24 replies to this topic

[DLAO83]

I'm sure that my story isn't too different from anybody else's here.

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with chronic EBV. I was exhausted and achy all the time. My heart had also just been broken. I suffered from depression and anxiety attacks. Cymbalta was like a life saver because it got me over feeling awful all the time and made me feel more like myself than I had in years.

Skip to the beginning of this year. I suddenly started gaining weight and nothing seemed to stop/help. I woke up one night and could barely walk, my legs had noticeable weakness. I ended up going to the ER and then a neurologist. They did all sorts of MRIs, scans, CTs, etc and they could not find anything wrong. After a few weeks, it passed without anyone figuring out what happened.

A few months later, my menstrual cycle stopped. I went back to the doctor and they did all sorts of scans and determined that they believe me to have PCOS. They ran bloodwork to also test and discovered that I do not have the hormonal imbalances that habitually accompany PCOS. Nonetheless, they diagnosed me with PCOS and prescribed me pills to make my menstrual cycle come.

I started having pain in my upper abdomen and body aches all over a few months ago. I always seem to be having a "hot flash". More scans and bloodwork. My PCP wonders if I might have Fibromyalgia- something I thought Cymbalta was supposed to help. My liver enzyme tests are coming up abnormal. They think I need to have my gallbladder removed because its not functioning properly. They also showed abnormal results for my kidneys as well. One of my coworkers mentioned that she had to be tested regularly to check her liver function because of an antidepressant that she had been on. I started looking up liver issues and the side effects of Cymbalta and everything seemed to fall into place.

I just turned 27 years old in September. I am not a big drinker by any means (I have one drink maybe once every four months). Cymbalta is a relatively newer drug and there have not been enough case studies on it. I refuse to believe that all of these things happening to me are unrelated. There are no catalysts and no explanable causes for what has happened. I truly believe that Cymbalta, although giving me the much needed boost to go back to real life, is killing me.

Has anybody else been suffering these things while on Cymbalta? I was on 60mg for nearly two years, now I'm on day 2 of weaning at 30mg. I feel like hell already. Most of the day I feel light-headed like I'm floating dizzily, my body aches even worse than ever, my face feels like its burning, and I feel out of breath. Someone tell me that things get better! I can't afford to take anymore time off from work, especially if I'm going to need to take time off for surgery. I just want to cry, how did I get myself into this mess? I feel damned if I do and damned if I don't. Why would they give this drug to people??? I totally want to change doctors now because I can't believe she would recommend this to anyone. I don't think I ever want to believe in a doctor who would suggest it!

[DLAO83]

I haven't gotten any responses yet, but I wanted to update since its Day 5/6? (IS THAT ALL OMFG???)Sometimes I feel almost normal. My family was never aware that I was ON anti-depressants in the first place and have no idea that I am getting off of them. I managed to remain relatively normal enough for a few hours yesterday when they were visiting. The minute they walked out the door I puked my guts out in the bathroom though. They just thought I was tense and tired- which is true. All I've been doing is sleeping the last few days beyond that. Like out of it totally into la la land sleep and I have the most ridiculous dreams/nightmares. I'm trying to limit my exposure to all the Halloween stuff because apparently it's ending up in my dreams. It's like spinning around with a migraine ready to vomit at any moment. Sometimes I'm relatively ok and sometimes I'm crying my eyes out over nothing and feeling miserable. This is my life... brain zaps suck.

[sarah]

I haven't gotten any responses yet, but I wanted to update since its Day 5/6? (IS THAT ALL OMFG???)Sometimes I feel almost normal. My family was never aware that I was ON anti-depressants in the first place and have no idea that I am getting off of them. I managed to remain relatively normal enough for a few hours yesterday when they were visiting. The minute they walked out the door I puked my guts out in the bathroom though. They just thought I was tense and tired- which is true. All I've been doing is sleeping the last few days beyond that. Like out of it totally into la la land sleep and I have the most ridiculous dreams/nightmares. I'm trying to limit my exposure to all the Halloween stuff because apparently it's ending up in my dreams. It's like spinning around with a migraine ready to vomit at any moment. Sometimes I'm relatively ok and sometimes I'm crying my eyes out over nothing and feeling miserable. This is my life... brain zaps suck.

I'm so sorry for all that you've been going through- both while on the Cymbalta and in the last few days as you're beginning to go off... I didn't have the same symptoms that you mentioned, but from what I experienced and what I've heard about this drug I wouldn't be surprised if it was, in fact, the Cymbalta that was causing a lot of the unexplainable things you were experiencing. (In my own experience I was mainly dealing with nauseousness and vomiting, night sweats, and some really messed up days when I would take my 60mg a few hours later than normal or forget altogether)

A jump from 60mg to 30mg is what most doctor's recommend, but as you'll see on this site that's a really big leap for a lot of people. It seems that for people with sensitivities to Cymbalta discontinuation, a 10% drop every week or two weeks is a safer way to go, which means being creative with splitting pills and dividing up the beads inside- there are lots of posts about how to do this elsewhere on this site. It takes a lot longer to drop down in dosage so slowly which I'm sure doesn't sound appealing if it's causing such awful side effects, but at least it won't introduce such horrible discontinuation side effects as well... Another thing that helps some people is a dose of Prozac or a similar SSRI to help with the tapering. Prozac has been around a while and is proven to be a fairly well tolerated SSRI. Also, the half-life of Prozac is very long so the withdrawal is pretty easy for most people to go through. My doctor has prescribed me 10mg of Prozac to help as I get off Cymbalta, and once I feel stable off of Cymbalta I will get off the Prozac as well. I've actually been on Prozac before and then come off of it and it is *nothing* like the experience I'm having with Cymbalta.

