Mirtazapine

[Birthdaycake369]

Hi, my GP has prescribed me Mirtazapine for low mood but I’m worried about taking it as I googled it and it said it causes the most weight gain of all anti depressants. I’ve already gained weight recently and I think this will make me feel worse about myself but I feel like I need the help of an antidepressant to get through the day. Has anyone else taken them and experienced any side effects/significant weight gain?

Withdrawal terrible! I’d be very cautious

It's really heavy duty. I'm surprised they'd prescribe it for 'low mood'. I've got major depressive disorder and they went through all the Prozac style ones before offering Mirtzapine.
It makes you put on weight and feel really zonked out. As others say it's physically addictive.
I personally would not recommend it but obviously it could/ should help some people.

DP is on a massive dose of this for suicidal depression and explosive Anger syndrome (managed and not directed at me or DS), he has piled the weight on. He’s 6ft 4 and you can tell, in fact he’s been gone on a diet today. He has been splitting the pills to lower the dose and spread them over the day(with Drs support) rather than one hit because they basically zombify him. you are aware of weight gain so you can be careful around this or talk to GP about the best way forward. You obviously need the medication because they have prescribed this strong form so you must look after your MH and if weight gain would detrimentally hurt you then look at something else.

God that all sounds awful. I guess low mood was just the doctor trying to be kind about my situation. My husband died suddenly in May and then I found out he had been living a double life using escorts and meeting women off the internet for sex for several years of our marriage so I’m a mess and not sleeping well. I might speak to him about a different drug then, thanks everyone

I’ve been on it for about 3-4 years and it really helps with my severe anxiety and depression. However, it did cause weight gain for me, due to increased appetite, though that was a positive side effect as my anxiety had caused my appetite to disappear and I was badly underweight. It also used to make me really sleepy but now I’ve been on it for years, I don’t get the drowsy or appetite effects any more.

You will have been prescribed it because of the sedative effects, if you’re not sleeping. I took it for around 18 months and it was life changing. No withdrawal issues at all. Some weight gain but not a massive amount.

It did absolutely nothing for me depression wise, so I stopped taking it (30mg) after six months without tapering off, and had absolutely no withdrawal side effects whatsoever. My GP also told me that the side effects were milder than most other anti depressants. It did make me feel really hungry though, around an hour after taking it, but that wore off after a couple of months.

The only plus was that I took it at night and I fell asleep within an hour, and also didn't make me feel tired the next day.

Mirtazipine changed my son's life. He did put weight on but he needed to as he was severely underweight and not eating. It does make him groggy in a morning but it has transformed his mental health. He tried all the other SSRI meds before this.

I used to be on this. It will make you balloon. Please go back to your doctor and ask for another kind of medication, because it's not to be given to people who struggle with weight gain. The reason for weight gain is because it makes you feel constantly hungry.

It helped tremendously with my depression and anxiety. I couldn’t take SSRIs for various reasons, so tried mirtazapine (SNRI). It was fantastic for my mood, I felt serene and initially helped sleep.
However I was constantly ravenous and piled on nearly 2stone in 3 months.
i then developed agitation/ restlessness at night too (also a documented side effect). I remember several nights unable to sleep or even sit still, walking around the house and constantly eating in the early hours. Such a shame as my mood was great.
I had to stop taking it and discounted it by tapering off over a week with no withdrawal whatsoever.

I am so sorry! No wonder you are struggling. Just remember side effects don’t affect everyone so this drug may be ok for you, it really did help DP with his mood swings and so there are lots of positives. GPS have to know a bit about everything (simplification but you know what I mean), so see if they have a MH specialist at the surgery or can refer you to one. DP has a nurse that hops between surgeries in the area and has been a genuine super woman for him. It all takes time just keep at it and get the right support and medication for you. Good luck and lots of good thoughts sent your way.

Worked in my depression but made me put in so much weight that I came off it again.
Withdrawal was fine, no issues.

Poor you. That sounds really difficult. Your GP will have prescribed it to help with the lack of sleep. It is effective for that, but you may wish to only take it for a short time.

Thank you all for your replies. I’ve just spoken to the GP and expressed my worries and he’s prescribed Sertraline instead. He said that wouldn’t help as much with the sleeping but is good for improving mood.

Good call . It made me crave sugar and eat like there was no tomorrow. I literally turned into a binge eater . Slept well but was very groggy the next morning.

I'm so sorry that you've been through such an awful time.
If setraline doesn't work out, I would consider Mirtazapine (I know I've spelt this wrong!). My DH has been taking it for 4 years. It took almost 2 months to work and he had the common side effects for the first few months. He was really hungry, gained weight and was groggy in the mornings.
However, after a few months the symptoms went away. He's now slim and no longer groggy. It helps him a great deal. I do think some people give up too quickly because they don't know the side effects will subside.

I’m on sertraline, 200mg. It works well for me, hopefully you will see some positive effects from it too.

Mirtazapine is the only thing that works for me to help me sleep. My appetite was out of whack and I had gained weight before I re started it a year ago but it didn’t make it any worse. I’m a lot calmer and it’s such a relief to sleep every night. If the sertraline doesn’t help, I would give it a try. If increased appetite/ weight gain are a side effect then you can just come back off it. I didn’t find coming off it bad, had no withdrawal symptoms. My insomnia came back once it was out of my system though.
Having said that, I think it is mostly prescribed for a-typical depression/ treatment resistant depression or when other ADs aren’t working or like in my case, for type 2 bipolar. I think it usually works best with at least one other medication. I’m surprised a gp would jump straight to mirtazapine before trying an ssri.