Posted by babak on June 3, 2002, at 16:25:00
Hi
Let me first explain that I live in UK and generally speaking it is very difficult to get UK doctors to change medication frequently.
I have been suffering fro GAD and depression for the last 12 years. In the first five of them I was taking Prozac which worked relatively well until I started having headaches and loosing my temper. I convinced my doctor to put me on Effexor. It helped with my temper but the headaches continued and I found it difficult to go to sleep and I was continuously tiered. My libido gradually disappeared too and after four years on Effexor I became impotent. I tried Reboxetine but I had to come off it after a week because of severe kidney pains. Last year my marriage broke down and I also went bankrupt. I asked my doctor to put me on Mirtazapine but instead he increased my Effexor to 375 mg per day. Finally after six weeks on 375 mg with no real improvement I was put on Mirtazapine.
So I started reducing my Effexor's dosage as I increased Mirtazapine from 15Mg to 45. Within four days I started feeling better; The transformation was miraculous; all the tension in my body disappeared and for the first time in twelve years I went out and bought myself some clothes because I felt like it rather than having to do it. I found out that I could actually pick my daughter up and carry her for more than twenty yards. My sleep became normal too and I felt refreshed the next day. People around me couldn't believe their eyes. I actually started planning to rebuild my life with some hope.
However after five week I got a cold. When I recovered I noticed that effects of Mirtazapine were wearing off. By then my Effexor dose was down to 37.5mg. Lower than that and my tinnitus would play up; getting unbearably loud and spread across my whole head. My doctor has now put me on 1200mg of lithium plus 45mg Mirtazapine. But things not getting better and I feel really angry now. Tiredness is back, apathy too as well tension which is still not as bad as before though.
I would like to know why did Mirtazapine stopped working and what should I try next because I don't think Lithium is doing much good apart from leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Could it also be that Mirtazapine was working so well because I was still taking Venlafaxine with at the time?
Thanks
Babak
poster:babak
thread:108552
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020602/msgs/108552.html