Which is best 15mg or 30 mg

Posted , 5 users are following.

Hi I was put on mirtazapine after a 15 year skint on trazadone which stopped working and made me become very restful at nite and not able to sleep more then one hour in the nite, so went to docs in tears and was put on mirtazapine around November 2016, 15mg to start with, then told to go up to 30mg, sleep is fantastic now, and seem to sleep well, but started to feel irritated at nite and unable to sleep till early hours of the morin, so I went down to 15 mg and all seem ok with sleep, but my mood as dropped really low, and just feel like crying, just wondering if I need to grit my teeth and go back up to 30 mg to see if my symptoms get better, not sure what's best stick to 15 mg or go bk up to 30 mg and see if the sleep gets better, some nites I take 15 mg and some nites 30 mg if I know I will fall asleep quick, just want to stick to one or the other, or maybe these tablets just don't work for me, any one out there feel the same...

0 likes, 12 replies

12 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi Dawn,

     It sounds like a difficult situation. Can you see a psychiatrist, they are usually the best with meds.  I have been on Mirtazapine for 10 years, mostly for a sleep disorder. Two shrinks have told me that 7.5 mg is the best dose for sleep. If you are taking it for depression that might not apply.  Wishing you well.

    • Posted

      Thanks for your reply... at the moment I'm just seeing my doctor, u seem to be doing well on mirtazapine, which like u does help with my sleep, and can now go to bed knowing I can sleep as that was a nitemare where I was dreading going to bed at nite, but just feeling very low, don't want to come if it as can't face the sleepless nites again, maybe I just need to stick to 15mg and hope my mood comes back up, if not back to docs and hope he just don't take me off them and not only will I have no sleep I will feel very low too .... y is life just normal lol 😩

  • Posted

    Hello again Dawn,

    I was on 15 mg for years, eventually I needed more for sleep. There were a lot of side effects when I started withdrawing.  I am in the last third of a downward titration from Mirtazapine - there have been a lot of side effects. I taper in very small increments, the 10% reduction seems to be working for me. I have tried to taper off before without success, too many side effects. Now I really spread out the taper, not caring how long it takes. 

    You might want to look up the drug online, there is a lot of information.  Good luck.

  • Posted

    You seem to have two problems: insomnia and low mood. The low dose mirt helps you with the insomnia but not with the mood. It is common to treat the two problems separately:  Stay on the mirt for the insomnia but IN ADDITION take another AD which is better for depression (eg an SSRI).  

    Best wishes.     

    • Posted

      Ok right I understand... so maybe 30mg won't help with depression then? Just worried if I go bk to docs they will take me of mirt and then the sleepless nites will be back as they were really bad, where's I did not fall a sleep till 3 in the morin then a wake at 4, don't think I could stand them nites again like that, but don't like feeling down either, maybe I'm asking for to much lol... maybe bk to docs again

  • Posted

    Hi Dawn

    Reading your post I see initially 15 mg worked well for you and that the agitation started at 30 mg Mirt ??

    Then when you dropped down to 15 mg you felt really low ~ in mho I am wondering if this is because you dropped 50% which might have been a shock to the CNS, to big a drop.  Also alternating the doses never seems a good idea, with Mirtazapine that could do more harm than good ~ I would speak to your doctor about this and get their advice.

    When changing doses it is best practice to reduce slowly - no more than 10% at a time, updosing for the sensitive folk could bring on anxiety also.  I have read of many who updose to 30 and then have anxiety.

    I hope a little of this helps, sometimes its hard to see the wood for the trees, but if 15 mg was good for you initially, then yeh ... maybe that could work for you??

    Wishing you well Dawn smile  

    • Posted

      p.s. Dawn I nearly forgot to mention, did you taper slowly from the Trazadone?  Or did you just quit in November/December when you started Mirt?  Just a thought because quitting quickly can sometimes lead to a discontinuation syndrome that includes agitation or rebound insomnia, so when we quit one AD and start another it can muddy the picture to see what is causing what ... hmmm, might not be this but worth a mention if only to rule it out.
    • Posted

      Hi yeah thanks for getting in touch and what u say sounds about right... I went up to 30 mg for about 5 weeks, and then started to not be able to sleep again, feeling really restless and fighting against the sleep, and a wake till 2/3 in morin, so in my mind I thought the tablets were to strong, and then just went straight bk down to 15 mg which my sleep went bk to being good again, but started to feel very down again, so was not sure if to go bk up to 30 mg again and hoping sleep will still be good.... like uv said the drop from 30 to 15 May of cauresed me to relaps which I did not under stand y it was happening , so really I need to be sticking to either 15 or 30 am I right ??? So if I just stick to 15 mg then things may settle down instead of one nite 15 then another nite 30 which sounds at tho it's not doing me any good... as for trazadone the doc told me to do one week on 300mg then second week on150mg after that I went straight onto the new drug mirt, and to be honest I'd not read up on the effects on different amounts u take until I read about it in this forum , but uv made me understand it a lot more now after what uv put, thank you so much for making it sound easy to understand where I was going wrong, I know now to just stick to one or the other and see how it pans out, really don't want this feeling of being so down to stay with me, as running out of tissue now lol😩 Uv been a great help to me, and if I'd not come on here I think I would of been in a mess and just keeped jumping from 15 to 30mg and felt like I was cracking up... thank you for taking your time to write to me😀 Take care x

  • Posted

    HI dawn, there's another idea that you could discuss to your Gp. I found being on 15mg help with my sleep but when I went up to 30mg I got Anxiety/ low mood. I've completed the w/d's (15 weeks) and I'm fully myself again but it took me 11/12 weeks of hell because I panicked and stopped suddenly from 15mg to 30mg to nothing, that only made the w/d's worse and had I'd had Calmer's advice back in the beginning ( the slow slow taper) it could of made the w/d's much easier. I've heard on this forum that the 15mg works better for the sleep and in my circumstances the 30mg increased my low mood and anxiety which was through the roof. I'd never experienced Anxiety in my life and I knew it was the Mirt. I'm no Gp but I think you need the 15 Mirt for the sleep but discuss going on a lighter A/D like Sertraline for your low mood, I hope this helps.

    • Posted

      Hi thanks all advise is greatfull, going to stick to the 15mg mert and see if my mood gets any better, if not back to docs, but I think they would just take me of mert and try some thing new, which I don't want to as I dread the sleep disturbance coming bk as bad as b4, where I just could not fall a sleep till around 3 in the morning then awake again at 4, it soon gets u down wen it happens every nite, so that's y a little scarred to try docs again, but if things don't in prove I will just have to hope for the best and go, I have been on sertraine b4 but that did not help me, I was still feeling low, and ended up bk at docs in tears as could not cope, this is wen he put me on mert, maybe iv just need to with grit my teeth and stick to 30mg and hope the low mode and less sleep goes away in time, or just stick to 15mg and sleep well and hope my moods pick up again, wow what a world we live in lol, it's nice to talk about being depressed on here and not feel like your being judged, and people saying get a grip of life, no one knows how it is until uv been there .... take care 😀

  • Posted

    hi my dr prescribed mirtazepine 15 mg all iv done is want to sleep it's been a week now and she doubled it ti 30 mg please tell me i wont be so tired with the higher dose

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