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3 1/3 Weeks On - 12 Days Off And Feeling Sick, Anxious And Needing Encouragement


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#1 newknee750

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Posted 29 December 2014 - 11:37 PM

Heydee:

 

I am recovering from a knee replacement and had insomnia and pain and doc prescribed cymbalta.  I started it because my husband, daughter, and sister take it and all have positive results and I have chronic pain issues beside my knee and I trust my doctor.  As soon as I ramped to 60 mg after a week I started having severe side effects including not sleeping and extreme anxiety, sweats, palpitations, and awful dreams.  I started doing research at this point and thought I don't want to cold turkey off of it and dropped back down to 30 mg....so I did 30 mg 7 days, 60 mgs 7 days, 30 mgs 4 days, and 20 mgs for 4 or 5 days and side effects had lessened but were still awful. I felt totally ramped up physically and emotionally. Talked to my doc who was incredulous about what I experienced and told me to just stop it which I did 12 days ago.  I'm to check in with her after 2 or 3 weeks and do some bloodwork....I told her I wanted to get back to where I was before I would discuss more medication.

 

I knew I might experience some discontinuation symptoms but could not take the side effects and didn't want my brain to get any more adjusted to it.  First 3 days weren't bad and then about day 5 or 6 I started having bad muscle aches and pains and I feel like I'm fighting off a cold bug/sore throat.  I'm also still having night sweats/occasional hot/cold flashes and vivid weird dreams and lots of low grade anxiety.  I'm in the middle of trying to get my body back in shape and I'm looking for work which I need to have to survive.  So lots of life stresses and my body isn't 100% and this sucks big time.

 

After researching cymbalta effects and withdrawal I really want to have as positive attitude about this whole process as I can even though I'm feeling like it is costing me alot for no real benefits (except it did help my pain alot).

 

I am hoping the muscle aches will improve and I will start to feel better in the next week to 10 days.  Just trying to not feel discouraged by this process.

 

Thanks for listening, K

 


#2 gail

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    5 months on cymbalta, scary side effects, to get help and to return the favor if I can.

Posted 30 December 2014 - 07:36 AM

New knee, welcome to the forum,

Since you have been on the crap for only three weeks at a low dosage, you will be fine.

You are describing discontinuation symptoms that most of us have or had.
And they will fade away. Keep the positive attitude.

You are at day 13, I would not recommend reinstating.
Lucky for you, only three weeks on it.

Your family do good on it, as you can see, we all react differently to this med.
Other medications are available for pain and much safer than the C.
If the anxiety gets in the way, talk to your doctor about a prescription to ease it.

Yes, you are on the right path, all will subside with a little more time. You will be all right!

#3 fishinghat

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Posted 30 December 2014 - 10:08 AM

I am with Gail. By week 6 to 8 you should see some noticeable improvements but like Gail said, it does vary a lot.


#4 newknee750

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Posted 30 December 2014 - 02:08 PM

Thanks for the encouragement.  I read so much awful stuff about cymbalta that I realized that it was another source of anxiety for me on top of everything else that is happening.  I am very interested in the science of brain chemistry and learning more about how to have a healthy brain.  I have had  discussions about this topic several times with the nurse who runs the caregiving facility that my 94 year old father-in-law lives at.  She takes care of many elders who are in various states of dementia and alzheimer's and is willing to come up with alternative treatment ideas from what the docs may be seeing.  

 

I discussed my cymbalta reaction with her last night when I called to check on FIL and she sent me an interesting article called Brain Chemistry by Dr. Bryan Stern. I'm still digesting it.  Lots of info about the symptoms of imbalance of seratonin, GABA, dopamine and acetylcholine and what foods support it.  It said that there is a blood evaluation and a comprehensive Neurotransmitter Assessment test which can help ascertain Brain Chemistry status. Have you heard of The Braverman Nature Assessment.  I downloaded it late last night and it's quite long as is the article.

 

I'm at a place right now where I can see that I might have an inherent underlying imbalance in my brain chemistry that might be benefited with more support nutritionally or possibly with medication.

 

My challenge is I have a long history of sensitivity and allergies to many medications and less has usually been more for me.  However, to be honest I did go through a long period of self-medicating with daily wine drinking.  I haven't given it up completely and less often and less to none at all tends to work better for me.

My diet is really healthy on the whole as well but I have to admit that through this surgery, recovery, cymbalta episode I am craving more refined carbs and wine.

 

It's cold and sunny today and I'm taking a much needed day off or two from the job search/application process and taking care of some personal business, exercising and doing some art/painting.

 

Have a good day, K





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