Mirtzapine Not Working??

Treatment and medication
1

Not sure if anyone can relate to anything I am writing?

In 2005 I was diagnosed with OCD (Pure O) and was experiencing depression alongside.

I was prescibed Mirtzapine - starting at 15mg for 1 week , then 30mg.

I carried on taking this dose for the next 7 years and then decided to come off as I felt good & Mirtzapine was making me quite angry in last year or 2 of use.  Withdrawal gradually seemed to be succesful to, with little / No side effects.

This year my OCD has taken a bad turn for the worst and I spoke to my G.P who suggested I try Mirtzapine once more as it worked so well beforehand. So I followed the same format 15mg then up to 30mg once more. Was at the 30mg dose for 12-14 weeks.

This time round however it was not as sedating as before, although 30mg I know is less sedating than the lower doses, it always used to do the trick for sleep? The normal increase in appetite has also happened but this time round 30mg was making me emotionally numb and just very flat with no effect on my anxiety / ocd thoughts.

Had a couple of strange episodes on it too this time round that I can remember where I instantly had a feeling of hapiness with a feeling of having no issues (not quite mania) but it felt chemical and when It kicked in I had to take a few minutes to adjust as I went from low to happy but this only lasted a few hours and I was back on my knees again.

I finally got to see a psychiatrist a few weeks ago , who suggested I should be put on an approved OCD Medication, in this case Setraline and that I could take this alongside the Mirtzapine at 15mg so I could still benefit from the sleep properties.

I am now 2 weeks in to both medications and not wanting to tempt fate but my depression & mood have started to lift.

Being my normal curious / ocd self however i wanted peoples opinion on why the 30mg dose of Mirtzapine never did the trick as it did before? Have I become tolerent, would another option to have gone higher on the dose to 45mg?

It was great for me 12 years ago, perhaps 7 years of taking was too much but there has been a 5 year gap between stopping and now?

Weirdly aswell last year before the onset of my recent OCD episode I was experiencing bad IBS (Loose stools daily), since taking AD'S again this seems to have cleared up?

Anyhow not knocking feeling a bit better as I was in a bad place 3 weeks ago and my OCD was taking over, believing I was becoming a different person. Just surprised on one hand how Setraline as made a difference and Mirtzapine not working or as effective.

Can anyone relate or explain????

2

Hiya I was on mirtazapine 15mg for 3 months for anxiety. It worked at first but then it made me feel numb and my intrusive thoughts got worse. Come off it cold turkey and been put on fluoxetine 20mg . I was on it for 7 years before for OCD and it worked. But this time fluoxetine made me feel 100 times worse. Anxiety was bad, ocd off the charts. I just couldnt tolerate it. Now im off AD amd feel much better. Like Im not getting brain washed and can think for myself. I was on sertaline as well but it killed my libido . Sertaline is sprescribed for people to limit their sexual functions. To answer for your question is that its a rollecoaster with meds as their mechanism how they work isnt fully understood. Your chemical brain balance might changed and thats what was effective before its not going to work this time.

3

Hi

In response to your question i think our brains change. I was on citalopram with no problems for 7 years. I came off then tried to go back on 3 years later and got drastically worse.

Can i ask how did you taper from the mirt....how much did you drop how often ? Did you feel more sedated as you dropped ? I am on 45mg and really want to get off. Am coming off olanazapine atm. Am really nervous about coming off mirt.

Sarah

4

I tapered in halves, although i never went above 30mg dosage wise. I went from 30mg to 15mg then 7mg but when i tapered i stayed in the relevent dose for a couple weeks at a time. After 7mg i did alternate days until eventually none at all.

5

Sorry 7.5mg not 7 lol

6

Thanks for that.

I have heard so many horror stories. Did you feel more sedated as you went down ?

7

To be honest when i took first time around 30mg used to be quite sedating at night and i used to sleep well.

This time the sedation has not been as effective even at low levels which is another reason i feel they may not be as effective for me now.