13 replies to this topic

[Steve79]

Hi everyone. I bet people are wondering why it is so uncommon to find success stories. I think it is because after we recover, we do not seek out internet help. That is the danger of some message boards..all negative horror stories scaring other people.
I must say this site is great and anytime people rally together it can only benefit others.
That being said, I was lucky to have a brother that is a doctor and his fiance who is a psychiatrist. This is the best advice I can give you.

-do NOT read message boards, besides this one of course. Most message boards are full of people complaining about the negatives. I mean why would someone seek out message boards to talk about the positives of these drugs?
-Relax, everyone's body is different, but you will recover. Your story will not be the same as others. For example, maybe you were just put on this drug for depression or panic attacks...now you are scared and reading stories from people that are on 5 or 6 different drugs.
I don't want to sound mean, but some people have it bad in life and honestly they would feel the same symptoms whether they were on cymbalta or not. ( ie compare someone who is bipolar on 6 drugs to someone who is on 1 drug for anxiety) Do not read their horror stories, YOU are different.)

-What is the magic answer for withdrawl? Honestly with me I was on 90 mg for 8 months. This drug got me through student teaching. My problem was it got me through because it makes you almost numb and I stopped caring about anxiety, but also other things in life, thats why you dont panic and dont feel sad. It is more of a mood stabilizer.
-Withdrawl- be prepared for zaps...THEY ARE COMMON AND HARMLESS.
-Do NOT stop cold turkey as this can triple your side effects.

-Everyone is different, remember that. Some feel no side effects, others get it bad. Remember, this may sound mean, and I apologize if I offend anyone, but some people on other message boards have some serious mental issues that require MANY drugs at one time. Do not listen to these people talk about cymbalta, they cannot give you a fair assessment since they have so many other issues/drugs interacting with them.

-Stay Strong, my symptoms went away after 6 days, yours will too. The thing about this drug is it is great for short term help, but it honestly stops working after a year. Both doctors in my family told me they didnt have enough long term research, but they will not prescribe it anymore.

-Withdrawl is not pleasant, but you must understand, your brain had so much extra serotonin and noreph. that it is changing and side effects are common.
-The easiest way to avoid this is to go on another SSRI. We were on a SNRI, dont forget that. I have IBS and have some panic from that, so I am going back on lexapro. I did not go back on lexapro and the symptoms went away anyway in 6 days .I cant stress enough how good lexapro is. I got talked into the mystery of pain killing cymbalta. Dont get me wrong it works, but it fades quickly and I had NO sex drive whatsoever and gained 25 pounds.

-You will LOSE weight because you metabolism will speed back up.

-In closing, please do not lose hope, but NEVER BE AFRAID to get off this med. There is so much support here and I promise even though everyone's body is different, you WILL feel better. I promise!

-Please remember, you are only scaring yourself to death by reading horror stories on message boards! You can quit this drug...YOU will feel better!!
-Steve

[Lori]

All, I can say, Steve is thank you for the post. It is very encouraging. I may not understand everything you said, as I seem to have lost the ability to understand fully about anything, BUT it is coming back. I actually feel smart some days. But again, thanks, I appreciate what you said about this message board. We have our own horror stories, but we can laugh about it at times.

[Steve79]

Oh no problem, sorry if I went into teacher mode
Sometimes we get put on these drugs for chemical imbalances, other times because we have rough times in life. The most important thing is to support one another. If anyone needs advice, drop me a note.
-Steve

[Steve79]

Hi there.Sorry it took me so long to respond.
jp27-I basically just dropped 30 mg each week. I gave my body time with each lower dosage and really it was only when you drop from 30-0 that I felt withdrawl. The zaps and stomach pains were not pleasant, but after 6 days it all went away. A month later and I am glad to be cymbalta free.

Zapie- wow cold turkey..I hope everything is working out okay for you. I have only stopped one med cold turkey(zoloft) and it gave me the zaps, but it went away after 6 days. I guess it is true about everyones body being different because lexapro gave me no problems at all except for night sweats.
One thing I dont miss is the heat tolerance on cymbalta! I literally would sweat buckets in 50 degree weather. It made for some great times teaching my students with the windows open and they were freezing while I was sweating

Hope everything works out!
-Steve

[Steve79]

Hi, Noooooo I made sure to finish my student teaching first before going through the withdrawal. I knew it would hit me hard. It was kind of funny actually. At 90 mg I would do a lot of powerpoint and lecture, but at 60 and 30 I would become this dramatic teacher that would walk around ask tons of questions and make class entertaining! Sometimes I think cymbalta is more of a mood stabalizer.
GI problems I can sympathize with as I have IBS anyway. The only thing that ever worked for that was a low dosage of lexapro which I am back on now. Feels like I am on nothing, but it helps my stomach. B6 and 12 work wonders too

[Steve79]

Actually i waited two weeks after completely being off cymbalta before doing the low dose of lexapro so my withdrawal was an uninhibited six days then felt so much better. I waited 14 days because I wanted to see if I could be off everything and still deal with ibs. Withdrawal was gone in six days, but ibs plain old sucks and 10 mg of lexapro does something good for my stomach so i will probably stick with it. It sure beats 90mg of cymbalta!

