4 replies to this topic

[John Shade]

Hello all, I am a new member here. First off, let me tell you a bit about my medical history.

About twelve years ago I began having terrible panic attacks. At the time I didn't KNOW that they were panic attacks: all I knew was that my heart felt like it was sputtering, missing beats, and clenching panfully, increasingly so. One particularly bad night my parents rushed me to the hospital, convinced I was having a heart attack or something. "Nope," I was told by the nurse, "just anxiety." JUST anxiety.... "Take this." Paxil. Goooood ole Paxil. I have a feeling my story so far is nowhere near unique. Well here I am, twelve years later. I have been on literally dozens of medications. As far as SSRI/SNRI drugs go, I can't think of any I HAVEN'T been on at some point. They tried antipsychotics, lithium, and other fun stuff too. Eventually clonazepam was prescribed, and it has helped me tremendously for about the last ten years.

Cymbalta was my most recent AD. Like amost of the others, it seemed to help me a lot at first, then not much at all. I have been on 60mg for probably 3-6 months now. I reached my limit. I decided that after twelve years of being on SSRIs/SNRIs and not improving, it was time to say goodbye.

When I informed my doctor of this plan, he said "Just drop down to 30mg for two weeks and then stop altogether." Yep. You read that correctly. Sound familiar anyone? ARE THESE DOCTORS INSANE? I said no way, I knew that I required a slower taper, but he didn't seem to agree.

So I began taking my 60mg capsules, and each week, dumping out small quantities of the time-release beads to slowly taper. Now I have reached the 30mg mark, and withdrawal is kicking in hard. I feel crazy, angry, suddenly violent (towards walls and inanimate objects), my moods swinging back an forth with strobe-like speed. Last night I found this forum and am very glad I did. I am dreading facing each new day under these conditions, and a place like this is a bright beacon of hope. I will be scavenging these boards for any little tidbit of info that can help me feel better, or at least maybe send me in the right direction. Thank you all.

[Junior]

Hello all, I am a new member here. First off, let me tell you a bit about my medical history.

About twelve years ago I began having terrible panic attacks. At the time I didn't KNOW that they were panic attacks: all I knew was that my heart felt like it was sputtering, missing beats, and clenching panfully, increasingly so. One particularly bad night my parents rushed me to the hospital, convinced I was having a heart attack or something. "Nope," I was told by the nurse, "just anxiety." JUST anxiety.... "Take this." Paxil. Goooood ole Paxil. I have a feeling my story so far is nowhere near unique. Well here I am, twelve years later. I have been on literally dozens of medications. As far as SSRI/SNRI drugs go, I can't think of any I HAVEN'T been on at some point. They tried antipsychotics, lithium, and other fun stuff too. Eventually clonazepam was prescribed, and it has helped me tremendously for about the last ten years.

Cymbalta was my most recent AD. Like amost of the others, it seemed to help me a lot at first, then not much at all. I have been on 60mg for probably 3-6 months now. I reached my limit. I decided that after twelve years of being on SSRIs/SNRIs and not improving, it was time to say goodbye.

When I informed my doctor of this plan, he said "Just drop down to 30mg for two weeks and then stop altogether." Yep. You read that correctly. Sound familiar anyone? ARE THESE DOCTORS INSANE? I said no way, I knew that I required a slower taper, but he didn't seem to agree.

So I began taking my 60mg capsules, and each week, dumping out small quantities of the time-release beads to slowly taper. Now I have reached the 30mg mark, and withdrawal is kicking in hard. I feel crazy, angry, suddenly violent (towards walls and inanimate objects), my moods swinging back an forth with strobe-like speed. Last night I found this forum and am very glad I did. I am dreading facing each new day under these conditions, and a place like this is a bright beacon of hope. I will be scavenging these boards for any little tidbit of info that can help me feel better, or at least maybe send me in the right direction. Thank you all.

Hi John

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately your story is one that I've read so many times now. It's like Drs don't KNOW there are other methods of treatment. Something isn't working? No worries. Here's a pill. It will fix everything. That one doesn't work? Doesn't matter. Here's another one. What's that? You didn't like the side effects? Hmm...ok... let's try this one. What's that? You tried to go off it and are feeling [insert anxiety, depression, anything you like, really!] .. ohh.. well that just shows that you still need the medication. Maybe we need to up the dose....or add this pill to what you are already taking. You're already taking 10 per day? That's ok. This one doesn't interact in a bad way. Just take this as well....

