Renegade Psych Patient Update

A month ago I decided to go renegade on my meds. 

I was tired of the weight gain, and the hunger, and constantly fighting my body. Any improvements to mood I may have made after 4 years of being on them, I think I can more likely attribute to therapy and group sessions, rather than the meds themselves, so I decided that, as lockdown is over, it was time to come off. 

I’ve spent the last month taking 15mg of Mirtazapine once every 2 nights, instead of nightly. The first few nights were a strain. The first night of no meds I didn’t sleep a wink. After that, I started to settle into a routine. 

My body weight looked like it was dropping at first, but it’s pretty much stayed the same. I was at 83kg at the start of this project. I’m around 85kg. I went down to 81 at one point. I have, however, put 2 more onto my underhand chin-up record. (Now 14.) I’ve matched my overhand record. Through all this, I’ve avoided junk food, I’ve followed some recipes, I’ve eaten plenty of disgusting vegetable smoothies… Yet I’m still a fat bastard. 

The issue here, it seems, is not just what I’ve been eating. Someone called Muel Mith – I really should have asked who she was before sharing her comments, but hey, I’m not a journalist- explained: ‘Eating clean would have been good, but ultimately- any sedating drug slows down metabolism- and mirtazapine in particular effects the insulin and glucose in your blood, it will store more fat regardless of diet or restricted intake of calories.’ Hence the dip in weight. 

It’s early days. My plan is to stay on half dose for a few more weeks, until I’ve used my current prescription, at least. I’ll continue clean eating (next week I have a recipe post to go up) and see if I can get some significant improvement to body weight.