Just wanted to share - I did what most of you advise against - I followed my docs rec of going off Cymbalta by reducing my 60 mg to 30mg for one month...then I would take every other day for a week and then cold turkey and take a pill if symptoms showed up. I was on Cymbalta for two years for situational depression and it worked great! I loved the way I felt on this and really didn't have any nasty side effects from taking the drug at all - until my "situation" that caused the depression went away. Then, I got high blood pressure - like really high, and my doc. said it oculd be from the Cymbalta - and it must have been because since I stopped taking it, my blood pressure is right back to the normal - low range.
So - when I went off I had the dizziness, and brain zaps - totally understand what that is now - bizarre is the only way to describe it...but since I knew it was possible, it didn't freak me out. But, what was bad about the "cold turkey" method - I took my last 30mg. pill on March 1...is that right around April 1, I went into a bad depression. Since I have two young kids, work full time and am now divorced, it was tough to get through, but I pushed on because I figured it was just a side effect and it would clear up.
I really miss the way I felt when I was on Cymbalta. I was motivated, I could get things done, I was happy without feeling like it - if that makes any sense. But the depression I felt when I went off - well it was worse than the depression I had that caused me to go on it in the first place! I wasn't ever suicidal - thank God - but I just lost all motivation - I still went through my day and went to work, but I really, really, really just wanted to stay in bed all the time....I cried a lot too and snapped at my kids for little things that normally wouldn't cause me to bat an eye. I felt emotionally out of control for a while there.
I would say that those awful symptoms have lessened - and while I am not back to "normal" - I am defintely feeling "closer to fine" now. There are lots of days when I miss the drug, but I know I can't go back on it because of the high blood pressure factor. Because the depression has eased up, I am hopeful that a day will come soon when that too, like the brain zaps and dizziness, become just a memory. April was a very hard month, I would say the depression lasted a good 6-8 weeks...and I just noticed the brain zaps are just gone now - so that might have been at least two months of that...not constant, just every day though - especially when I would move my eyes sideways from left to right - I could make it happen - now I can't whew!
Good luck - I really had a good experience taking Cymbalta - if it hadn't been for the blood pressure, I'd still be on it with no side effects at all.
Dear Lopsie:
Thank you for sharing. Your story really helps me. And it´s good that you worked together with your doctor to quit cymbalta. Like you, Cymbalta was a good antidepressant for me, helping me in the worst moment of my life. It helped me with my severe depression which didn´t allow me to function. The bad thing is that I gained a lot of weight, and in the long run cymbalta effectiveness wasn´t the same as before.
I am sorry to hear that on April you went into a bad depression worse than the one cymbalta was prescribed for. I am glad that the awful symptoms have lessened and you are closer to fine now. This gives me hope. Since one of the doubts that I have is if my Depression will come back once I quit the med.
One of the bad things about pills, is that one becomes very lazy. We wait for the pill to do all the work. Pills reduce depression symptoms but do not solve them. One has to find the root of one´s depression while medicated. Also one has to check one´s nutrition, do exercise, take vitamins and minerals, and there is lots of alternative therapies out there. This is what I´ve learned through these hard years.
Thank you again for sharing, and please keep me posted on your progress
Hugs
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