[Antares]

Just thought I'd add a few words (probably more) on my experience with Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms.

I had cervical disk surgery in May, and I felt better the day after surgery than I do a week after stopping Cymbalta.

Getting off this drug is horrible and is nothing like I have ever experienced. I have been on 60 mg for about six months. Reasons I quit taking it - I haven't had a job for over a year despite an intense campaign to find a one, and I can no longer justify paying for a medication that has seemed to give me diminishing results - when my kids need that money spent on food and other essentials instead. Also, several side-affects of Cymbalta just wore me out - like insomnia, a strong desire to go back to bed just an hour or two after waking, sleepiness that would seem to stick with me most days (until I really wanted to go to bed), almost no libido, and a 30 lb weight gain over a couple months (I hadn't gained that much ever in such a short period of time and gaining that much weight depressed me enough to wonder what the point was of taking Cymbalta at all).

So, Cymbalta went by the wayside a week ago, and the first two days I felt better than I had in months. Day three though the withdrawal symptoms started, which included the ignominous brain zaps and other zaps that seem like electrical charges flowing to various parts of my body - a lot of them down my arms and into my fingers - feeling almost like a split-second of uncontrolled muscle spasms as best as I can describe them. Included with the zaps are a nagging lightheadedness that seems worse when I move my eyes, horrible headaches, nausea and indigestion with about anything I eat, vision distortions, thought freeze, and a general unsteadiness with just about all of my activities - such as walking, sitting, standing up, breathing . . .

But despite how horrible I feel right now, I am determined to get through this crap, and I am never going back on Cymbalta again (I really like having a libido again, and I like being able to fall asleep without hours of tossing and turning among other things, and I plan on working off my excess weight - which seemed impossible to tackle while on Cymbalta). With the wide array of symptoms I am experiencing though, it makes me wonder just what that drug was doing to my brain. I mean - really. Something powerful enough to "rewire" what's inside my head just doesn't seem to be a good thing to take. And obviously it had to have done some major "rewiring," or I wouldn't be dealing with all these "neurological" symptoms now - as my body tries to get back to the way it used to work.

These Eli Lilly folks - just what were they thinking other than "$$" when they came up with this stuff?

[hotopiedog]

Oh my god in heaven, I have never felt so bad in my whole life. What in the hell is going on. I was on 30mgs for about a year. my doctor said iw ould not have much of a problem at all getting off. Well the brain shivers are awful, the diarrhea and the heartburn and insomnia are the worst i have ever expierienced. I am so emotional, i have cried like a baby at least a hundred times now. i was screaming at the poor dog, who was looking at me like i was satrk raving mad and went to my husband and hid under his shirt. I was even yelling at the bird, who always says night, night ruby. i was like yaeh i freaken wish i cld go night , night. I have never been so exhausted, i fell like i have been run over by a bus. Please tell me how long this is going to last. It has been 4 days and i do not know how much more i can take. Please help me. I just turned 50 and this is supposed to be the best time of my life. Both my great kids got married this year. Thisstinks. i need sleep. HELP!!!!!

[Antares]

Hi Houdi,

Thanks for your kind thoughts and reassurances. Still not over it yet. I have been taking a Vicodin every night, which seems to knock most of the Cymbalta symptoms out by morning, but they come back as the day progresses. I have some Vicodin left over from my neck surgery, so we will see how far that goes.

One of the strangest symptoms to me - when I move my eyes left or right, I get an "electrical zap" in my fingers, especially those of my left hand. I haven't checked the posts - is that a common symptom? It is not something I expected, and I am at a loss to figure out the connection between my hands and eye movement.

I have another question. Why hasn't Lilly been sued over this drug? Or has that already happened? As a society, we worry about making certain a death-row prisoner feels no pain, but thousands and thousands of everyday citizens are being tortured through the negligence of a drug company and the government oversight organization. This I cannot understand. At all. If we were to use Cymbalta withdrawal on military prisoners, it would be clearly an act of torture - wouldn't it?

Stick with it hotopiedog. You are not alone. I am 51, and I too had hoped this part of my life would be better. Thanks to CW, I feel like crap now, and this stuff is interfering with my life in many ways. I am working a part-time job, and CW is killing me in that effort.

Antares