Experiences with pregabalin+escitalopram+mirtazapine (and sometimes alcohol / marijuana)

[annapea]

Hello first time here so not sure if this is the right place, even on this website to be posting this, but reddit got me no results.
I was on prozac for a long time because it was one of very few SSRIs approved in my country for adolescents. It gave me awful tremors but I have not started trying out new things until recently (long into adulthood). I am currently on 400mg pregabalin + 30mg escitalopram + 7.5mg mirtazapine to treat my anxiety and bpd. A friend in healthcare told me this is a lot of medication to be on so I'm kind of worried now. I also wanted to document my experience, which I mean will differ greatly between each person but I guess I hope may put someone at ease if they are going through similar idk.

My experience:
I dont remember if I started gabapentin or escitalopram first, its been about a year now. The tiredness was very intense at the start and it still is but I've managed to handle it at this point. For a long time I was just doing 8 hrs of work, going home sleeping, repeat. I'm not sure if the weight gain was because of this but weight gain really haulted my progress a bit and it made it hard for me to build up self worth. I struggled to remember basic things for months, it felt like nothing was sticking to my long term memory. Combined with alchool and/or marijuana I felt the effects much faster and it took me some getting used to. When I smoke too much I get these awful shakes and they really scared me, not sure of the cause so I have been smoking way less now. Went down from almost daily to monthly at this point. But when I forgot to take this medication I could feel the difference, I'm not sure if it was withdrawal or geinuine anxiety but I felt much more anxious during peroids when I forgot to take it or went without it so my doctor and I decided to stick with it for now.
I started Mirtazapine a month ago and literally the day of it hit me so hard I never had a medication do something like this before. It felt almost like the high you get from indica but with none of the euphoria, just hallow and empty. It was kind of scary actually, people were talking my responses felt delayed, I felt very much sedated, I described it to my therapist as chemically lobotomized. Now that its been a month I still feel that sedation but i can work through it, my thinking still feels so impaired though as if Im reading a thought through dirty glasses. My appetite has been crazy, more weight gain has left me feeling even less self worth. Im horribly irritable as well, I am not sure what my doctor will decide to do with this, I hope it gets better.

TLDR; I am currently on pregabalin + escitalopram + mirtazapine, has / is anyone on this combination and what was your experience? and bonus question: can you handle marijuana or alchool on this combination? Thanks!

 

[Keif' Richards]

Mirtazapine (Remeron) is extremely well-known for causing weight gain. It is the most-often cited reason for people stopping the drug. I personally took it for two months at one point. It made my appetite absolutely ravenous. It was unreal. I just thought I had the munchies wicked bad until I one day realized my pants were not fitting anymore. I was not paying fucking attention. I had gained 25 pounds in under two months. I´m the type of person that has no problem keeping a normal weight. I eat healthy and exercise, so to gain weight like that was fucking surreal. I never took the drug again.

For reference, they give this drug to cats specifically to spur their appetite(s) if they are sickly.

Pregabalin (Lyrica) is also known for causing weight gain in some, but to a much lesser extent than Mirtazapine. We need to talk about the shakes though. See, I´ve experienced the same thing at different, transient times. For seemingly no reason, I would end up with severe myoclonic seizures (limbs flailing and shit). What´s more, I found that when I would experience these shakes, they would be exacerbated by Cannabis. I would use the Cannabis to try to calm down and would end up practically having a seizure. I never could identify what would cause this myoclonus one time but then never in others. You just need to know that you´re not alone. Furhthermore, you´re lucky that the @Keif' Richards #fighter #junkie #dancemoms happens to have had this same very thing happen. Lucky you.

As for Escitalopram (Lexapro) this is the SSRI often cited as producing the least amount of serious side effects. I think that the issues that you´re experiencing are much more likey to be being caused by these other two agents. If your Alcohol usage isn´t extreme or excessive, then I don´t think it´s something that you really need to worry about. How much Alcohol are we talking and at what frequency?

 

[annapea]

Mirtazapine (Remeron) is extremely well-known for causing weight gain. It is the most-often cited reason for people stopping the drug. I personally took it for two months at one point. It made my appetite absolutely ravenous. It was unreal. I just thought I had the munchies wicked bad until I one day realized my pants were not fitting anymore. I was not paying fucking attention. I had gained 25 pounds in under two months. I´m the type of person that has no problem keeping a normal weight. I eat healthy and exercise, so to gain weight like that was fucking surreal. I never took the drug again.

