mirtazapine/remeron and weight gain

[jillista]

I started mirtazapine about two weeks ago and I'm freaking starving. I'm actively trying to lose weight with Weight Watchers, and I'm pretty good with gauging my hunger signals before I eat something. I track my food and when the hunger hits I try drinking a glass of water or doing something else to occupy myself before I turn to the food. The problem is, since I started the mirtazapine, I really feel hungry. On the other hand, though, it has really helped both my sleep issues and my anxiety issues. (I also take Effexor, btw - my pdoc said that the mirtazapine would give the Effexor a sort of bump, and that seems to be holding true.) I don't know if I can live with the weight gain, though. I need to lost weight - and I had lost 10 pounds before I started it ... I've already gained 2 back. Before I give up on it, I'd like to know if anyone has had the increase in appetite taper off ... like, is there a light at the end of this tunnel?

Thanks, all!

[lavender]

Wondering if you take it at bedtime? That seems to help me, I end up sleeping through the munchies.

[LikeMinded]

You've got another Remeron munchie-fiend right here... a lot of doctors seem to like prescribing it with Effexor (your case) or Cymbalta (mine). I gained almost 10 lbs. on it until I realized that it was making me eat too much, at which point I adjusted my diet to back to where it was before, and my weight went back to where it was before.

I'm not sure that drinking a lot of water to fill your stomach will help with the food cravings, though. Water tends to go through our systems pretty quickly, it, well, being water and all. My suggestion is -- hypothesis being that Remeron gives you the desire to eat large quantities of food, especially foods that are sweet, if not at least starchy -- is well, to try foods that fit those criteria and are low-calorie. Basically, anything sweet and filling, but that's light on the calories.

For example, oatmeal makes a surprisingly good dessert and leaves you feeling too full to eat anything else... I like to add pecans or walnuts and some honey to mine.

Also, to take the edge off of the sudden munchie-high that Remeron gives you, try taking it after dinner (it'll also absorb more slowly that way) and take that filling dessert an hour before bedtime.

I take Remeron not only for depression, but it also helps with my GERD/acid reflux issues, guess it makes sense that something that makes you hungry would also have to get your stomach moving in the right direction....

anyways, hope I was of some help.

[The Emperor]

When I was on it, I was on it for about a month, and only 15mg per day, but my weight seemed to remain the same.

I'm going to go ahead and add that as SOON as I started taking remeron, I also started jogging, so that may be why I maintained my weight. I also took it shortly before bed, and eventually, even though it made me ravenous, I started to figure that I had eaten enough food to sustain my own life for the day and just to ignore the hungry feeling because, well, it wasn't TRUE, if that makes any sense.

I just got off effexor, was on that for about 2 months and actually lost ten pounds on that doing nothing, it just made food totally undesireable to me for some reason.

The increased appetite, for me, didn't necessarily taper off, I just learned to magane it better I suppose.

It's worth a shot to use the suggestions LikeMinded mentioned, those are pretty smart and would probably help a lot.

I loved the Remeron because it made me sleep so WELL, but it made me snappy as hell, so I stopped it, if you were wondering why I'm not stll taking it, it wasn't weight gain.

Good luck.

[jillista]

Thanks, everyone!

[papertrees]

remeron had the opposite effect on me. it killed my appetite and i lost 20 lbs because of that.

[Guest Sharron]

Hi, I am on Mirtazapine 30mg, my Pschiatrist is wanting to take it up to 300mg and i am panicking about the weight gain. Appetite wise it has had the opposite effect, i am having to force myself to eat something as my appetite has gone completley, i am sometimes only having one meal per day and that may only be a sandwich but i am piling on weight. I have gone up a dress size. I am at a loss at what to do to lose it as its not that i can cut down on what i am eating and i cant go overboard on the exercise cos i dont feel that i am taking in enough food to do that. Its great that my meds are working but i really dont want to put on any more weight.

[OscillateWildly]

I started mirtazapine about two weeks ago and I'm freaking starving. I'm actively trying to lose weight with Weight Watchers, and I'm pretty good with gauging my hunger signals before I eat something. I track my food and when the hunger hits I try drinking a glass of water or doing something else to occupy myself before I turn to the food. The problem is, since I started the mirtazapine, I really feel hungry. On the other hand, though, it has really helped both my sleep issues and my anxiety issues. (I also take Effexor, btw - my pdoc said that the mirtazapine would give the Effexor a sort of bump, and that seems to be holding true.) I don't know if I can live with the weight gain, though. I need to lost weight - and I had lost 10 pounds before I started it ... I've already gained 2 back. Before I give up on it, I'd like to know if anyone has had the increase in appetite taper off ... like, is there a light at the end of this tunnel?

Thanks, all!

