[nursedeborah]

I am having a really hard time, and feel like no one likes me here because of all the stuff I put up, or maybe what I am saying to others.

I am really not doing all that great, and have really gotten into this site, and everything about Cymbalta. I feel like I have to inform the world about it.

I write things and no one reads them, or reads anything I have said.

Have I done something wromng, hurt some here, boy thisis hard.

I have never belonged to a place, and not had friends, and support.



This is day 9 of my decrease from 60 mg, to about like 45mg. I am really havimg a frigging hard time. I am tryimg to be supportive of others. I also am confused, and have such a hard time following where everyone is.

Oh well overly sensitive as hell, feeling some paranoia, and left out.

Debbie

[Houdi]

Awwww Debbie...Big hugs to you. I try to read ALL the posts here. I don't think you have done anything. Others will have to speak for themselves, but my dearest, you are being active and supportive and helping forum members get through the ugly withdrawal. The past week I've been on the road getting young adults settled into college....and they are far far away from me and each other. It has been a trek! So I'm sorry if you feel I've abandoned you.

If you are having a tough time going from 60 mg to 45mgs, back off a little. Don't make this hard. This is the time to be REALLY good to yourself. K?

Debbie, you belong here, you have been active and supportive and a HUGE help to many. Read some of your own posts, you ROCK! Don't stop doing all the great work for others, but remember to treat yourself with white silk gloves.

All my best.....Houdi

[nursedeborah]

Houdini,
Thank you so much for you kind words. It's so funny how I forget that others have a real life!

I am one of those types that, well it's like when I got clean/sober I wanted to know everything
about my disease, so I dug in there, and read everything I could so I would know all about it,
and be able to help others.

Knowing the things I do now about just being on this drug, and the withdrawls, I know lots of
what I am feeling has to do with that, but I still forget that it the drug.

I am getting better at telling myself when my thinking gets really crazy it's just the drug, withdrawls, but
I still as you can see am having a hard time doing it all the time.

It is so hard coming from a distorted world back to the real world, but I do love what is happening to me
and others are noticing it in a positive way.

I hope your trip didn't wear you out, and that you got all the kids settled. What do you do for a living?

Take care, and thanks so much for being there. By the way you should be a writer for a living, or write
poetery, the way you write is so elegant!!! I just love the words you use, your incredible!!!

Love,
Debbie

Day 10 of the withdrawl :)

[Houdi]

Debbie:

Hang in there. Take this one day at a time. You are doing fine....Houdi

[MaureenV]

Hi Debbie,



Don't doubt for one second that some of your aggravation is due to the drug. I've had times over the past few weeks where I've been tempted to tell (kind) people to just f. off. Including a very close friend who just (seriously) doesn't have the time to deal with where I'm at at the moment. Luckily for me he's not a reactive person, and a few of his emails came back with 'please don't say that ...' whereas in the reverse circumstances I'd be tempted to say p.off.


To be honest, I've found it a bit confusing moving around the site, with the several places in which people can post, and don't realize I'm deep down in one topic and have ignored all of the others. Yesterday I worked out I just have to click on 'read new posts' to find out what's new (not bad for a luddite).

Don't doubt that any information you post is going to be useful to someone, somewhere.


By the way, I didn't have any luck finding cheap vitamins anywhere (to be able to use the outer capsule) because they all seem to be a whole unit. I DID find a 'no-name' pack of paracetamol for $2, but the capsule does not come apart willingly. Wish I had a webam to show the antics of me trying to unstick a two part capsule with inappropriate tools! A circus!

As I'm not convinced my crushing depression of last week WAS just withdrawal (after all, I WAS depressed this time last year - very ), so using the paracetamol capsules I'm now using up my left over 60mg and dividing that into three 20mg doses, but it's only day 2 so far, so we'll see....

kind regards, and a big hug.

Maureen.

[nursedeborah]

Thanks Maurene,
I know I am so senitivee, and get really pissed too! I thought that I too might stilll have depression but after having read all the withdrawl symptoms I realize it's just that.

In fact I keep it close by and whatever is going on with me I loook on the list, and there it is.

I am just using the 60 mg caps to do my slow wean, and mark it with a sharpie pen so I know where I am.

I also finallly got 20 mg caps, and dumped one out, and then fillled it up with what I have been taking, and found that I am a lower dose than I had thought, about 35-40 mg. I willl just keep it there, and my next decrease willl just be another small amt of beads. I can use the empty 20 mg cap as my measuring cup, as I know how full they fill them. I am really goimg down slowly.

Seeing great improvement still having withdrawls, but not as bad. The nightmares started finallly on day 7, but now at least I can geet back to sleep, and don't have to take any extra sleeping med. Alsonot needing extra anxiety med in the afternooon!!!!

Hope you doing ok, and thanks for your response:)

Peace, and feel better,
Debbie

[cknudson25]

I've read a lot of posts on here and the highest dosage I've seen people taking is 90mg. Am I the only person whose been prescribed 120mg a day?

