Does anyone have experience with Mirtazapine?

Posted by faithshouse @faithshouse, Jun 20, 2019

My husband has trouble staying asleep, and falling back to sleep when he awakens during the night. It concerns him, but we wouldn't say that he is depressed. He had heard about Mirtazapine for sleeping. His doctor prescribed 15 mg. Has anyone had side effects, or depression while taking Mirapine? Is it more for depression, than for sleeping? Thanks for your feedback.

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@johnbishop

Hi @kawanhee, You will notice that we moved your post to an existing discussion on the same topic here so that you can connect with @gingerbear22 @faithshouse @sundance6 and others discussing insomnia treatments. If you click the link below it will take you to the top of the discussion where you can read what others have shared.

-- Does anyone have experience with Mirtazapine?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/does-anyone-have-experience-with-mirtazpine/.

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Thanks to all for your responses regarding Mirtazapine. My husband is now taking 45 mg each evening, and is tolerating it pretty well. He takes 15 mg about 8:30pm, then takes the 30mg about 9:30pm. He is sleeping quite a bit better, and his outlook on life during the day has
improved. We think he was varying his dosage inconsistently, but now that he is on this strategy, it seems to be working.
Blessings to you all, and may you find some well matched dose.

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Tried it. Did nothing for me.

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@faithshouse
My experience with Mirtazapine: I experienced suddenly weight gain after using Mirtazapine. It was prescribed to me (15 mgs) because I had a really hard time sleeping at night, and it helped. ( I still take it today but at a very low dosage.) (The problem is, and was, that my entire life I have been slender (if not skinny) and now I find it difficult to deal with all these extra pounds. :<(

As far as I know, Mirtazapine is an antidepressant that also helps if you cannot sleep at night. (Since your husband was not used to it, Mirtazapine made him sleep all the time. But maybe if he had not cut it off right away, he might have noticed some improvements.

Mirtazapine is also given (my PD explained to me), to cancer patients who have lost weight, and appetite, because Mirtazapine makes you very hungry all the time (or at last, this is what I experienced with Mirtazapine/Remeron).

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I've never used the drug Mirtazapine but I have used antidepressant and one of the side effects of these drugs is weight gain. There are some drugs like these where weight gain isn't as bad but the drug might not do the job you need from it. I think what helps a lot is to accept the weight for a while until you start feeling the positive benefits and then perhaps you can taper off or switch to something else. It's a commonly know fact that with every medication comes some kind side effect but basically if the good it does outweighs the unpleasant side, it's worth the effort. Remember this is only a temporary side effect and the extra weight will probably come off when you eventually stop taking them, good luck.

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I have been taking Mirtazapine 7.5mg taken about 30 minutes before bedtime and 3mg of melatonin about 1 hours before bedtime. The melatonin helps with initially getting to sleep and the Mirtazapine helps with getting back to sleep after getting up in the middle of the night. Usually have to get up 3 times at night for bathroom trips after my colon was removed due to cancer and I would struggle to get back to sleep. Took some experimentation to figure out the dosages and when to take the melatonin and Mirtazapine. I also have a CPAP which by the reported numbers is working great.

Irrespective of the meds, I still feel exhausted in the mornings and have some brain fog. My fitness tracker shows LOTS of overnight movement and poor sleep quality - I have surgery pending for a damaged shoulder, evaluation for an painful/unstable hip and evaluation of the other shoulder in plan - all greatly effect sleep quality due to pain. No effective pain killers that don't cause other problems.

Off the record, I've had multiple physicians recommend cannabis for pain relief. I'm not quite there yet.

As usual, your experience may vary greatly.

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@chistiania

@faithshouse
My experience with Mirtazapine: I experienced suddenly weight gain after using Mirtazapine. It was prescribed to me (15 mgs) because I had a really hard time sleeping at night, and it helped. ( I still take it today but at a very low dosage.) (The problem is, and was, that my entire life I have been slender (if not skinny) and now I find it difficult to deal with all these extra pounds. :<(

As far as I know, Mirtazapine is an antidepressant that also helps if you cannot sleep at night. (Since your husband was not used to it, Mirtazapine made him sleep all the time. But maybe if he had not cut it off right away, he might have noticed some improvements.

Mirtazapine is also given (my PD explained to me), to cancer patients who have lost weight, and appetite, because Mirtazapine makes you very hungry all the time (or at last, this is what I experienced with Mirtazapine/Remeron).

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Thanks for your input. It is amazing how drugs affect people differently. My husband actually lost a small amount of weight. As I mentioned, he is taking 45 mg consistently now, and it does seem to be helping him, both his sleeping and his mood.
Good luck to you.
Faith

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I’ve been taking 7.5 mg mirtazapine for about three weeks. Has been working fine for sleep until two nights ago. Started waking back up in middle of night. Anyone have this experience? I’d prefer not to increase it.

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It was prescribed for me for sleep. I’ve gained weight. I think because it stimulates my hunger , I get up and snack during the night. —a perfect set up for quickly gaining pounds. I’ve switched from one antidepressant to another for sleep including elavil, ambian, trazadone and others and they’ve all done the same. Has anyone found a safe alternative that doesn’t cause weight gain.I’ve tried everything over the counter sand nothing helps. I am up all night several nights a week.

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@ripley

I also want to let people know that they can find user reviews for any medication at the Drugs.com website. For example, enter "mirtazapine for sleep reviews" and look for the Drugs.com website. It's very help information. There's a cross reference where you can get information on other drugs prescribed for your condition, with user ratings on effectiveness.

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I read some of those reviews and something puzzles me.

My understanding is that the lower the doze the higher the sedative effect.

In some reviews people start @15/30mg, are wiped out and they LOWER the sedation by CUTTING the pill in 2,4, even 8 pieces, which is inconsistent. Others double the doze to increase sedation.

So, if the initial doze does not work hiw do you know what to do -- cut or double???????

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I haven't had any negative side effects from mirtazapine, not even the weight gain. In fact, I've lost weight since I've been on it. I haven't been sleeping as well recently though, so today my PCP increased me from 7.5mg to 15mg. So maybe on a higher dosage I might get some negative side effects. I'll post if I do.

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