[Delk]

AFAIK mirtazapine shouldn't cause habituation the way actual "sleeping pills" or benzodiazepines do. That's one of the reasons it may be preferable as a sleeping aid, especially in the longer term.

Anecdotally, when I took mirtazapine for sleeping problems, it did sometimes seem to have a stronger effect the first time I took it after not using it for a while. After that the effect stayed stable. Overall it shouldn't cause habituation, and my doctor said as much.

Of course trust your doctor and not strangers on the internet, though.

[mettamage]

> After that the effect stayed stable. Overall it shouldn't cause habituation, and my doctor said as much.

Yea so this is where it gets murky for me. I experience some habituation actually. But my actual doctor went like "wtf is this?" and she didn't really mentioned what she knows about it. So on this particular pill my friend is my doctor. Not an ideal situation. I mean, he is an actual doctor but for him to be my doctor in this is a bit fucked up. He knows a lot more about mirtazapine than my GP though since he read up on it.

[Delk]

> I experience some habituation actually.

I suppose it can be quite different for different people. I stopped using it because it often (not always) made me still feel tired and unfocused in the morning, something that apparently also doesn't happen to everyone.

> But my actual doctor went like "wtf is this?"

Different country, but where I live, prescribing low-dose mirtazapine for insomnia appears to be fairly common practice even though it's off-label. I've had it suggested or mentioned by three or four different doctors, including GPs. I also know several other people who have been prescribed it.

The doctors here seem to prefer low-dose mirtazapine as safer over typical CNS depressants such as benzodiazepines for insomnia nowadays, at least if the problem may be longer-term.

So it's not really something particularly weird. Of course different countries also have different medical cultures so I guess it's not surprising if it's not that common in other places.