DOSE:	30 mg	oral	Pharms - Mirtazapine	(daily)
	3 mg	oral	Melatonin	(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

86 kg

Several years ago, I'd been prescribed some anti-depressants to help with what was thought at the time to be depression, but which would later turn out to be exhaustion stemming from anxiety. I was initially given fluoxetine (20mg, once in the morning), which I took for 30 days and became more agitated on and eventually paranoid with aggressive urges and was developing psychosis (fortunately I was aware of my condition and able to control it and even keep a diary of it), at which point I was switched to sertraline (100mg, once in the morning), which I only continued with for 6 days as my condition deteriorated. A few weeks later, I was given lofepramine (70mg once at night), which I found extremely sedating, and a week later I was put onto venlafaxine (18.75mg each morning and night), which was even more sedating, and made me sleep on and off for 18 hours a day until I discontinued it after a few days.

A few years went by without any more medication other than a melatonin supplement (3mg once at night) which I found helped my sleep, which had always been very unstable and problematic for me, then quite recently I went to the doc for help with my continuing anxiety problems. I was given paroxetine (20mg once in the morning) which made me very tired, apathetic and killed my appetite for 8 hours after each dose, after which it wore off, and I discontinued after 3 days. I was then put on mirtazapine (30mg once at night), which had a different effect from any of the previous anti-depressants, and was the first one that didn't have unacceptable side-effects for me.

When I took my first dose, I was in a fairly anxious state from my anxiety condition, and wasn't expecting much from the mirtazapine due to my poor previous experiences with AD's. I took one 30mg mirtazapine pill and my habitual 3mg melatonin pill together, and talked to a friend online and continued my browsing. After 30 minutes, the mirtazapine was having a noticeable effect, making me feel pleasantly disoriented and sedated. Typing became difficult as my arms felt heavy, I found it difficult to hold my head up to look at the screen, and I started giggling. My body was tingling and I felt quite stoned. I stopped the conversation with my friend, since it was becoming too difficult to type, and listened to some music for about 20 minutes, finding that my appreciation for it was mildly enhanced.

Around about 11pm I turned the computer off and went to bed, promptly falling asleep (I usually take a while to get to sleep, even with the melatonin). I woke up 9 hours later to the sound of my alarm clock, turned it off and slept for another couple of hours. When I finally got up, I felt groggy, and it took until evening for the feeling to wear off, but I'd quite enjoyed the first experience, so I decided to persevere with the mirtazapine, and took 30mg again that night with 3mg of melatonin at 10pm.

Again, I found it pleasant, felt stoned, sedated and was in bed and asleep by 11pm. Waking up was easier this time around, I only slept for 9 hours and felt less hungover the next day. I did notice though that I got irritable towards the evening, and felt that the mirtazapine was wearing off and that I was getting a withdrawal effect. I took another 30mg of mirtazapine and 3mg of melatonin that night at 10:30pm, and went to the kitchen to prepare a meal.

It took me about 30 minutes to prepare the meal, and by then I could feel my coordination diminishing, and was a bit unsteady as I carried it upstairs. I ate some salmon, cheese, olives, onions, herbs (culinary) etc, and had a small glass of wine with it while I watched a video. About half way through the meal and the glass of wine, I suddenly felt very nauseous and unsteady, and thought I might vomit, so I placed the bin near my bed, lay down and closed my eyes. I woke up the next morning at 7:30 to the sound of my alarm, found no vomit and got up. I suspect the alcohol didn't mix well with the mirtazapine, but I was able to drink the remainder of the wine that morning, and eat the remains of the meal for breakfast without incident, so if it was the wine, it may only cause nausea when taken close to the same time as the mirtazapine (I've never had a problem with the melatonin interacting with alcohol).

The remainder of the day has gone quite well so far, and I've had more energy than usual and felt mentally fresh and have been a bit more interested in things than I have been for some years. I took about 5mg of mirtazapine at 5pm when the withdrawal irritability was setting in, by shaving an approximate amount off of one of the pills with a craft knife, and that dealt with it quite nicely, and I'll take 30mg of mirtazapine plus 3mg of melatonin at 10pm.

There are some points of concern with mirtazapine. There's the irritability in the evenings as it starts to wear off, which doesn't bode well for when it comes to quitting the drug. I also find that I'm looking forward to and slightly craving the next mirtazapine pill, especially in the evenings, and am a bit impatient about taking it, so it may have some psychologically addictive properties, in addition to causing physical dependence, or the impatience may simply be a product of wanting the physical withdrawal effects to go away. I would be rather ironic if the drug I was given as a non-addictive alternative to Valium turned out to be just as addictive itself. There's also been a very slight 'peculiar' sensation in my mind that I can't quite place.

Exp Year: 2007	ExpID: 62946
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 21, 2010	Views: 33,300
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Pharms - Mirtazapine (311) : Combinations (3), Retrospective / Summary (11), Medical Use (47), Depression (15), Not Applicable (38)