3 replies to this topic

[Feelin_Crazy]

I have dealt with depression since my early teens maybe even before my teens. I have tried almost every anti-depressant since I was 14. After I had my 1st child in Oct of 07 I decided not to try to go back onto anti-depressants and I was coping with depression very well all considered at the time. However, after I had my 2nd child in November of 09 I was diagnosed in January of 10 with Fibromyalgia. I was put on 30 mg. of Cymbalta for a week then 60 mg. for 2 weeks and there after I've been on 60 mg. for 4 months. After only 2 months on Cymbalta I told my doctor that my depression was worsening and I'd begun thinking very scary thoughts. Not suicide per say, just the what ifs. Being a previous cutter in my teens, I'm now 23, I knew I needed to change medicine. I explained that my pain was still chronically debilitating and there had been no improvements. I told my Doctor and he said for me to wait 2 more months making it the full 4 months to make sure the Cymbalta had a chance to work so I did. After the last 2 months went by I insisted on trying Lyrica. So now I have switched from 60 mg. of Cymbalta down to 30 mg. of Cymbalta for a week and then went straight to Lyrica (50 mg for 5 days then 50 mg twice a day for five days)which I stopped after a week because of side effects.. and that is where I am at now.. looking for support before I admit myself into the psych-ward at the nearest hospital. I thought the side effects were from the Lyrica but now I wonder if its from Cymbalta withdrawals or maybe both withdrawals and starting Lyrica.

My symptoms are:

Sleep Paralysis (self diagnosed on www.webmd.com

Hallucinations (which are apart of the sleep paralysis)

Anxiety worse than ever!

Depression so bad that I want to check myself in for evaluation.

Can't Focus

Headaches

Body aches that are worsening (but then again I have fibromyalgia along with other health issues)

Fatigue (again another symptom of fibro)

Feeling Useless, unwanted/needed

No motivation to do anything necessary or unnecessary

Excessive sleeping when I can sleep

Insomnia when I can't sleep (because of anxiety due to sleep paralysis)

and I'm sure there is more but it's hard to stay focused to try to think of them all... remember that I have 2 beautiful little girls while trying to deal with all of this. I just want them to have their Mommy back.. and I want me back too..

[Junior]

Hi Feelin' Crazy

I don't know much about Lyrica but I do know that you have come off Cymbalta wayyyyyyyyyyyy too fast. Most doctors are totally ignorant about the withdrawals caused by modern anti-depressants (thanks to drug companies). Firstly, if you noticed a worsening of symptoms after 24 months, he should have been taking you OFF it, not telling you to wait. It can take several weeks for these drugs to change brain function (that is what they do) but it would have done its job by then. Secondly, dropping to 30mg for a week then off is not the right way to come off Cymbalta.

In short, the recommended way to get off ALL modern anti-depressants is to drop by 10% of the original dose and wait 3-6 weeks (my naturopath says 6-8 weeks) for any withdrawals to subside before reducing further. I know you want to be off Cymbalta but the best thing for you to do right now would be to go back ON it and stabilise before weaning again. Given that you've already been off it for 2 weeks, meaning that your body is already beginning to adjust, you could try 30mg and see how that feels.

I see also that you doubled the dose of Lyrica before stopping it. Might be worth looking for a Lyrica forum than can help. You might also be withdrawing from that.

Finally, be aware that you if go into hospital, they will only use more drugs to try to 'counteract' what previous drugs have done to you. This is NOT what you need right now. Your body needs to heal from what it has previously been ON. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Oh.. and with your depression (trust me, I know what that's like - 5 episodes in my life), have you been to a therapist? There are some very good therapies for depression, including CBT and interpersonal therapy. Medication can help to a degree but it is not the whole treatment. Therapy gives tools that last a lifetime.

Hope that helps
Junior

[Feelin_Crazy]

Thank you Junior for responding so quickly to my post.

At the very least I don't feel so crazy now with your response. I didn't want to go to the hospital anyways but I only entertained the thought because I didn't know where else to turn because both my family Dr, and my physical medicine Dr who diagnosed me with fibromyalgia and was the prescribing Dr for the cymbalta and lyrica, act like I'm the only person to have weird reactions to these medications. I just want so desperately to be myself again, even if it means dealing with the pain of my condition completely without medicine. Also, I didn't realize that when he took me off of cymbalta for "pain" that it would cause my depression to worsen even though it worsened even being on it. I also didn't realize that lyrica didn't also treat depression, I guess I should have done more research on my own first, but I figured if I switched to an anti-depressant that treated pain for fibromyalgia that the other medicine would do the same just differently. I do have an appointment with my family Dr about my hallucinations Friday the 11th and I will discuss my medication and what I have read on all of these forums. I thank you for taking the time to help me. And yes I have been to a counselor and a therapist in the past and I will be making an appointment tomorrow to restart counseling soon. I can't thank you enough and tell you how much it means to me to know that there are people out there willing to help even when they don't "have" to. Nice to know that there are good resources on the internet and good people. Wish it was easier to find that these days. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I will be re-posting my progress. Thank you, Khrystal

[Sapphires13]

Of the symptoms you've listed, I've had the following while withdrawing from Cymbalta without adding any new drugs:

My symptoms are:

Increased anxiety worse than ever!

Highly increased depression (I've gotten so upset by it that I've wanted to commit myself in the psych ward)

Lack of focus

Increased headaches

Increased body aches (I don't have fibromyalgia, but Cymbalta is supposed to treat pain whether you have pain or not... so stupidly coming off of it CAUSES pain even if there was none before)

Fatigue so bad I don't want to get out of bed and leave the house

Feelings of worthlessness (this is part of depression)

No motivation to do anything except play Facebook games

Insomnia (but my doctor gave me Ambien for this)



In many cases doctors prescribe a different SNRI/SSRI that's known to have few withdrawal symptoms (typically Prozac) to patients when coming off of an SNRI/SSRI that DOES in order to avoid withdrawal symtpoms. However, given that Lyrica is an entirely different class of drugs, it won't do anything toward helping relieve your withdrawal symptoms. Your doctor shouldn't have taken you off of Cymbalta so quickly without giving you anything to help take the edge off, but unfortunately it seems that many doctors are not aware of how bad Cymbalta withdrawal can be.

You have three choices: Wait it out, hopefully with support from family/friends, try going back to 30mg of Cymbalta and tapering off slowly from there, or having your doctor give you a different SNRI/SSRI temporarily to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms.

Good luck.