2 replies to this topic

[ellclare]

Hi all,

I've been taking Cymbalta for a few months (3, maybe 4, I've lost track). I decided to get off, just quit. Cold turkey. Yes, bad idea, trust me - I know. But now I need help! I haven't taken any in almost a week. I feel completely dizzy, and have been experiencing cold sweats from time to time throughout the day (if I'm not sweating already!). I can't move my eyes too fast, if I do, I feel like I need to just close my eyes for a few seconds to catch myself.

Does anyone have advice? Will this continue? Will it slowly stop? Should I start taking it again, then wean myself off properly?

Please help - this is NOT fun.

Thank you!

[Pattie]

I quit cold turkey approximately 11/8/10. Yeah. It's hell. I think it gets worst before it gets better. Weeks of nausea, lots of headaches and headfog, I heaved a lot, but seldom anything came up. Got hypomania. I'm still not sure where I stand with the withdrawal as of today. I think I'm at the 'it comes and it goes' stage. Went to two different doctors. One said there is no withdrawal (yeah, let her try cymbalta). The other said I was going through withdrawal. Ended up in the emergency room couple days ago. They just said they were an ER and didn't know anything about those types of drugs or withdrawal. They took an EKG. I guess that was ok. They gave me .5 mg ativan and sent me off with a diagnosis of having had a panic attack and told me to get to a psychiatrist as soon as possible. Yeah, try to find one when you don't have one. Got to one the other day. He was useless. Never got those brain zaps though that everyone talks about, unless I'm just not understanding what a brain zap is. I retired early about 1-1/2 years ago because I couldn't function anymore. i think 12 years of antidepressants just screwed me up. i was on cymbalta for 4 months. First time I ever quit an antidepressant. Always had to start another one because i couldn't take the withdrawals. I want my system clean of that s__t and see who I am and what I am without it. Have barely slept either since I quit cymbalta. Can't sleep. Not at all with ambien anymore. An after hours regular doctor I went to last week gave me Klonopin (benzo) to try to get some sleep. The nit-wit psychiatrist I went to the other day doesn't believe in benzos. He told me to go to a sleep clinic. And as far as the way I've been feeling, he said maybe I needed to see a neurologist. WHAT A QUACK!!!! I'm going to cancel the next appt he made. Never going back there.

If you don't have to work, maybe you can try to stick it out. However, it seems that most here say never quit cold turkey, but some of what I read looks like they just prolong misery, only to a lesser extent.

[Michelle Hinton]

I quit cold turkey approximately 11/8/10. Yeah. It's hell. I think it gets worst before it gets better. Weeks of nausea, lots of headaches and headfog, I heaved a lot, but seldom anything came up. Got hypomania. I'm still not sure where I stand with the withdrawal as of today. I think I'm at the 'it comes and it goes' stage. Went to two different doctors. One said there is no withdrawal (yeah, let her try cymbalta). The other said I was going through withdrawal. Ended up in the emergency room couple days ago. They just said they were an ER and didn't know anything about those types of drugs or withdrawal. They took an EKG. I guess that was ok. They gave me .5 mg ativan and sent me off with a diagnosis of having had a panic attack and told me to get to a psychiatrist as soon as possible. Yeah, try to find one when you don't have one. Got to one the other day. He was useless. Never got those brain zaps though that everyone talks about, unless I'm just not understanding what a brain zap is. I retired early about 1-1/2 years ago because I couldn't function anymore. i think 12 years of antidepressants just screwed me up. i was on cymbalta for 4 months. First time I ever quit an antidepressant. Always had to start another one because i couldn't take the withdrawals. I want my system clean of that s__t and see who I am and what I am without it. Have barely slept either since I quit cymbalta. Can't sleep. Not at all with ambien anymore. An after hours regular doctor I went to last week gave me Klonopin (benzo) to try to get some sleep. The nit-wit psychiatrist I went to the other day doesn't believe in benzos. He told me to go to a sleep clinic. And as far as the way I've been feeling, he said maybe I needed to see a neurologist. WHAT A QUACK!!!! I'm going to cancel the next appt he made. Never going back there.

If you don't have to work, maybe you can try to stick it out. However, it seems that most here say never quit cold turkey, but some of what I read looks like they just prolong misery, only to a lesser extent.

yeah i think the reason i was able to stick it out is because i dont have to work. i do have three kids but the youngest is 10 so at least they could feed themselves. mind you my house ended up very messy! i would make my kids tidy up when i had the energy to tell them too.
i thought of giving up many times, but i was detemined not to go anywhere near that drug again!!! and from i was reading on here, the weaning seemed to prolong the suffering, and i would cope with that.
valium and nurofen plus helped me, i know a lot of people dont go for the benzos, but i am quite disciplined and i started cutting back on the valium as soon as i felt better, as i didnt want to form a dependence on that too!!