Mirtazapine and insatiable appetite

[Mirthunger]

Posted here for traffic
im on day 5 of mirtazapine. Flat 3 nights(taken before bed) I slept really well. Last night I couldn’t fall asleep and had restless legs. Around midnight, I raided the biscuits and drank almost a pint of milk. Today, I just can’t stop eating! I’ve made a casserole-enough for 4 people(planned to freeze some) and it’s almost all gone! I also ate lots of bread and butter with it too
im currently a petite size 10/12 but really don’t like the idea of putting weight on! If I carry on like this though I’m going to need to be rolled down the driveway to work!
any advice or experience of this?
thanks

Yes, it's a known side effect. When I went on it the GP warned me that it would be very easy to gain stones of weight and to be careful what I ate.
I did put on stones, I've lost them and gained them and lost them and gained them. Eating high protein low carb / not limiting the amount I eat, just what it is, has helped to a degree but the constant craving for carbs, especially sweet carbs is unreal.

I’m afraid I put on loads of weight on Mirtazapine. I’d lost lots, so it was fine to start with, but rapidly became a problem I’m afraid.

I had to come off it, it made me so hungry and I piled on weight. Even if I ate a big dinner, I’d be starving again mid evening!

It’s literally an appetite stimulant. You just have to try not to raid the cupboards

Oh god. This isn’t what I wanted to hear. I’m mid 40s. I’m tempted to stop taking it. I feel more spaced out than I ever have. I already take citalopram. I’m depressed and anxious, but I’d rather not add obese to my list of issues!

The absolutely joyful unbroken 8 hours' sleep for the first time in my adult life is worth paying the price of monstrous sugar cravings for. I regulate my eating tightly and have a BMI of 21 but I do exercise a lot, at least 20k steps a day and lift weights twice a week.

i Just ate a disgustingly huge dinner, but I’m already thinking about ice cream. It’s not good

I've been on it for about a year now- at first the hunger was awful and I did put a bit of weight on- but after a few months it settled down. I now still occasionally have 'hungry days' but also many days where i'm not hungry at all so it might be worth seeing it through? Ive lost some of the weight now while still taking them, though it is harder to lose than it was.
Also as a bit of an insomniac, the sleep I get now is great!

I was on mirtazipine for about a year, I gain a lot of weight and it was exponential. Extreme munchies I could not control at all, legit full 6 pack crisps and biscuits and whatever I honestly felt starved.

I went from a size 6 (with the clothes baggy) to a 12 within a few months. I have an unusally good metabolism normally (I eat the same as my 6ft3 fiance) and don't due the whole gym thing.

It did help and putting on weight isn't the be all and end all but those munchies did not go away for me and I hate feeling hungry. I ended up researching medications that work in a similar way and transferred to that instead - the weight dropped. I am now an 8 ish depending on the shop. Obvs everyones sizes are different its just to show my journey of what it did to my body comparatively.

It did help with my sleep and mental health. I was in a bad situation and it helped me, once it was really starting to help me feel more me and want to wear clothes like me then I started to think hey lets look at other opens. Couldn't be assed finding a whole new wardrobe

Just to add - (edited) - my new medication does the same for sleep. Ive actually just lowered it and for about a week I was less sleep then back to the 8 hours routine.

My cat was prescribed it as an appetite stimulant. I'm not sure I could cope with it, is there an alternative?

It’s used in both dogs and cats who have stopped eating (especially in old age) as an appetite stimulant. It works quite well for that as a last ditch way to get an animal to eat who might otherwise starve themselves.

I’ve taken it myself and it definitely helped with sleep, but didn’t dare take it for any length of time because I had seen the dramatic effect on dogs and can’t afford to put on any (more) weight.

What medication are you on now?

What dose are you on? The side effects appear to wear off as you increase the dose.

A good GP tells you that this is a side effect and that you must exercise and eat well.

Mitazipine saved my life.

I put on 1/2 stone on them - I did feel I was just eating crap and stopped . It has now stabilised . I have been on it 18 months now.

At the moment I have low appetite

Trazodone x

Is your depression and anxiety a recent thing?

Just wondering, as you say you're in your mid 40s, if it's symptoms of peri menopause. In which case it's worth looking into HRT instead of antidepressants.

I was put on mirtazapine for 11 days and I put on half a stone. I told the doc that there is no way I can take any more of them and he switched me to something else.

I was prescribed mirtazapine for depression/anxiety and trouble sleeping, of all the side effects she told me about, weight gain and increased appetite was never mentioned or I would never have agreed to take it (I was trying to lose weight at the time and my size/appearance was a source of my low self esteem so why this was the first thing they thought to prescribe me is anyone's guess 🙄). I gained back the stone and a half Id worked hard to lose and ended back at square one, I contacted a different doctor and they advised me to wean off them which I did, unfortunately meant I ended up with bouts of insomnia though. It's a horrible drug and I'm not sure why it's used, especially reading that it's used in animals by vets!

Can anyone suggest an alternative?

Hi, I seitched to trazodone years ago, and that has worked for me.

@Mirthunger I'm sorry I don't know much about antidepressants so don't know what to recommend.

But if your anxiety and depression is a relatively recent thing, I think it's worth looking into the possibility they're peri symptoms. In which case HRT might be better.

My husband's been on it a couple of years and definitely binged the first few months. He put on a lot of weight. However, these symptoms stabilised and he got his eating back under control.

I went from a size 10 to 16/18 in a couple of months, was eating 4000-5000kcals a day, mostly in buttered baguettes, whole cakes and large bags of pork crunch in addition to my normal meals. If I couldn't eat I cried because I felt like I was starving.

I was also like a zombie, half asleep 100% of the time. I started on it due to insomnia and ended up sleeping about 15 hours per day so they worked in that respect I suppose but I felt worse than ever so came off them and lost all the weight as quickly as I had gained it.