I think the hardest part of the withdrawal is the swinging back and forth between 'okay' and 'miserable' that you described. When I'm in the 'miserable' bouts it's really hard for me to have any perspective and know that it will pass, but I'm working on it. It will pass, and hopefully you can find comfort in the fact that you aren't the only one experiencing what you're experiencing. There's a lot of good advice and information on this site and a lot of really caring people who can appreciate what you're going through.

I don't think a lot of doctor's know that Cymbalta can be as horrible as it sometimes is. Some people don't have such negative reactions and there certainly doesn't seem to be a lot of research provided by Lilly about the side effects while taking it, or the symptoms while getting off of it. I wouldn't blame the doctor who prescribed it, but if you feel your doctor isn't willing to acknowledge what you are going through, and work with you to get through it, it might make sense to find someone who can be more supportive.

Hang in there!

Sarah

[watchdog]

I haven't gotten any responses yet, but I wanted to update since its Day 5/6? (IS THAT ALL OMFG???)Sometimes I feel almost normal. My family was never aware that I was ON anti-depressants in the first place and have no idea that I am getting off of them. I managed to remain relatively normal enough for a few hours yesterday when they were visiting. The minute they walked out the door I puked my guts out in the bathroom though. They just thought I was tense and tired- which is true. All I've been doing is sleeping the last few days beyond that. Like out of it totally into la la land sleep and I have the most ridiculous dreams/nightmares. I'm trying to limit my exposure to all the Halloween stuff because apparently it's ending up in my dreams. It's like spinning around with a migraine ready to vomit at any moment. Sometimes I'm relatively ok and sometimes I'm crying my eyes out over nothing and feeling miserable. This is my life... brain zaps suck.

DLA083-

You did not mention whether you are trying to come off the cymbalta slowly, or if you dropped from 60mg to 30mg. If you did go the 60-30 route, that is a huge jump for most people, and will intensify the withdrawal effects you are currently experiencing. My wife has been dropping 10mg approx every two weeks with a reasonable degree of success, keeping the w/d effect to a minimum (see; follow the yellow brick road). Be careful making big drops.... your body/brain needs time to adjust to the lesser drug dosage. Things that help..... most common are LOTS of fluids, many like green Gatorade,it works, omega3 fish oil, flaxseed oil. You may need something for motion sickness, this helps with the nausea... my wife uses Zofran with good results. You may need to go back to 50/60mg and then bring yourself off slowly to help yourself feel more "normal". Try to stay in contact with a medical doctor to monitor your progress.

Good luck

Watchdog

[dhub cymb no more]

I'm so sorry for all that you've been going through- both while on the Cymbalta and in the last few days as you're beginning to go off... I didn't have the same symptoms that you mentioned, but from what I experienced and what I've heard about this drug I wouldn't be surprised if it was, in fact, the Cymbalta that was causing a lot of the unexplainable things you were experiencing. (In my own experience I was mainly dealing with nauseousness and vomiting, night sweats, and some really messed up days when I would take my 60mg a few hours later than normal or forget altogether)

A jump from 60mg to 30mg is what most doctor's recommend, but as you'll see on this site that's a really big leap for a lot of people. It seems that for people with sensitivities to Cymbalta discontinuation, a 10% drop every week or two weeks is a safer way to go, which means being creative with splitting pills and dividing up the beads inside- there are lots of posts about how to do this elsewhere on this site. It takes a lot longer to drop down in dosage so slowly which I'm sure doesn't sound appealing if it's causing such awful side effects, but at least it won't introduce such horrible discontinuation side effects as well... Another thing that helps some people is a dose of Prozac or a similar SSRI to help with the tapering. Prozac has been around a while and is proven to be a fairly well tolerated SSRI. Also, the half-life of Prozac is very long so the withdrawal is pretty easy for most people to go through. My doctor has prescribed me 10mg of Prozac to help as I get off Cymbalta, and once I feel stable off of Cymbalta I will get off the Prozac as well. I've actually been on Prozac before and then come off of it and it is *nothing* like the experience I'm having with Cymbalta.

I think the hardest part of the withdrawal is the swinging back and forth between 'okay' and 'miserable' that you described. When I'm in the 'miserable' bouts it's really hard for me to have any perspective and know that it will pass, but I'm working on it. It will pass, and hopefully you can find comfort in the fact that you aren't the only one experiencing what you're experiencing. There's a lot of good advice and information on this site and a lot of really caring people who can appreciate what you're going through.

I don't think a lot of doctor's know that Cymbalta can be as horrible as it sometimes is. Some people don't have such negative reactions and there certainly doesn't seem to be a lot of research provided by Lilly about the side effects while taking it, or the symptoms while getting off of it. I wouldn't blame the doctor who prescribed it, but if you feel your doctor isn't willing to acknowledge what you are going through, and work with you to get through it, it might make sense to find someone who can be more supportive.

