A couple of years ago I was taken off Prozac because of a nasty
side-effect: I was getting mild paralysis of the foot and lower leg
muscles, causing me to trip up. I was also becoming increasingly
depressed at the sexual side-effects - not being able to reach orgasm.
So my doctor put me onto Mitazapine (It's called Zispin here in the UK,
Remeron in the USA).

Mirtazapine has been a huge improvement, especially the way it doesn't
seem to inhibit my sexual responses. But there's one big side-effect
that has me more and more depressed, and that's the way my weight has
shot up. I'm in my fifties, and have always been the type of person who
has never had to worry about weight - no matter what I've eaten, I've
always stayed at around 150 pounds - slightly below the ideal weight
for my height, which is 6 feet. But now I'm 196 pounds, feel pretty
disgusted by my body, and this is just undoing any positive effect the
Mirtazapine is having - it's hard not to feel depressed if you have a
bad body image, after years of having a good one.

I've spoken to my doctor about this, and she (sensibly) points out that
being overweight might simply be the only alternative to having
depression, and therefore something I might just have to come to terms
with.

I've been on this drug for more than two years now, and so there may be
a chance that something better has now been developed, so I'd be
grateful if anyone can advise me on this.

Thanks in advance.

Dave