[Vomact]

All:

Well, I stopped the Cymbalta fast enough!

Please see my first post in HOW ARE YOU FEELING?

I was able to stop immediately after a month with no withdrawal effects however.......................................

When I was taking the medication I was started at 30 mg/day by my Doctor for two weeks. At the end of two weeks I was to increase to 60 mg/day.
The second night after titrating up to 60 mg I started having uncontrollable, SEVERE tremor of all the muscles on my right side in my arms and legs.
I was shaking so bad the entire bed was shaking. I woke my wife up (luckily) and she got me to the emergency room. I spent the next 8 hours there under major sedation!
I was given 50 mg IV of Ativan and the tremors continued. The doctor then switched to approximately 40 mg IV of Valium. For 4 more hours I was shaking so bad that the emergency room staff had to put a heavy blanket on my bed to dampen the sound of the vibration as it was 'disturbing the other patients'!
When I was in the emergency room I asked the doctor what was happening and she told me I wasn't having a seizure.
I have since talked to my sister and her husband (both M.D.'s He is a Psychopharmacologist) regarding the episode and they both think that what I had can only be described as a 'Simple' or Partial Seizure.I was subsequently put on Valium (10 mg t.i.d. P.R.N) for a week.
When I saw the doctor who prescribed the Cymbalta he took me off it immediately and he put me on Zonegran (Zonisamide) which is a anti-epileptic.
I am currently on 200 mg a day of an ANTI-EPILEPTIC!
This was almost two months ago. The tremor eventually abated however, I still have periodic partial tremors in my legs and arms. I also now suffer from persistent, sometimes severe "ice pick" headaches.
These symptoms are of grave concern, as I really never suffered from chronic headache's prior to taking this medication and I still suffer from intermittent tremor. These 'jerks', are similar to myoclonic jerks, but are persistent for several minutes and occur mostly at night when I am trying to get to sleep or when I am sitting down at rest.

Has ANYBODY reported incidents of seizure when taking this medication?

I have noted the 'tremor' listed as a side effect of the medication, however, what put me in the emergency room was NOT 'tremor', it was a seizure.

Cymbalta users be warned!

Vomact

[schmb01]

OMG!! You and your wife must have been terrified! This sounds to me like another instance of where the labeling was written to minimize potential side effects! I am so sorry that you continue to suffer with episodes since you've stopped taking it. Of course if you tried to push the issue with Lily, they will say that they had listed "tremors" as a potential side effect, but to your point, when does a tremor become a seizure? The fact that you now have to take meds to abate them speaks volumes. I hope that the longer the med is out of your system the better you will feel, and that you will not be plagued by residual problems.

[jane]

wow - I am so sorry for your trauma. I too was on ativan briefly for anxiety, at the same time as Cymbalta, and found that I "lost" a week - no recollection of what went on that week.

How are you feeling now? Any better?

[justintime]

OMG - how scary!!! I know what seizures are like as one of my young students had one last week in my arms - so very scary! I sincerely hope you are better!!!!!!!

[Jinx_kittykat]

Im so sorry! You must have been terrified. When i first tried to explain the "brain zaps" to my Dr he said that they were a precurser to seizures & that i must not miss a dose. I wonder now if they truely are.

I am a paralegal by day & a bartender by night. The lawfirm i work for does not handle product cases, but i am considering looking into starting a class-action suit with another attorney. You would be the first person an attorney would be interested in talking to because you have medical documentation of a life threatening side effect. Whether or not money interests you is of no matter. The ultimate goal would be to take this @#$% off the market before it destroys more lives. Let me know.