For reference, they give this drug to cats specifically to spur their appetite(s) if they are sickly.

Pregabalin (Lyrica) is also known for causing weight gain in some, but to a much lesser extent than Mirtazapine. We need to talk about the shakes though. See, I´ve experienced the same thing at different, transient times. For seemingly no reason, I would end up with severe myoclonic seizures (limbs flailing and shit). What´s more, I found that when I would experience these shakes, they would be exacerbated by Cannabis. I would use the Cannabis to try to calm down and would end up practically having a seizure. I never could identify what would cause this myoclonus one time but then never in others. You just need to know that you´re not alone. Furhthermore, you´re lucky that the @Keif' Richards #fighter #junkie #dancemoms happens to have had this same very thing happen. Lucky you.

As for Escitalopram (Lexapro) this is the SSRI often cited as producing the least amount of serious side effects. I think that the issues that you´re experiencing are much more likey to be being caused by these other two agents. If your Alcohol usage isn´t extreme or excessive, then I don´t think it´s something that you really need to worry about. How much Alcohol are we talking and at what frequency?

Thank you so much for your response!
For the mirtazapine weight gain I totally feel that right now I feel like I have no impulse control whatsoever (all though I never quite have had any impulse control since my teens) and that comes especially with food, I feel super gross and am also surprised, I have altered my diet significantly but the sheer volume of food I need to sustain my appetite bites me in the ass. I will be going to see my doctor this week and I am curious what he will recommend.
As for the pregabalin shakes I am so sorry that you experience similar but also super relieved I'm not the only one (#twinsies #dancemoms). I'd be curious to know the reason for it but have been hesitant to ask my doctor and can't find much online about it.
Escitalopram I barely felt anything when starting but felt real shitty when i didn't take it so that makes sense. I don't drink a lot anymore, maybe once or twice month (life is a bummer right now but I can't fail school...again) and it ranges anything from 2 cocktails to 8 shots, Im a bit of a lightweight for sure, when it gets to the more extreme though I feel like maybe I do get the shakes too but I can't quite remember.

 

[evo4ever]

Hello first time here so not sure if this is the right place, even on this website to be posting this, but reddit got me no results.
I was on prozac for a long time because it was one of very few SSRIs approved in my country for adolescents. It gave me awful tremors but I have not started trying out new things until recently (long into adulthood). I am currently on 400mg pregabalin + 30mg escitalopram + 7.5mg mirtazapine to treat my anxiety and bpd. A friend in healthcare told me this is a lot of medication to be on so I'm kind of worried now. I also wanted to document my experience, which I mean will differ greatly between each person but I guess I hope may put someone at ease if they are going through similar idk.

My experience:
I dont remember if I started gabapentin or escitalopram first, its been about a year now. The tiredness was very intense at the start and it still is but I've managed to handle it at this point. For a long time I was just doing 8 hrs of work, going home sleeping, repeat. I'm not sure if the weight gain was because of this but weight gain really haulted my progress a bit and it made it hard for me to build up self worth. I struggled to remember basic things for months, it felt like nothing was sticking to my long term memory. Combined with alchool and/or marijuana I felt the effects much faster and it took me some getting used to. When I smoke too much I get these awful shakes and they really scared me, not sure of the cause so I have been smoking way less now. Went down from almost daily to monthly at this point. But when I forgot to take this medication I could feel the difference, I'm not sure if it was withdrawal or geinuine anxiety but I felt much more anxious during peroids when I forgot to take it or went without it so my doctor and I decided to stick with it for now.
I started Mirtazapine a month ago and literally the day of it hit me so hard I never had a medication do something like this before. It felt almost like the high you get from indica but with none of the euphoria, just hallow and empty. It was kind of scary actually, people were talking my responses felt delayed, I felt very much sedated, I described it to my therapist as chemically lobotomized. Now that its been a month I still feel that sedation but i can work through it, my thinking still feels so impaired though as if Im reading a thought through dirty glasses. My appetite has been crazy, more weight gain has left me feeling even less self worth. Im horribly irritable as well, I am not sure what my doctor will decide to do with this, I hope it gets better.

TLDR; I am currently on pregabalin + escitalopram + mirtazapine, has / is anyone on this combination and what was your experience? and bonus question: can you handle marijuana or alchool on this combination? Thanks!

I've been taking Mirtazapine for years and the "munchies" seem to lessen over time if you can persevere.