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Mirtazapine not seeming to work trying to decide whether to stop or not

Posted , 7 users are following.

clarkio
clarkio

I have been taking Mirtazapine for the last 6 months after having had a bad (but short) experience with Citalopram.  For the first 4 and a half months or so was on 15mg and this seemed to be helping initially with the anxiety, although didn't seem to help that much with my get up and go/motivation.  Then it seemed to stop working and at doctors suggestion put it up to 30mg for about 2-3 weeks which didn't seem to help and then up again to 45mg where I've been for the last 2 and a half weeks or so.  It doesn't seem to be working for me, everytime I raise the dose I get a brief 3-4 day period where things get better and then it seems to fall back down again.  

It certainly helps me get to sleep but I'm not convinced it's helping my anxiety just maybe slightly sedating it.  I've also started feeling very down the last few days although wonder if that could just be from the furstration of not feeling better.  I'm tempted to wean myself of them.  I know they take a while to work but have been on 30mg or higher for 4-5 weeks now and can't say I feel any better.  I could cope with the tablets making me feel tired if I didn't have the anxiety as well.

Would be interested in hearing if anyone had a similar experience with Mirtazapine and if they did what did they do and what was the result?

Thanks in advance for any replies

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  • june26145
    june26145 clarkio

    Posted

    Interesting story of your experience with Mirt. I was on 15mg for 4 weeks but wasn't doing anything - still having to take Diazepam. Doctor put it up to 30mg. Was on this 6 days but couldn't face the day anymore and was admitted to hospital as I felt suicidal.  Consultant there upped dose to 45mg and like you, my anxiety seemed to be raging after 5 days. Still having to take Diazepam on most days. Been on 45mg for 11 days now and have only had 2 periods of calm in the last 3 days, both lasting about 5 hours.   I usually sleep well on this dose but if anxiety is bad in the evening, I have taken a sleeping tablet. How are things with you now? This really is the most crippling illness and it seems never ending. Did you have no relief at all on 45mg?
    • clarkio
      clarkio june26145

      Posted

      Hi June sorry to hear Mirt isn't working for you.  Was on 45mg for 4 weeks in that time I didn't really think I felt any better than I had done on lower doses and indeed suffered a really crushing depression on several days which I hadn't really experienced before.

      Have been on Mirt on various doses since January this year (6-7 months) so sometimes it's hard to know what is the drug and what's the underlying anxiety.  However felt overall it wasn't really helping me (other than to get to sleep) so that's why I decided to taper off it.  Have just done a week at 37.5 mg and certainly didn't feel any worse than I did on 45mg, possibly even a bit more energy despite catching a cold last week.  Have just yesterday dropped again to 30mg so will see how that goes.  Overall I'm looking to get off the Mirt and then re-evaluate options.  

      In your case only thing I would say is 11 days isn't that long.  I gave it 4 weeks as the drug leaflet says you should start to feel a benefit within 2-4 weeks.  If you can bear it, it might be worth giving it another 7 - 10 days to see if things improve.

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