[zombie]

I am not depressed or definitely was not before Cymb. I am getting hands-on PT for soft-tissue restrictions and pelvis that is rotated left and tilted forward. My brain keeps overstimulating the muscles of my lower back because it "reads" the misalignment as proof that I am about to fall forward and hit my head.

I have hot burning pain in my butt when I sit and have been dealing with armpit and torso hot burning pain from surgery.

My doc started me on low dose Effexor and side effects were horrid and go off that and was switched to Cymb. The stated purpose of Effex/Cymb was "to calm my central nervous system" after enduring these pains without meds for so long. I am allergic to anti-inflammatories - aspirin, motrin, advil, etc. Percocet gives me dysphoria.

I took 20mg in AM for 60 days. The side effects have been horrid - zombie like, less memory than just in pain, blurred vision, tremors, on and on. Initially, no sleep. Low dose Neurontin was added at night to calm the hot burning pain and to counteract the Energizer Bunny - no sleep of the Cymb. I have many drug allergies and developed allergy to Neurontin so I stopped that.

Meanwhile, I was also getting Trigger Point Injections to lower back muscles and X-ray directed cortisone shots into SI joint and spine.

The Energizer Bunny is dead and Cymb is currently making me drowsy during day and my side effects cover the gamut from hot flashes and headaches, nausea, no appetite, and everything mentioned before... and more.

I was thinking about tapering off when I unintentionally (or subconsciously) skipped my morning 20 mg. I didn't think the 20 was working and my doc had said that for many patients 60mg worked. I could see no way I could get to 60 if the 20 mg side effects were this bad.

The skip day was hell including crying on phone about what time dinner would be to panic attack about whether 5 hours was enough time to clean my kitchen before my daughter arrived. I had never had a panic attack before in my life. By noon on the day following my skip, life was HELLISH. I had been looking at this site and immediately took 20 mg.

I bought empty gel caps at Whole Foods and made 10 mg caps. Vegans repackage their drugs from animal to vegetable capsules?

Today is day 4 of 10 mg and I feel awful. I was going to do a week of 10 mg and then a week of 5 mg and be done... that would be 10 more days on Cymb.

When I open my eyes in the AM, there's a 4" wide black spider walking on the ceiling... until it vaporizes. I leafed through the New Yorker and more than half the images were scary and gave me chills (weird). I have no appetite and am nauseous - living on toast. I awake every few hours starting at 4 or 5 AM and may force myself out of bed by 1 PM. I have no idea what day of the week it is.

I have started guided meditation. PT has gotten me far enough that I can go back to Hot yoga to warm and stretch what hurts. I do a micro - very limited version of what the group is doing... 4 downward dogs is my limit in 90 min.

I think I want to go cold turkey tomorrow and just tough it out. I am useless today... totally useless.

Why be useless and with headaches etc. for another 10 days and still BE talking Cymb? I also have codeine if it feels like my head is in a giant nut cracker.

I WANT THIS TO END AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. HELP, pls. Thank you.

[zombie]

This thread is important. I am not a doctor - I am the patient who started this topic.

It will take me hours to write and edit this because I want to make it as clear as possible. I keep adding another sentence to this paragraph. Sitting is painful. Sometimes when I go to edit, I cannot figure out what I wrote. I am moving around the sentences to make this cohesive. I am now spreading this out with more lines a -. In the old days, I could have just written this and it would have made sense. I am trying to give more of a chronology and lump things together.

Cymb was approved by FDA for chronic musculoskeletal pain Nov 2010... as well as for several other types of pain.

PAIN docs have been using Cymb for pain on an "off label" basis. Now with this approval, more PAIN patients will get Cymb prescriptions from their INTERNISTS because Cymb is "now in the book". That is scary.

Some pain patients are clearly depressed; some of us use a Pollyanna approach to survival.

My pain is Chronic because I have been living with it since 9/2007.

