Posted by Ritch on December 20, 2004, at 11:28:33
In reply to Questions: Remeron / mirtazapine, clonazepam, ??, posted by Lucylooo on December 19, 2004, at 18:02:27
Hi,
The most common side effects with mirtazapine are sleepiness, appetite increase/weight gain. There seem to be two distinct type of reactions to the stuff. Some folks get over the sleepiness relatively quickly (or never had much trouble with it at all), and others never seem to get any relief from the strong sedative effects. I was one in the latter group. Sometimes increasing the dose results in less sleepiness-sometimes not. I would suggest going ahead and giving it a try until you get your appt. You might be one of the lucky ones that gets great anxiety relief from it and with the possible excess sedation fading out after a few weeks.
Given your reactions to Zoloft and Effexor, and less than great experience with Paxil.. SSRI's probably aren't the best bet, and that's probably why they are letting you try mirtazapine. It is a good antipanic med. I didn't have a single panic attack while I took it-but gained a lot of weight and couldn't think clearly most of the time. You might be lucky.
If the mirtazapine turns out to be intolerably sedative and it doesn't improve by your appt. time, make sure to carefully document your experience with it and share that info with the pdoc. Another non-SSRI alternative which might be more tolerable could be a tricyclic antidepressant like nortriptyline, i.e.
Hope this helps!
poster:Ritch
thread:431777
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041217/msgs/432037.html