Mitrazapine

I haven't gained any weight with it,I know this is a big problem with it but a lot of other drugs have weight gain as a side effect

How nice to hear something positive.like you it worked for me within a couple of weeks and I too have been on many,many anti depressants.i do watch what I eat but it hasn't really been a problem

Hey ive been on remeron now for 7 months and i now feel amazn.  i to have been on many antidepressants and this is by far the best for me. I sleep and eat well now and my anxiety is gone. Citalopram was terrible for me and made me want to end it all. I have gained weight but a small price to pay for a healthy brain. Ive now joined the gym so hope to gt on top off the weight issues.. Good luk to everyone hope u gt well soon.

I understand what you are saying.we all know drs prescribe drugs to line their own pockets.i trust the psycyatist who prescribed mirt for me and I trust my gp.the truth is any drugs prescribed for psychiatric conditions can have horrendous side effects I know because it's happened to me.i would go so far to say one has ruined my life.i don't think you can say mirt is the worst drug ever you did say it helped you with a couple of things so it can't be that bad.i think probably it hasn't worked out for you and I don't know why but you have decided to wage war against it.everyone is different so I think to say people it works for are naive is maybe a bit out of line.

I see where you are coming from, and the very nature of these forums are only really going to atract comments from people who have stong either positive or negative views on it, so it isn`t really a good measure of the effectiveness (or not) of Mirtazipine, just a self selected section of patients personal views.

I put my name in Google and got 2,800.000+ results, only 3 were about me!.

Of course we take on board your comments of being careful about taking such powerfull, and mind altering drugs, but when one has been in the utter depths of deprssion for years, even decades, anything that worked seemed wonderful to me. All drugs have a list of side effects 1/2 a mile long, I`m often amused to see it listing "weight gain", and then "weight loss" for the same drug! (according to the BNF)

Personally, I can only speak for myself when I say that Mitazipine was liturally a life saver for me, I took it for deep organic long standing  Depression, I cannot comment on whether it helps people put on weight, and as a sleeping tablet I think it may be useful for a couple of weeks, but other than that I don`t know.

It was designed as an anti depressant, and that is what they did for me.

I honestly think that at the time they were by far the most effective option available, there may be newer drugs that are better, I don`t know.

Everyone is different, so what is right for one may be disasterous for someone else, but carolyn88417 asked if there were any positve comment on the drug, that`s all I tried to do, it his her/his decision whether it is right for them, and the specifics of the illness they are fighting.

All the best

Paddy

I know people have positive experiences on the drug, as I said I had some positives but the negatives out weighed the positives.  I searched for the side effects I had on mirtazapine and they are not thousands of pages of babble they are real people all suffering the same as I was, which is why I said enough is enough and came off them.  Mirtazapine as you said cured my depression, but then caused me to have anxiety and panic attacks, so doctor prescribed propanolol for anxiety, caused me massive chest pain and my gf wanted me to go into hospital.  I am glad it works for you paddy but like the consultant told me anti depressants are not a permanent fix and can make some people worse and cause more problems in long term.  I just want people to be aware of the side effects as my doctor didnt mention any to me.

Glad your feeling better anyway!

Nick

I agree with your sentiments about doctors not telling patients all they should, the week before last my GP cut the dosage of one of my meds in half, they didn`t even bother to tell me they had done it, let alone why.

Paddy

Yes that does sound very zaphod and also you have to wonder what motive they have?   GP's are payed to prescribe and as my doctor said "Depression is a bit of a hit or miss, its a bit out of our area you will be better off seeing a consultant who will be able to give you a proper diagnosis".  So that told me that the doctor prescribed me something he knew nothing about - but I already knew that when I told him that the 15mg was making me like a zombie, and read that 30mg has less sedative and he was also shocked with that too and had to look it up himself in front of me.  In my opinion only consultants should be able to prescribe mind altering medication and even they dont get it right half the time.  This is of course from personal experience and also friends and family with all the similiar experiences like yourself zaphod.  Too many things dont add up for me and I am glad I found my natural alternative to anti-depressants that works for me.  My main issue with mirtazapine personally was acne outbreaks and hairloss - I googled "Mirtazapine hair loss" and found 480,000 pages on the subject with forums of thousands of people talking about the same thing.  If you google a different side effect you were having on the medication I bet you will have 100's of thousands of similiar relevant results.  My doctor didnt even know that mirtazapine caused hairloss.  Nor did he know that Propanolol can cause hair loss too its quite upsetting talking about how blind I was to taking all these things just because he prescribed it - I have learnt my lesson anyway!

Make an appt to see your GP or phone him and ask him. Maybe make a not of what you want to ask your GP, and then make notes of what he says.

Was this as a result of a repeat prescription? It would be unusual for a GP to change your prescription without an appointment - I would have thought.

Do you have a consultant or does your GP manage your treatment? My consultant might reduce my dosage following a consultation and then write to the GP. Despite the fact that I am no longer supposed to be on Lithium my GP still puts it on my prescription such that each day I have to discard that.

In fact, if I go to my GP to complain about the sedative effects of a drug - mirt or quetiapine - he says that was what was prescribed by my psychiatrist. I believe that the GP is the primary contact for treatment - that is why they are called Primary Care Trusts.