I have 3 types of PAIN...
-muscle pain -from misalignment of pelvis -new since 9/2007
-hot burning nerve pain -originated from 1993 surgery and under control until 9/2007
-PT pain - frequently 24 to 36 hours of pain following Physical Therapy treatment. This pain is part of process of treatment to resolve the other 2 types of pain. Fight Fire with Fire? PT started 9/2007.

I have many allergies: anti-inflammatories (aspirin, advil, motrin, alieve,etc), penicillin hydromorphone, percocet... the list goes on... including Neurontin.

Before 2011, I was on no prescription drugs - was dealing with pain using Benadryl occasionally 25 mg at night (makes me sleepy) and rarely (HUGE pain spike) codeine... and some chardonnay therapy. I played a 14 tune "loving lullaby" playlist on low vol on my iPod speakers to lull me to sleep and help me REM over.

I was/am getting Soft Tissue Physical Therapy to correct pelvic problem and nerve pain. Therapist puts her hands on your body; this is not sports medicine/hands off PT. This is NOT Therabands nor exercise machines in the PT gym. It is often painful for 24 to 48 hours afterward. It is tiring.

My pelvic misalignment was masked by body casting and exposed by PT.

My meds are being managed by world class pain specialist. I am being treated at a Pain Program. Acupuncture starts next month. I have started Guided meditation from CDs.

This is something I say often: I AM A SAMPLE SIZE OF ONE. What works on me may or may not work on anyone else. When a doc says you have a 1 in 10 million chance of having a problem with "this procedure", I don't care. What I care about is Am I IT? Am I the 1 in 10 million? If there is a 1 in TEN chance, I don't care unless I am IT.

Medicine is an art based on science... that is why it is "practiced".

Medicine is personal because we are each a sample size of one.

This is my story and I am stuck with it... my sample size of 1.

In Jan 2011, I was having severe pain walking and took codeine daily for musculoskeletal pain during a 10 day trip abroad so I could walk - returned to Trigger Point Injections and to start the hip and spine injections of cortisone (X-ray directed) AND to start meds...

- started Effexor... got off Effexor... due to side effects

- started Cymbalta 20mg in AM... to calm my central nervous system... to make me less sensitive to pain including pain from PT. Cymb is not believed to help burning, nerve pain.

- ADDED Neurontin at night 1) for the hot burning pain... and 2) to CALM the Energizer Bunny effect of the Cymb and to LET me sleep.

- allergic reaction to Neurontin (hives) so got off Neurontin...

- Energizer bunny of Cymb DIED during Neurontin

- remained on 20 mg Cymbalta... At beginning - doc hoping I might eventually slowly increase Cymb to 60 mg... told me to stay at 20. The multiple, awful side effects(not all at the same time) while on just 20 mg of Cymb were driving me nuts: fuzzy vision, fuzzy brain, red hot flushed face on awakening, nausea,no appetite,pounding heart, feeling like a slug;unable to get out of bed;unable to clean up after Sunday dinner guest until just before she returned the next Sunday (I used to be Neatnik), headaches, slept on mattress cover - couldn't force self to make bed,sweating,dry mouth,bloodshot eyes,watery eyes, 20 hours in bed some days. I keep daily notes and created that list from my scribblings. I had multiple of those symptoms at one time - NEVER all at the same time... and I am sure I missed some. I had become a SLUG.

- doc said may try adding Lyrica? or something to replace the Neurontin for the BURNING pain - would discuss next visit.

- I was so useless on 20 mg of Cymb - more useless that I was IN PAIN with no meds - and meanwhile PT continues to work on underlying causes of pain.

My pain specialist said: You have to evaluate the benefit of the Cymb versus the side effects. I reached the conclusion GET OFF CYMB... and that was when I started reading about Weaning off Cymb and landed at this site.

I have to confess that I had a semi-conscious sense that I was having an ALLERGIC reaction to Cymb all along. I desperately wanted to get my life back from the debilitating PAIN I had... I wanted to believe that 3-6 months on Cymb would calm my nervous system and enable me to work my way out of PAIN... PT, yoga, gentle exercise, etc. I knew my pain specialist was top of the table.

