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Want To Go Back On Cymbalta - I Must Be Crazy!


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#1 Cassiopeia

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Posted 28 March 2012 - 10:45 PM

I was on Cymbalta for 8 years. For seven of those years my depression and chronic pain were completely gone. Then all of a sudden the Cymbalta stopped working. The pain slowly came back, and I started to withdraw from my family and from life. Didn't want to go anywhere, even to the grocery store. Talked to the doctor who increased my dosage from 60mg daily to 90mg daily. (I had sweats and hot flashes where all of a sudden I would be soaking wet - I mean hair and clothing dripping wet - and feeling faint. Didn't attribute it to Cymbalta at the time, so I have been treated for peri-menopause & diabetes in conjunction with withdrawal symptoms!)

After increasing dosage the symptoms increased:

- Extreme nightmares
These nightmares feel real, and even when awake they are so vivid they haunt you. I would scream as loud as I could - in my sleep! - and sob, cry, pray until a family member woke me up. Couldn't awaken from them myself. My 20-something kids were begging me not to sleep because they couldn't sleep & it was making university classes difficult. I started sleeping during the day instead. Actually felt afraid to go to sleep. Nightmares lasted two months during increased dosage/going off period.

- Rage
I am not an angry person. At all. The rage scared me and those around me. For some reason it was directed only towards my husband. I was threatening to divorce him. All this happened Nov-Dec, so the bright side is that I got a new stove for Christmas - LOL. Now that I have been off Cymbalta for 3 months the rage is gone, but the thoughts of divorce are still there. I don't feel connected to him, I don't like him, don't want to be with him. I get through by telling myself that what was true before withdrawal is still true now, even if I can't feel it. My concern is: what if these thoughts don't subside?

- Agitation
I am very pessimistic now, and feel irritated quite quickly, even after being off Cymbalta for 3 months. During my withdrawal period I was so agitated that I did something really stupid which I deeply regret now. I am/was a professional blogger, my income coming from several websites. All of which I deleted one day because I was agitated with Google's changes to their algorithm. This means my income dried up completely with the click of a button. Fortunately we can live off my husband's income but there is no eating out, no shopping, no lovely extras in life. He was "disappointed" but has not complained or given me a moments grief about it.

- Memory/Concentration problems
I had been telling myself that the memory problems were due to aging. And then I went off Cymbalta. I couldn't believe how smart I had become within a few days of going off! But now? I am worse today than I was then. Can't even finish a sentence properly in conversation. Literally. Try to say a word and find it just out of my grasp. I substitute another word or the person with whom I'm speaking chooses one for me. So embarrassing.

- Nausea & Headaches
When cymbalta stopped working and for about a month after going off I had excruciating headaches that sent me to bed for hours. Nausea ever morning & after I ate. Both are gone now.

- Brain Zaps & body jerks
I had brain tremors and body jerks for about a month after going off Cymbalta. I had restless legs while on the medication, but it morphed into full body or limb jerks during withdrawal. Now gone, even the restless legs.

- Crying
I didn't have crying problems during withdrawal - I just felt angry. But now, three months later I find I have an emotional reaction to so many things. Schmaltzy commercials, slight increase of emotions during conversations, even from my pessimistic thoughts. I even cried at the doctors office when telling him about this crazy experience!

- Pain
Last, but certainly not least is the chronic pain. I had a little joint pain before I took Cymbalta, but it didn't affect my life in any way. When I went on this medication as an antidepressant I was pleasantly surprised that the pain went away. The returning pain was the first symptom that I noticed when the medication stopped working. During the months when I was going off cymbalta the pain was more than I could bear, even after taking advil or tylenol. Do you know that feeling where the pain is so bad you know it is to your mental limit. It is terrifying. Thankfully, the pain isn't that bad today. I have morning stiffness, migrating pain that affects different areas of my body such as my foot or small of my back, but I feel chronic pain in my upper arms & shoulders, hands and hips. If I take the dog for a walk for 30 minutes I am in so much pain when I get home that my body shuts down and I have to sleep for a few hours. If I go shopping I am in excruciating pain for the rest of the day. I take Advil several times a day just to keep the pain manageable.