Hang in there!

Sarah

[dhub cymb no more]

Today is my 4th day of being completly off Cymbalta.Thanks all of you for your interesting posts. The trick to this does seem to be the sssssllloooowwww tapering off, although I had been tapering for around 2 months due to knowing I would soon be without insurance due to my husbands job change.Don't give up and keep trying what seems to be working for others with simular situations. I have been on antidepressants since 1990, where have the years gone??? Started on Prozac back then which definately made me doubt my sanity. I remember telling Dr. at that time that I felt like I was on cocaine(tried twice as teen),put on higher dose and he said these meds take time to work!! Ha, ha, how many of you had heard this while turning into a nutcase? Anyways back to Cymbalta...It seemed to work well for fibromyalgia and depression for me, maybe not so good for my seasonal depression come Nov.- March. Hey I live in Wisconsin what can I say!Whole time on it(5yrs.) I had terrible hot flashes, sweating terribly. Since weaning off ...hot flash-like episodes are wwwaaaayyyy worse.Face burns with heat, hot sweats, alternate soaking sweats and chills during sleep.I cant think of what to do first but have all this energy, I swear I aam for getting how to spell and type...see what I mean!! Things that use to seem so effortless are a major chore, have to look at my fingers while typing! I am also taking lamotrigine (100 mg), almost done tapering off of bupropion (75mg.), cutting those in half..not an easy task hope my dog has not eaten the slivers that fell on floor. Bupropion was started for sexual side-effects of ??something.. I forget.By the way someone had mentioned "those" types of side effects on one of the posts..try buporion aka (wellbutrin) for that! Girls... the big O will be back! Might just haave to go back on that one if that's the case once again.I am cutting out my meds because of cost. I also take 25mg. of trazodone for sleep.Hope I am discontinuing the meds in the correct order, any advice? I am planning on reserving a few books from the library for winter reading- Medication Madness by Peter Breggin MD also have a list of his other books that I wish I had read YEARS ago before letting anyone mess with my brain.

[DLAO83]

Thank you Sarah and everyone else for your support. Today was not a good day at all. I ended up leaving working because I felt so awful- dizzy, nauseous, flushed, sweating, just terrible and than I started having a panic attack and ended breaking down in my car bawling because I didn't think I'd be able to get off of this stuff. :-(

I was on 60mg for most of the past two years. My doctor told me to cut to 30mg for these two weeks, and then 20mg for the next two weeks and then stop. I called her office today when I was having my break down and begged them to have her call me back as soon as possible since she was with a patient. I haven't heard anything so far, so I guess they either forgot to give her the note, or she got too busy to return my call.

I have been taking meclizine to help with the dizziness, though it's not full proof. The last two days have really shown me that I have to be VERY careful, even in the showers because I nearly fell out into the shower curtain both days for no reason. What's worst of all is the disconnected feeling I have all the time. Like my body isn't mine, I'm just floating above it slightly. That is, until I knock my shin into something and then I cry from the pain. Most of the time I feel like I could just sleep forever. The dreams are just insane too- either creepy, or scary, or so vivid I can't tell its a dream. I feel like I'm losing my freaking mind.

[sarah]

Thank you Sarah and everyone else for your support. Today was not a good day at all. I ended up leaving working because I felt so awful- dizzy, nauseous, flushed, sweating, just terrible and than I started having a panic attack and ended breaking down in my car bawling because I didn't think I'd be able to get off of this stuff. :-(

I was on 60mg for most of the past two years. My doctor told me to cut to 30mg for these two weeks, and then 20mg for the next two weeks and then stop. I called her office today when I was having my break down and begged them to have her call me back as soon as possible since she was with a patient. I haven't heard anything so far, so I guess they either forgot to give her the note, or she got too busy to return my call.

I have been taking meclizine to help with the dizziness, though it's not full proof. The last two days have really shown me that I have to be VERY careful, even in the showers because I nearly fell out into the shower curtain both days for no reason. What's worst of all is the disconnected feeling I have all the time. Like my body isn't mine, I'm just floating above it slightly. That is, until I knock my shin into something and then I cry from the pain. Most of the time I feel like I could just sleep forever. The dreams are just insane too- either creepy, or scary, or so vivid I can't tell its a dream. I feel like I'm losing my freaking mind.

You're not losing you're mind, and this will pass. Hang in there! Unfortunately Lilly only offer Cymbalta in 60mg, 30mg and 20mg capsules, so in order to make the smaller steps that sound like they'd be better for you you'll have to split open the capsules and either count beads, split the contents in half, etc to get the right dose. (There are a lot of posts here on the best way to go about doing this...) Your doctor's advice isn't wrong- it's just based on information that she's received from the drug company. It might even be helpful to direct her to this site to show her what some people are going through? If she is still unwilling to acknowledge how hard this is for you, it sounds like it would make sense to find someone who can. I am certainly not a doctor, but from all I've read on this site and from my own experience it seems like it could be good for you to go back up to a higher dose- the 60mg to 30mg jump is just too big for some of us! If you went back up to 45mg or 50mg or even 55mg I would imagine things wouldn't feel quite as raw for you. You could then continue to make smaller decreases as you feel ready to until you are off of this stuff altogether!