Last night at 9 PM, the truth was staring me in the mirror. I had been listening to an audio book in bed and I wanted to scratch the skin off my arms, legs, sides and abdomen.

I looked and there were hives on my chest and neck... on top of the severe itching. It was day 4 of 10 mg... on my way to NO MORE Cymb.

Allergies are interesting. I used to take aspirin and was fine. My allergy emerged after prescription strength Motrin for a medical procedure... just a little too much.

It was undeniable that I am now allergic to CYMB as well as Neurontin.

STEP ONE: two 25 mg Benadryl for total of 50 mg last night a 9 PM.
STEP TWO: notify pain specialist
STEP Three: no more CYMB

So... after 60 days on 20 mg, 1 miss day, 20 mg, then 4 days of 10 mg - I am off it... no further weaning options possible.

Where am I today? I woke up with NO red, flushed face. My eyes are bloodshot but my head feels like someone painlessly removed a quart of excess fluid from my brain. I have been working on this post for 6 hours (can't sit long/brain fuzzy/mistype) and I feel the clearest I have felt in months.

I have taken no more Benadryl... but will if my body tells me to take more.

Very early on, a wise physician told me: Listen to Your Body. Were some or all my side effects my body objecting to Cymbalta as the allergy was developing?

Yesterday morning and the day before, there was a 4" black spider walking on my ceiling when opening my eyes... gone this morning and replaced by white worm-like geometric shapes on a black background when I closed my eyes... after being spared the spider.

Are weaning side effects changed by Benadryl? Yesterday, half the images in The New Yorker were SCARY to me. Today? Don't know yet.

GOOGLE: Cymbalta Benadryl. After taking the Benadryl, I found very interesting info.

REMEMBER - I am a PAIN patient - not a person coping with depression.

The day after I took Benadryl, I feel a need to raise a question:

Given all the side effects people have from Cymb, are some of them allergic reactions to some of the "ingredients" in this drug?

My pharmacy and every reputable medical website says something like:

"do not take this drug if you are allergic to any of its ingredients"

Every time I come upon that wording I see RED because the patient is not given the information to answer that question about any drug. All you get is a list of INactive ingredients.

I already have more pain than I had yesterday... and yet I am loving my pain more than Cymb.

I'll have to see what withdrawal side effects, if any, I get. I am brainwashing myself to believe that getting off will be easy. Remember that I was taking it for PAIN not depression. I am actually feeling hungry for the first time in months.

More.... another day. Peace to all.

[Lundeliz]

Hi Zombie,

I also feel like a slug on Cymbalta. That's a very good description of how I feel. I have been tapering

off for over a year. In the beginning of my taper, I also broke out in very itchy hives. Miserable. I think

it was from the release of huge amounts of histamine that happens during withdrawal. I'm still plugging

along, tapering very slowly. I'm down from 60mg to 40mg. So far, side effects have not gotten any better.

Withdrawal has been bearable at this slow pace. I was not put on it for depression or anxiety. Good luck.

Hope you feel better soon.

[zombie]

Dear Lundeliz,

I am sorry you feel like a slug. Google and read about Cymbalta and Benadryl.

Here is my update since this morning: walked into disgusting kitchen and I could SEE the dishes... the fog was lifted. I said, "Golly, I would like to clean this up."

Walked into living room and the room had depth... it was no longer in a fog... I was not in fog. Now that I am out of the FOG, it is so clear (no pun intended) that the FOG was part of what was turning me into a slug.

I had decided that I would take these next days very slowly. After lunch (micro rice & mushrooms), I laid down to continue book on CD and sudden abdominal cramps - followed by dash to bathroom. Hives were prominent again - had not been in AM; took Benadryl 50 mg... next will be 25 mg.

I did not take Benadryl in AM because it makes me sleepy. I was already sleepy and yawning when I ate lunch - hence my decision for 50 mg.

My goal is to share what is going on with me... my sample size of one. Hope it helps in some way. Peace.

