[Andrew]

Hi all. This is my story. Im 26yrs old, married, two daughters a 7yr old and 1yr old. Since the birth of our youngest daughter me and my wife have been struggling. Also in that short time I changed jobs, from a easy going day job to a hellish night job. With all of lifes stresses coming down on us we started growing apart. Around 5months ago we started marriage counsuling. 3 months ago after a big fight our marriage counselor basically told me i had to go to the doctor and get on an anitdepressant because she was afraid i may harm myself. So the next day i went into the doctor and told him i was really feeling down and going threw a really stressful time and needed something to help get me threw. He gave me a trail sample of 30days of 30mg and 30days of 60mg Cymbalta. I never once was really told anything about this drug and i remember my doctor saying that in a few months if i was feeling good i could stop taking this stuff. Never once did i get the impression that it was going to be an all out battle to quit. I know now that i will never just start taking prescribed medication again without doing my own research first.

Part 1

So i started on the 30mg for the first 30days and i felt great! My marriage seem to be improving, and i didnt stress so much about my crappy job. After the first 30days was up i went right into the 60mg pills. I noticed no change from the 30mg's only that my sleep quality seemed to not be as good as before. I obasically ran out of my 60s on a Thursday, i was busy the next day Friday and did not get into the doctor to get prescrided the 30's again. That night i drank heavily. The next day Saturday i felt like crap! This was day 2 cold turkey off of the 60's. I just figured it was a bad hangover, and id be feeling back to normal the next day. Now to Sunday day 3 cold turkey, i was still feeling like crap, threw up once over night and was starting to think maybe i was just getting the flu or something. Luckly that Monday i had already taking the night off work because it was our daughters 1st b-day. Monday day 4 cold turkey was hell... Throwing up in the morning, i could bearely walk from the couch to the bedroom, i was so dizzy. I crawled into bed after throwing up and my wife had been calling me cause she was worried. I could barely focus enough to look at the phone and see who was calling. I answer my phone and my wife tells me she googled Cymbalta and found all these horror stories about Cymbalta withdrawls. She told me i needed to call the doctor immediately and get some more Cymbalta. So i did and luckly i have one Cymbalta 60mg left in the bottle. So i took it, and for about 2hrs i laid in bed considering calling 911 cause i thought i was having a heartattack or something. My chest felt like it was caving in. I finally fell asleep and woke a few hrs later and felt 10X better than i had just a short few hrs earlier. I just felt weak from the lack of food in my system. The next day i jumped back down to the 30mg's. The only withdrawls i experienced from the 60's to 30's was a couple brainzaps and pretty much a low grade nausea all the time. Not enough to really effect my day to day activitys. One thing i did notice was if i have any alcohol, even one beer, my nausea would worsen extreamly. And those brainzaps are crazy! I only had 2 or 3 i think and it was always at work, i work in a factory around alot of machinery. I had know idea what was going on, i remember thinking to myself "did i just get shocked by something???"

[Andrew]

Part 2

Last weekend after about 3weeks of being back on the 30's i decide enough is enough, im tired of not being able to enjoy 1 beer with my buddys after work, or 1 beer with supper in the evenings with my wife. Plus the low grade nausea all the time is getting old fast! So i go back into the doctors this past Tuesday. Tell him im not liking the Cymbalta anymore, and briefly explain my story so far. He precribes me Bupropion XL. I specifically ask him if i will be fine to just stop the Cymbalta and go to this new crap. He said "o yes, no problem." I have been cold turkey off the 30's since. First 3days i didnt really notice anything other than mood swings. Today, Saturday day 4, i hit a wall, nausea, dizziness, lack of focus, mood swings! I started to get scared and very angry of what the next few days/weeks may have instore for me. I wanted to punch the doctor in the face, i mean really beat the crap out of him! I get angry of what going threw these withdrawls might do to my marriage, we have enough stresses currently and with the holidays coming up fast, id really like to enjoy this time with my daughters. Not be locked away in the bedroom away from lights and noise. I broke down to my wife in tears asking for help. At first it seemed to upset her like now she needs to take care of me and the kids, i was worried and upset. But luckly she listen to me and did some research for me, cause i basically couldnt focus on a computer screen without wanting to throw up. She saw some post about Dramamine helping cope with the nausea and dizziness. Please if u have not tryed this and are suffering, go get some of this stuff. You can pick it up at ur local grocery store and you have nothing to lose but a couple dollars. I have been able to eat, walk, drive a car, watch tv for the last 12hrs no problem. No nausea, no dizziness at all. I feel that in my case if i can control the nausea and dizziness i can get threw the rest of these withdrawals just fine.

Its basically day 5 now and im hopeful. My plan is to take the rest of these Bupropion XLs till this 30day supply is out, hopefully by then i will be totally free from Cymbalta. Praying that only being on Cymbalta for 3months and only the 30's the last month I will have an easier battle than what some have gone threw. Also im keeping this Dramamine motion sickness stuff on me at all times. Only taking it when i cant function from the nausea and dizziness anymore. Im going to cut out alcohol completely for awhile. Then after the first 30days are over i will refill the Bupropion XL and start breaking these things in half. Within 2 months i plan on being totally free from all this crap. Wish me luck... I will update as often as i can.

On a side note Cymbalta is an excellent antidepressant! Because after you have gone threw the withdrawals and survive. You'll look back on ur life and say "its not that bad, i could still be hooked on Cymbalta!!!!"

[autimom4ever]

Did you get prescribed Cymbalta for depression or anxiety?

Buprorion is only FDA approved to treat depression. If you have anxiety, it will make anxiety worse...

So if you are withdrawing, the last thing you need is something that makes anxiety worse.

I would discuss this with your doctor..

Good luck