Good luck and hang in there! Be good to yourself and remind yourself that this *will* pass...


Sarah

[cookie]

Dear DLAO83 and friends:
I am having pain in the right side of my body right below my ribs, (is it the liver??).
I was reading your question and you mention that you had enzyme test coming up abnormal and had to remove your gallbladder. And that your co-worker had to had her liver function tested because of antidepressant intake.
I would like to know what kind of exam can I do to get my liver, gallbladder and enzymes tested????

[DLAO83]

Dear DLAO83 and friends:
I am having pain in the right side of my body right below my ribs, (is it the liver??).
I was reading your question and you mention that you had enzyme test coming up abnormal and had to remove your gallbladder. And that your co-worker had to had her liver function tested because of antidepressant intake.
I would like to know what kind of exam can I do to get my liver, gallbladder and enzymes tested????

It's the liver/gallbladder. I had an ultra sound done first- that was painless, but ended up being inconclusive. The next test they did on me was the HIDA scan, where they inject chloeletic (or something) and CCK (whatever that is) to observe the function of everything. BE CAREFUL with the HIDA scan. They told me that no one has reactions to the chemicals that they inject into you, but that was a LIE. 1% of people have a negative reaction to it and I DID and ended up in the hospital.

I spoke with my doctor today- she is having me go back to 60mg on the cymbalta for the rest of this week. This weekend she is going to have me take half of one other antidepressant and full 60mg cymbalta. After a week, cut to full of this other stuff and 30mg cymbalta. She's hoping this works better. I think I scared her because I couldn't stop crying on the phone... :-( I don't know what I was so upset about, but I went back in and told my manager I wanted to quit. She knows what I am going through though and told me to calm down, think for a bit, and go back to work. I felt better later. For right now my doctor's advice is to stay home away from people and sleep... Wish work could understand that...

[cookie]

Dear DLAO83
Thank you for the information and warnings on the liver tests.
I read you are going back to 60mg. Even though you will be weaning by adding another antidepressant, you should go very slow. From what I´ve read on this site, the new antidepressant not always counteracts the withdrawal symptoms of cymbalta.

I´ve been weaning slowly for 6 months from 60mg to 8mg, doing very small drops.

[DLAO83]

Dear DLAO83
Thank you for the information and warnings on the liver tests.
I read you are going back to 60mg. Even though you will be weaning by adding another antidepressant, you should go very slow. From what I´ve read on this site, the new antidepressant not always counteracts the withdrawal symptoms of cymbalta.

I´ve been weaning slowly for 6 months from 60mg to 8mg, doing very small drops.

Hey everyone! I just wanted to do a small update.

I did go back to the 60mg- and I hate the fact that the very next day, I was so perky and chipper. I want to GET OFF EVERYTHING and she started me on the other one- Celexa. I just read up on that and it doesn't sound much better. I don't want to be on ANY ANTIDEPRESSANTS!! My doctor thinks this will help with the withdrawal from Cymbalta as I start tapering off and then I can get off of this stuff too, but the withdrawal/side effects sound the same to me. Has anyone else used Celexa (generic name Citalopram). I feel really frustrated and upset that my body is dependent on this crap. How long does it normally take to get off of? She gave me a prescription for THREE MONTHS of the Citalopram.

Does life ever return back to normal? :-(

[LaurelC]

Note to DLAO83: hugs and compassion to you, wherever you are. I have fibromyalgia and a few months ago went up from 30 to 60, thinking it would make me feel better. I guess I was paying too much attention to the ads. I did not have the side effects you describe other than a flatness of my emotions and no sex drive whatsoever (I'm 56 and married) and the prescribing doctor told me that at my age, women usually lose their sex drives anyway (!). I was even prepared to believe this.

But then I did a bit of research, and decided that I really, really wanted to go off the sauce, so to speak. I tapered to 30 to 20 to nothing, one to two weeks in between, using 5-HTP as a supplement. The drop to 30 didn't have any effect, or if it did I'm too scrambled in my brain to remember, but the drop to 20 felt strange to me, and again, I'm too focused on what I'm going through at the moment to remember the details. I also take Neurontin at night for sleep, and accidentally forgot them last week when I took time out with my husband to go to a bed and breakfast. I was up most of the night, feeling agitated. Needless to say, there was no sex for our romantic getaway! I felt like a failure as a wife and as a woman and guilty that he has to put up with me.

So now I'm at nothing, beginning not quite a week ago. I have had excruciating pain in my left hip and thigh, shin splints, cramps in my feet, and on one occasion neck pain that went up into my head. Most of this has been at night and early in the morning, and I've just carried on by taking Naproxen. But now I have fatigue, ringing in the ears, brain zaps, and dizziness. I thought it might be inner ear trouble from the leaf mold around here, plus our 9-year-old adopted son has a cold, so I thought maybe I was coming down with that. But there's not much of the cough and runny nose he's had.

