!

exWife - It locks an extra glucose molecule in the cells. Don't ask me which cells or what they do while they're in there, I've lost the bookmark! From memory, it's all the cells and, while it's an unintended consequence, doesn't do any harm. Might even be helping them get extra energy, I don't know.

This obviously means the amount of glucose in your bloodstream plummets while all those extra molecules are being captured. This makes your brain think you're in immediate danger of starvation and MUST have carbs - plenty of 'em and fast!

The good news is it levels off. My uncontrollable need for continuous Sugar Puffs lasted about three weeks. I carried on eating an unusual amount of starchy, sugary stuff for maybe six weeks after that. I stopped gaining, but haven't lost the extra weight and it's settled around my waistline - this is typical.

I do still eat more starch than I used to. I don't know whether this is due to my poor health, the meds or simply being too poor to afford a carb-restricted diet. Before taking Mirtazapine I found it very easy to lose weight - it isn't now. That could be due to other factors, though (I can't exercise.)

I'm on Venlafaxine and Mirtazapine. I increased the Mirtazapine a year ago, and went through the Honey Monster phase again. Despite having an unshiftable 7-month pregnant belly, I love it. It's very comforting and definitely helps with sleep.

Good luck :)

Really impressed that you stuck with your diet while starting Mirtazapine, Feel, you must have a will of reinforced concrete!

I'm tempted to suggest you spend a couple of days eating cake and see if it helps your mood. That is completely off-the-cuff, though, with no scientific basis!

Here is an article with some potential reasons that Mirtazapine causes weight gain, for those interested.

thank you garlic and toast. I'm on day 3 of strictly no junk food. I have been TERRIBLE on this med - ice cream, biscuits, chocolate. I didn't have a sweet tooth at all until I quit booze a couple of years ago. I found a picture from a few years ago - I was tiny in comparison to now.

ugh. I have chronic pain and take pregablin and tramadol for it. no exercise and stupid meds and no control have made me approximately the size of Birmingham.

Thank you all.

I'm hoping my gp won't see it as just gaining weight as it has been horrific for my self esteem, despite having low moods I am now hating myself rather than before when I disliked myself but generally felt angry at the world

I also have very vivid dreams/nightmares and at times have woken up full of fear to the point I have to wake my husband - usually just as I first drop off - but I'll wake up from a dream where I can't wake up /scream for help that felt so real, and it really scares me.

I have a gp appointment Friday so fingers crossed. ...

The weird things is wrt weight gain is that I haven't eaten more, and have actually found it easier than usual to follow a balanced diet

I persisted with exercise too even when I didn't feel like it, which helped my mood , but then felt like a kick in the teeth again when I gained weight after 3 weeks of this

Toast - don't want to derail the thread, but I'm interested in what you said about Sertraline. I've put on a whole load of weight since taking 50mg of Sertraline a day - and I wondered if there was a connection or whether I just don't have the strength of character/determination etc etc.

I tried to research side effects and weight gain didn't seem very prominent. Howeve I must have put on at least 3 stone in 2 years - it's not good! On the one hand I don't feel so anxious and depressed, but my sexual confidence is really low and I feel sort of detached from my body, which I desperately want to be thinner. Not fitting any of your nice clothes is really not good for the old self-esteem, even though the drug got me through a really bad time. Time to start coming off them I think. I want a sex life!

Ooh Boiled - just read your post. Yes, it was my boobs that I first noticed getting huge too. Just bloody odd isn't it? Glad it's not just me having through this. I have had enough, and of course I just feel bad about myself - start beating myself up about being fucking fat and not good enough!

oh god the nightmares. i just woke up from yet another dream about the end of the world.

so I'm maxed out on 45mg mirtazapine. I can increase Venlafaxine (currently 300mg a day) or quetiapine (400mg). I am on 150mg of pregablin - started on it after one of many surgeries and it improved my mood so psychiatrist said keep it. I then bottomed out on everything and stopped pregablin, in order to try mirtazapine. then my pain got so bad my physio told GP to put me back on pregablin. so now I take both!

I've been depressed and suicidal since I was a child. I'm 43 now and I can't take another 40 years of this. especially not with me gaining weight so fast you can hear me creaking as I expand!

definitely going to talk to GP about metformin which my friend took to counteract weight gain from lithium. if not they're going to have to listen to my request to try ECT.

I too was prescribed it when other anti depressants had awful side effects. This was a life saver at the time, enabled me to sleep and helped with trauma symptoms as well as depression. However like op I gained an enormous amount of weight,around three stone. I stopped the mirtazapine after a couple of years and lost the weight in a year. For me the weight gain was the price I chose to pay for my mental health until i feared I might just continue eating until I doubled in weight!

I had this too. Two years of losing weight on the 5:2, then a preg then mirtazipine for sleep problems.

the weight gain was just unbearable.

All went off as soon as i stopped it. Someone knowledgeable said that it does affect your metabolism, yes (you asked about that upthread I think).