[Rafael_Turtle]

My journey started with Cymbalta 7 months ago. I was in the hospital for trying to commit suicide. The only thing that stopped me was thinking about my love ones, my wife and my kid. The hospital psychiatrist started me with 60 mg/day plus Lacmital 25 mg and Abilify 5mg. I was ramped up to 200 mg of Lamictal and then when I asked to be remove from Abilify.

In May, I was having obsessive thought. My current pyschiatrist told me that cymbalta would help those thoughts. I was bumped up 90 mg. At another visit I was bumped up to 120 mg. That is when I started feeling that I did not care about anything in the wourld. In July, I started reading this forums I made a conscientious decision with consent of my psychiatrist to wean off Cymbalta. The process took about 6 week where I went from 120 mg to 0 mg.

I started to have the brain zaps, dizziness, and I was very irritable. Any thing that my kid did wrong would make me blow-up. I know that is not how I should hand things. It was yesterday day 7 of zero mg cymbalta, and I also taking 200 mg of Lacmitcal, 20 mg of simvastion (chlorestero medication), 2.5 mg of Lisinopril and 2 mg of Doxasozin per day. Yesterday I talked to my psychiatrist and I told him about my cymbalta withdrawal symptons. He told me according the pharmaceutical literature (which is bunch of BS) that it should be out of my symptons. He did suggest to take a 30 mg tablet and you should feet better in 40 minutes. I did that yesterday and the symptons did not go away in 40 minutes. Today I do not have the brains zaps.

I felt better today and more focused. I called my psychiatrist and he will not be back until Tuesday. I told the receptionist if I had a problem I would call the on-call psychiatrist. I called my PCP and she was out of the town to 20th. The third person that I called and finally got a warm voice was the my insurance co nurse.

To sum up, I have been with out cymbalta for 7 day and broke down and took a 30 mg capsule yesterday. Now I need a plan for the next few days and an exit strategy. One thought suggested by the psychiatrist is to take a 30 mg capsule every 3 days.

Any suggpestions?

Rafael

[Caroline]

Hi Rafael,
Going slow is the key I have learned here. You may have tapered too fast. Try to find the does that allows you to not suffer the zaps, irritability then taper slowly. You can also try Omega 3's, Vit E and Gatorade. The Omega's help brain function, the Vit E helps absorption of the Omega's good stuff and Gatorade helps with the dry eyes...dehydrated feelings.

Hope some of this helps...
C

[Rafael_Turtle]

Caroline,

Thank-you for responding to your my note. I did not mention in my note that I was bipolar. I finally admitted to myself that I having a manic episode. My wife is extremely supportive and that helps alot. She talked to my six-year son to be nice to me today.

I talked to the on-call pyschiatrist this morning. Our plan was to take cymbalta ~15 mg per day. To take the irritability away he upped my Lacmictal to 300 mg per day. Hopefully that will get me through the long weekend. I did like your suggestion about Gatorade, Vitamin E and Omega 3.

Rafael

[IamDanish]

Rafael_Turtle, on 04 September 2010 - 12:19 PM, said:

Caroline,

Thank-you for responding to your my note. I did not mention in my note that I was bipolar. I finally admitted to myself that I having a manic episode. My wife is extremely supportive and that helps alot. She talked to my six-year son to be nice to me today.

I talked to the on-call pyschiatrist this morning. Our plan was to take cymbalta ~15 mg per day. To take the irritability away he upped my Lacmictal to 300 mg per day. Hopefully that will get me through the long weekend. I did like your suggestion about Gatorade, Vitamin E and Omega 3.

Rafael

Dear Rafael.
I feel so sorry for you, this drug is so bad, and so hard to come off! I am also on lamictal (in denmark it is lamotrigin). I was diagnosed ADHD, BUT, i do think that it is not the case. I am almost sure, that i am bipolar. The lamictal, havent had much effect when i was on cymbalta, but now i am off that, i feel the lamictal working MUCH better, i also take 300 mg pr. day.
I think that lamictal makes it a bit easier for us to get throug the withdrawal, compared to others, my withdrawal has been very short! I am on my 14th day without cymbalta, and i dont have a single brain zap or anything else. The only thing noticable, is that i suffer from nausea the first couple of hours i get up.
I hope for you, that you get off cymbalta, and you are going to experience that your lamictal works better for you then.
I am taking omega 3 fish oil every morning, vitamin D and lamictal 150 mg. In the evening i take B-complex vitamins, multivitamin and 150 mg lamictal.
I have just ordered something called 5 htp, it is a natural product wich is supposed to lift your mood ect. Check it out on google.

Hope you are doing ok.

Tanja, Denmark.

[Rafael_Turtle]

Hi Tanja,

Thank-you for your response, I apologize for not responding sooner. It has been a hell of a week for me.

To make a quick summary, I made a conscience decision to go off cymbalta again. That means I reset the cymbalta withdrawal clock. Today is DAY 6 of my cymbalta withdrawal. I took your suggestion on Omega 3 Fish Oil supplement. I started taking 1200 mg daily.

On Wednesday, I requested a Medical Leave of Absence (MLOA). I simply could not function at work and there is no reason for me to be at work if I am unproductive. My therapist certified to my employer that I am non-functional at work. My therapist and I decided it was time for a second opinion. I made an appointment to see a new psychiatrist for 15 September. In the meantime, I consulted with my current psychiatrist. I needed a refill on my Lamotrigine (generic brand for Lamictal). My official dosage is 150 mg twice daily.

