The use of complex psychopharmacological regimens is increasingly advocated in more difficult to treat depressive illness. The combination of venlafaxine with mirtazapine – ‘California rocket fuel’ is one such example involving an SNRI combined with a NaSSA. We describe two cases that highlight the potential usefulness of duloxetine used in combination with mirtazapine that also emphasise the danger of drug-induced hypomanic switching. This combination may have a specific role for carefully selected patients but caution is needed given the potential to induce profound alterations in mental state.

Background: Clozapine is the prototype atypical antipsychotic used for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but its use has been limited by the well-established association with agranulocytosis. An increased risk of other serious adverse events such as myocarditis and thromboembolism has also been suggested to be associated with clozapine therapy.

Aims: We describe an Irish case of multiple pulmonary emboli detected by CT pulmonary angiogram thought to be secondary to clozapine therapy.

Conclusion: Although clozapine is a very efficacious antipsychotic its many side-effects limit its use. Pulmonary embolism must be remembered as a potential rare side-effect in clozapine therapy. Underlying mechanisms are still unclear although several have been proposed.

A case is described in which a man with chronic pain syndrome (CPS) presented to a city General hospital in suicidal crisis after referral from a provincial psychiatric unit, having taken an overdose of a variety of medications, precipitated by the absence of his opioid (Oxycontin) analgesia which he had been abusing intra-nasally. This is to our knowledge the first reported case in Europe of drug diversion from oral to intranasal use of Oxycontin, a controlled-release preparation of the synthetic opiate, oxycodone hydrochloride. There is also a dearth of reference to the abuse potential of this agent in the European literature. As sufferers from chronic pain syndrome increase in number, and opiate prescription rates worldwide are maintained, this case highlights the potential of opiate abuse or dependence and drug diversion emerging as a significant medical problem in CPS patients in Europe.