Hello All, my first post. I had a ruptured aneurysm in January 2022.Then 3 years later, I began to get very sleepy after lunch and have since then had to rest for a couple of hours to be functional again. My doc thinks it is an aftereffect of my aneurysm even though it started several years afterwards. The onset of the sleepiness coincided with changing the dosage of mirtazapine, first increasing, then lowering it below the original dose. It’s always seemed to me that is what caused it. Has anyone else experienced this? Any thoughts about how to make it stop happening?
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First topic! Well done Ms. Emily! Had to look up Mirtazapine and it does have sleepiness as a side effect. Changing medication or changing dosages certainly has an effect as do ruptures. When I first ruptured my Neurologist was switching meds left and right to try to get a tremor that didn’t affect my quality of life. I slept all the time. Got over that eventually and he stopped trying to find a med a year or so prior. I had to retrain myself to sleep at night. A couple years after my stent, I started getting really drowsy after I ate. I sleep. Probably shouldn’t because I read in bed for a bit before turning out my light. Everything I’ve read says don’t read in bed but I’ve been doing it since the 3rd Grade. You might try reducing your carbs at lunch. Found this which has a lot of information https://www.verywellhealth.com/why-am-i-sleepy-after-eating-lunch-3014827
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Hi Emily! When are you taking the Mirtazapine? This is one of those weird drugs where the lower doses are sedating while higher doses are activating.
I take it at night to help with insomnia (15 mg), but I know it’s also prescribed at higher doses for mood disorders.
I’m about 5 months out from my clipping surgery. I too hit a wall in the early afternoon but I’ve been chalking it up to still being in early-ish recovery.
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I take 15 mgs around 8 pm and also for sleep. Used to take 30. Then a doctor increased it then decreased it to 15. It was during this change in dosage that the sleepiness suddenly started.
. I didn’t know that about the effect of lower versus higher doses.
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It’s hard to link it to the dose change specifically if you’re taking the meds at night. The elimination half-life of Mirtazapine is 20-40 hours, meaning it takes that long for the medication to be reduced by 50% in your system. You could be experiencing residual side effects of the drug, but levels typically stabilize after about a week which makes me wonder if something else.
Reactive hypoglycemia and blood pressure drops after eating can make you crash too. Have you ever been tested for sleep apnea?
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I have had a sleep test recently and I do not have apnea. I assume my primary care physician would see signs of hypoglycemia and blood pressure drops.
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