9 replies to this topic

[Ramona80]

Are there any success stories of people who have gotten through the whole mess of withdrawals & were NOT left forever with withdrawal-induced anxiety is some form or another?

 

I keep reading people say that the withdrawal symptom that was worst for them STAYED with them. Please tell me this does not always happen. 

[gail]

Hello Ramona,

Just to say that I read you. And like you, will wait for the success stories.

It got much better for myself, but am on a very low dose of Prozac.
And I see that the anxiety is cyclic. More good days that bad. 18 months now.

[brzghoff]

it is hard to say, we all have a different concept of "success". no one is ever free from anxiety - if we were our body could not put us into alert mode if/when we are in danger. many people have had anxiety their whole life and have never been on any drugs but didn't recognize it as anxiety since the symptoms are different for everyone. 

 

the goal is to get the anxiety under control. to expect never to feel anxiety is not rational. it is an emotion. it is part of being human. humans are feeling beings. we also feel love, joy, anger, jealousy - a wide range of emotions.

 

to worry about whether we'll have symptoms the rest of our lives hampers recovery. what is important is measuring the little steps of improvement. journaling helps with that. of course there will be setbacks, again that is a part of being human. 

 

you are not going crazy and you will be okay, however i don't think anyone can ever be free from anxiety. we can learn to live with it, move on and enjoy life

[Ramona80]

I definitely don't expect life to be anxiety-free. I just was questioning if the specific effects brought on by Cymbalta withdrawal are ever completely gone. Specific things people didn't have before Cymbalta withdrawal.

 

I am guessing that many people who have been on this board have gone on to recover, but have simply not returned to the board report that, but rather just moved on. I'm guessing that the people who remain on here are the ones who still have Cymbalta-related issues. I may be wrong though, maybe there are some members still here who have experienced full recoveries?

[fishinghat]

Well I will shock you both. My Sister-in-law and nephew were both on it for several years when their dr told them to go cold turkey because it didn't seem to be helping them. I warned them about the withdrawal and they both tapered off over a 3 week period despite my warnings. Neither of them had ANY withdrawal symptoms. I also know two ladies locally that came off the med after being on it for several years. They only had flu like symptoms with some digestive issues for about 3 weeks. Nothing even remotely approaching significant anxiety. Now having said that I am also aware of several who have been through the same hell we have. I guess it just depends on which side the bed you get up on.  lol

[brzghoff]

Dr Hat - i liked your post because i would have loved to be one of those ladies that had few if any symptoms. i am aware that its true. some folks have a heckuva time coming off other antiD's that were a breeze for me. i went cold turkey off wellbutrin and never felt a thing. i did not cross taper. before that i crossed over from zoloft to wellbutrin and felt nothing. i crossed over from effexor to cymblata and felt nothing. while they are similar drugs, effexor only has a 6 hour half-life. shorter than cymbalta. many people still feel a lot of withdrawal during cross tapers but i did not. i dropped from 90 t0 60 mgs of the C in one step and felt nothing. same going from 60 to 30. it was only when i dropped down from 30 that i got kicked in the butt. 

 

as for full recoveries… its really hard to say for sure if a symptom is due to the withdrawal or not. we are more vulnerable to negative thinking by the fluctuation of neurotransmitters during withdrawal, but it is the negative thinking that triggers the anxiety - not the cymbalta withdrawal itself. we could have been imposing negative thinking on ourselves while we were on the C - or any antiD but the drug was covering it up - that is what they are designed to do. once we aren't taking the drug the safety net is gone and we have to take over - thank god for CBT!

[lady2882Nancy]

I completely agree that worrying about whether we will have side effects or anxiety or any other symptom for the rest of our life does hamper our recovery.

But to answer the question: Yes there are success stories. There were several while I was battling my way off. People who had horrendous side effects when they rapidly tapered off or went cold turkey who only hung around long enough to get the help they needed to get through it and then at a point 6 to 12 weeks off reported that they were back to normal.

As I recall most really stressed staying hydrated, taking their supplements and keeping active, they also had very positive outlooks. I think those things are key to success.

