10 replies to this topic

[carrju]

I stopped taking 60 mg 12 days ago. Caved on day 7 and took a 30mg. For the first 7 days I had constant overwhelming fatigue and aches all over, along with hot flashes and chills, all with varying intensity. Once I took the 30 mg I began to feel better and a lot of the withdrawal symptoms subsided. These symptoms have returned within the past few days and I just feel awful. For the past few hours I've had the worst headache of my life. I know it sounds dramatic, but I keep feeling like I am about to die. This is horrible! I am relieved to find out that I am not alone in this.

I also am very intellectually challenged lately. It's difficult for me to communicate with anyone, and I can barely process what people are saying to me. I am glad I am not in school right now - I can't imagine trying to LEARN when I can barely process basic things. I can't even drive - the other day I found myself stopping at a green light as though it were a stop sign - not good.

I know the duration and severity of symptoms vary from person to person, but I'm worried that this is going to permanently change the way my brain functions. I'm planning to go to grad school soon and I'm terrified that I'll never be the same again. I can't even look at applications. I keep trying to tell myself that this will pass and it is a slow process and that I need to stay patient. However, it is just so scary to have these debilitating withdrawals when most of my doctors are denying that there should be any problems! It is overwhelming to think that this could last for months...even years? Has anyone made some progress? Will my brain ever stop feeling so STUPID?

Jill

[Junior]

Hi Carrju

Going C/t from 60mg is a big drop. I did this also and had severe upper abdo pain, mood swings,... can't even remember now! lol

but YES... you WILL feel better in time and YES your brain WILL stop being so 'stupid'.

You didn't say if you are still taking 30mg. If you are I'd recommend staying at that dose for a while and giving your body a chance to stabilise. We have people here who are doing a very slow taper and still having trouble each time they drop the dose.

BTW your post didn't sound 'stupid' at all :)

Kind regards
Junior

[cmonk]

You are not alone!!!!!I had been lowering my doses for the past month and a half like my dr said to and got to the part when I was supposed to take for 2 nights miss 1 and decided to just go off all together. By day 3 I was having uncontrollable crying. Day 4 I took 30 mg pill was i felt like I was going crazy and could not stop crying. Up until then I had flu like systems and stomach flu to I could handle that but not being able to not think and crying. I did take a Xanax and my Dr. call me in some more. I had found this site when I first started lowering my doses but did not post until I got bad. I went and read a couple of post and now I am opening up my pills 30mg and taking out 20-25 of the little pills and putting them in a baggy in case I need them later. I will do this for a week or so and then take out 40 little pills. I would rather take this slower then feel like I am going crazy. I am not a Dr. I am just telling you what I have done!!! I was going to acupuncture and taking Chinese herbs and I think it helped but my dr went on vacation and when he got back I was afraid to drive the 1 hr 15 min drive one way to his office. Now I have a horrible headache and feel sick to my stomach and can not sleep. Thank god for spell check cause I can not spell at all tonight. I am not working at this time and my daughter is out of school tomorrow so I can sleep in. It kinda sucked but I felt better knowing I was not alone hope you do to.I do tend to babble when I write. Goodnight and good luck.

[carrju]

Junior, I have not taken any cymbalta since I took 30mg on day 7 of no cymbalta. That was about 6 days ago now, and I just can't bring myself to touch the stuff.. I figure I've gone through 12 days of hell, no point in turning back. That's just me, though. I'm lucky in that I can take a month off just to deal with this - had this happened a year ago, I would have to do the slow taper method.

Am feeling a bit better today in terms of the headache and brain zaps... but my body still feels so achey - it hurts all over.

My doctor wants to put me on a drug called Savella... it's a newer drug recently approved to treat fibromyalgia. I'm hesitant about trying any more drugs after this hellish withdrawal. Anyone heard of it or had any experiences with it? I don't want to unknowingly get myself into this same situation again!

Thanks for all of your reassuring replies.

[ib505a]

I've been feeling really, really bad today... like I'm hungover. I didn't know what was happening, and since I haven't taken my Cymbalta in about 4 days, I searched for withdrawl symptoms. I am so glad I found this site! I have taken 30 mg Cymbalta for about 2 months and, since things are better in my life, I thought I didn't need it anymore. I had no idea I could suffer withdrawls from this drug!! Thank you, everyone, for the advice and the comraderie on this site!

[nursedeborah]

ib505,
Onething I have learned around here is not to do this cold turkey!! The withdrawls are
horrific enough, and then with each decrease you have to go through some of them again.

The brain is addicted to this drug. You have not been off it that long to have all the withdrawls
to set in maybe? I don't know as we are all different. Mine start anywhere from 6-9 days.

