3 weeks ago I spoke to my GP regarding some assistance in addiction recovery (9 months clean) and some extreme mood swings, I was initially prescribed 50mg of sertraline and advised come back in 3/4 weeks to see how i was getting getting on.
Popped along today advised I had a few side effects nothing too severe, I was under the impression that i needed to wait until 5/6 weeks before everything would settle down.
However I’ve been advised to stop the sertraline and start on 30mg of mirtazapine - is this normal?
if you arent doing too badly stick with it as its usually around 3 months and theyre completely different drugs x
Hi Wanderingbadger, i am no expert in addiction recovery but this does not seem a normal course of action for any antidepresant medication. I would expect a GP to wait at least 12 weeks if not much longer before switching medication. You have to give the body a chance to metabolise and get used to the Sertraline. An earlier switch would be appropriate if you were getting extreme side effects that you were unable / unwilling to suffer but assume that is not the case. I would challenge the reasoning and maybe seek a second opinion on this?
no its not normal to do the switch your dr suggested. they must have their reasons? you would be going from a 25% of max dose for sert, an ssri, to 66.67% dose of mirt' which works like a snri. i would think you need another 3 or so weeks' if not good' then an increase in sert to 100mg. and so on' up to max 200mg. its standard procedure to try 2 different ssris, and then if they havent worked, go onto a snri or mirt. we dont know your circumstances like your dr does. ask him why theyve changed to mirt. ideally, you want to give ssris every chance to work.
Hi there i am new to the forum i am much the same situation. A a doctor i dont usually go to upped my sertraline to 200mgs from 150mgs and after five weeks on the dosage i got seretonin syndrome so i had to reduce very quickly down to 50mgs over two weeks to be precise i have now been put on mirtazapine 30mgs along with the sertraline straight away, i trust the doctor i now see he said that for me a combination for me works better, it could be some of the things you are feeling are not quite what would be expected