Mirt

Treatment and medication
1

URGENT

Could anyone tell me please if 7.5mg Mirt will cause weight gain.

Recenly tapered off of 30mg over a good few months and the wight is shifting, however, new med Trazodone is useless, I feel I am going to go mad if I don't get a nights sleep. On  7.5mg Mirt I could achieve this. 

2

Well I'm not sure how much help I it will be, but iI've been on 30mg mirtazapine without gaining any weight. However, if you put on weight before, it might mean you are prone to weight gain on it, but less at the lower dose. It might be a case of balancing the good night's sleep against having to be extra careful what you eat? Someone else might be able to advise you further.

3

I think it would be much less so, Lorraine.  You have to weigh out the cost/benefit of reinstating.  I don't recall the details of your coming off, but you may benefit from reinstating even less than 7.5 mg to get your sleep back.  This is rebound insomnia.  Mirt is so sedating that the body compensates against it to come to a place of normalcy, so when the mirt is taken away too fast you are left with the adapted nervous system with no mirt to push against.  Result: insomnia.

You may have adapted back part way, and so a tiny reinstatement may be all it takes.  On SA, we recommend a tiny fraction of what you jumped off from, then give it four to 7 days to have an affect since it takes that long for the mirt to come up to a steady state in the system.  Then, if there are no adverse reactions but not enough improvement, you can increase a little more.  No point in going higher than you have to, because it is that much farther you have to come down again!  

After a resintatement and stability, you can then do the ultra slow taper to avoid the rebound insomnia situation.

4

Hi Lorraine

I found 7.5 didn't make me gain weight. When i upped it to 15mg I became ravenous! Now I'm 2 stone heavier! I tried returning to 7.5 but got awful withdrawal so still grazing on anything not stuck down!

You shouldn't have that problem on 7.5.

Wishing you a trim figure with lots of lovely nights sleep!

God bless ♥

5

All I can say is that a) being on 45mg caused some weight gain and that when cuting down, I found that at 30mg I started to lose weight, at 15 I stopped HAVING to get up in the night for a snack and lost even more weight.   Still at 15 and losing weight.   Something else I noticed with me, I have heard it said many times that mirtazapine causes "sugar cravings".   However I would snack on rye crispbread - I found that just having food in my stomach stopped the cravings and I could then sleep.

6

I was told the lower the dose the higher the sedative with mirt.

I dont understand all this weight gain nonsense if a drug helps you whats a little extra weight?

7

Ask those people that put on 4 or 5 stones "what's a little extra weight"?  lol

I would disagree with the "lower the dose the higher the sedative" as in cutting down I have almost seen myself "wake up", I am experiencing much greater clarity.   I've also got a lot of my insomnia back

 

8

Speak to a psychiatrist about the sedative issue as it was a psych that gave me the info.

Everyone reacts differnetly to medication.

Would I rather put on 3 stone  (as I did with mirt)and be happy or want to stay slim and be suicidal???????

I dont think there is ant contest there

9

Hi Ian

I'm with you on this one! I'm on 15mg and haven't slept properly in ages. The weight gain is not 'normal' the cravings for sweets and stodge has left me three Stone heavier! The concern is the longer term and the potential illnesses excessive weight can cause!

true my mood has lifted slightly on mirt, for that I'm truly thankful, but the longer term use, leaves me concerned.

God bless ♥

10

I take 7.5mg mirt for sleep (plus sertraline for anxiety).  I gained weight initially but now have it under control by fighting the evening hunger.  

11

4 stone weight gain and a BMI of 27 is hardly considered nonsense. The GP told me that I had to stop to avoid heart attack. 

Very unsupportive and stupid comment on your part, but thanks for bothering

 

12

This is a forum and people are entitled to an opinion

I would rather be 3 stone heavier which I gained when I was on mirt than be sucicidal Simple as

13

Hi Lorraine

I completely understand. I feel so bloated and unhealthy. I'm desperate for my depression to go but not at the cost of getting a significant illness a little down the line. Are you now on 7.5? I think the strong cravings for food should disappear.

I am going to have another attempt at reducing, the extra weight has impacted on my knee joints!

Wishing you well

god bless ♥

14

Yes, I am sorry but even that small amount of mirt will cause weight gain. Have you tried 3.75mg? Many people find the weight problem is not so bad once you get under 5mg.