I am now at the stage where I am no longer trying to keep up with my regular activities. I cancelled church this morning (my husband's choir director and I was supposed to help with the music), and my teaching schedule for tomorrow. I'm thinking seriously of going to the emergency room if I can drive myself over there. I just don't want to get stuck with more drugs, but I also can't afford to crawl under a rock and tought this out.

Thanks for listening, everyone,

Laurel

[DLAO83]

Note to DLAO83: hugs and compassion to you, wherever you are. I have fibromyalgia and a few months ago went up from 30 to 60, thinking it would make me feel better. I guess I was paying too much attention to the ads. I did not have the side effects you describe other than a flatness of my emotions and no sex drive whatsoever (I'm 56 and married) and the prescribing doctor told me that at my age, women usually lose their sex drives anyway (!). I was even prepared to believe this.

But then I did a bit of research, and decided that I really, really wanted to go off the sauce, so to speak. I tapered to 30 to 20 to nothing, one to two weeks in between, using 5-HTP as a supplement. The drop to 30 didn't have any effect, or if it did I'm too scrambled in my brain to remember, but the drop to 20 felt strange to me, and again, I'm too focused on what I'm going through at the moment to remember the details. I also take Neurontin at night for sleep, and accidentally forgot them last week when I took time out with my husband to go to a bed and breakfast. I was up most of the night, feeling agitated. Needless to say, there was no sex for our romantic getaway! I felt like a failure as a wife and as a woman and guilty that he has to put up with me.

So now I'm at nothing, beginning not quite a week ago. I have had excruciating pain in my left hip and thigh, shin splints, cramps in my feet, and on one occasion neck pain that went up into my head. Most of this has been at night and early in the morning, and I've just carried on by taking Naproxen. But now I have fatigue, ringing in the ears, brain zaps, and dizziness. I thought it might be inner ear trouble from the leaf mold around here, plus our 9-year-old adopted son has a cold, so I thought maybe I was coming down with that. But there's not much of the cough and runny nose he's had.

I am now at the stage where I am no longer trying to keep up with my regular activities. I cancelled church this morning (my husband's choir director and I was supposed to help with the music), and my teaching schedule for tomorrow. I'm thinking seriously of going to the emergency room if I can drive myself over there. I just don't want to get stuck with more drugs, but I also can't afford to crawl under a rock and tought this out.

Thanks for listening, everyone,

Laurel

Hugs and compassion right back to you, Laurel! You are NOT a failure as a wife and a woman. And I really do not believe that women at 56 lose their sex drive; why is there such a cliche about horny 80 and 90 year old women chasing after guys? In fact, a month ago at my friend's bridal shower, the grandmothers and greatgrandmothers were the most outrageous of the group. Your husband sounds like a good man, I think he will understand that you are going through a hardship and that when you are feeling better, another romantic getaway will be met with success. :-)

The drop from 20 to nothing may have been too much of a jump. :-( You might have to get back on temporarily and wean off a little slower for your body to adjust. Talk it over with your doctor and see. I know they don't have dosages smaller than 20mg, but I know many people have altered it themselves to lower the dosage. Otherwise, some meclizine (its like Bonine or Dramamine for motion sickness) does help some with the dizziness.

I wish that we all could just sleep through this awful period and wake up on the other side. That was pretty much my doctor's advice. Too bad we all have things like responsibilities and priorities and bills and LIFE to live and can't. :-( I wish I had more answers, but what I can tell you is that you are not alone.

I hope your 9-year is getting better from his cold as well. Here's love and support for you and your whole family. <3<3<3

[cookie]

Hey everyone! I just wanted to do a small update.

I did go back to the 60mg- and I hate the fact that the very next day, I was so perky and chipper. I want to GET OFF EVERYTHING and she started me on the other one- Celexa. I just read up on that and it doesn't sound much better. I don't want to be on ANY ANTIDEPRESSANTS!! My doctor thinks this will help with the withdrawal from Cymbalta as I start tapering off and then I can get off of this stuff too, but the withdrawal/side effects sound the same to me. Has anyone else used Celexa (generic name Citalopram). I feel really frustrated and upset that my body is dependent on this crap. How long does it normally take to get off of? She gave me a prescription for THREE MONTHS of the Citalopram.

Does life ever return back to normal? :-(

Dear DLAO83:
I empathize with the frustration you feel.
You mentioned your doctor put you on Celexa to help with the weaning. Are you sure celexa doesn´t have withdrawal symptoms also?
I´ve read about people on this site who succesfully got off cymbalta by using prozac.
I rather wean slowly without adding additional medicines. The reason is, that if I add another pill I won´t know if the symptoms I am having are from the lack of cymbalta or side effects of the new pill.

[DLAO83]

Dear DLAO83:
I empathize with the frustration you feel.
You mentioned your doctor put you on Celexa to help with the weaning. Are you sure celexa doesn´t have withdrawal symptoms also?
I´ve read about people on this site who succesfully got off cymbalta by using prozac.
I rather wean slowly without adding additional medicines. The reason is, that if I add another pill I won´t know if the symptoms I am having are from the lack of cymbalta or side effects of the new pill.