[zombie]

My saga continued....

Ate some food at 2 PM - first of the day... half hour later sharp abdominal pains - then dash to bathroom. Feeling sleepy, laid down to continue audio book. Awoke at 5PM.

When I opened my eyes, feared FOG would be back... FOG was stll gone !!!

Ate bit more. Hives had flared again - took 50 mg Benadryl. Walked around house - completely amazed that the FOG is gone.

Let me describe the difference between being In and Out of the FOG - while the fog is still vivid.

The FOG was a big enabler of being a SLUG.

Let me use looking into my war zone kitchen... to detail the FOG.

In the FOG:
I can see everything there; I can name everything there; nothing is separate and distinct. It is like everything is permanently frozen into its place in some invisible but very strong gas. Everything is flat; nothing reflects light. It feels like cleaning the kitchen would require picking up the entire, solidified contents of the sink, countertop, and stove as one invisibly frozen unit. I couldn't do that so I add a spoon or whatever to the existing vignette and walk away. I can walk into the kitchen and get something... I just cannot do anything with any of the items comprising the mess. I can walk into the kitchen... I just can't DO anything there except contribute to the mess. It's like I sense an invisible wall that separates me from what needs to be done (clean up).

With the FOG gone:
I walk into the kitchen and everything is 3-dimensional. Each item is separate from the other items. Light reflects off items. There is a spoon... I could just pick it up and put it in the dishwasher. There's a glass... it can go into the DW, too. This is wonderful - what life was like before Cymbalta. I stand at the door and look in. I smile thinking how little time it will take to make is ship-shape. Every item is separate and distinct. I can "fix" everything - one item at a time.

I am a patient. I am not a doctor. I was taking Cymbalta for PAIN.

I have no idea what role, if any, Benadryl played in driving the FOG away... just very happy that the FOG is gone. Peace.

[zombie]

It's me X-Zombie reporting in.

WOW...how wonderful... I have escaped from the FOG.

Pls reread my description of IN and OUT of the FOG of Cymbalta.

Since getting OFF Cymbalta, I can cook real food to feed myself, I can clean my kitchen, I have more of my life back.

I was prescribed Cymb for PAIN. I was not depressed. This NASTY drug created a FOG around me that made it impossible for me to do basic activities of daily living like cook food, clean my kitchen, do ANYTHING.

Happy to be Cymbalta free.

Here's my new hymn:
Free at last... free at last... Thank God Almighty, I am FREE at last. PEACE.

[zombie]

It's me again... reporting in. Cymbalta is soooooooooo scary. I was put on it for chronic pain - not depression. Today was another day w/o cymb... and another day OUT of the fog. I could cook real food for myself and put plates and utensils in the dishwasher... like a normal human.

I had a pretty good day... tackled some projects I have wanted to do since 2010... still some hives, bloodhot eyes, and I look like an escapee from a death sentence.

I took 25 mg Benadyl and was just hoping to doze off. HA! I was just atempting to doze off when I found myself crying... and thinking maybe I should just kill myself. YIKES !!! The logic went... my kids are 20 AND 27, they will be OK... I could just escape the pain if I killed myself. WTF. WTF. WTF. I am Chatty Cathy... Pollyanna. I have survived 18 yrs since problems with 2 mastectomies - each with reconstructive surgery that turned my torso into a FIRE ball. WTF. Why am I crying AND talking myself INTO commiting suicide? OMG. What if I WERE depressed? What has this drug DONE to me?

I am going to play a guided meditation CD and get myself back on track.

If Cymbalta can do this to a happy, stable, sensible person IN PAIN .... what does it do to someone who is struggling with demons?

If you are on Cymbalta and question what it is doing for - pls get off it and write about your experience.

If you are PAIN patient thinking about starting Cymbalta - pls look everywhere else FIRST... meditation, PT, yoga, acupuncture, Reiki, whatever... before trying Cymbalta.