I don't think the age thing is as much of a factor as we think or the length of time.

I was on 60mg for 6 weeks then dropped to 30mg for a week then bead counted from there and suffered all the typical withdrawal symptoms. My brother who is 8 years older than me took 60mg for about 2 years and had no trouble at all other than a few flu like symptoms going cold turkey but there again he had access to the gym to keep himself active and fit in the winter whereas I did not and can only stay active in the summer.

Another difference is that in my case taking the drug itself caused me no end of problems and aggravated problems I didn't even know that I had.

Do I blame Cymbalta for my problems now? Of course I do, I should never have been put on it but then I don't think most people should take this kind of med especially as a starter med.

 

Worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but you don't get anywhere.

 

Think positive, drink lots of water, take the supplements and stay active and good things will happen. 

 

Take care of you and be well

[Sleepyhead]

I am not through to the end yet but I am gradually feeling better with each week that passes. I believe based on how I'm healing that I will be okay. Right now even though I'm at about 13 mg (I've taken over 6 months to taper from 30mg) there is every reason for me to feel that things will be okay. As some say who knows if you ever go back to your pre medicated self...there's no way to know when years have passed and you change and evolve whether you've been medicated or not.

I have been tapering at a snail's pace because in my situation I found myself to be extremely sensitive to reductions.

Side effects on Cymbalta were extreme sleepiness, reflux, spiking blood pressure and high resting heart rate and weight gain to name the main ones. Those side effects were my motivation for getting off it as quickly as I could. Unfortunately not able to fast enough. Here I am still going slowly.

So until very recently improvements have been very slow and difficult and I have had to exercise alot of patience and really deal with anxiety. I take a small dose of Lorazepam on an as needed basis.

Recently I think the dose has gone low enough that many negative side effects have dropped off. I no longer feel sleepy but instead alert and alive. My resting heart rate is great. I have no digestive issues and my blood pressure is continuously healthy unless I'm having an anxiety attack which usually happens in a cluster once a month. My weight is falling off. People have been commenting at how good I look. I know I'm looking more like a human being now.

I feel that for me I have gone with a 'food as medicine' route and have surprised myself at how it works better than I hoped it would. I eat many many vegetables, chicken 3 or 4 times a week, cut out cheese and only have butter on my veges and cream in my coffee and 4 organic eggs a week. No sugar. No white anything...pasta, bread. No processed foods. And the one very healing concoction I have which also helps my anxiety tremendously is organic kefir with hemp and chia seeds mixed in. I have it in the morning and at bedtime and it helps me feel calm and think calm thoughts.

Like you I have been consumed with anxiety and worry about the future. But as improvements happen I see the sunshine at the end of the tunnel. I should add that I've had cognitive functions improving too. Not sure if it's Cymbalta or menopause but my memory and ability to find the right words have been terrible but are gradually improving too.

I hope this post encourages you to believe that things will get better. So many people have healed so well. I'm sure you can too!

[thomasbhunter]

Just to add on to the convo, there are millions of people in the US alone who will always struggle with depression and anxiety due to their brain chemistry, alone (deficiencies in serotonin, too much serotonin, deficiencies in dopamine, bad genetics, etc.). Many cannot afford decent healthcare and don't, therefore, have access to therapy, meds, etc., and have a much harder time than those who are financially better off. OIn the other side of the coin (and here's the irony), many can afford health insurance, good docs, medication costs... but get lousy advice, like "take Cymbalta, it will help!").  But, there are also millions for whom medication and/or therapy can temporarily or permanently resolve their issues. I've found the folks who have life issues and for whom therapy (CBT, etc.) works, those folks simply have situational depression or anxiety, and it eventually goes away. Those of us with bad biochemistry, though, often need meds of one kind or another, for life. Much like a cancer patient who has has their thyroid removed (like myself), they'll always need supplemental chemicals - artificial thyroid - to replace what nature has taken, or unbalanced. I find that life's about finding the easiest, best ways to manage physical, mental, and spiritual issues so that one can, at worst, cope, and, at best, thrive. 

[gail]

TBH, out of likes here. Liked your post!