Dd has been prescribed Mirtazapine and is refusing to take them in case they make her gain weight - anyone around who can advise?

[PaperScissorsRock]

After years of mental health stuff - anxiety, depression, ocd and more recently an eating disorder (currently lower end of healthy weight range), dd (18) has been prescribed Mirtazapine.

She’s googled it and has found that this is the most likely to make her gain weight as it’ll increase her appetite (which is probably why the gp prescribed it), so she won’t take it.

Does anyone have experience with Mirtazapine? Any reassurance?

Is it worth her talking to the gp about it?

Obviously I can’t force her to take it, but I do think she needs something. Are there other options which she might more easily consider?

Thanks

Thank you @Zilla1.

OP it sounds like your chat with the GP has been helpful. I do hope your daughter feels able to take the new medication.

She does, thank you.
She googled it, weight isn’t mentioned at all, so it’s ok to try!

I took it for over 2 years and did not gain a pound. It really helped my sleep.

Oh yeah for fibromyalgia it’s not good. It can agitate some rheumatoid receptor.

I put on a tonne of weight on mirtazapine. Loved it for the sleep, did not love getting fat and not feeling fully awake till lunch.
Am on sertraline now, much better for me.
Tbh I can see it being very counterproductive if she has an ED.

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince

Oh yeah for fibromyalgia it’s not good. It can agitate some rheumatoid receptor.

Is this anecdotal? I am sure you are aware that every person with ME/CFS or Fibromyalgia is different. I don't think it's helpful to say Sertraline causes issues when assertion isn't necessarily based on medical studies, and may not apply to everyone with the above health conditions anyway. It just causes unnecessary worry and may mean that people won't take medication that could very well help their mental health. I have Fibro and ME/CFS and I have had no issues taking Sertraline, so it must work for some people then.

That's excellent news, OP! I would just remind your daughter that the effects of the medication won't be immediate. It can take two weeks or longer for medication to work. It is definitely worth persevering, but if your daughter definitely doesn't get on with the medication, there are lots of alternatives she can try instead. Fingers crossed!

I wasn’t talking about Sertraline l was talking about Mirtazapine.

It’s not good for pain issues and it’s not anecdotal.

www.the-rheumatologist.org/article/mirtazapine-ineffective-for-fibromyalgia/

I don’t know anything about sertraline and pain.

I was prescribed it for anxiety and insomnia. It worked wonders, I went from 3 hours to 8 every night. My anxiety seemed easier to manage when I wasn’t so tired all the time.

But unfortunately I did put in weight with it. It’s hard to describe, I wasn’t hungry all the time, just never felt full. I don’t have any disordered eating and I felt quite unhappy about the weight.

I stopppd taking them in summer and I’m almost back to my ideal weight. But the insomnia is back and I’m feeling really low, so I’m considering going back on them.

Go on Agomelatine instead. Lots of sleep no overeating

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince

I wasn’t talking about Sertraline l was talking about Mirtazapine.

It’s not good for pain issues and it’s not anecdotal.

www.the-rheumatologist.org/article/mirtazapine-ineffective-for-fibromyalgia/

I don’t know anything about sertraline and pain.

Apologies, I meant Mirtazapine in my post. Thank you for posting the article. I note that it states

"Patrick Welsch, a researcher at the Health Care Center for Pain Medicine and Mental Health in Germany, and colleagues published the results of their systematic review online Aug. 6. They note the quality of evidence was low or very low. The authors identified only three studies, all of which were of questionable quality. They described issues of indirectness, imprecision, risk of publication bias and, in some cases, low number of events."

So I still think it is misguided to strongly dissuade people with FM from taking Mirtazapine when the evidence is far from conclusive.

Also, this thread is specifically about Mirtazapine for mental health problems. Which is the primary purpose of the medication. How commonly is Mirtazapine used for pain management? There are much more effective medications for that, which no one is disputing. The article you linked to talks about Mirtazapine for pain management, not for mental health.

It's not helpful to issue a blanket statement that Mirtazapine is bad for people with ME/CFS or Fibromyalgia, when each patient has a different experience of those conditions. What works for one may not work for another, and vice versa.

Apologies if I have de-railed the thread, OP.

Shitty drug. I gained so much weight and felt knackered.

I do well on Duloxetine. It hasn't made me gain significant weight and it's really evened me out. Definitely works for me

Well you see tofuschnitzel if you Google it there’s quite a lot on it. It can hit a receptors associated with rheumatoid. It happened to me.

But l cba to find them. Feel free though. I don’t know why you are being so aggressive about it. It’s only a pill