The same goes for weaning off these drugs. Yeah, just stop taking it. Meh.. drop the dose to half for a week or so..then stop. OF course you can switch from that to that. Don't argue, I'm the Dr, I'm the one with the training. Yes I know it's more than the recommended maximum, but I've done the study....

One thing I've heard over and over both here and at Paxil Progress (another forum), is that the tapering should be done in 10% drops at the most. For some people even that is too much. There is no way of knowing in advance so it's trial and error I'm afraid. Also, it's best to wait 3-6 weeks between drops, to give any withdrawal effects time to surface. Some people 'crash' and find they need to updose then go even slower.

I don't know the bead count per dose as I didn't come off Cymbalta that way (hindsight has 20/20 vision) but if you search some older posts, they will be listed somewhere.

Hope that helps
Junior

[QueenTimely]

Hi -
You're in the right place, I can vouch for that. It sounds to me like you're on the right track reducing beads, but make sure you're doing it very slowly, a la NurseDeborah's recommendations. I have found a lot of help from some homeopathic remedies prescribed for me. This is the first time I've seen a homeopath but I've had almost no side effects besides some irritability and ear pulsing. Good luck and easy does it.

[Rush]

John,

I'm a newbie too (and NOT a Dr either -- but I'm beginning to think there are a lot of us that seem to know/understand this a lot better than most Drs do). In response to my call for help on this forum I was told that 9 beads = 1 mg. Prepare to start counting. It's a pain in the butt -- but there's not a whole lot of choice. I worked myself down to 10 mg/day for a couple of weeks and then tried to drop to zero. I made it about 5 days and the withdrawal brought me to my knees. I couldn't sleep, I felt sick, I cried, I had rages, and the brain zaps were almost constant. Other people have been able to get off Cymbalta by slow weaning/tapering. I'm following their examples and am still working thru it myself. It's hard, it sucks, but you have to take control of your life and do what is best for you. I'm sure you have discovered (or will discover) how many of us there are. We know what you're going thru - we've been there (or are still there, in my case) and you have all my sympathies, hope, and positive vibes going out to you. Hang in there - you can do it, no matter how slow you have to take it. And all of us are here for you.

Rush

Hello all, I am a new member here. First off, let me tell you a bit about my medical history.

About twelve years ago I began having terrible panic attacks. At the time I didn't KNOW that they were panic attacks: all I knew was that my heart felt like it was sputtering, missing beats, and clenching panfully, increasingly so. One particularly bad night my parents rushed me to the hospital, convinced I was having a heart attack or something. "Nope," I was told by the nurse, "just anxiety." JUST anxiety.... "Take this." Paxil. Goooood ole Paxil. I have a feeling my story so far is nowhere near unique. Well here I am, twelve years later. I have been on literally dozens of medications. As far as SSRI/SNRI drugs go, I can't think of any I HAVEN'T been on at some point. They tried antipsychotics, lithium, and other fun stuff too. Eventually clonazepam was prescribed, and it has helped me tremendously for about the last ten years.

Cymbalta was my most recent AD. Like amost of the others, it seemed to help me a lot at first, then not much at all. I have been on 60mg for probably 3-6 months now. I reached my limit. I decided that after twelve years of being on SSRIs/SNRIs and not improving, it was time to say goodbye.

When I informed my doctor of this plan, he said "Just drop down to 30mg for two weeks and then stop altogether." Yep. You read that correctly. Sound familiar anyone? ARE THESE DOCTORS INSANE? I said no way, I knew that I required a slower taper, but he didn't seem to agree.

So I began taking my 60mg capsules, and each week, dumping out small quantities of the time-release beads to slowly taper. Now I have reached the 30mg mark, and withdrawal is kicking in hard. I feel crazy, angry, suddenly violent (towards walls and inanimate objects), my moods swinging back an forth with strobe-like speed. Last night I found this forum and am very glad I did. I am dreading facing each new day under these conditions, and a place like this is a bright beacon of hope. I will be scavenging these boards for any little tidbit of info that can help me feel better, or at least maybe send me in the right direction. Thank you all.

[Dixiedoo]

John-

I was lied to by my physician, and went through some negative side effects while on this drug.In December I stopped after a short taper and went through three and a half weeks of torture.I want to stress that I am a strong person and do not give up easily- but this stuff took me out.My husband could not believe how long I was sick, but he provided the emotional support I needed to not turn back to the drug.

Today, I feel so much better.Everyday my symptoms lessen and my mood improves.I find it so strange that a drug meant to improve your mood actually does the opposite. One thing I know for sure-NEVER AGAIN!

Keep fighting, and don't look back.I believe you can beat this!