Mirtazapine & Getting Better

[realscape]

Comments welcomed

I am refusing to take the mirtazapine that the shrink has prescribed. This is because according to me, it will make me fat and it won't cure my depression. Based a small field of enquiry in which I ignored everything positive people had to say and listened to everything negative (how very scientific of me). However, I am starting to wonder if it is because I am avoiding the possibility of recovery.

Now I'm confused. I dunno what to think anymore.

I am also drinking heavily and not sticking to my normally very healthy diet and self-isolating and not answering the phone and over eating which is signs of destructiveness.

Could it be the case that in avoiding mirtazapine I am actually being unhelpful to myself? Could it be that if I stopped doing the above things, I wouldn't need the bloody mirtazapine anyway? What do others think?

[mrs tree]

Real,

For me yes i did gain weight on mirtazepine but was also able to loose some although it was difficult. It is the best anti D i have ever taken and would stil be on it if ti wasn't for the Baby/fertility stuff

I think you should consider trying it...if you are not prepared to try it discuss trying another anti D.

Tc

[poodle]

Real,

I'm on Mirtazapine. When I look back to when I first went on it and look at the person I am now....well, wow! Have I come a long way. I was in utter pieces, severely suicidal and so on and in specialist psychotherapy unit under 24 hours supervision, 7 days a week, when I first went on it. Now I am living on my own and although giving up college, atleast I have given it a go. I am now going to look into voluntary work. I am not saying that I am cured or that I am better. It's just that I have come such a long way.

Sorry, I am really not very good at expressing myself.

I just think that it could be worth a try. Yes, I am about 3 stone heavier than I was when I first went on Mirtazapine, but I was on Olanzapine too for part of that time which didn't help. Plus I have given up smoking which hasn't helped. I am now following a diet and have lost 6lbs in two weeks.... so long may that continue.

I don't think it's a wonder drug. It has just worked for me and brought me so far. It has sedated me and stopped my brain from being in a total head f*ck all the time. Yeah I do think it can dull my emotions at times, but then I don't think that is such a bad thing for me, as I don't want such intense emotions which screw me up big time and make me do crazy shit.

Having said this.... I now think Mirtazapine has taken me as far as it can. I am seeing my pdoc next week and there is a possibility that I may try a different anti-d. Part of this is to do with weight. But part of it is that I am still depressed.

You could see how far Mirtazapine can take you? You never know it could work for you.... but you won;t know unless you try..... and if you don't like it you can always come off it.

I have rambled and I probably haven't answered the questions you asked, but I just wanted to share my experience of Mirtazapine....

take care

Poodle

[realscape]

Hi Tree

Thanks for the reply, yeh, you know I'm starting to think maybe I can try it for say, 3 or 4 months, and then if I don't feel a bit better or something then I can quit it again. Also, I have tried loads of others in the past, albeit not consistently, and I'm kind of at the end of the line. I think the GPs and shrinks look at what has been taken in the past and say OK well tried that, didn't work, move onto the next. But in reality, years ago I was heavily using drink and drugs when I tried prozac and other antiDs so the truth isn't really out there.

Loving your bump counter by the way....x Real

[pip]

Real

I promoted mirtazepine.

I could give lectures on it(and have done)

I wouldn't take it

and I know how it works down to receptor site level.

Any quests - email me

Antime

pip

x

[poodle]

Real,

I don't know if you saw my response. I got crossed over with Mrs Tree's!! I still think it's worth a shot...

Poodle

[realscape]

Hi Poodle

Sorry, I just checked this thread and saw your response, it must have crossed with my last post.

Anyhow, I am still left confused now. I am so wary of putting on weight because I abnormally judge myself on weight, abnormal as that is, it means that I have to use that as serious consideration of whether to take something or not. I spend my whole life from age 14 - 30 underweight and am currently middle to upper of my average weight which is a big negative thing for me. Being overweight could make me more suicidal than being depressed. I know how stupid that sounds but its a fact that I need to consider.

At the moment, and on balance of what has been said, I can't take it. That is not to say what you have written isn't valid and good points. I jus can't do it. Putting on weight scares the fuck out of me. I don't want to be sedated, I want my life back. No offence intended to your response Poodle but I can't do it. I'd rather die. Praps that means I'm fucked but I could smoke heroin and be sedated and skinny or I could take mirtazapine and be sedated and fat. It don't calculate in my brain.

obviously I have lost the plot completely but I feel like this doesn't make sense.

[mrs tree]

real

The side effects for everyone aren't the same...most say it sedates you at night but it never did me..There is someone else on here can't think who off the top of my head that didn't gain any weight.

It is your descision but do think if you decide against it for weight gain reasons then talk to docs about this see if they will px something else that might work

Tc

[LiveWire]

Realscape -

I take Mirtazapine but only in a very small dose, 15mg at night to help me sleep. At this small dosage I have not had any problem with weight gain.

I have been on many different combinations of antidepressants and mood stabilizers. I know everyone is different but for me the following has really worked quite well.

Cymbalta - I take 120 mg/day for depression

Topamax - Currently 150 mg/day mood stabilizer

Mirtazapine - 15 mg/day sleep (I'm generally asleep within 30 minutes of taking it with no hangover)

I talked my P-doc into Topamax not only for the mood stabilization but also for the appetite suppressant effects it has. I had gained about 30lbs taking and anti-psychotic Zyprexa and was really heavy.

They say the max dosage for Cymbalta is 60 mg/day, but I think many people take more than what's recommended.

I guess I should add, I have no side effects whatsoever from the Cymbalta or Topamax.

