Mirtazapine help please! 🙏

[IndecentFeminist]

For my mum, she's really struggling. She's been given 15mg of this and it has practically sent her into a nervous breakdown. She's 5 weeks in, not sleeping, not eating, can't be left alone, absolutely desperate. My dad is with her but they're struggling, can't get docs appointment etc but has a call with them tomorrow.

Can anyone tell me more about it? She has taken other antidepressants in the past. She's wondering about stopping them by tapering off but is worried about the side effects.

I started them but couldn’t continue. I’m really surprised she can’t sleep, I was a zombie for 20 hours, they just knocked me out. This was last year. I had taken them a few years previously without those side effects, but the hunger was horrendous, and I put on loads of weight. I can’t remember any major side effects coming off them, but I was put straight onto something else (I can’t remember what).
Phone the GP first thing, I’m sure they’ll suggest changing to something else, sometimes meds just don’t suit

Thank you. They are going to call for a chat. It's such unfortunate timing, she's had problems before many years ago but has been so strong and happy recently.

I'm wondering if actually the dose is too high, quite a bit of what I have read is that the antihistamine effect is highest at a low dose, like 7.5mg. She wanted them mainly to help her sleep as she was so anxious about the lockdown etc

As she is at a low dose, presumably it might be feasible for her to be swapped straight to something else without the lengthy weaning process? As she hasn't been on them for long. Have ordered her a pill cutter just in case

I can’t remember what my dose was, I just remember it knocked me out from the morning I first took it, until the afternoon of the next day! Mine was mainly for the sleeping, and when I took it previously that was amazing