Side effects with mirtazapine

Psychiatrist prescribed these for me, but wanted to wait until after surgery so that it wouldn'y interfere with pain killers.

However, went to doctor yesterday about sleep problems and anxiety that just a blood test gave me. She said take them now because you need them now.

Mirtazapine - anti-depressant btw. (psychiatrist waiting until she sees hypomania before she treats it)

It made me soo tired within about 10 minutes, and then I ended up in bed until 7pm today. When I tried to get up, i felt so groggy and tired and dizzy i went straight back to bed.

When should these side effects end, and are they worth putting up with to get my sleep back to normal and my moods better?

((((((red)))))) i had mitrazipine(sp) for a while and didn't find it good. all i done was sleep or be a zombie, like real groggy.

but my doc gave it me for one reason....to trigger a badder(?) bipolar episode coz ( apparently) anti-depressants are contra-indicative to bipolar(?)

i got told there only 2 ways to diagnose in UK....trig with anti-depressants or send to observation unit for a few weeks. they don't like to curb you by obsevation coz it not a "real" situation so...they try to diagnose by giving contrai-ndicative meds...so..need to talk more in-depth...please feel most free to pm me or ask for my yahoo voice addy ok?

peace and love red

i have used mirtazapine for many years. it used to be called remeron here in the usa and was quite expensive then.
mirtazapine will put weight on you. it will also help you sleep. don't take it in the morning--take it before you go to bed. it will make you feel tired a bit, but less so after a few weeks. i take my pills around 1am and i am still up around 4am.
unlike most common antidepressants, mirtazapine is NOT an SSRI. It works on a different receptor set in the brain than the SSRIs so it can be used in conjunction with other antidepressants that are serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
i take a lot less mirtazapine than i used to. When I was in day hospital a few years ago my dosage was 30mg/day. the minimum therapeutic dose is 15mg/day. And I only take 7.5 mg/day right now (i just cut pills in half with a sharp knife). the reason i take this below therapeutic level dose is that i use it with a second anti-depressant in order to boost that other antidepressant's efficacy. This is a common practice among p-docs.
I hope i have helped you. good luck with your new meds.
-pi

I love it its the only way i sleep at night other wise i would be up most the night .Most my life I slept 3 to 4 hours a night if I was lucky .

Roz- it's making me feel like that too, but I've only been on it for a week, so I guess I'll keep on going for a while longer and see if it improves. I prefer that and weight gain to being in an observation unit.

Pi- thanks for reassuring me that the tiredness goes away.. it's not much fun right now

HI Reddevil, I've found Mirtazpine to work really well for anxiety and depression. The intense tiredness does wear off eventually. Unfortunately the hunger cravings don't, but if you tell yourself its just the "pills" talking your be fine.