Hope this helps...

[realscape]

Hi, thanks for the replies. I am too drunk to think straight right now, will re-read in the morning x Real

[pip]

Real

I would also rather be skinny and depressed

than fat - as thet itself would depress me.

Zispin stimulates receptor sites in your brain

that make you hungry - fact

I worked for the company

pip

x

[realscape]

Thanks Pip

I am never taking it. They are insane to take people with eating disorders and then make them take stuff that makes us fat. I mean, really, where do they think that leaves us? Are they fucking mad?

Sorry, ranting.........

Hugs pip x Real

[pip]

Real

I would die before taking it

- no exaggeration.

Take Care

pip

x

[ladyluck28]

I'm on that drug and it's a very good one..it's helped me in the past two years..I came a long way myself from being either chronically depressed to where I wanted to take my own life, or to being extremely and elevated in moods where I did dangerous things to myself, to now being a close to normal person. I don't think it was the Remeron that made me fat,, but the zyprexa did..i look at this way, I would rather be fat and happy and somewhat normal than be thin and depressed and winding up in the hospital all the time because I tried to do myself in..Real, I would take the drug and give it a six week try and see if you feel better..you can always moniter what you eat daily to not gain the weight. Remeron has very little side effects..I take it at night so I don't become tired during the day..it works and I highly recommned it to anyone who struggles like I once did..(((hugs)))

[realscape]

I know it sounds totally self-defeating but I literally cannot risk anything that will result in weight gain.

I know that is stupid thinking but I would rather die than be fat. Anyone with an Eating Disorder would understand that. I am not saying the people who have responded don't understand but you bet your life they're not anorexic or eating disordered. I'm already 3 stone heavier than I want to be. I would no more take a pill that might make me fatter than I would eat McDonalds every day.

I am so distressed about this. I can't find a way of feeling better and the one that is offered to me is the route to being fat. This is shit. I have asked for different referrals and for different meds and my GPs and psychs are blanking me. I feel so abused already. I'm in the complaints system about them but all the same where does that leave me on a daily basis? They're so fucking abusive. I wish I never got clean and I wish I never went down this route.

[pip]

(((Real)))

Did you know that wine has alot of sugar too?

sorry

pip

x

[realscape]

Yes hun I know that

The one thing that helped me stay off booze was the knowledge of how much sugar it contained and the fact that my dad has lost his legs and eyesight thru drinking so there is a hereditary diabetic gene too.

However, I cannot maintain cleanliness, I cannot maintain not drinking, as much as I have tried, and as much as I would encourage and support anyone on this site not to drink. So that leaves me with even less choice, I'm not gonna take a drug that makes me feel like eating as well as drinking. Like I say, I would rather die now than be fatter than I already am. Sick thinking of course it is, but thats where I'm at.

Send round the paramedics. O yeah, there aren't any for sick thinking. Only if I get run over by a bus.

Sorry, I'm fucked babes, I'm dying really I am actually dying.

[pip]

Real

I am lying here drinking a bottle of white.

I did not have dinner

We are on the same wavelength.

I relate to you totally

pip

x

[realscape]

Hi Pip

I know you understand, I realise that. I feel close to you and I feel that we are in similar life situations.

I read some other threads here tonight and not blaming them, jus identifying with them, but not seeing the way out really hun. Meantime, hanging on in, drinking wine, not feeling strong enough to act on anythin, but feeling overall and sustainedly fed up for a long long time and not seeing the end of it. And having this sort of 'religious experience' which to be honest is beyond words but very final and very over but not right now.

If we can overcome this together then more power to us, more power to our experiences and more power to our overcoming of those experiences. We are all here to live in hope hun.

I wrote some very very negative stuff and deleted it in favour of what I jus said because it was so disturbing and so sad. And you know what WE here and WE FEMALES here on this site can live together and support each other together. I lose sight of that sometimes I really lose sight. But tonight is not the night I am gonan die. I will be here tomorro and more after that. A lot more after that, I promise. See you tomoz

xxx Real

[pip]

(((Real)))

xx

[ladyluck28]

I hear you both..I"m sitting here drinking a litre of vodka cooler..tomorrow maybe hard for me to wake up early..but I don't care..

[orangesoup]

Sorry this is a bit late. But Real, I have taken Mirtazapine, and I didn't gain any weight. Well I may have gained 1 or 2 pounds but I'm pretty sure I didn't. And I have an eating disorder. Which I think is the contributing factor to my not gaining any weight. I would talk myself out of being hungry/wanting food. So that worked for me. As well as having healthy snacks around for if I was desperate.

I also wasn't left feeling numb or anything else. Maybe a little fuzzy at times. But nothing I couldn't cope with. But I have just been forced back onto it recently. So I will keep you updated with how that goes.

I gained a shit load on zyprexa though. So I would think that Poodle's weight gain was primarily from that.

I can relate to the fear of being well.

Take care x

[poodle]

Real,

just read your response to what i put about mirtazapine and i understand your reasons for not going on it. there are other meds out there which you could try...

let us know how you are getting on honey,

Poodle

x

[Miko]

Hi Real,

Drugs don't make you gain weight by eating, it's because they cause fluid to accumulate.

(They affect everybody very differently though)

Booze makes some people gain weight and wastes some people away.

Booze is a depressant.

I would suggest you drop weight as an issue altogether.

"Brain Lock" by Jeffrey Schwartz is a good read, I found.

[PanickyPolly]

Mirtazapine doesn't make you gain weight..over eating does. All it does in increase your appetite so if that happens snack on veg or fruit. Simple as.