I'm always feeling dizzy and nauseous and it's caused me to miss class a lot. I don't like this. I need to wean off. I need to find a doctor close by (mine is an hour away). All he does is prescribe my meds. I don't know what to do anymore. And I'm not sure what to tell my school. I feel so lost and helpless.

[nursedeborah]

Hi,
No your not the only one on that dose! There are lots of people who have been on that amount, so don't worry.

If you dicide to get off this med it will just take a little longer, well that depends on you I should say, and how you do with the withdrawls.

Read lots of posts as everyone has done it different. One person went down to 2.5 mg as she was really having horrible withdrawl symptoms.

Try this site for the withdrawl symptoms
http://prozactruth.com/cymbalta.htm

I am always here for you if you need me.

Debbie

[NagNancy]

((((((((Debbie)))))))) Now that's a great big hug. Gosh, I can relate to being sensitive. The withdrawl symptoms are horrible. I'm also cutting down from 60mg. I'm splitting the cap into half. Today is my 10th day. I'm fairly new here and haven't been on the site as much as I would like, so I haven't read any of your other posts. I also got very few replies to my first post. This forum has been here for a while, and I figure that anything I can post has been discussed here over and over. So I didn't feel too bad when I didn't get many responses.

The drug gave me incredible sweats... that lasted for days. I would go through 3 or 4 changes of clothes a day. Felt like a dishrag. No appetite. Strange aches and pains. It also made me physically ill every morning, and now I have the beginnings of an ulcer. I'm cutting down from 60mg and just cut my dose in half. Sleep has been fitful and full of weird dreams. I also have been very jumpy in bed (in my sleep) and have kneed and elbowed my husband a lot in the 10 days that I've been trying to cut down. My legs ache like I ran a marathon and I've been getting leg cramps in very strange spots, but it happens at night mostly. This has been one big nightmare. We need to become activists to get this drug better labeled and warn the public. Today I woke up with a bad headache on one side of my head, with pain radiating down the neck and arm. Sometimes the muscles in my chest ache so bad that it gets hard to breathe. I can't concentrate. I fly off the handle quickly.

So... I can relate to everything you are saying. I'm wondering how long this could go on. My Dr said to decrease dosages every 2 weeks. I'm thinking that I will let my body decide that. I cannot wait to be free. Cripes... you take a drug to feel better and end up in deeper trouble than you were before. Oh, my head is bad, I can't write anymore.
Here's hoping that we come out on the other side in one piece. Good luck, I'll make a point to pop in whenever I spot your posts.
Be well-
Nancy

[nursedeborah]

Hi Nancy,
That's a big decrease, and the same my doc had me do. I couldn't do it, and had to read some of the posts,
and come up with what would work for me.

I still am having such a hard time mentally, not to mention the physical crap. I went from 60 mg to like 45-50mg,
then down to 40 mg, and it's been 3 days now that I am taking out 25 beads, and wow I sure can tell it!!

The real bad stufff is back, severe anxiety, can't sleep, well I had to up my dose of trazadone, but still having
these awful dreams, and I feel like I am awake the entire time. I am just down right spooked, and I still don't
feel like myself that much. I do have my ups and downs.l too just want off this crap.

I am so sorry that no one was responding to your posts. I didn't have the internet for several days because I had
moved, and they got my order all messed up.

I will be here for you all the time, I can't do this alone, so we can walk through this together.

Love,
Debbie

[NagNancy]

Now I know that decreasing from 60 to 30 mg is a big decrease, but I didn't know any better. Before I found this forum I was taking the 60 one day on and skip it the next; Doctor's orders... big mistake. But I've already gone 10 days now and the brain zapping has started to slow, although I'm still having the other issues. This drug needs to be taken off the market. Usually it seems as if a drug has to kill a bunch of people before they outlaw it. Cymbalta has to go.

Between your anxiety and your horrible dreams, no wonder you feel like Alice in Horrorland. At least I'm not remembering the dreams too much. I don't feel like myself, either. Lucid dreams (or nightmares) can be the absolute worst experience. You can't feel better when you can't get decent rest. Hang in there, if we keep plugging along everyone says that it will get better. Wow. If you don't have anxiety disorder before cymbalta, you certainly will have anxiety when cymbalta chews you up then spits you out.

Thanks for the kind words, you seem like a very giving, loving person. take care!
-Nancy

[MaureenV]

Hi Nancy,


It's not actually the drug that's the problem, it's the fact that the company don't feel obliged to pass on to doctors what they know to be true: that withdrawal from Cymbalta is a tricky and time consuming exercise for many. How many we don't know; we've seen people post on here who've had not much trouble dropping the drug, even cold turkey, and after all, if you were having no problems you'd hardly google 'cymbalta withdrawal' would you? Most of us who post here have problems first, then discover 1) just how wrong we were, 2) just how common the problems are and 3)doctors, who are dependent on verifiable information to help them make decisions, are not being given that information.