I don't know if med related hunger is similar, but I become ravenously hungry if I eat simple carbs and sugars because I have glucose weirdo problems. I recommend snacking on nuts, nut butters, eggs and protein. These foods are filing and will lower insulin levels which helps liberate fat from tissue which in turn reduces the perception of hunger.

Do you get shaky when you feel extremely hungry? That shakiness is a sign you might benefit from this sort of low starch/sugar diet.

Calories are not the most important thing when choosing a food item... satiety is. It's better for me to eat 1 ounce of cheese for 120 calories, than it is to eat a big bag of popcorn with the same calories. The cheese will keep me full and calm. The popcorn will make me feel lightheaded, shaky, out of it, groggy, moody and generally awful.

Weight watchers is not an ideal way to lose weight since it is usually ignorant of metabolism and encourages dieters to eat high volume, carby things like fat free pretzles rather than high fat satiating cheeses meats and fatty eggs.

Now if a person has minimal glucose problems at baseline I suppose a weight watchers like diet isn't so bad... but if you have significant glucose issues, or if you have such issues which are triggered by medications (antidepressants, steroids) then you really want to go with a higher protein lower carb diet. Just my opinion as an ex fatty; if I didn't eat this low carb way I would weigh 300+ pounds, instead of 117.

[Shannie]

That happened to me too. When I started taking mirtazapine (30mg) I was unbearably hungry all of the time. No matter what I ate, it was never enough - it's as though my abilty to sense whether I was full or not totally disappeared. I was like a thing possessed, I just couldn't eat enough...mostly sugary/simple carb stuff like chocolate. I had never been overweight before I started taking that antidepressant (at age 24), now I have a BMI of about 27-28 (whereas I always had a BMI of around 22-23 or sometimes lower pre-mirtazapine). I've gained at least 30lbs on this medication - and I gained it so rapidly that I now have stretch marks! The weight gain stabilised after about 4 or 5 months and hasn't changed in the following 6 months, but my efforts to lose weight have been unsuccessful - and weight management is not something that I've had a problem with previously. Now, when I get hungry it's awful...I get clumsy, shakey and the sensation is difficult to handle. I'm actually just starting on the process of cutting down my mirtazapine with a view to coming off it completely, as the excess weight combined with the massively increased need for sleep that I get while on mirtazapine are becoming too much of a price to pay. It's a shame though, as mentally/emotionally this drug has been really good for me.

[void]

I was put on remerom around 3.5 years ago, was a zombie permanently and gained around 8kg (17 pounds) in a month, didn't control it because I couldn't care at the time. The remeron munchies never went away.

Having similar issues now with Mianserin, I'm fine during the day, but around 2 hours after I go to sleep I'll eat anything based around refined carbs, refined sugar and protein, again though, at that time I'm not really there, my family say I look wasted and eat at a constant mechanical pace with my hands, leaving the kitchen a disaster area.

There have been some strange concoctions such as margarine, sugar and coffee creamer half a cup at a time or a cup or more of the same mixture with raw oats thrown in. Fried maize flower is dangerous at this point because it can cause burns, same for fried oats, more than once I've woken up with the skin peeling off inside my mouth.

The Mianserin munchies have never ceased either, though I do prefer to say "Mianserin munchies" than "Remeron munchies" alliteration ftw!

[Slicey]

I was put on remerom around 3.5 years ago, was a zombie permanently and gained around 8kg (17 pounds) in a month, didn't control it because I couldn't care at the time. The remeron munchies never went away.

Having similar issues now with Mianserin, I'm fine during the day, but around 2 hours after I go to sleep I'll eat anything based around refined carbs, refined sugar and protein, again though, at that time I'm not really there, my family say I look wasted and eat at a constant mechanical pace with my hands, leaving the kitchen a disaster area.

There have been some strange concoctions such as margarine, sugar and coffee creamer half a cup at a time or a cup or more of the same mixture with raw oats thrown in. Fried maize flower is dangerous at this point because it can cause burns, same for fried oats, more than once I've woken up with the skin peeling off inside my mouth.

The Mianserin munchies have never ceased either, though I do prefer to say "Mianserin munchies" than "Remeron munchies" alliteration ftw!

Yes, void is a mechanical eating machine on Mianserin...and those concoctions he mentioned after taking it is only the half of it. Either way, I think I'd rather have him fat than loopy or chronically depressed.

EDIT: Good to see you are finally posting bro...you've got a lot of experiences to share I am thinking.

[Guest Tayz55]

I have been on 45 mg of mirtazapine for the last 6 months for severe anxiety it has helped me immensely.. But I have gained soooo much weight in the beginning I would eat a whole pack of choc biscuits in one sitting I find exercise is the only help but I have a long way to go.. I also had four months of side effects such as severe dizziness etc before the drug worked for me. To be honest I can't wait to go off it even though it did give me my life back, I have just gained way to much weight..