My mood is all over the place. I am still irritable but I know that my situation is temporary. I am nausea in the morning. I have to repeat task several times until I get them right but I do not give up. I still have brain zaps but they are less frequent. I have taken the 3-prong approach to heal the body, mind and spirit. I am Catholic so I have been going to mass daily and praying for myself and my fellow cymbal withdrawal comrades. It sucks what we are going through. I work out daily on my tread mill. My memory is not that good so each night I generate a list of goals to complete the following day. I have an excellent support group system in place since my dark days in February. Family members and friend know what I am going through. I am not ashamed of my current condition. Tonight I will be going to my DPSA (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance) support group.

Your fellow Cymbalta Withdrawal Comrade,
Rafael, Arizona, United States

[Rafael_Turtle]

To my fellow Cymbalta Withdrawal Comrades,

Today is DAY 8 of my Cymbalta withdrawal. I started the day very irritated. I wanted to crawl out of my skin. I have mild brain zaps but I believe the omega 3 Fish Oil and Gatorade are helping.

I can focus on the task at hand but it takes a lot of energy and effort to execute. Some tasks I can complete with no problem. For example, I emptied out the water from the water heater today. I called the plumber and he explained to me how to do it. A frustrating task was making dinner. My wife calls me with the instructions. I completed the task but this task was very frustrating to me. The dinner was very tasteful if I say so myself.

I feel angry about my situation but no guilt or resentment. I articulated what I needed to say to a new psychiatrist today. The new psychiatrist was ready to get out his prescription pad but I said not so fast. I am focused on the long term goal. I have the bipolar illness and I need to keep it in check. In the short term, I will have to endure the Cymbalta withdrawals for many more days. Also I need to think/take a new antidepressant. I have listed 5 antidepressants that I will research for “Cymbalta Replacement”:

• Abilify
• Effexor
• Prisiq
• Invega
• Zyprexa


Any suggestion from this list or any other “Cymbalta Replacement”. Please note the only other psychiatric medication that I am taking is 300mg of Lamotrigine.

My final thought is: “We will never give up hope”.

Rafael

[Rafael_Turtle]

To my fellow Cymbalta Withdrawal Comrades,

Today is DAY 15 of my Cymbalta withdrawal. On DAY 11, Friday, September 17, 2010, I headed south. South is an expression that all is not well. I went to the Emergency room (ER) because I felt very irritable and I felt unsafe. The safety issue was that I might blow-up at my six-year old son which is totally not me.

I took Cymbalta for depression and not for pain. I finally accepted the fact that there is more to my side effects from Cymbalta like irritability, nausea in the morning and “brain zaps”. I will say the “brain zaps” are less frequent. I feel that I am going back into depression. The ER did contact my psychiatrist and I got a prescription for Abilify. I feel for all of you who do not have Insurance. It sucks when there are medications that can take the pain of withdrawal from you. All of you have my compassion.

Tomorrow I see my Primary Care Physician who unfortunately has been on vacation for the past 2 weeks while I have been suffering. I thought of firing her but the alternative of seeing a new internist is not acceptable.

The Abilify did wipe me out this past weekend but the good thing is that I felt less irritable. I got the dosage lowered yesterday and I feel more functional and more coherent.

I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now I have to think of a strategy to get back to work.

My final thought again is: “We will never give up hope”.

Rafael

[Rafael_Turtle]

To my fellow Cymbalta Withdrawal Comrades,

Today is DAY 30 of my Cymbalta withdrawal. After going through hell in the last 30 days, I feel relieved. I went through Brain Zaps, high irritability, nausea in the morning, leave of absence (LOA), safety issues, crying spells, anti-depressant selection, psychiatric visits, an emergency room visit, lots of individual and group therapy. Today I feel light headed towards the end of the day. The light headed feeling is getting less and less.

Today, I am back at work. That was a significant mile stone for me. Was the hell that I went through it worth it?

• Yes, from a goals point of view. I read several post from this Cymbalta withdrawal forum before my psychiatrist and I committed to removing Cymbalta from my medication cocktail.
  
• Yes, I have become more proactive with my illness, bipolar disorder. It was a difficult day for me 20 months ago that I had to go off my mood stabilizer, Lithium Carbonate, because of the damage that it had caused my kidneys. After 12 antidepressants in the past 20 month including Cymbalta for 6 months, I still feel hope.
  
• Yes, my pain/suffering was not alone through my darkest moments. Strangers (or friends that I have no met) felt compassion for me and I now feel compassion for the friends that I have not met.
  
• Yes, I feel that I am my depression is alleviating. I have forced my self to stop isolating myself. If there is a social event, I force myself to go to it. Staying at home and not talking to anybody about it is not a solution.
  
• Yes, I am healing the body, the mind and the spirit.

Quote

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy

” by Jalaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks We Are Three.

[cookie]

Dear Rafael:
Congratulations on you going back to work!
Weaning off of cymbalta from 120mg to 0mg in such a short time is also a huge accomplishment.
I have weaned from 60mg to 10mg in 5 months and still feel awful. I can´t imagine what would it be like to come from such a high dose and quit in a smaller period.
hugs
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