When I did look it up (Celexa), it basically sounded the same as Cymbalta- I don't want to get off one addiction to go to another. I am going to call my PCP tomorrow and have a good discussion with her, because I feel like maybe she was confused with what I was saying- I think she thinks that I'm just crazy or that I am someone that NEEDS to be on antidepressants and THAT'S why I'm reacting this way... I keep thinking back to what she was saying and I don't think we were on the same page at all. I mean, I WAS hysterical on the phone, but to think that Cymbalta has NO side effects to get off of? I took half a Celexa last night (like my dr instructed me to), but I felt really woozy all last night and most of today. I didn't take any tonight and I'm not going to until I talk to her. I might be switching to another doctor this week if we cannot be on the same page of LESS not MORE to get rid of this. :-(

[LaurelC]

Hugs and compassion right back to you, Laurel! You are NOT a failure as a wife and a woman. And I really do not believe that women at 56 lose their sex drive; why is there such a cliche about horny 80 and 90 year old women chasing after guys? In fact, a month ago at my friend's bridal shower, the grandmothers and greatgrandmothers were the most outrageous of the group. Your husband sounds like a good man, I think he will understand that you are going through a hardship and that when you are feeling better, another romantic getaway will be met with success. :-)

The drop from 20 to nothing may have been too much of a jump. :-( You might have to get back on temporarily and wean off a little slower for your body to adjust. Talk it over with your doctor and see. I know they don't have dosages smaller than 20mg, but I know many people have altered it themselves to lower the dosage. Otherwise, some meclizine (its like Bonine or Dramamine for motion sickness) does help some with the dizziness.

I wish that we all could just sleep through this awful period and wake up on the other side. That was pretty much my doctor's advice. Too bad we all have things like responsibilities and priorities and bills and LIFE to live and can't. :-( I wish I had more answers, but what I can tell you is that you are not alone.

I hope your 9-year is getting better from his cold as well. Here's love and support for you and your whole family. <3<3<3

Thanks so much! I'm still feeling lousy, but a little better than yesterday. My son, unfortunately, began his day by losing his breakfast. So here we are, trying to hold ourselves and each other together. At least I don't have the chills and fever I was suffering yesterday! L

[DLAO83]

New Update - I started weaning again, today was my official day BACK to weaning. Things are a bit differently this time; first of course, is the addition of another antidepressant, Celexa. I spoke with my PCP and she SWEARS that I will be okay getting off of this one, and that it's only temporary to assist me getting off of Cymbalta... I hope so...

I also decided to research some natural serotonin boosters. I found a few helpful websites and picked up some vitamins. I'm taking B-12 and meclizine (for energy and the dizziness) in the morning, and Valerian root and niacin (for relaxation and neurological wellness) at night (I started those last night with the 30mg Cymbalta and 20mg Celexa). I also read that slowly digestable carbs are good to eat in the morning to help boost serotonin, so I picked up a box of oatmeal and have started on that. There is also some studies that show eating your protein earlier in the day, at lunch, and making lunch your biggest meal and dinner lighter, can help one sleep better (something that also boosts serotonin) and give you the energy and serotonin boost to get through the day.

So far to day, I was a mildly dizzy, and had a mild headache for some of the day. My patience was not unending, but I wasn't on any emotional rollercoasters. I'm hoping that this time, with the combinations and the added assistance that I will be successful. At least I don't feel like death warmed over or an escaped mental patient today, like I did last week.

I will keep everyone posted on my progress to see if this helps/works... Anyone else have any other helpful tips/advice? It would be GREATLY appreciated!

[DLAO83]

Day three... oh God.. I thought I was doing better. I was on 30mg Cymbalta and 20mg of Celexa, last night I decided to take a small portion of Cymbalta out just to see if I noticed anything and JESUSGODDOINOTICE!!! Might as well cart me away to the freaking looney bin because I'm cracking faster than an egg on Easter today.

I will go back to the normal dosage tonight... today sucked and I have serious doubts about ever successfully getting off this shit.

You win today, Cymbalta, but tomorrow is another day.

[Cymbalta4IED]

We are on a similar path...I had been taking 60 mg of Cymbalta for nearly a year and I do not like the side effects of missed doses and although the meds do help my mood swings I am not satisfied that Cymbalta was a good choice for me or anyone else for that matter.

I am currently on day 3 of the weaning process from Cymbalta...After reading this forum I suggested that my Doctor supplement the Cymbalta with Prozac and gradually decrease the Cymbalta the results so far have been hopeful. I went from the 60 mg to 30 mg of Cymbalta and 20 mg of Prozac (daily).

So far so good I have experienced a small window of slight withdrawal for 2 or 3 hours before my normal 12 PM daily 60 mg dosage. My doctor was wise enough to give me a 30 day RX for both drugs and tell me that there were no hard and fast rules to weaning off of any anti-depressant. I will stick to this regimen as long as I can handle it with the current side affects - slight dizziness, confusion, lack of concentration/focus (in the 2 to 3 hr withdrawal window).

If the withdrawals worsen I plan to do 1 or 2 things....break the Cymbalta capsules down as described in many threads or take the 30 mg capsules in an alternative time interval (spacing the normal 60 mg every 24 hours to 60 every 30 hours or 36 along with the daily dose of the Prozac. This way I am still lessening my amount of MG per 24 hour period but not experiencing the withdrawal window.

