Dangers Of Mirtazapine (Page 17)

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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Cyproheptadine is the name of the drug that is sometimes used for an antidote when a cat reacts with "Seratonin Syndrome" after taking Mirtazapine. Google it for more info.

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I was placed on mirtazapine fro depression. Within two weeks negative side effects outweighed the positive. I couldn't sleep, began to get fevers and headaches. I came off it and due to its long half life, I continued to be dosed with this poison.the headaches became 9/10 pain, th e fevers reached 39degress with vomiting but the worst thing was the unquenchable thirst causing severe dehydration. In six days in was admitted to ED three times each time receiving three litters of fluids. This drug was pure was pure poison to me. It's two weeks now since stopping it, I am still weak as a kitten and feels almost completely disconnected from my body, like I'm I feel constantly like I'm floating, it's harder to see now or speak. I don't know why I reacted this way but I would warn any sensitive soul to stay away from mirtazapine!

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I have just given my 16 yo male Himalayan 1/4 tab Mertazapine as recommended by my vet. Wish I would have read the online discussions regarding the potential side effects first. He has renal failure, and had recently lost his desire to eat which was very worrisome! Although he drank some kitty milk and a few bites of food about an hour later, he seems edgy, so will sleep with him tonight, monitoring his HR and other physical changes. You can bet I will be at our all-night ER facility for fluids if anything severe occurs. Wish I would have done 1/8 tab - always err on the side of caution, when it comes to psychotropic drugs. But I, again, gave the recommended dose as prescribed by my vet. Wish veterinarians did more homework regarding side effects before prescribing certain meds. I had also told him my cat was under 10 lbs - too hefty a dose for his weight. Now, am nervous about what I might encounter - will report back after 24 hours. This will be an all-nighter!

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Dear Cat Lover Girl, I look forward to your 24 he update and am praying for the best for your fur baby.

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I took my 11 year old cat in for her first teeth cleaning on 4/8/16. Everything seem to go fine. She was supposed to be able to eat that evening. She snubbed her food. Thinking nothing of it, that her mouth was probably too soar. The next morning I noticed something wrong with her left eye. Her bottom eye lid was covering half her eye. And she refused food and water. I Took her back to the vet and was told the eye thing was caused by Homer's Syndrome. Meaning during her procedure, a nerve in her neck was pinched. But was advised by the vet Home'rs Syndrome does not cause loss of appetite. I was sent home with Clinical Care, Royal Canine High energy canned food and syringe to force feed her till she came around. Day 6 after the teeth cleaning nothing changed and she was worse, not active, sleeping all the time. I was very frightened at this point that I was going to loose her. I rushed her to the vet on day 7 and re-did her blood work, x-rays, and found she was a healthy kitty, but why won't she eat? After getting an iv to rehydrate her, My vet prescribed 7.5mg of Mirtazapine every 24 hours for 10 days, along with metoclopramide Syrup twice a day. The first day I administered these meds was at 8pm. I went out to get her some baby food (I read this could help) and when I got back she was constantly meowing. She is not a verbal kitty. But I when I served her the baby food, she started eating it right away. I thought she was meowing cuz she was hungry, so I started putting her treats out, I broiled some chicken for her, etc, she didn't touch anything. She stopped meowing once we went to sleep at 11pm, but like if she was on speed she couldn't sleep and she let me know, it was a restless night for both of us. But when I looked at her food bowl and chicken, she ate it all:) Tonight, day 2, I gave her the Mirtazapine at 6pm. Again the meowing started an hour later and it sounds like a meow in pain. I decided to look up this med online. I'm surprised by the posts on this website. It's Sunday tomorrow and I feel a little helpless that I can't console with my vet with this new info. I don't want her to stop eating, but I am not sure why this causes her to meow after administered.

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Hi Becky T, Thx so much for your comforting words. I needed that today - I was up most of the night w/ my Sam. The effect Mertazapine had on him was similar to what others have described. Rather than sleeping, as cats love to do, he was "wired", looking kind of stunned, twitching a bit, and every time I left his side he cried. I figured that as the Rx wears off, he would crash. Drank a but of milk today, some water, but still a little restless. He is (was) 18 lbs, but under 10 now. Am monitoring each of his every moves, has a hot H20 bottle and soft blanket. My dilemma is when to call it quits - the hardest decision one has to make. Said we'd not let him suffer, but when the time comes, you want to pull all stops to make them better. He is a proud cat and a real fighter - I have several cats who share my life, am honored and humbled to have them all. Hate to give up. Your suggestions? At the end it's hard to make good judgments. Thx SO much. We have an ER hospital close to our house, if need be. Yes, another cat of mine was on Ciproheptadine, but my current vet doesn't use it anymore. Why, I don't know.