I'm only the second person my fabulous GP has put onto Cymbalta, and the other person is still on it very successfully. She asked at a recent depression forum about the symptoms I (and she looked up this forum) and others were experiencing and she was told : 'there's no evidence to support it'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was furious, as this is the way these problems take so long to be brought out into the open.

Her point about Cymbalta (which she will never again prescribe for depression - there are plenty of alternative) is that is has been found to be a superb drug for those with Diabetic Nerve Pain.

It makes my blood boil, though, that Eli Lilly won't acknowledge any more to doctors than 'this drug needs to be tapered'; to the average doctor, that's the same info they get about steroids, so their formula for withdrawal is the same. (That IS the correct way to go with steroids.)

(I should add I decided myself to do the alternate days of 30mg, with all the associated problems.)

I'd be happy to see Eli obliged to provide accurate information and advice on withdrawal.

Once I realized what I was doing wrong, I changed to 15mg every day, increased to 20mg, back down to 15mg for about a week; have just finished 5 days of 12.5mg, and am about to start six days of 10mg (the amounts are based purely on dividing 60mg caps logically).

If the doctors don't know, it's the drug companies which are to blame. A good doctor will learn from us; a bad doctor will stick to what they've learnt 'professionally'.

Re the dreams: If you're going to have a tram track running through your house at least make sure your house is tidy; the tram driver was disgusted with my housekeeping standard, and when both my sister (who, despite being 59 had apparently just had a baby) and husband agreed with him I threw water at them both. :))))))))

Glad to hear you're feeling better.

take care, Maureen.

[portcop01]

i do read this site ever day..i came off the evil drug 5 weeks a go was on it for 6 months then i went down from 60mg to 30mg foe a week then went cold turkey o boy what a ride .....been to er 4 times..i had high levels of alt177 ast 176 liver fuction was high then they went back to normal..i've had stomach problems since day one i look 9 mo. pregant lots of the time....one of my doctors put me on lose dose 25mg og eavil...2 days i felt so muvh better ya ho..i was so sick..a few days felt like pulling my hair out..them some days i could not even comb my hair it hurt so bad.. what a bad drug....i took elavie long time o go ..it worked then to...i would tell others go off this drug very slow....

[Houdi]

portcop01:

Scary liver function issues~I'm so happy to hear that it has returned to normal. Keep up the great work, you are beating this withdrawal. Phew huh? It's tough.

Best to you...Houdi

[nursedeborah]

Someone said it wasn' t the drug GRRRRRRR!!!!!!! I just get so angry when I hear that said.
I have been like a mad woman reading everything there is about this drug, I just found a site
that , well it's a poll taken by peole on this drug, and 95% are all saying it gave them awfule side effects.

So for those that can take it, good for them, how long have they been on it? Alll I can say is just wait
and watch real close. What you think might be something wrong with you physically or mentally is
probally just this crap, Cymbalta.

Debbie

[nursedeborah]

madtabby,
It's Debbie the girl who wrote this topic when I was in the worst of my withdrawls.
I don't know what yours are like but mine were so brutal, and my thinking was just not
clear at all. I had such hughe emotional swings, and got a bit paranoid, also very needy
too.

After that people started posting other thing here other than what the topic was, that
happens alot around here. No big deal:)

Glad you found us, and hope all is going good for you.


Love,
Debbie

[nursedeborah]

madtabby,
Thanks for the support. I really try to help everyone everwhere, guess I just love people.
I know it's hard for you right now, and I am so sorry. This is a nasy drug, and it has done
so much damage to our bodies, and brains, so you can just reason we are all having a
hard time.

Did you get a chance to look at all the withdrawl symptoms. They really helped me, then
when I would have whatever going on, and would look on the list, there it was!!!!

At least I knew it was not me, and only the withdrawls, so I just had to keep close to this
place, and do all the things I had been taught.

This is day 3 of my new decrease, and I can feel it. It takes a few days to feel it, and then a few
until it passes, and I am ok again. It just amazes me that going down just 5 mg can have
such a great impact on some people.

Take care, Always here to help,
Debbie

[Junior]

Debbie

I'm so glad that Prozac is making this easier for you. You are sounding so much more... coherent.
You have been through so much in the past few years. You deserve happiness. I hope you can find it in the not-too-distant future.

Thinking of you
Junior

[nursedeborah]

Junior,
Wow thank you, and was I really that out of it when I first got here???
I knew, and felt it was crazy inside, out of control, and feared others
could tell I was a real freak or something.


That was the hardest part of being on this drug for me, I knew I acted,
and sounded strange.

Let me know what I was like when I first got here, that makes you say
I sound so much more coherent, do I still sound out of it? It's ok to tell
me, as I really need to gauge this progress.

Again thanks for the input,
Love,
Debbie