I think you have done the right thing by using another supplemental SSRI to aid you in the weaning process, but I hope it is the right one for you. Everyone is different but from the research and reports I have studied Prozac is the SSRI of choice for weaning and it is working for me. I've also read that Prozac is not as hard to wean from, which is important to me since I want to be med free eventually.

I wish you success and well being. I will follow this thread closely.

[DLAO83]

We are on a similar path...I had been taking 60 mg of Cymbalta for nearly a year and I do not like the side effects of missed doses and although the meds do help my mood swings I am not satisfied that Cymbalta was a good choice for me or anyone else for that matter.

I am currently on day 3 of the weaning process from Cymbalta...After reading this forum I suggested that my Doctor supplement the Cymbalta with Prozac and gradually decrease the Cymbalta the results so far have been hopeful. I went from the 60 mg to 30 mg of Cymbalta and 20 mg of Prozac (daily).

So far so good I have experienced a small window of slight withdrawal for 2 or 3 hours before my normal 12 PM daily 60 mg dosage. My doctor was wise enough to give me a 30 day RX for both drugs and tell me that there were no hard and fast rules to weaning off of any anti-depressant. I will stick to this regimen as long as I can handle it with the current side affects - slight dizziness, confusion, lack of concentration/focus (in the 2 to 3 hr withdrawal window).

If the withdrawals worsen I plan to do 1 or 2 things....break the Cymbalta capsules down as described in many threads or take the 30 mg capsules in an alternative time interval (spacing the normal 60 mg every 24 hours to 60 every 30 hours or 36 along with the daily dose of the Prozac. This way I am still lessening my amount of MG per 24 hour period but not experiencing the withdrawal window.

I think you have done the right thing by using another supplemental SSRI to aid you in the weaning process, but I hope it is the right one for you. Everyone is different but from the research and reports I have studied Prozac is the SSRI of choice for weaning and it is working for me. I've also read that Prozac is not as hard to wean from, which is important to me since I want to be med free eventually.

I wish you success and well being. I will follow this thread closely.

Hehe, well I just ruined our patterned lives!

So, I decided F--- it all, the other day, and I quit Cymbalta and just took the Celexa, only instead of 20mg, I took 40mg. (I was on 30mg of Cymbalta and 20mg of Celexa)

Two days off Cymbalta and solely on Celexa- I feel... tired. A little under the weather, but I also have bad allergies and this is a bad allergy time, so I can't decide if it's just my allergies bothering me.

I still have most mental clarity, sometimes my teeth chatter without reason, but then, when I first started Cymbalta, they used to do that all the time too. I'm emotional, but NOT an emotional rollercoaster. I am still slightly dizzy, but meclizine clears that up pretty well. And overall, I'm a bit grumpier than I would normally be, but sometimes I'm too nice in person so it's not such a bad change for the moment.

I'm certain this would not work for everybody and I'm certain my doctor will/would ring my neck if she found out, but I just hated Cymbalta and hated trying to count and wean and feeling like I could NEVER get off of it. So this is where I am at.

This week I will stay at 40mg of Celexa, next week move to 30mg, then 20mg, then 10mg and then quit. That gives me about a month whereas with the Cymbalta, I was certain I would never be able to fully minimize it... Wish me luck again! :-)

[Cymbalta4IED]

Hehe, well I just ruined our patterned lives!

So, I decided F--- it all, the other day, and I quit Cymbalta and just took the Celexa, only instead of 20mg, I took 40mg. (I was on 30mg of Cymbalta and 20mg of Celexa)

Two days off Cymbalta and solely on Celexa- I feel... tired. A little under the weather, but I also have bad allergies and this is a bad allergy time, so I can't decide if it's just my allergies bothering me.

I still have most mental clarity, sometimes my teeth chatter without reason, but then, when I first started Cymbalta, they used to do that all the time too. I'm emotional, but NOT an emotional rollercoaster. I am still slightly dizzy, but meclizine clears that up pretty well. And overall, I'm a bit grumpier than I would normally be, but sometimes I'm too nice in person so it's not such a bad change for the moment.

I'm certain this would not work for everybody and I'm certain my doctor will/would ring my neck if she found out, but I just hated Cymbalta and hated trying to count and wean and feeling like I could NEVER get off of it. So this is where I am at.

This week I will stay at 40mg of Celexa, next week move to 30mg, then 20mg, then 10mg and then quit. That gives me about a month whereas with the Cymbalta, I was certain I would never be able to fully minimize it... Wish me luck again! :-)

Everyone is different and no one knows you better than yourself. If you feel compelled to take a different route then go for it...you can always switch courses if it doesn't work. My doctor told me that he had made the transition from Cymbalta to other SSRI's with some patients that never required a weaning process.

We are all different chemically, physically and emotionally. There is no set of rules or guidelines to go from for any particular individual. I think that the greatest thing is to feel that you are in control of your own body and that you, more than anyone knows what you need and how to get there. You sound like you are confident in your decision and I think that is very necessary. You are brave.

Good luck!

