Remeron cravings

[LynnK]

Three days on Remeron and I actually hurt from all the food I've eaten. My stomach feels stretched and painful. The first day I limited myself to the usual healthy foods I had around the house, but it was like peeing on a housefire: nothing touched the ravenous hunger and I kept wolfing down fiber-rich, protein-heavy snacks and meals (which caused GI discomfort in itself). Yesterday I broke down and went to the store and bought all the unhealthy stuff I was craving... and then polished off most of it in one evening. This morning I woke up after dreaming about ice cream and stumbled to the kitchen to have more before I even thought about coffee. I feel physically ill. This can't go on. And yet I can't stop stuffing my face.

Help? I've heard the "increased hunger" goes away after time, some say a month (!!), but this feels awful. Has anyone else had such bad cravings on Remeron, and did they go away any time soon?

(Also, yes, also sleeping umpteen hours a day, but somehow managing to cram four times my normal daily calories in between mega naps.)

Lynn, feeling desperate

[r2mnot]

I had a similar experience and it didn't go away. I went from 130 something to nearly 170. (I've always been able to get away with eating whatever the hell I wanted without gaining weight, so I had never learned self control with food.) I was only on it for a few months until it quit working. Maybe it get's better long term, I don't know. Good news is that that I lost the weight in a pretty short time after the Remeron was d/c.

[The Emperor]

I only got the cravings at night after I took the Remeron. I was only on it for a month, so I maintained my weight, but also started running. Do you take it at night? I know everyone is different, but in my experience, if I took it after I laid down to go to bed, I didn't want to get up and go eat a ton.

Sorry, that's the best I can do.

[LynnK]

Thanks for the replies. Kudos to you, r2mnot, for keeping on with it despite the weight gain. I am taking it at night, Emperor, but the cravings seem to come all day long. I'm trying to limit myself to high-protein and high-fiber foods nutritious foods, but even just eating nutritious meals and snacks it's like an outside entity has a hold on me, and 30 minutes later I'm craving more. I used to be overweight and had a problem with emotional binge eating, but I've maintained a BMI around 21 for years now by eating healthily, running regularly, and knowing/heading off my binge triggers. But I feel totally out of control with this because it's not emotional, it's not triggered, it's just unrelenting. I thought Jerod over at crazymeds was writing somewhat in jest, but today I actually contemplated eating sugar straight from the bag. W.T.F.

But I said I'd give it a fair try.

[ParanoidAndroid]

FWIW, the cravings went away for me after about a month. I'm on 45 mg now and have a pretty normal (for me) appetite, but for a while there, couldn't eat enough snacks. It should get better.

[LynnK]

FWIW, the cravings went away for me after about a month. I'm on 45 mg now and have a pretty normal (for me) appetite, but for a while there, couldn't eat enough snacks. It should get better.

Thank you thank you, it's good to hear there's that possibility. I'll keep my fingers crossed. (When they're not busy stuffy my face...)

[LynnK]

I'm not going to turn this thread into my daily Remeron-craving update, don't worry, but I wanted to check back in a last time so as to not scare off any future readers of this thread. Although the cravings SUCK, my mood has been better in the last couple days than it's been all year (coming on 12 full months of cocktail tweaking now). And this afternoon, after an awful morning of hunger pangs, the intensity of the cravings let up some. It's still there, but bearable now. So... yeah, definitely a drug to give a try, even if you're panicked about eating issues/weight gain like I am.