Mianserin or Tolvon

[panic_down_under]

Considering you have GAD the advice is to start at 30mg which is presumably because of the effect it can have on us whereas for depression only it can be started on 60mg. I think the prescriber made a mistake there but it's a shame even the 30mg wasn't easy.

Some generics now come in 20mg tablets which may have made a significance difference to to both you and Kerry's experience. Hopefully, one of them makes it in 10mg pills some day, not so much as a starting dose, although this would certainly help those with health anxiety, or prone to severe side-effects, but mainly for those weaning off duloxetine.

[beautifulfreak77]

Thank you for all the info etc and reading my posts, yes I was quite disappointed that the duloxetine didn’t help, I have a problem with my stomach and as I said even taking the anti sickness wasn’t helping with that and the numb feeling,well I don’t feel like myself at the moment anyway which is bad enough I can’t cry I don’t like what I used to like music wise and reading,tv,just everything and I’ve just pushed everyone away. So being on something that made me feel like I didn’t even care about my family,my children etc was to hard to cope with. I didn’t laugh once when on them. Yea maybe one day il find the right tablet, not that I really believe one tablet can sort out all my mh problems but il keep trying.

[beautifulfreak77]

Some generics now come in 20mg tablets which may have made a significance difference to to both you and Kerry's experience. Hopefully, one of them makes it in 10mg pills some day, not so much as a starting dose, although this would certainly help those with health anxiety, or prone to severe side-effects, but mainly for those weaning off duloxetine.

Maybe that would of been better to start on a very low dose. But she said we only have 30mg so I just went along with it. I will see if I can get the mianserin never know I’m quite backwards with drugs maybe it’ll work ha. Thank you for taking time out to reply to me... I really appreciate it.

[panic_down_under]

being on something that made me feel like I didn’t even care about my family,my children etc was to hard to cope with

Depersonalisation is one of the less frequent AD side-effects, but also a fairly common symptom of depression. As a side-effect it does usually diminish after a while, but it can linger for some. It all comes down to how the med meshes with individual biology.

I will see if I can get the mianserin never know I’m quite backwards with drugs maybe it’ll work ha.

I won't be shocked if it does. Stranger things have happened with ADs. These meds can be highly unpredictable with everyone's experience being unique to themselves. So fingers crossed.

[MyNameIsTerry]

DP/DR can also come from higher levels of anxiety/panic. I've found from observation of people on here, and my own experience, that such things become a byproduct of the ramping up of anxiety from meds as a side effect.

Obsessive-compulsive behavours & thoughts are another one that is greatly affetced by increased overall levels of stress/anxiety.

The 20mg tabs are useful to allow a for a better taper. They tend to be tablets inside the capsules rather than the beads so it might be easy to reduce them further, although getting past the throat or gut might still be required but that's at least easy to do with an existing capsule or buying cheap bags of them. The only problem will be GP's who rely on old fashioned advice telling them you withdraw in halves. And it's more expensive to them if they have to add two prescriptions together to make a dose...although I think the profit from the prescription charge might be a way for savvy sufferers to inform GP's it's not always as the NHS chiefs say it is

[panic_down_under]

They tend to be tablets inside the capsules rather than the beads so it might be easy to reduce them further, although getting past the throat or gut might still be required but that's at least easy to do with an existing capsule or buying cheap bags of them.

This isn't something I'd be comfortable recommending. Cutting a scored IR tablet in half, or dissolving the contents of IR desvenlafaxine in a measured quantity of orange juice and drinking half at a time is one thing, but measuring out 10mg of duloxetine to say +/- 0.25mg accuracy while maintaining enteric integrity is something else entirely, and that assumes the division will always result in each half having the same slow-release properties which may or may not be the case and that could vary between the brand and generics and from generic to generic.

[KK77]

This isn't something I'd be comfortable recommending. Cutting a scored IR tablet in half, or dissolving the contents of IR desvenlafaxine in a measured quantity of orange juice and drinking half at a time is one thing, but measuring out 10mg of duloxetine to say +/- 0.25mg accuracy while maintaining enteric integrity is something else entirely, and that assumes the division will always result in each half having the same slow-release properties which may or may not be the case and that could vary between the brand and generics and from generic to generic.

I experienced wildly unpredictable results when I tried cutting down on Venlafaxine capsules, each of which contained 6 mini "modified release" tablets. Some of the tablets appeared to be far less effective than others, probably due to different absorption rates as they pass through gut. Some days it felt as though I'd missed my dose, with electric shock sensations soon building, whereas other days I felt OK. I switched to modified release tablets in the end and won't be messing about with those pesky capsules again

Status: Hit and miss

[beautifulfreak77]

Yes I suffer with depersonalisation anyway but honestly I’ve never been so depressed in my life,and I’ve never felt this numb and it changed within 2 days of taking the tablets my kids are a bit older but my whole family stopped talking to me as they said I was like a robot I didn’t join in conversations I tried so hard my friends/parents said they couldn’t speak to me like that as I just come across like I didn’t care and I was trying to,but it wasn’t coming out. I just sat alone for hours not even doing anything. When I came off them I felt a bit better,I still feel very depressed and don’t feel like myself,and I’ve become a very angry person through all this but I can occasionally laugh. Strange thing I went to see my therapist today and my psychiatrists secretary came out and said psychiatrist needs to speak to me, so I don’t know if she’s changed her mind or maybe it’s hard to get hold of, she’s meant to be calling in the week so il keep you updated with what she says. But she said it’s to do with the medication....

[MyNameIsTerry]

This isn't something I'd be comfortable recommending. Cutting a scored IR tablet in half, or dissolving the contents of IR desvenlafaxine in a measured quantity of orange juice and drinking half at a time is one thing, but measuring out 10mg of duloxetine to say +/- 0.25mg accuracy while maintaining enteric integrity is something else entirely, and that assumes the division will always result in each half having the same slow-release properties which may or may not be the case and that could vary between the brand and generics and from generic to generic.

I agree, it's a matter that would have to be researched first. I was raising it as a possibility where the capsule can be re-used/replaced identically and the tablet inside has no time release or specific coating (e.g. enteric) or use of layering to make it different to homogenised meds.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes I suffer with depersonalisation anyway but honestly I’ve never been so depressed in my life,and I’ve never felt this numb and it changed within 2 days of taking the tablets my kids are a bit older but my whole family stopped talking to me as they said I was like a robot I didn’t join in conversations I tried so hard my friends/parents said they couldn’t speak to me like that as I just come across like I didn’t care and I was trying to,but it wasn’t coming out. I just sat alone for hours not even doing anything. When I came off them I felt a bit better,I still feel very depressed and don’t feel like myself,and I’ve become a very angry person through all this but I can occasionally laugh. Strange thing I went to see my therapist today and my psychiatrists secretary came out and said psychiatrist needs to speak to me, so I don’t know if she’s changed her mind or maybe it’s hard to get hold of, she’s meant to be calling in the week so il keep you updated with what she says. But she said it’s to do with the medication....

It could be good news, she may have found an alternative to try? It may even be she didn't realise about the costs and when weighing up the benefits it's not the best to try for you? But she still needs to do something and it's not like you've tried all the med options from what I've read here.

Cost issues do get in the way even for more mainstream meds e.g. Pregabalin, where some doctors won't prescribe it due to costs and even some local CCG's blacklist it creating a postcode lottery issue