4 replies to this topic

[conniesue54]

This is my first time here. I have been on 60mgs. cymbalta for about 6 months. Before that 90mgs. of Prozac for about 10 yrs.. I am a 55 yr. old female. My family pulled an intervention on me yesterday. They told me that I haven`t been myself for many years. My husband has given me an ultimadum that if I don`t do something to straighten myself out that he will leave me. i don`t blame him. I have felt numb and empty for a long time now. This makes my family think that I don`t care about them or even love them anymore. I just want to be left alone and love to sleep. Abslutely no suicide thoughts. I am incapable of feeling. I have been reading one post after another on hear all day. I just want to quit cold turkey and get it over with. I know the disadvantages of doing this but some people say, it`s the only way to do it. Please help!

[cookie]

Dear Connie:
It is so important to have family support. Since you took Prozac for 10 years I assume you have suffered from Depression at least for 10 years. No easy stuff!....The ideal scenary would be that your husband supported you. I empathize with what you are leaving (I´m not married) but my Dad gets desperate for me to cure. And he also gives me ultimatum saying that I will have to change psychiatrist if I do not get better. People that are around us, do not understand what we´ve been through. They think that Depression is like having the flu. It is so important that you talk with your hubby and explain the illness(Depression) and the consequences on your personality of taking cymbalta. If you want to quit cymbalta you can talk about it with your hubby, but still you have to explain him, that you will go through horrible withdrawals. I´ve haven´t started my weaning process, but from what I´ve read it is better to lower dose slowly than going cold turkey.
Hugs
C.

[conniesue54]

Dear Connie:
It is so important to have family support. Since you took Prozac for 10 years I assume you have suffered from Depression at least for 10 years. No easy stuff!....The ideal scenary would be that your husband supported you. I empathize with what you are leaving (I´m not married) but my Dad gets desperate for me to cure. And he also gives me ultimatum saying that I will have to change psychiatrist if I do not get better. People that are around us, do not understand what we´ve been through. They think that Depression is like having the flu. It is so important that you talk with your hubby and explain the illness(Depression) and the consequences on your personality of taking cymbalta. If you want to quit cymbalta you can talk about it with your hubby, but still you have to explain him, that you will go through horrible withdrawals. I´ve haven´t started my weaning process, but from what I´ve read it is better to lower dose slowly than going cold turkey.
Hugs
C.

Thanks for your reply. My Husband loves me very much and is willing to give me a chance to feel better. You`re right. No one knows what depression feels like if you haven`t had it. Haven`t decided on the cold turkey thing yet. I already feel bad, that couldn`t feel much worse!

[MaureenV]

This is my first time here. I have been on 60mgs. cymbalta for about 6 months. Before that 90mgs. of Prozac for about 10 yrs.. I am a 55 yr. old female. My family pulled an intervention on me yesterday. They told me that I haven`t been myself for many years. My husband has given me an ultimadum that if I don`t do something to straighten myself out that he will leave me. i don`t blame him. I have felt numb and empty for a long time now. This makes my family think that I don`t care about them or even love them anymore. I just want to be left alone and love to sleep. Abslutely no suicide thoughts. I am incapable of feeling. I have been reading one post after another on hear all day. I just want to quit cold turkey and get it over with. I know the disadvantages of doing this but some people say, it`s the only way to do it. Please help!

Connie, I've read your reply to cookie, and I'm afraid you MAY feel MUCH worse going cold turkey.

Please, please, please try to get your husband to come on to this site, read a lot of the posts, even talk to us himself to try to get an understanding of where you're at, and more importantly, where you CAN be, but will need his support.

I can understand it from his perspective too. No one who's never been depressed can truly understand, because just about everyone feels 'low' from time to time, and those who haven't been depressed just think it's a severe case of feeling 'low'. No one can explain to anyone what it's actually like to stand in front of the wardrobe and feel completely incapable of deciding what to actually put on. Even 'not' feeling suicidal does NOT mean that we don't sometimes think of 'blissful oblivion', as I call it. Just a delicious yearning for not having to decide or do anything.

Going cold turkey CAN involve all sorts of physical problems - gastrointestinal, heart palpitations, pain everywhere you've ever had it before in your life, and, most importantly, withdrawal symptoms can include depression which is due ONLY to withdrawal of the drug suddenly, rather than being underlying depression.

If you do 'crash' going cold turkey, chances are you won't be in any fit state to fend off requests from your family and doctors to either stay on Cymbalta, or try another anti depressant.


The only way you're going to be able to tell if you're able to come off safely is by withdrawing slowly. Another benefit is that withdrawing slowly takes discipline. I know you want it all to happen NOW, believe me, we all did/do. But that doesn't solve your long term problem. It's a long term problem that's not going to be fixed in a few weeks.

Many people find taking 20mg of Prozac while they withdraw beneficial. As you've been on a monster dose of it, you'll be well aware of any side effects it caused you, and whether you had any withdrawal symptoms, which are much less likely than with Cymbalta.

PLEASE stay in touch here. There are others who can help you, regardless.

Remember, the objective is to be off CYmbalta, not win the race of being off it sooner rather than later.


Finally, are you sure there's no age-related issues that you should be addressing separately? I'm 57, and a few years ago turned up at my GP in a complete mess. We both thought it was due to menopause symptoms, which I'd had fairly severely for a few years, so started HRT. A week later I was back there (HRT works quickly, in case you haven't ever been on it) in tears, because it wasn't just menopause symptoms causing my mood 9although they were depressing enough), there was also underlying depression.

take care, Maureen.

[BlueSky]

This is my first time here. I have been on 60mgs. cymbalta for about 6 months. Before that 90mgs. of Prozac for about 10 yrs.. I am a 55 yr. old female. My family pulled an intervention on me yesterday. They told me that I haven`t been myself for many years. My husband has given me an ultimadum that if I don`t do something to straighten myself out that he will leave me. i don`t blame him. I have felt numb and empty for a long time now. This makes my family think that I don`t care about them or even love them anymore. I just want to be left alone and love to sleep. Abslutely no suicide thoughts. I am incapable of feeling. I have been reading one post after another on hear all day. I just want to quit cold turkey and get it over with. I know the disadvantages of doing this but some people say, it`s the only way to do it. Please help!

 

 

Wow, this is almost EXACTLY what happened with me and made me try to take control of my life again...

 

I was curious to see how long we have been affected by the Cymbalta pill; went back to the beginning of the posts.

 

It turns out that it has been longer than 10 years and it is still being prescribed, despite all this horror we go through... sad, really sad!

 

I hope Conniesue54 has turned her life around!

 

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