Network Rail Medical - Help please

[william tracey]

Hi All.

I’m hoping you can help.

I’ve been offered a job as a trackside technician and I’m starting to worry about the medical.

I’ve been taking mirtazapine for anxiety and sleep aid for around 5 years now. I know There a lot of warnings and side efffects ie.

• Drowsiness warning: This drug can cause drowsiness. It may also affect your ability to make decisions, think clearly, or react quickly. You shouldn’t drive, use machinery, or do other activities that require alertness until you know how this drug affects you.

My point is I’ve never suffered with one side effect Since starting it back in 2013.

I’m now worried that I will fail the medical and wondering whether or not I should withdraw from the proposed job offer and reapply in a few months. I have a meeting with my GP in a few weeks as I plan on coming of the medication by next month. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated from anyone.

Many Thanks

 

[The One]

Don’t withdraw from the job offer as long you declare everything before you do urine test

Good luck

 

[william tracey]

can you reapply if you fail the medical at a later date?

 

[The One]

All I can say if you declare everything then you have nothing to worry about they might say wait for a doctors report from your GP but the one thing you don’t want to do is not declare nothing and get quizzed about it after your best policy is just be honest but I would not withdraw from the job offer either

 

[83G/84D]

Probably an appointment with the railway doctor will be arranged. Sometimes the railway doctor can be stricter than your own GP on what medication can be taken at work.

This is not to say that this will be the case in the OP’s circumstances.

Good luck William Tracey.

 

[michael74]

I am almost 100% sure that there was a post recently about this drug and the answer was, that the forum member was taken off safety critical duties when he was first prescribed the drug until he was settled on it (about a week or so) and then returned back to normal duties. Like any drug, there are always alternatives, but if as you say you are settled on it it should not be an issue and as long as you declare it, ultimately its up to the medic. From a professional perspective 5 years is a long time on that drug, have you considered alternatives / treatment.

Edit: Just re-read your post, also it will take months to come off that drug, do not rush it, follow your GP reduction plan to the letter.

 

[william tracey]

Yes, I've already dropped the dose to the lowest amount I can take in December and the next step is taking it every other day as per my GP instruction. I also meant to ask that if I'm completely off the medication come the medical, do I still need to declare it if ive not taken anything in the 2 weeks prior to the drugs test? That doesn't sit very easy with me? ( basically the half life of the drug is 4 days so you could stop taking them a few days before just to pass) Surely there is a full medical history form asking further questions.

 

[pdeaves]

I also meant to ask that if I'm completely off the medication come the medical, do I still need to declare it if ive not taken anything in the 2 weeks prior to the drugs test?

Declare everything to be on the safe side. The test is as much to find out whether you are trying to hide anything as what legal stuff you are (or were) on. I declared a single paracetamol a couple of days before... Declaring also demonstrates that you take safety seriously!

 

[william tracey]

All I can say if you declare everything then you have nothing to worry about they might say wait for a doctors report from your GP but the one thing you don’t want to do is not declare nothing and get quizzed about it after your best policy is just be honest but I would not withdraw from the job offer either

If i fail the medical due to the medication - where do i stand to reapply at a later date when i come off the medication ?

 

[michael74]

I am unsure regarding the forms, however as other have mentioned, attend the medical, and declare it even if your off it. The chances are it wont be an issue and the medical will be fine. But its not unknown for some anti depressants to show a false positive in some types of urine tests. As long as your honest and open about it from the beginning (which you clearly are) it will all be dealt with appropriately. Lets put this into perspective, there are millions of people employed in highly regulated safety critical jobs around the UK. If we prevented all of those taking or recently taking anti-depressants from working or taking up roles we would be in real trouble. Myself included.....