Mirtazapine, anyone had any experience of it?

[Milkandlotsofwineplease]

Just wondering if anyone has, and if they found it helpful?

I was prescribed a 15mg a day dose of it by my GP 3 days ago. I went to see him as I have been suffering from terrible insomnia for several weeks now. Some nights I have literally not been to sleep at all, feeling totally exhausted and at end of my tether.

GP wasn't exactly communicative. He asked me if I thought I might be depressed. I said yes I did, and he basically prescribed me the tablets without asking me WHY I thought I was depressed. He explained that Mirtazapine has a sedative effect that will help me to sleep.

Well It is still taking me at least a couple of hours to get to sleep (I go to bed around 11pm), then I'm waking up at 6am at the very latest. Also keep waking up, and nodding off in-between this. I'm totally knackered. Will this improve as I keep taking the dose? GP was talking as if sedative effect would be instant but I'm just not seeing it. I would rather have been given some sleeping tablets quite frankly. I haven't had a halfway decent nights sleep for weeks now, and I'm like the waking dead!

Give it a bit longer. Most AD's take 2-4 weeks to work properly. But, like you, I was told Mirtazapine would be sedative more or less straight away. It wasn't.

I was also on 15mg per night.

In my case, my GP did a checklist for depression with me before prescribing the tablets. Not sure if this is a standard thing or not.

Anyway, after about a month I found myself falling to sleep quickly but still able to get up and deal with the children if needed in the night. I spent about 2.5 years on Mirtazapine and have been off it now for approx 3 or 4 months.

Hope this helps.

Hi I just did a search and this thread came up. My GP prescribed this to me today and I'm a bit nervous (I don't know why). OP if you see this are you still taking this medication and is it working for you?

I take it - it doesn't make me sleepy at all but I feel better now than I did 2 months ago when I started taking it. I don't know how much of that is the mirtazipine and how much is longer, lighter days and generally coping better with life but it's helped me a lot in the past.

I've been on it for about 2 years - started at 15mg, went up to 45mg at one point, but now on 30mg. I was prescribed it for depression/anxiety, and associated insomnia. I find it helps, and after a few weeks, I found the sleep improved too. It's not a miracle worker, but I've definitely found it has improved things.

I was on it for a few weeks & for 10 days I felt good then I slipped into a deep depression so I had to stop taking it. You may also find that you may crave sweet things so you can put on a lot of weight. I craved jelly babies & was eating them in the night. I remember it making me very tired & I didn't feel safe driving on it. I am very sensitive to side effects of most anti d's so Sertraline & Olanzapine is only what works for me.