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Anyone familiar with mirtazapine?

Posted by toren123 @toren123, Jul 27 5:29pm

Is anyone very familiar with mirtazapine for sleep or anxiety? I have been taking 3mg lunesta every night as instructed by my sleep neurologist. He thought that I was so concerned about my insomnia that I might need anxiety medication. Especially when I started waking up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. To my surprise he prescribed mirtazapine. 15mgs, take 1 or 2 pills with lunesta every night. The first night, I took 1 and had blurry vision and felt somnolent and generally lousy all the next day. The GP said cut it in half for 7.5 mgs. I still had the same results. The next 2 nights I took half of the half, 3.75 mgs. Still same results. After 2 days of only lunesta, no mirtazapine, my vision is almost back to normal and I’m feeling somewhat better. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Could this be a problem with the half life of mirtazapine?

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mbixler | @mbixler | Aug 6 12:48pm

I take Mirtazapine for sleep assist, and my therapist had me stop taking sleeping pills before starting the mirtazapine, as there can interaction between the two types of medications.

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laura1970 | @laura1970 | Aug 6 2:27pm

Perhaps staying on the mirtazapine but backing off the lunesta would help with your side effects. Best to talk to doc before you try it tho

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sharshy | @sharshy | Aug 8 2:31am

I have been put on Mirtzapine and have weird dreams and wake up in the night laughing.

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raya55 | @raya55 | Sep 27 8:15am

I started taking Mitrazapine a week ago for sleep. Took over three hours to kick in. After a few days I was noticing that I was reacting angrily to things that don’t normally bother me. My aggression caused me to do some research. I found (on this forum) that many have had similar experiences. I took it for six nights. Will not take it again. I was also ravenous for most of those days.

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raya55 | @raya55 | Sep 27 8:17am
In reply to @frouke "I can definitely relate with you about this drug, my symptoms were different from yours, I..." + (show)
Profile picture for frouke @frouke

I can definitely relate with you about this drug, my symptoms were different from yours, I started with 5 mg. for GAD/PTSD., I was already taking Ativan 0.5 mg. and Amytriptyline 10 mg., I felt the effects of the Mirtazapine on the first dose, I felt edgy, restless with tension, I had a ferocious appetite which was the only good thing about this medication. I read stories from people that loved this drug, they said sleep came easy with great dreams, I was barely able to sleep and when I did it was so frightening what I came up with, it was like a creepy movie with lots of violence, I couldn’t get hold of the prescribing doctor and the help just wasn’t right so I began to wean off it, I wasn’t on it for long so withdrawal was tolerated but still exercised caution, strangely it remained with me for a while longer, threw off my sleep for a while. It’s pretty much the same thing with most medications and it doesn’t always matter how others felt because it’s different for everyone, to date I haven’t heard anything worrying about this drug, it just wasn’t for me.

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I tried this drug for sleep. Found myself ravenous and aggressive. No longer taking it. Took it for 6 nights

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frouke | @frouke | Sep 27 9:20am

Mirtazapine is in the same category as Amitriptyline which is what I use daily, perhaps my doctor thought I could tolerate this medication but it didn’t help, I have had my share of medication but Mirtazapine was very scary for me, I recall having symptoms of restless legs and I was so worried about it because the sensation was very strong and foreign to me, it’s interesting how a med can work wonders for some people and be a proverbial nightmare for others.

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sharshy | @sharshy | Sep 27 12:22pm
In reply to @sharshy "I have been put on Mirtzapine and have weird dreams and wake up in the night..." + (show)
Profile picture for sharshy @sharshy

I have been put on Mirtzapine and have weird dreams and wake up in the night laughing.

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@sharshy Yes very weird dreams and have put on weight but I do get some sleep at last.

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sharshy | @sharshy | Sep 27 12:23pm
In reply to @raya55 "I tried this drug for sleep. Found myself ravenous and aggressive. No longer taking it. Took..." + (show)
Profile picture for raya55 @raya55

I tried this drug for sleep. Found myself ravenous and aggressive. No longer taking it. Took it for 6 nights

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@raya55 . How strong was it and what did you use instead?

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sharshy | @sharshy | Sep 27 12:24pm
In reply to @raya55 "I started taking Mitrazapine a week ago for sleep. Took over three hours to kick in...." + (show)
Profile picture for raya55 @raya55

I started taking Mitrazapine a week ago for sleep. Took over three hours to kick in. After a few days I was noticing that I was reacting angrily to things that don’t normally bother me. My aggression caused me to do some research. I found (on this forum) that many have had similar experiences. I took it for six nights. Will not take it again. I was also ravenous for most of those days.

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@raya55 What did you take instead?

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sharshy | @sharshy | Sep 27 12:26pm
In reply to @frouke "Mirtazapine is in the same category as Amitriptyline which is what I use daily, perhaps my..." + (show)
Profile picture for frouke @frouke

Mirtazapine is in the same category as Amitriptyline which is what I use daily, perhaps my doctor thought I could tolerate this medication but it didn’t help, I have had my share of medication but Mirtazapine was very scary for me, I recall having symptoms of restless legs and I was so worried about it because the sensation was very strong and foreign to me, it’s interesting how a med can work wonders for some people and be a proverbial nightmare for others.

Jump to this post

@frouke I have been put on Mirtazapine for restless legs and it was better than the restless meds.

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