# Help and Advice > Related Illness/medication/alternatives >  Just been prescribed mirtazapine.

## Bobbo

Does anyone have any experience of this drug?  Apparently it's quite new.

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## Suzi

We've lots of members who have been on it with pretty good results..

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## Paula

It's a good drug. It will make you drowsy so you might want to take at night

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## Jaquaia

It's been around for a few years now. I definitely agree that it's best to take at night.

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## Bobbo

Yeah I was told that.  I read somewhere that it's best not to drive in the first couple of days until it settles down.  Is that worthwhile?

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## Flo

How are you doing?...pleased you've been prescribed something to help you.

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## Paula

> Yeah I was told that.  I read somewhere that it's best not to drive in the first couple of days until it settles down.  Is that worthwhile?


I think you need to play it by ear. Everybody reacts differently - you may be ok to drive, you may not. You need to judge for yourself if you're feeling too drowsy to drive (or ask someone close to you how they think you're feeling)

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## Suzi

Absolutely see how you feel - everyone reacts differently and have different tolerances

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## Honeyflower

Yes everyone is different but I found it awful and my symptoms worsened but as I said everyone is different.

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## Bobbo

So that's a couple of days on it.  How do I feel?

Absolutely shattered.  Sleeping so much and don't want to wake up.  My appetite is back ten fold, but my stomach is not quite used to having a lot of food yet but hopefully that will settle down.  

Just needs to sort my head out now.

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## Paula

Ah, yeah you will be sleepy. That's the mirtazapine. But that should ease so it becomes  more manageable

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## Bobbo

Yeah, I'm only on a half dose to start with until my body gets used to it then onto a full dose after a week.   The doctor said I would feel pretty drowsy if he put me on the full amount straight away.

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## Suzi

I know my husband is on another anti D which makes him really drowsy too, but he always says that if that's the worst side effect that he's going to have whilst being more stable then he's happy to be a little drowsy whenever a dose needs to be changed.

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## Grey haze

I'm in about my 6th month of Mirtazapine and initially (15mg and since August, 30mg) they were fantastic but did make me drowsy as hell. If I took them at 20:30, I was asleep by 21:00. I now take them at 21:00 and usually in bed at around 10:30 at the latest. If I forget to take them and I take it late, mornings are hard. The problem I have is that I generally feel far worse in the early part of the day. Waking up in a daze really doen't help and if I have to commute to work (3 out of 5 days I work from home) I have a real struggle. At the moment I need to see about changing the dose as my mood is very bad again. I am relctant as I dont want to make the drowsiness worse.  However as a bare bones review of my experience.
I felt my absolute worse when I went through a phase of not sleeping. For a few months I was sleeping a couple of hours a night. That doesn't happen with this drug. It knocks you out. When I first moved to this from Citalopram, it gave results very quickly, far quicker than any ADs I have used before. I would definitely suggest trying these if prescribed the general positives are better than the alternatives.

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## EJ

Hi Greyhaze 45mg is usually the maximum dose for mirtazapine although I have known people who are on more. For me it is an 'add on' for the lithium I already take. The mirtazapine makes the lithium work better. I think that you need to chat to your GP about your medication. An increase shouldn't make you feel more drowsy as the drowsiness is usually felt in the lower doses. We are all different however. If it is useful in sleep then the doctor might keep you on 30mg and try something else. I hope it works out for you.

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## Ovalbug

My experience of Mirtazapine came after a bout of severe panic attacks - lost 2 stone, bleeding gums, days and days staring at the ceiling unable to sleep, heart pounding out of my chest as if I was about to do a bungee jump etc. Horrible. Plus the depression.

The Mirtazapine was magnificent and I got my first proper night of sleep on it, but boy the next day I was absolutely out of it - literally felt like I was coming round from a general anaesthetic. Which was an enormous relief in comparison to the anxiety.

The crazy tiredness wears off after about 3-5 days, upon which I just felt 'very relaxed' and 'meh' to stuff, which was great. However unless I forced myself out of bed the moment I woke up, I could happily stay in bed all day and never fully wake up - drifting in and out of semi-consciousness all day. You have to force yourself up and stimulate yourself with some exersize or a shower, music or television etc to force yourself awake. Once awake, it was fine but only when forced.

Dreams are often ultra realistic, surreal and vivid. I remember one dream where I was sitting in the park on the grass and I remember looking at my palm and saying to myself in the actual dream - wow, even in this dream the refinement and definition of the grass imprint on the skin of the palm of my hand is really high resolution.... WTF!?

The craving for carbs take some serious discipline to avoid putting on weight - you develop an all consuming biological need for cake, white bread and cereal that can never be satisfied. My 2 stone came back in weeks!

Finally, the issue that crept up on my that I didn't notice until it was pointed out by more than one person was that I became increasingly angry and irritable with a hair trigger. It also did little for my depression.

It did however take me from the absolute brink of panic and despair and back into a more stable and controllable state, if not a long term solution (for me).

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