Hi,
Ten years ago I started on Seroxat 20mg mainly for Social Anxiety with no bad side effects. 7 years later I was nearly off the med when my SA got much worse and I fell into depression plus GAD.
My doc upped the dose from 5 mg back up to 20 mg, at which point I had an awful reaction, high anxiety, suicidal thoughts, total insomnia etc lasting for 2 weeks then like a miracle the med kicked in again and I was saved.
I later came off Seroxat and had 1 year with nothing and felt great. Anyway it all came crashing down again a year ago. Started Citalopram 1st Jan 11 and had same awful reaction as I did whilst on Seroxat. Brain was in absolute worst anguish imaginable. Thought I'd tough it out and that the med would kick in again but didn't. 8 weeks later did a cross taper switch to Mirtazapine 15mg, 30mg and now 45mg.
From taking the very first tablet of mirt my extreme mental anguish from the SSRI stopped, as if something in the mirt was counteracting it. Now I'm just on the mirt and have been for 3 months and its not cutting it.
I know I was well when I was on Seroxat for all those years but I also know that I have developed a sensitivity to SSRIs when increasing the dose or starting. So I'm thinking either:
1. Add Seroxat back in at low dose as a combo with the mirt as I know that the mirt will cancel awful start up sides
2. Switch to seroxat using mirt to cancel awful start up sides and get onto seroxat only. The theory being that the mirt will cancel any sides during start up and by the time I'm not taking any mirt the seroxat will be up and running.
I think its all something to do with the fact that during SSRI start up the 5ht 2 receptor is excited by the extra serotonin then down regulates giving sides during start up but not after downregulation and that this is why there is a theraputic lag. Mirt blocks this receptor outright which would explain my instant relief at the start of my taper.
Has anyone had similar experiences eg developed SSRI sensitivity and gone on to switch back to an SSRI, from mirt, without awful mental anguish/ anxiety start up sides?
Cheers
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