Dangers Of Mirtazapine (Page 22)

It seems to me that Mirtazapine is a potentially dangerous drug with little information known about it. My veterinarian prescribed this drug in small quantities for my cat as an appetite stimulant, so I began reading articles on the drug and its effects. Although it is supposed to be used as an antidepressant for humans, it has a wide reputation for causing suicidal tendencies in children and young adults. It causes weight gain (the side effect my vet was looking for in my cat's case). It also can cause feelings of depression, and wooziness. I spoke with a nurse who took it and she said the effects of sluggishness and dizziness lasted 2 to 3 days. It can also cause nausea and headaches. It seems to me that these side effects are anything but what a person who is already depressed should be feeling. (suicidal tendencies that they didn't originally have, feeling tired and unwell physically, and weight gain that could cause feelings of insecurity or increased depression) Giving this drug to my cat was the worst thing I ever did. About an hour after administering it to her, she began crying, looking confused, and she could not walk straight. We figured the effects would wear off, but they seemed to worsen. The next day she was holding her head down, walking in circles (trying to walk straight) and she could not focus her eyes. We brought her to the emergency animal hospital, and they called a poison center. Even the poison center had so little information on this drug (especially being prescribed to cats) that they did not know how to counteract the effects. We believe that the drug actually caused a mild stroke in our cat, and the vet said this looked like it might be the case. On top of that, it has a 72 hour half life, so we just had to wait the drug out for her to even feel better. If this drug could cause a mild stroke in my cat, I could only imagine what it could also do to a human. With so little knowledge of the effects, and such long-lasting effects, it seems to me that it is a dangerous and harmful drug for doctors to be prescribing. A few years from now, when it actually is studied more, I bet that it will be taken off the market as another one of those trial drugs that did not work out. Until then, how many people (and animals) will it harm?

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Re: Jeff Howard (# 416)

Works great for me as I wasn't sleeping hardly at all so doctor put me on this a few years ago and works!!!

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For those who tolerate it well, mirtazapine works wonders as a non-addictive sleep aid. You may hear it referred to by its original trade name, Remeron. The nomenclature is actually an allusion to the “REM” sleep stage. Little useless trivia fact for ya ;-

—Dr. R

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Re: pamelap (# 368)

Add panting and my 11 year old had the exact same reaction to the same dose 3.75 mg the first time I gave it to him. He was eating before the mirtazapine just not as much. After giving him the dose and his horrible reaction to this appetite stimulant he has lost all interest in food and I am now syringe feeding. Thanks Mirtazapine.

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My dog has had a seizure condition that has been controlled with medication. He has not has a seizure in 3 years. He wasn’t eating and my vet prescribed mertazapine to stimulate his appetite. l gave him a dose as prescribed. That night he had a very bad seizure. I thought perhaps it was a break through seizure and didn’t think about it further. The next day after giving him the mirtazapine he had a seizure, worse and much longer in duration. I stopped the mirtazapine and no more seizures. Not worth the risk.

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Re: Xenas Mom (# 424)

Remeron should be used with caution in the presence of a seizure disorder, as it is known to lower seizure threshold. Consider Valium (diazepam) as an alternative. It is an anticonvulsant benzodiazepine with orexigenic properties.

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You're exactly right and don't listen to anyone who tells you differently. THIS MEDICINE WILL KILL YOUR ANIMAL. My cat was fine yesterday until this was administered to her. We woke up to her dead.

The vets are horrible for prescribing it AND the pharmaceutical companies for creating it.

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Re: Bagpuss (# 1)

I am sorry to hear about your cat :-(

I find it astonishing a vet would give this to an animal to stimulate appetite. It's a powerful drug and designed for treating humans not animals. And it's not even recommended or licensed for stimulating appetite in humans as far as I know.

I'm currently taking it for depression. It's quite an old drug now, but some doctors still like to prescribe it for patients like myself who haven't responded well to newer classes of anti-depressant drugs like the SSRI's.

There are a lot of side-effects listed, including the suicidal thought tendency (especially in younger people) but I have found the side-effects are relatively few and mild compared to the newer SSRI drugs. The main problem side-effects for me I haven't seen decrease is appetite stimulation/compulsive eating and rapid weight gain, and feeling very drowsy in the mornings for several hours after waking.

I'm currently taking 45mg, started at 15mg. The drug has a kind of hypnotic effect because it acts on histamine receptors in the brain, so you feel sleepy, drowsy, confused, disorientated and unsteady on your feet after taking it. I imagine these effects would be even more pronounced in a small animal like a cat, and that's why your cat may have been acting that way?

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Re: Bob (# 419)

1.88 mg recommended starting dose

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This was prescribed for my cat for her appetite, as she wasn't eating. She had an allergic reaction and died within hours! She could not breathe, rushed her to the emergency animal hospital but she died before anything could be done.

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Re: Charliek (# 429)

My cat was anemic but acting perfectly normal other than loss of appetite. Gave the transdermal version of this drug and within 4 hours my cat was dead. I was given this thinking it was just an appetite stimulant, I had no idea how dangerous it was. I gave it today which is a Sunday and the only 2 emergency vets were over capacity and couldn't see him. I had to watch my cat suffer and die.

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Re: Paul (# 427)

Yeah, I seriously can’t believe it either, I am a human being who is given this drug to try to stimulate my appetite years and years ago, I don’t know how I didn’t die in a car accident all I did was sleep and when I was awake I wouldn’t know what was going on. Like I remember getting a Facebook message and I thought it was a private message so I replied to it in a way that was private except I was replying on my public wall and I had been using Facebook for a long long time, I’m not computer illiterate, I just didn’t know what was going on because this medication is so brutal. I can’t believe they give this to people for depression. How does this help depression if all you do is sleep and eat? Your poor cats I’m so sorry, thank you for saying that. I’m going to scold my vet for ever suggesting this for my cat.

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Re: Paul (# 427)

May I suggest you stop focusing on serotonin and start focusing on dopamine if no medication has ever helped your depression? I don’t know why they get so obsessed with only serotonin treatments. I had many medication failures before I was finally diagnosed with ADHD and give him medication for dopamine. I haven’t felt “depressed” in the 20 years I have been on and off ADHD meds. It was never depression, it was always ADHD. It really sucks that the drug companies push those SSRIs so much because not everyone actually has depression.

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My cat was given that poison also part of the treatment where he was staying they have a webcam I thought my cat died not to mention what I saw him go through he's home now but he sure ain't like himself I don't blame it on the treatment I blame it on this pill

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