Mirtazapine Causing Anxiety/agitation? (Top voted first)

I have been taking 15mg of Mirtazapine for three weeks. This was prescribed after suffering from insomnia and anxiety, with moderate to severe depression, for three months following complete withdrawal from the SSRI Citalopram (which I did very gradually, over three before this months as I thought I was stable enough to stand on my own two feet).

My sleep improved immediately and I started to have some better days over the first two weeks. I know recovery should take time, and that the Mirtazapine takes at least 4 weeks to show its beneficial effects. On that basis, by the end of the second week I was feeling in a pretty good frame of mind and quite optimistic that I had finally turned a corner out of my anxiety.

This third week has been a real disappointment though. My anxiety has got worse each day. My sleep is typically very broken, with patterns of waking and sleeping for 10 minutes each for some periods of the night. Even before I started the medication I hadn't experienced this. I take the 15mg at night, and I do feel very sleepy in the evenings, but then why I go to bed and get off to sleep I keep waking up again and again. In the mornings my anxiety levels are very high, but they drop down to more moderate even, if I'm lucky, sometimes mild levels by the late afternoon.

Like so many others, I initially noticed an increase in appetite, which was a nice relief from feelings of nausea, but yesterday I felt sick again in the morning and really struggled to eat anything until later in the afternoon.

I don't know why things are going backward rather than forward and am confused and concerned. Is it possible that the drug's activation of noradrenaline is just starting to kick in? Would I be better to drop the dosage a little so as get the benefits of it in dealing with insomnia? Do I stick it out at this dose and hope for things to rebalance themselves or might a higher dosage be the answer?

Of course I will speak to my Doctor when I can, but it take (in the UK) around 3 - 4 weeks to get an appointment for a face to face 10 minute session. So, any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

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Been on 30mg mirtazapane since november. Dr upped my dose to 45mg five days ago. My anxiety levels r through the roof. Could it be the increase

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I began taking mirtazapine last year after trying sertraline, citalopram, and duloxetine. I started with 15mg, then went up to 30mg shortly after. I've always struggled with insomnia and it helped me sleep, and the reduction in my anxiety absolutely blew me away. The worst thing about it was the increase in appetite, and some related weight gain (nothing major). I was on it for about 6 months, I think. For the last few months, I began to have gut problems - Excruciating cramps and bloating, gas and diarrhoea. I was feeling pretty good emotionally at this point, so I came off it. Long story short, a month later I was back on it. My experience is currently COMPLETELY different to how it was the first time. My anxiety is through the roof, I get so agitated at night that I can't sleep, I'm suicidal, restless and generally incredibly unhappy. I have gut problems at the initial 15mg dose but not any more at 30mg. I'm thinking about trying 45mg, but honestly, I'm scared.

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Hi, I was diagnosed with social anxiety and prescribed Citrolapam (Spelling??) which caused a lot of side effects not sleeping, weakness etc so i returned to the doctors who weaned me off and prescribed me mirtazapine 15mg initially i had some tremors and vivid dreams but it settled a little after a few weeks my dose has now been increased to 30mg having taken these for a week i have began getting similar signs of my anxiety become agitated, defensive and withdrawing etc has anyone else had this experience or know if you can have his wobble when increasing or messing with the dose as it is quite concerning and causing a lot of stress not knowing wheher i should plough through or go back to doctors to look at alternatives.

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I started taking the remeron 15 mg just last night. Today I'm so anxious I can't stand it. Could it be possible that just that 1 pill did this?

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I am on mirtazapine 30mg and also valdoxon 25mg at night for the last 2 months, I feel extremely agitated all the time to the point were I feel my chest is going to explode , everything and everyone has me so uptight that I just want to crawl under the covers away from everyone .have tryed a lot of ad over the past 5 yrs , don't know Wat to do any advice would be great

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It is possible that it just isn't the right medication for you.

It is well known and usually reported in the monograph, that these types of medications can cause the opposite of their intended effects in some people. When this happens, it can result in increased anxiety, nervousness, depression, weight loss and insomnia.

(I am not certain if these details are required in the monograph in the UK, they may not be.)

You may want to try to Citalopram again, or use a different medication entirely and stay away from this one.

Are there any other questions or comments?

Learn more Mirtazapine details here.

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Thanks Verwon for taking the time to reply, and for your perspective on this. The anxiety has subsided a little again
now. My Doc has assured me by telephone that the mirtazapine could not possibly cause anxiety to worsen, even though nausea and agitation are listed as possible side effects. So I don't know who to believe. She thinks the dosage isn't high enough and should be taken up from 15 to 30mg, which I did for the first time yesterday. I figure as I've started as might as well go all the way and see if it works. There is always the possibility that she's right, and I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity for recovery. I have tried a couple of times to get back on to the citalopram, but even a quarter of a 10mg tablet makes my anxiety levels go through the roof for a couple of days.

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My experience is nearly the same. Especially the broken sleep part - I was pescribed Mirtazapine for sleep, initially 30 mg, but instead of letting me sleep I typically woke up all the time and seldom felt that I had gotten any sleep at all. After five weeks I had enough and started on Zopiclone which obviously work much better.