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Cat Lover Girl, I'm so happy to hear you made it through the night with him. You are an excellent cat mom. Read up on the half life of the Mirtazapine before giving him any more and then try the 1/8th tab if you decide to give him anymore. ( I think it's a 72 hr half life.).
As far as knowing when to help your guy transition, I think that's a personal decision and I think you will know when it's time. Your cat will let you know. They love us, so they hold on so long. The hard part, I think, is knowing when we are being selfish by keeping them here. Let your heart be your guide. Please keep us posted. Prayers for you and your kitty.

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I'm Carol who posted "Help! I OD'd my cat. He's 15. Gave him four times the amount of Mirtazapine. That was 4 hours ago. He seemed fine at the time but now he's meowing and howling non-stop."

1.) As a practicing clinical psychologist for 30 years I have never had a patient take Mirtazapine. Its trade name is Remeron. So its rare that its prescribed as an antidepressant. In a major meta-analysis published in 2009 that compared the efficacy and tolerability of 12 second-generation antidepressants, mirtazapine was found to be superior to all of the included SSRIs, (such as Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft) SNRIs, (Cymbalta) and bupropion (think Wellbutrin) in terms of antidepressant efficacy, while it was average in regard to tolerability. However, its superior efficacy over the other medications in the top four escitalopram (Lexapro & Cymbalta), sertraline (Zoloft) and venlafaxine (Effexor) did not reach statistical significance. In fact, mirtazapine has been found to be significantly superior to Trazodone (which is in the class of SARIs) which I find amazing because Trazodone knocks you out at bedtime and is promptly out of your system. Let's get to the cat.

2.) The online vet said to take him in person to a vet and the treatment would be to pump him full of fluids. She said not to let him on the stairs because he might fall and hurt himself. The was no mention of a real antidote such as Cyproheptadine mentioned in another post. It was 11:30 pm so I did not take him to the vet. During the call, he took it upon himself to go up and down the stairs before I could stop him and he seemed OK with that. The following day he seemed a bit disoriented but ate, slept, played and did things that 15 year old kitties do. So I didn't take him to the vet. Mind you, I gave him four times to recommended dose and he's just fine.

That's all she wrote.

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Carol-- Awesome report!! That's a happy ending. I'm so glad he's okay.

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My Cat Eli will be 14 in August. He is my first pet and I am not a young woman. About a week or so ago he stopped eating his dry food. I had already noticed he had been drinking a lot more water for a couple months. He has been through alot in the last 5 months. I lost my home to a fire just befor X-mas 2015 and Eli was in the home. Fireman got him out and my white cat was black.. He was given oxygen for a couple hours. We had to stay with releatives for 7 wks , then moved to a hotel for a couple wks. Been in a temporary home for 2.5 months now. So moving him was stressful on him. While he has always had a problem with vomiting after eating in the morning, it would be maybe once a week or so. Since I moved into this temporary place he vomits every morning after eating. Not sure what was / is going on with that.
When he stopped eating his wet food or even chicken I cooked I knew he had to go to vet. Diagnosed yesterday with kidney failure. I have to give him IV fluids a couple times a week and Clavamox 1 cc 2 times a day. And mirtazapine 1/4 tab every 3 days. And was given prescription diet kidney care wet food. I had such a stressful night last night trying to get these meds into him. He will not eat the food. I even tried it in a syringe. And giving him the Clavamox orally, he spits it out. Same with the Mirtazapine. How can I get him to take these meds??? What other kind of food would anyone recommend? How important is the kidney care wet food? I finally got him to eat a few peices of chicken last night that I cooked, but not this morning. Vet says if I cant get him stabelized and eating and drinking more in next couiple of days he will die. I am at my wits end not knowing how to get hime to do these things to keep him alive. Any help is appreciated.

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Dear Reno, I'm so sorry you're so worried. May I suggest you buy 6 raw chicken drumsticks and remove all the skin which should be discarded. Put the skinless drumsticks into a saucepan with 1 pint of water. DO NOT ADD SALT. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Allow to cool. Remove the drumsticks and set aside. Pour the cooking liquor into a bowl and refrigerate; this will produce a tasty jelly which most cats will lick up with relish. Return the cooked drumsticks to the saucepan and add just enough water to cover them. Cook for 20 minutes. When still warm, remove EVERY scrap of bone then turn the flesh and the cooking liquor into a bowl and using a blender, puree the meat. Serve ONE dessert spoon of the puree at room temperature. If your cats eats this, wait an hour before offering another serving. You can do a fish dish, too. Microwave a small fillet of whitefish in a little water for 3 minutes at full power. Allow to cool then either finely flake the fish or puree it as with the chicken. Offer him the slightly warm fish liquor.

Alternatively, buy some finely pureed baby food in jars - Heinz is good. Choose recipes which include meat but not onion if at all possible - other additional vegetables are fine. Using a teaspoon, serve enough to cover the tip of the spoon and allow your cat to lick it off. Do this until he accepts a full teaspoon. Be very patient and take time between licks, please don't hurry him or show your anxiety. If he does not accept this, try another flavour baby food: beef casserole/chicken casserole, etc.