Here is a site with all the wwithdrawl symptoms http://prozactruth.com/cymbalta.htm

Keep coming back, and let us know how your doing. Oh by the way WELCOME!

Debbie

[barney59]

carrju
My doc weaned me off cymbalta in order to start me on Savella. My last dose of cymbalta was Sept. 18th. It has been complete hell, but in the last few days, beginning to feel somewhat better. Like you brain zaps have subsided but but everything else still clinging to me, just not as bad (except achiness..have never felt it this bad). My doc has elected not to star me on anything until I am completely over these withdrawals. He also said he will NOT put me on Savella. It is a new drug with not a lot of long term studies, ecspecially when it comes to withdrawal. He will not take a chance with it. I continue to also feel like my brain is drugged. I seem to talk slower than usual and my handwriting is not the same. It is like my brain cannot keep up with my speech, thoughts and movement. I too worry that there will be some type of permanent damage done to me (I was on it 120mg for 3 yrs). Only time will tell for that. In the mean time, know your not stupid nor alone. If your docs are not hearing you about this, print off the FDA Report link I posted. It's in another thread, not sure which, heading is FDA Report. My doc appreciated getting it. It really opened his eyes to this problem, and since it was from the FDA it was legit. Stay strong...

B

[Junior]

Carrju

I wouldn't want to go back either. Unfortunately, as you have found out, dropping 30mg in one go is a huge drop. Still, you've pretty much already survived the first drop so I don't see any reason why you can't survive the second :)

Glad you are here. Good luck with the next week or so :)

Junior

[Junior]

I've been feeling really, really bad today... like I'm hungover. I didn't know what was happening, and since I haven't taken my Cymbalta in about 4 days, I searched for withdrawl symptoms. I am so glad I found this site! I have taken 30 mg Cymbalta for about 2 months and, since things are better in my life, I thought I didn't need it anymore. I had no idea I could suffer withdrawls from this drug!! Thank you, everyone, for the advice and the comraderie on this site!

ib505a

I'm a little concerned that you've decided to discontinue after only 2 months. May I ask why you were put on C on the first place? The reason I'm asking if that if it's for depression, it takes at least 6 months for the brain to stabilise, so you shouldn't be coming off it just yet. You could relapse. If it was for others reasons ... I would think you will be ok.

As for the withdrawal - I know! I've switched from Aropax (Paxil) to Lexapro to Cymbalta and back to Paxil in the past 7 months. (I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.) I was only ON Cymbalta for 19 days (I wanted it for Generalised Anxiety Disorder but I also suffer from Depression), cold turkeyed from 60mg, and it took 2 weeks for me to get over the withdrawal!

Kind regards
Junior

[nursedeborah]

Madtabby,
Thanks for looking that drug up. I started to do so, and forgot,LOL.

I am so afraid of all these meds now. I know how I used to have to
watch my patients being put on a drug, and then yanked off of it,
only to be put on another one.

Now I know what hell they were going through. Even then the doc's
wouldn't listen to them because of them being mental patients.

What does having depression have to do with being sound in mind
for goodness sakes. I can't believe how different I am treated just
because of the meds I am on.


Well guess I do seem to have some feeling starting to surface finally, WOW!!

Debbie

[carrju]

Madtabby, Thanks for all of that info! I just looked up some more information on it, and found this: "Savella can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be awake and alert." Umm...seriously? Are you kidding me? What in life doesn't require you to be awake and alert? No thanks, Savella, I think I will pass.

I'm wondering if anyone has started to have some improvements in terms of their thinking... I guess it's the one thing I fear that I will not recover from. I keep reassuring myself that this physical hell will pass, but I'm worried this fog will never lift. I'm assuming it will, though. And I'm hoping for all of our sakes it will not be too long til that FINALLY happens.

Nursedeborah, I share your frustrations 100%. I was in the hospital twice this past summer due to a huge flare up in pain (the main reason I went on this medication, in addition to depression resulting from the pain), and I was in such disbelief by how terribly I was treated... A doctor asked me to talk about my pain and I was in tears as I tried to explain it, at which point she concluded that I was mentally unstable and that I just needed to increase my cymbalta dose. Since when does having emotions mean that you are suddenly a psych case? We're all just trying to take care of ourselves the best we can, and this medication has really just ended up screwing us over. It's so frustrating. Even though I have a good relationship with all of my doctors, I have avoided reaching out to them just because I am afraid they will not take me seriously about this. I'm so glad I have found this site...it's been such a relief to find this support.

Thanks everyone for your replies - hugs, and hang in there.