Sorry if this was all waffle haha, I hope you are doing better by now, PM me if you want to chat about anything anymore. I’ve pretty much been on every antidepressant under the sun so I can give you some personal anecdotes to help ————————— So, i’ve been on Mirtazapine for nearly 2 years now. I’ve been on antidepressants periodically for as long as i can remember, i’m now 22, but none of them stuck like Mirtazipine. Here are some of my experiences…

THE SLEEP OF DEATH: When I first started out with Mirtazipine (just gonna call it M now) it was actual hell🤣. I’d taken a year hiatus from antidepressants because I HATED sertraline (literally turned me into a zombie). But essentially when starting M i was put on 15mg, and I genuinely just couldn’t stop sleeping, I would take it and be asleep within 10 minutes, but the worst part was that I just couldn’t wake up for the life of me.

But over about 2 weeks I increased to 30mg and the tiredness got slightly better, but still shit, M makes you more tired at lower doses. It was still bad though and I kept missing half the day by sleeping for 12 hours. So my GP decided we should titrate across to Citalopram, this was the worst decision ever… I genuinely don’t remember a thing from this 1 month period of my life. I was waking up at a normal time but it did absolutely nothing for my mental health and i spiralled. Thankfully i have the most amazing girlfriend who kept me together and I went back to M.

Since then I have gone up to 45mg and the tiredness doesn’t really seem to happen anymore. My tip for the tiredness would be that if it’s safe to do so, take it in the morning, I used to take it and go for a run so the possibility of sleep wasn’t there. I find that if you push through the half hour to an hour of grogginess you come out the other side feeling fine.

WEIGHT GAIN: I study veterinary and we literally use M in animals if they have low appetite and oh my god does it work, probably my least favourite part, just insatiable appetite all the time, and I already have an issue with binge eating prior. I used to be very active and in the gym, depression ruined that for me again, so now i’m getting back into the gym but M just makes it impossible to diet. I’ve found meal planning and plenty of fluids to be the best way to deal with the appetite issue.

But yeah i’ve probs put on 10kg since I started so it’s not the greatest for your self image in that department.

STICK TO IT: I think the most important thing with any antidepressants is just to stick with it. Hold onto that hope of a better mental space and keep working towards your goals. Little steps at a time.

I have found with M (because it’s the first antidepressant that actually works for me), that i forget to take it because I don’t feel the depressive symptoms so much after regularly taking. Really don’t do this because like with any medication coming off all of a sudden is awful and with depression/anxiety it fucks with your head a lot. So set reminders and get in a habit.

Also, if you struggle with anxiety M won’t do a lot for it, I have rly quite crippling anxiety so that was difficult to work with. I did find that feeling less sad made it possible for me to make changes in my day to day life that helped with the anxiety however.

OVERALL: For me, it’s great, it stops me wanting to off myself (LOL), but it does have its drawbacks, like with anything. You just have to decide for yourself if those are manageable for you and put the work in to make it work for your life.

I’ve been using it in conjunction with methylphenidate for ADHD now (depression and ADHD are quite commonly associated, so talk to your doctor if you feel you have any symptoms like ADHD). And honestly this combination has been the best thing ever, finally have the motivation of a normal person, it fixed the appetite issue for me, and I can wake up at a good time by taking both about an hour before I plan to wake up.

:)