AndrewCanada
22-02-18, 16:10
Hi everyone. I've been on 15mg of Mirtazipine before when I was 18-19, and the side effects then left me emotionally numb, and it killed my sex drive. Initially, I was averse to trying it again, but caved when I spent a week in the hospital for mental health reasons earlier this month. By emotionally numb I mean I was physically unable to cry during sad situations, and felt a little too levelled out. Not sociopathic, but not normal either.
So far I've been on this drug for about 15 days - 30mg this time, switched from Zoloft after being on Zoloft for 9 days. I'm 27 years old this time and was told the drug might affect me differently.
The changes have, for the most part, been night and day.
I still get anxiety attacks, but they're shorter. It has also completely eliminated my agoraphobia and has improved my sleep a little bit. I'm hopeful the changes will only amplify, but there are two possible symptoms I'm a little concerned about: anger, and emotional numbness. The latter I experienced while on the drug in my late teens.
My wife noticed the anger after I flew off the handle at her a few times in the past 3 days. Normally I'm the least angry person you'd see. She then said during our most recent argument "is anger a f***ing side effect of this drug? You're acting like an a**hole!" --- naturally, I'm concerned about this because I don't want to become an angry person. That isn't who I am.
Secondly, emotional numbness: It's also sort of me having trouble thinking clearly sometimes. I'm an artist (professional photographer and hobbyist writer), so this numbness has been cutting into my ability to be creative. I'm beginning to experience the levelling out of emotions, too, which scares me, because I don't want my creative edge to be taken away from me by this drug. This was, as I said before, one reason why I was unsure about starting Mirtazipine again.
Does anyone else have these issues?
I plan to bring them up with my psychiatrist next time I see him, but I'm just worried that this drug is fundamentally masking who I am. Despite having significantly reduced anxiety and sadness, and an increased motivation to do things, I find that when I get motivated to do things, I end up not being able to concentrate on it for long enough and just give up in frustration.
Otherwise, this drug has been golden so far.
Bottom line: I really don't want to give this drug up, because it has given me a bunch of benefits that make talk therapy easier to handle... but in the same respect, I'm concerned and worried about the negatives.
So far I've been on this drug for about 15 days - 30mg this time, switched from Zoloft after being on Zoloft for 9 days. I'm 27 years old this time and was told the drug might affect me differently.
The changes have, for the most part, been night and day.
I still get anxiety attacks, but they're shorter. It has also completely eliminated my agoraphobia and has improved my sleep a little bit. I'm hopeful the changes will only amplify, but there are two possible symptoms I'm a little concerned about: anger, and emotional numbness. The latter I experienced while on the drug in my late teens.
My wife noticed the anger after I flew off the handle at her a few times in the past 3 days. Normally I'm the least angry person you'd see. She then said during our most recent argument "is anger a f***ing side effect of this drug? You're acting like an a**hole!" --- naturally, I'm concerned about this because I don't want to become an angry person. That isn't who I am.
Secondly, emotional numbness: It's also sort of me having trouble thinking clearly sometimes. I'm an artist (professional photographer and hobbyist writer), so this numbness has been cutting into my ability to be creative. I'm beginning to experience the levelling out of emotions, too, which scares me, because I don't want my creative edge to be taken away from me by this drug. This was, as I said before, one reason why I was unsure about starting Mirtazipine again.
Does anyone else have these issues?
I plan to bring them up with my psychiatrist next time I see him, but I'm just worried that this drug is fundamentally masking who I am. Despite having significantly reduced anxiety and sadness, and an increased motivation to do things, I find that when I get motivated to do things, I end up not being able to concentrate on it for long enough and just give up in frustration.
Otherwise, this drug has been golden so far.
Bottom line: I really don't want to give this drug up, because it has given me a bunch of benefits that make talk therapy easier to handle... but in the same respect, I'm concerned and worried about the negatives.