Either way I asked him to tell my consultant. If he doesn't tell the consultant how will he know.

Also I have my psychiatrist's email address - he didn't give it to me. Somehow my MDF group got it - I email him with problems I am having with my meds. I don't have a care coordinator and I speak to my consultant directly - why speak to the monkey when you can talk to the organ grinder.

GPs are not paid to prescribe - in fact, if their prescribing is out of the ordinary this might be investigated to see that there is not something wrong. It is not in the interests of the NHS for doctors to over-prescribe as the NHS is having to pick up the bill for the drugs.

My sister is a GP and wouldn't dream of treating herself or her children. She and they have another GP.

Interestingly I found this discussion on the GMC website about this.

GPs can't win about treating psychiatric conditions. I have known people who like to get medication through their GP who is not clued up on the right meds and can continue prescribing meds when if they were to see a  psych they would say that the patient no longer needs them - and, of course, once the psych has said that there is little way that the GP could continue to prescribe.

Its OK, I know the reason, Zopiclone was re-classified as a CD4-1, as I have been getting a prescription for 15mg a night since 1994, it didn`t really come as a suprise, as he would have to prescribe double the stated dose in the BNF, something I don`t think he was prepared to carry on now it is a controlled drug. Still, would have been nice for him to have told me, instead I learnt the reason on this forum

Paddy

Unfortunately, the Consultant Psychiatrist who`s care I was under for near on 20 years has now retired, the new chap (a six month placement doctor(?)) said that "as I was not actively suicidal he no longer needed to see me", even though my previous (proper Psychiatrist) had stated on my records that I should continue to stay in touch with the MHT. I have a diagnosis of Depression/Anxiety, BPD and Suicidal tendencies (not really accurate anymore), and my Consultant`s parting letter to my GP (which I read) was to the effect of "keep ongoing treatment whilst patient is stable", so my GP has not even attempted to change prescriptions for Sleeping tablets, Diazepam, Anti depressants and other Psych meds. I doubt that they would have changed my Zopiclone dosage if it hadn`t become a CD. I personally wouldn`t trust most of the GPs at my practice with "head Meds" anyway.

Paddy

Funny, I looked up "Mirtazapine hair loss" and I fund 25,000 results. On the Depression Alliance webpage on mirtazapine there is no mention on hair loss being a common side-effect.

There i also no mention of this as even a rare side-effect on the NHS guidelines.

www.beh-mht.nhs.uk/Downloads/Patient%20and%20carers/Medication%20leaflets/Adults%20and%20older%20people/Mirtazapine.pdf

Isn't 20 years a bit long to be with the same person - you probably needed a younger person with new ideas anyway. You imply that the new guy isn't even a doctor - some chance.

He probably is a Junior Doctor, but in this area, they do a 6 month internship at the Local Psychiatric hospital, Doctor maybe, Possibly even one with the goal of being a Psychiatrist, but if they were ever going to prescribe anything, thay always had to ask the resident Consultant Psychiatrist first.

And no, the Psychiatrist that I was under for 20 years was recognised as the best the NHS had to offer in this town, came straight out of university and specialised in Psychiatry. I saw plenty of the other type before I was lucky enough to get him to accept me onto his list.

I haven`t seen a Psychiatrist since he retired, and now the only person I see is the Psychiatrict nurse who`s attached to the local surgery.

Fotunately, I had been stable for some time before the Psychiatrist retired, I don`t know how things are now, but from what I read in the local paper Mental Health care is in a sorry state, and it wasn`t that great when I was involved in it.

Paddy

As an example of the care the new doctors supply, I was once discharged by a junior doctor to the back seal of my car, fortunately the proper Psych rang me up when he returned to work on Monday, and told me to come back, to his ward

 

That is funny your right :D! Try google dot com instead of google dot co dot uk so your searching world wide also the more you keep digging the more you realize the NHS will not tell you everything.  Infact they are not a reliable source of information because they leave out things that people dont want to hear.   Do you think people would take mirtazapine if they knew there is a good chance their hair would start falling out ?  I know I wouldn't but I learned the hard way as did hunders of thousands of other people.

Well, if he is a junior doctor then he might need to consult with his boss, your actual psychiatrist. And after all if he is not fully trained as you believe is it not best if he consults someone more senior?

 I am not clear what "people of the other type" are.

My sister is a doctor and post-getting their degree they have to do two short 6-month postings - I don't know if psychiatry is one they can choose - but I doubt it would be one of thoe but I don't know.

Typing google dot com on my Internet gives me google dot co dot uk plus a long string of code.

When I type in "Mirtazapine hair loss" again I get 24,700 results.

And why would people take mirtazipine if they knew that it was going to have a strong sedative effect - but they do. andy why would women have chemotherapy if they knew that they were going to lose all their hair - but they do?

Finally believe what you want - because you only believe what you want to hear.

Dont know what your looking at but my google says "About 464,000 results (0.31 seconds) " not that it matters the point is it is a known side effect whether you like it or not, I myself had it and its stopped since being off the mirtazapine and also thousands of other people have also had it.  Also my doctor didn't tell me that there would be a strong sedative effect nor did he tell me about anything to do with the drug apart from take it before bed.  There are other people on these forums that are suffering on mirtazapine so please dont come on here trying to upset people more than they already are.