It is important for your cat to eat wet specialist renal food - preferably Royal Canin or Hills but in order to get him to eat at all, try the above first. If you can get him to eat any of the above, slowly introduce - and separately - tiny amounts of the speciaIist foods. I regret to say that cats do not appear to tolerate medicines/tablets when put in food. Either they will refuse to eat what you have served or leave the tablet. Only perseverance in administration will do. Do you know exactly how to administer tablets? Place the cat on a firm surface with its hindquarters against you, lean over the cat and gently raise its head by placing your thumb and middle finger either side of its mouth. At the same time, lower the cat's jaw with the middle finger of the other hand whilst introducing to the back of the throat the tablet with the index finger and thumb. Once the tablet is safely inside the cat's mouth, keep one hand firmly over it and gently rub his throat until he swallows. You can also coat tablets in a little butter or margarine to help them slide down the throat more easily and mask any bitterness. You administer syringed medicines in the same manner but try to move alongside the cat whilst still keeping his hindquarters immobile. Do not aim for the back of the throat but into the cheek. Again, keep very calm and quiet and do not show your anxiety. Slow and sure is the rule.

Forgive me if I am trying to teach granny to suck eggs, but I don't know how experienced you are. I have had cats for 43 years and believe me, I've got the tee shirt. I do wish you luck and pray your little one comes through this. With warmest best wishes.

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Sounds like it may have been serotonin syndrome, did you look into that already? Dr

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Hello again Becky. May I please use your post to give important information to all the American members who contribute to this thread? As I've posted before, US vets appear to dole out 15mg tablets of Mirtazapine. This is FAR TOO HIGH a dose and results in the problems I've read about from other US cat owners on this site. If vets in the United States do not stock 2mg tablets - which is THE PROPER STRENGTH, ask the vet to write a prescription for 2mg Mirtazapine tablets with a dosage of ONE TABLET EVERY OTHER DAY. Take the prescription to a pharmacy and have it filled there. The correct strength tablet and correct dosage will prevent any further tragic events as encountered on these pages. Thank you, Becky, and I sincerely hope everything is going well for you. With my usual best wishes.

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Lyon, yes, of course you may use my posts. I would do anything to help prevent others from accidentally overdosing their pet like I did. If you need more help from me in any way, please email me at {edited for privacy}. Thanks for taking this on.

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Thank you for your suggestions. I will try these over the next several days. I just want him to eat something. And I do not want to do more harm psychologically.
I just want him to be comfortable for the time he has left no matter what he will eat.
Also, when I did the IV fluids in vet office Eli was ok. But when you did it at home this weekend he howled
I don't want to hurt him
I pulled up the back skin of his back and inserted the needle. Do I use the same spot every time I have to give fluids. Seems it would be sensitive area and sore. Any suggestions.

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Dear Reno,

I'm pleased my suggestions have heartened you and I sincerely hope they work for Eli. Incidentally, Heinz also do a CREAMY FISH PIE recipe for babies which comes in a 150 gram pouch. Look out for Cow and Gate products, too.

When you inj. an animal under the skin (that's called a subcutaneous inj.), you gently pinch the skin on the scruff of the neck and raise it just as you did at the vet's. You insert the needle at an angle and slowly but steadily eject the medication from the syringe. Do not insert the needle too deeply but ensure that it is properly inserted. Inserting at an angle means the needle will go into the raised area of skin and not into the flesh beneath. You can continue to do this over a period and the chances of hitting the same place twice is quite remote. To see a subcutaneous inj. on a cat, look on YouTube by typing HOW TO GIVE A SQ INJ. TO A CAT into the YouTube search box. You'll see an Australian vet carry out this procedure and how to position Eli for his inj's.

I can understand your concerns and your fear that you'll hurt Eli, but if you are confident in your approach and do as I advise and watch the YouTube video, you'll be successful.

Carry on the good work, Reno; with your dedication and love, Eli will have every chance of being better.

With my warmest best wishes.

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Bless you, Becky, and thank you.

Having an on-line community willing to help one another and offer advice is a great advantage. We may be in different parts of the world but our hearts are in the right place!

Take care, my dear, and I'm sure we'll be in touch again on this site and each contribute to other users' postings.

With all my best wishes.

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Do you know of any lawyers handling cases like mine?

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I gave 1/4 of a pill to my 17 1/2 year old baby (cat). She was not eating as much as normal and had lost weight. Her stool became lose and full of blood. Needless to say, she will not get this again. It has been a few days, and she is eating dry food (always wanted wet before), but she is eating a drinking. I am scared to think about giving it to her again.

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Amtnangel -
Blood in the stool is not good. I'm sorry your kitty is sick and you are having to go through this. if you absolutely have to try again, only give the kitty 1/8 tab. Seems other cats in this thread have responded better to the lesser dose. My experience with Mirtazapine was extremely negative (my cat died), so be very careful. Only try 1/8 if there's no other option. It does work for some pets.

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