I think our problems are definitely linked to the noradrenaline levels. Before taking Mirtazapine I slept much better.

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Started mirtazapine drowsy and dizzy but couldn't sleep. Why?

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Hi my name is gary I was taken 15mg of martizipine for a month then put up to 30mg been on them for 4 months feel agitated at times im scared I will hit someone for no reason and cant sleep what shall I do

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I've been on 15mg Mirtazapine since middle December 2014. I've tried raising dosage to 22.5mg .( doctor wanted me to try 30mg) I lasted a week & a half. Anxiety & agitation went through the roof !
I don't really know whether or not this medicine is helping, completely confused what to do next. So I would say Yes it's the upped dosage. Scary stuff .

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Dont take them in morning you will feel relay tired I tried it on 15mg and felt tired all day you will feel like a zombie

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Hey Gary,

I was on Mirtazapine for about 5 months from about Xmas time. Made me feel terrible , I think they've helped my depression but the side effects & general effect of being on them was intolerable. I was on 15 mg & tried on a couple of occasions to increase the dosage. Couldn't bare it, lasted about a week.
So I just decided I couldn't deal with it & needed to get off them. Went down to 7.5 mg for about 3 weeks. Had a few really bad days were I could barely get out of bed. But I just kept telling myself it was the withdrawal & not the underlying depression.
I've now been tablet free since last Thursday (4 days) . Best I've felt since I was introduced to Mirtazapine. Mind is so clear & don't seem to be getting agitated about the smallest things anymore. I know that I'm not
out off the woods yet, but I'm never going back on that drug again. I've taken a few different AD's but this one was the worst for side effects for myself . I know everyone is different, but there seems to be a certain type of person that just isn't suited to Mirtazapine & I was certainly in that group.
I'll post back in a week or so, hopefully things are still positive

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I've been on Mitazapine for almost 3 years and I really think it's making my anxiety worse right now. I started on 15mg, went up to 30mg. My body cannot handle 30mg or even 22.5mg. My dr told me that as you go up the sedating effect goes down and you're not getting the proper REM sleep needed which causes that groggy bone tired feeling next day. So I've been on 15mg for past 2 1/2 yrs. I've always seemed to have anxiety in the am but it goes away by noon. Not in the the past month though. Anxiety almost all day everyday. Time to go off but not sure what else to take. Dont like many of the side effects with these kinds of drugs.

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Severe agitation when I go to bed taking 15mg of mirtazapine. Goint to stop it after 2 months

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I suffer from anxiety and anxiety attacks and was on citalopram for 2years. They stopped working and doctor has put me on mirtazapine.15mg. I got usual side effects like feeling dizzy, tired during the day and thirsty. My anxiety did not improve so I have been put on 30mg. I take them at night but by mid day I feel as if I am struggling. I do not have trouble sleeping and never have had. I was wondering if i should maybe take them in the morning instead as I am not using them to help me sleep. I was wanting to know if anyone else was not using them to help them sleep and just for anxiety and when u take them.

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Been on martizipine for 4months then went cold turkey I was on 30mg I feel terrible so I went back on it hopefully I get bettrr I felt very anxious going into a shop

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Hi, I have been on Mirtazapine since Jan 2013. My psychologist put me onto it when I told him about my decades long insomnia. Even it's not the magic bullet it has had beneficial effects. I find Edwin's (Aug14) experience interesting, where actually decreasing the dose improved the sleep aspect. In my use of Mirtazapine I found that I would feel like a ton of lead with a 30mg dose so I reduced it to 22.5mg per day. I noted an improvement. However since the beginning I have found that approx 1-2 hours after taking it even though I get drowsy I also get restless legs so taking it at night has me hyped until the restless legs wear off. Has anyone else experienced the restless leg syndrome with Mirtazipine? Meanwhile I might reduce the dose a little more and monitor the results.

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I did the same thing, Upped to 45 after several months of feeling great. Ever since I upped it to 45 I feel horrible with anxiety through the roof. I am wandering if you got better? I went back to 30 the next night and my Dr said it would take 4-5 days to clear the extra dosage.

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14 months on meratzapine 15mg for sleep and anxiety. All good until the end, then I had a constant base line anxiety which was not good. I had massive spikes of anxiety throughout the day, not through external stimuli. In the end I was experiencing psychosis like symptoms, nausea, loss of appetite. The doctor didn't want me to stop, recommended I increased. Tried 30mg and felt worse. Feeling annoyed I went cold turkey knowing fully what was was in store. Almost no sleep for 2 days, hypnopompic hallucinations. Chronic pain sufferer..... all kinds of back, head and neck pain, tinitus. Almost NO anxiety soon as I stopped ! Sleep was rubbish for weeks after stopping. Months pass and I still get the odd hypnopompic episode. Pleased I did cold turkey. I still get anxiety but I use CBT, exercise and other methods to cope.

Iv'e had great help from these forums.....thank you all and good luck :)

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