Mirtazapine

[Marcia123]

Mirtazapine Anyone take this? What has your experience been

[jeffreyn]

I take 15mg of mirtazapine every night. It definitely seems to help with my tremor as my tremor is worse when I don't take it. But what I don't know is whether it helps directly, or indirectly (i.e. by helping me get a good night's sleep).

[Boscoejean]

What does mirtazapine do to the brain?

Mirtazapine is an antidepressant medicine. It's used to treat depression and sometimes obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety. It works by increasing the amount of mood-enhancing chemicals called noradrenaline and serotonin in your brain

[Gcf51]

I have been taking 15mg of mirtazapine every night for a few years. My MS said it should help me get a peaceful nights sleep. Did help, but when I inquired about a higher dose, the reply was it doesn't have an increase in the same benefit at higher doses.

[jeffreyn in reply to Gcf51]

That's what they said to me too!

[Abinat58]

My husband has been on this since he had a bout of depression five years ago. Helped immediately with sleep and gradually with mood. The dose has increased over the years, first to 30mg, now 45mg as he suffers with anxiety. The GP said it could be reduced slowly if it was felt he didn’t need it any more, but I’m reluctant to mess with his current drug regime as he’s been on an even keel for some time.

[LAJ12345]

I attribute mirtazapine to bringing on PD in my husband as he changed personality, his face froze , he became lethargic and wouldn’t get out of bed. He was 58. It took me a year to slowly wean him back off it. I think it is probably suitable in an older patient say in a rest home to sedate where you wouldn’t expect them to be very active, especially if symptoms are severe. However in a younger person with minimal PD symptoms I would avoid it.

He was given it for clinical depression. What have you had it prescribed for?

For depression I suggest you try Hardys daily essential nutrients with added vitamers. (If you are taking SSRIs you will need to work with GP to reduce these at the same time.)

For insomnia try melatonin and look at the possibility that you are on too much levodopa causing night restlessness.

[LinnyGee in reply to LAJ12345]

I have been taking 7.5mg of Mirtazapine for about 6 or 7 years for anxiety and

to help me sleep. I find them very helpful, not able to take the full dose,as it just knocks me out the next day. Linnygee

[LAJ12345 in reply to LinnyGee]

we did try first reducing it to half then quarter of the 15mg one. Then eventually I had them compounded at 3 mg . They all kept him like a zombie. Eventually I was weighing out the powder from the reformulated capsule until he was taking 0.3 mg . He only started coming right about 6 weeks after stopping it all together. Before that I couldn’t get him to do anything like exercise and he wasn’t enjoying anything and he just wanted to sleep. And his face was expressionless.

It’s probably different depending on the person. He can never take much of anything without bad side effects.

[kommandokate]

I take 30mg nightly. Helps with a full nights sleep. In addition to PD, I’ve struggled with depression for most of my life. Blessings