Perhaps we have been brainwashed into thinking that there is always a little pill to cure anything/everything. I come from a pill avoidance family... and yet I succumbed... to the notion that this poison would "calm my central nervous system" and allow my body to heal.

Poison is poison... cymbaltal is poison. Pls don't shoot the messenger. Peace.

[zombie]

It's me again.

End of Day 6 w/o Cymbalta. Right now I have nausea, headache, bloodshot eyes, bags under my eyes, red blotches.... but the FOG is still gone... hooray. I have no idea how long it will take for the Cymbalta side effects to end. I have more pain. Was it from doing more physical work than the nothing that I did on Cymbalta or was my body missing the Cymbalta? My conclusion now it that it was flare-up from activity.

Peace.

[zombie]

It's me... Day 7 of no Cymbalta... after 60 days on 20 mg FOR PAIN and a few of 10 mg... got off because it was not helping, I had been turned into a totally useless slug - could not even put dishes in dishwasher nor feed myself other than frozen boxes into the micro, and I developed an allergy to it - hives.

Same withdrawal side effects continue. Had some rice for lunch and 30 min later almost did not make it the 30 feet to the bathroom. A friend called at 4 PM to see if I was making any progress on the 1 item on my To Do List... same item that was there before Cymbalta. I cried. This is DRUGS. I never used to cry when a friend called.

This drug was developed to make Depressed people less depressed... and now it is being given to non-Depressed people and it is making them Depressed? Does this make sense?

I hope there may come a time when
a) the side effects of Cymbalta go away
my brain returns to the optimism it had before Cymbalta.

If you are a PAIN patient, pls think long and hard before going for the Cymbalta - thinking it is the brass ring on the merry-go-round... it may be more of a brass ring thru your nose with tethering chain attached and bolted to the wall.

Peace.

[zombie]

I hope there may come a time when
a) the side effects of Cymbalta go away
my brain returns to the optimism it had before Cymbalta.

If you are a PAIN patient, pls think long and hard before going for the Cymbalta - thinking it is the brass ring on the merry-go-round... it may be more of a brass ring thru your nose with tethering chain attached and bolted to the wall.

Peace.
[/quote]

It's me again - the patient - the person who started this thread.

I was on Cymbalta for PAIN - not depression. Cymbalta is being prescribed for PAIN other than fibromaligia. I do not have fibro. I have post-surgical pain that was controlled before a rear-end car accident sent me into soft tissue PT to restore use of my neck.

Early APRIL, I wrote: So... after 60 days on 20 mg, 1 miss day, 20 mg, then 4 days of 10 mg - I am off it... no further weaning options possible because of allergic reaction to Cymbalta.
==============

It's now almost 60 days since my last Cymbalta... What has been happening?
1) I had hot flashes for more than a month - finally over.

2) The weight that I put on - 10 pounds in 60 days - the result of up to 20 hours in bed and little food due to nausea - is still with me - friends said it was probably just water - ha !!!!

3) Until Cymbalta, I never had nausea except when pregnant. I still get nausea... I think it is from the Cymbalta. I take NO prescription drugs.

4) I replaced the Cymbalta with Autogenics and Guided Meditations (not exotic meditation). My Pain Clinic has a psychologist who started me on Autogenics. I now do them daily. For guided meditations, I like this one: Susie Mantrell's Your Present: A Half-Hour of Peace. If you have access to a large library system, you will find many audio CDs on all of this so you can preview "programs" before buying CDs. Also, there are samples or mini-examples on youtube.

I am getting positive results from mind/body work and it is soooooooo much better than Cymbalta. Everyone is different. I would recommend that ANYONE considering Cymbalta for Chronic PAIN - consider Mind/Body alternatives FIRST !!! Ask whoever is prescribing or about to prescribe Cymbalta, to recommend someone to work with you on relaxation/mind/body techniques BEFORE trying Cymbalta.

I wish I had tried relaxation/mind/body techniques BEFORE trying Cymbalta.

I am a Chronic PAIN patient. I was not on Cymbalta for depression.

Peace.