Even after three months of being off Cymbalta my quality of life is affected. I've tried so many things to try and make the pain manageable, but nothing seems to work. Diet, exercise, all sorts of vitamins, detox, other medications all were a bust.

I have to get a job to make some money, but with my present condition I just can't. I'd like to be able to get my head on straight and be free of pain, or at least have a level of pain that is more manageable.

Tomorrow I see my doctor and want to discuss the possibility of taking Duloxetine in another form, if my body would accept it. I don't forget the horror of going off Cymbalta and how the ripple effect is still making my life difficult today, but I just can't live with the physical pain, mental anguish and lack of emotional control any longer.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Am I still experiencing side affects to withdrawing from Cymbalta, or am I experiencing symptoms that were taken away from the medication? It is so very confusing and I feel like I am wrestling with this whole thing alone. My doctor is doing the tests and giving me the meds I'm requesting, but seems to be following my lead. He tells me that we know what is NOT causing the pain, but don't know what is or what to do about it. I've had a brain scan, x-rays of my joints, millions of blood tests for everything imaginable and still no answer.

So. . . what's the answer?

#2 autimom4ever

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Posted 31 March 2012 - 08:18 AM

Your story sounds like mine.... and I am back on cymbalta and probably for life.... :(
.

I had all the symptoms you did, including pain. Pain I never had before or during cymbalta.

My belief is cymbalta changes your nervous system chemistry to the point to where, if you try to go off, your nervous system go array.... (because it was used to the way it was/changed on cymbalta).

I tried..... so hard to stay off. I was on my 3rd or 4th month too.... but I couldn't do it anymore...
The pain and withdraw was getting in the way of my family life and work. I dreaded getting out of bed every day because of I knew what was ahead of me for the day (pain, panic, nausea). I cried every day.

I, too, had blood tests, MRI's, went to spine specialist, ortho and neuro. Spent LOTS of money trying to find out what the heck was going on.

I finally let my "control" down and let the neuro explain to me what was going on (and he took lots of time...which many docs don't do anymore).
My catacholamines (epinepherine and norepi) was off as well as my cortisol level. He didn't say this but I believe cymbalta did this and it infurates me. But it's too late.... I trusted the doc that put me on it for anxiety (nowhere as bad as it was after I tried to come of cymbalta) and I trusted the drug.... Now, I'm on it for life to keep how my nervous system changed on it stable.... SO I CAN LIVE....

Now, going back on it has been slow increases...but I am back on the dose I was.... I still have morning tachycardia (heart rate about 130's), so I'm on Atenolol temporarily (beta blocker that slows the heart rate) and the pain is still there but not as bad, so I am on Gabapentin temporarily (the neuro PROMISED when it comes time, he will wean me off gabapentin).

So, that is me.... Cymbalta HAS changed me neurophysically and I am MAD. But I cannot let myself focus on what I cannot control. I need to heal for myself, my family and my job. Elly Lilly just doesn't know what they are doing to people and I'm sure they don't care. All they probably think about is the bottom line ($$$$$)..... But what large company actually thinks about the person over money?

Good luck to you and if you ever want to talk, let me know... I'll give you my email address.

Becky

#3 cacia54

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    Severe joint pain all over after going off Cymbalta

Posted 11 July 2012 - 04:04 AM

My word your experience with Cymbalta is very much like mine I am literaly crippled since going off Cymbalta. My pain is unbearable in my upper and lower body joints. What are we going to do? Nothing seems to get rid of the pain. and no one can diagnose it they just give me pain pills.

#4 olikunvrhav

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Posted 12 July 2012 - 02:11 PM

ladies..plez ask yr doctor about Arthro-tech for some pain management. i suffer side-effects from it as well but it allows me movement and some painfree moments.
@cassiopeia thank you for a very well articulated description = its on the money honey of what so many of us are feeling!
i hope this helps..plez let me know how you are doing(?)



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