[DLAO83]

So it's like, what? The 10th? I'm on my second week of weaning off Celexa, no Cymbalta. Last week I was sick a lot. At one point I thought I would have to go back to the ER, but I refuse to return to that place since they are going to start thinking I'm nuts if I keep going, so I held it together for the rest of the week, somewhat. Right now I'm down to 30mg of Celexa only- I am EXHAUSTED, sore, can't sleep well, and cranky. I can focus fine and there are no brain zaps, but I get very dizzy sometimes and I have strange moods sometimes.

Oh, and I'm constantly hungry, my menstrual cycle just came Saturday (First time it's come naturally since March- funny since it was my first complete week OFF of Cymbalta...) I have the weirdest food cravings- my coworkers think I must be pregnant. Even the doctor tested me for pregnancy. But I'm not, and it's not really possible anyways at this time. Sometimes I feel fine and sometimes I feel downright mentally unstable. I'm hoping everything will level out eventually.

[DLAO83]

So I haven't posted in almost a month, a lot of things have happened. It's been a little over a month since I've stopped taking Cymbalta completely, I'm still on Celexa. My PCP tried to tell me I was bipolar and that's why I was suffering so many symptoms (she doesn't seem to believe in WD from stopping Cymbalta), and thus tried to prescribe me Seroquel and Symbyax. The Seroquel made me very drowsy all day (I took it at night as instructed). The Symbyax knocked me out completely for 14 hours straight and I couldn't wake up even when I wanted to.(If the apartment building was on fire, I was going to burn down with it because I could tell things were happening, I just couldn't stay conscious long enough to do anything about them.) When I finally did manage to get up, it took me two hours before I could function properly. My friend called me during that time and thought I had been slipped xtc or something because I couldn't formulate words or sentences. I basically sat on the phone yelling "hhheellllppppuuuhh".

I went to a psychiatrist who determined I was NOT BP and advised me to change PCPs immediately. She asked that I stick with the 20mg of Celexa for the time being with lorazepam for anxiety attacks. I had tried to go lower on the Celexa, but immediately experienced brain zaps again and not being able to focus. I don't know what side effect this is from, but I found that my jaw kept hurting. Finally I realized that I keep clenching my jaw because otherwise my teeth chatter uncontrollably all the time. When I first started Cymbalta, my teeth used to chatter, especially when I yawned, but now it's constant.

They say with a bad break up, it takes you half the time you were dating before you can get over the other person. Since I was on Cymbalta for 2yrs, will it take me a year before all this crap gets out of my system and I can go back to being "normal" (whatever that means) again? All these other drugs are just rebounds to get over Cymbalta. I just want off all this crap.

Hope everyone else has been faring better. I'll snoop around a bit to catch up!

[cookie]

So I haven't posted in almost a month, a lot of things have happened. It's been a little over a month since I've stopped taking Cymbalta completely, I'm still on Celexa. My PCP tried to tell me I was bipolar and that's why I was suffering so many symptoms (she doesn't seem to believe in WD from stopping Cymbalta), and thus tried to prescribe me Seroquel and Symbyax. The Seroquel made me very drowsy all day (I took it at night as instructed). The Symbyax knocked me out completely for 14 hours straight and I couldn't wake up even when I wanted to.(If the apartment building was on fire, I was going to burn down with it because I could tell things were happening, I just couldn't stay conscious long enough to do anything about them.) When I finally did manage to get up, it took me two hours before I could function properly. My friend called me during that time and thought I had been slipped xtc or something because I couldn't formulate words or sentences. I basically sat on the phone yelling "hhheellllppppuuuhh".

I went to a psychiatrist who determined I was NOT BP and advised me to change PCPs immediately. She asked that I stick with the 20mg of Celexa for the time being with lorazepam for anxiety attacks. I had tried to go lower on the Celexa, but immediately experienced brain zaps again and not being able to focus. I don't know what side effect this is from, but I found that my jaw kept hurting. Finally I realized that I keep clenching my jaw because otherwise my teeth chatter uncontrollably all the time. When I first started Cymbalta, my teeth used to chatter, especially when I yawned, but now it's constant.

They say with a bad break up, it takes you half the time you were dating before you can get over the other person. Since I was on Cymbalta for 2yrs, will it take me a year before all this crap gets out of my system and I can go back to being "normal" (whatever that means) again? All these other drugs are just rebounds to get over Cymbalta. I just want off all this crap.

Hope everyone else has been faring better. I'll snoop around a bit to catch up!

Dear DLAO83:
Be very careful not to confuse withdrawal symptoms with an illness. 5 years ago I was prescribed cymb for Major Depression. After 5 years, and during weaning and dosage decrease, I´ve also experienced mood swings, which I NEVER had experienced before in my life. One day I feel very low, dark, hopeless, despair, and then the next day I am calm, and super happy for no reason, everything seems bright. If anyone heard this symptoms they would say I am bipolar (which I am not). What I do to differentiate withdrawals with my original illness, is to think back of my symptoms when cymb was first prescribed, any other symptom different from what I felt initially I consider it a withdrawal symptom.
I do not like to keep on adding medicines to treat withdrawals, because if I did, I would need a long list of medicines (one for nausea, one for mood swings, one for hair loss, one for high blood pressure, etc)
Be careful with adding more medicines. Symbyax is a combination of fluoxetine (prozac ingredient) and olanzapine (antipsychotic/mood stabilizer).