[Sarah J]

Steve - you are the lucky winner on this site. Six days!!!!!
Okay, this is great and explains something - some people sign up, post and disappear, I am hoping it is because they get through withdrawal quickly, and do not see a need to post. The modus operandi I see here is that people tend to find this site about a week or so in when they expect to feel better and just don't.

Steve, because I was member 87 on this site I can tell you, you are the only person who posts here that was over this in six days that has reported it. Congratluations and I hope that by your posting, it will give somebody else hope that they will be over this quickly. Supposedly, some people don't have withdrawal at all, but of course, they would not end up here.

Thanks for posting your quick withdrawal story and helping others.

58 days antidepressant free as of today

[Steve79]

Hey Sarah,
Thanks for the kind words, I really wanted to help. I wanted to tell people that everyone is different and most people that have positive things to say honestly don't seek out message boards to share them.
Yea, 6 days seems fast compared to some of the stories, however I bet there are people that had minor withdrawals(2-3 days) and some that even had nothing.
I think this site is great and I hope that I helped even one person!

I am glad that you had success too and are antidepressant free. My trouble went away day 6 of withdrawal and never came back. Two weeks later I went back to a small dosage of lexapro to control the ibs but man it feels good to be off cymbalta! I may be repeating myself but it really felt more like a mood stabalizer.
-Steve

[clsinnv]

Steve, thanks for the information. I've been on Cymbalta since just before last Christmas and I'm ready to leave the drug behind. I am seeing my doctor today regarding this and will be checking back in. I'd prefer to just go cold turkey and see what happens, as long as my husband can take it. What I worry about is work as I am the executive assistant to the boss of our organization. He leaves town next week for three weeks though, and I'm thinking that may be a better time to take the plunge.

I'm just tired of being on this drug and feeling nauseous all the time, and I really have no energy. I miss the highs I used to get, and yet I can still really experience some lows when something is sad. Why can't I feel the same depth of emotion when something is good.

cls

[Steve79]

Hi there.
Well cold turkey will usually give you the most withdrawal symptoms, which is why lowering your level every week is usually safer.
When your boss leaves town it sounds like a good idea to get off the pills. When I was student teaching, I didnt want to feel the withdrawal so I waited until it was done. My symptoms lasted 6 days.
What dose are you on? Maybe going from 90-60 or 60-30 can help for the first week before you drop it all together.
Best of luck, you WILL BE FINE
-Steve

[cooleenn]

I went off Cymbalta 23 days ago. I got through all of the physical withdrawl symptoms but was very angry which is really scarry for me. My spouse who is normally supportive is totally not at this point. Granted I am also going through menopause so I am literally a bitch to live with. I am seeing things in my relationship I am not liking, is it me or the drug..... or the relationship.? these are questions i need to answer for myself just not right now. so, because he kept suggesting I needed help, couldn't be that he is non-supporting and doesn't take the time to read any of the info I have found helpful [all on these sites by the way] I WENT TO MY ph AND THEY SAID AFTER 3 WEEKS i SHOULD BE MYSELF, so i went on 10mg of lexapro which i was on before the cymbalta. I am now [5th] day, calm and not acting out but did not accomplish what I wanted. so I feel like a failure. I was a real spaz on the cymbalta and a bigger spaz during w/d and now probably everyone around me will be happier because of the lexapro but will i be a zombie? of course when I called the nurse at my Dr's office I am supposed to give the lexapro 2 weeks. just for the info I am recently retired from a 25 yr career in retail so i thought my anger was from corporate greed but i am still angry that is why i went off cymbalta. i should be less angry and agitated. trying to find out what my normal is. I am so glad to be cymbalta free i had all the w/d symptoms the entire time i was on the drug, just in a mild form so u can deal with it better. I went cold turkey and that was the right way for me.. I just if I had more support from my spouse I could have made it through w/o Lexapro. I had blood tests done in the late 80,s and was told my seratonin was fluctuating. couldn't find much info at that time on seratonin and they did not have all these wonderful mood altering drugs they have now. [wonderful for some unnecessary for others] but that is why i bought into the whole ant-dep thing to begin with and lexapro and cymbalta were the only ones which did not make me into a zombie. prozac and zoloft made me as crazy as going off the cymbalta w/o the physical side effects (affects?) I never can remember which, hey after 3 weeks I finally don't have to concentrate to tie my own shoes. I am GOOD. Thank YOU ONE & ALL I am now going to attempt to drive on 465 in Indy it is Sun so I am starting out early and maybe everyone around me will not be going 90 mph . wish me luck and again thank you, seriously, thank u one last thought I have a great, if sarcastic sense of humor and i basically like who I am and I am mostly afraid the lexapro is going to steal myself away from me. at this point if i do not take the lexapro only my 5th day i get anxious. so the decision is should i or shouldn't I stick with the lexapro for 2 weeks? i am going to take it day by day and as usual tell myself to drinkH2O eat healthy and wa;lk.

[Steve79]

Best of luck to you. Everyone's body is different, but Lexapro is supposed to have the fewest side effects so you should be fine

[marbles]

Sorry but what I read here are people who should get down on their knees and thank God, they are the NORMAL people who do not take 6 meds with horror stories. Depression is not just about 1, 2, or6 meds, and horror stories .It also consists of Life not always being Rosy,.People with depression have to fight (((twice as hard))) as the person who only has a (little)depression that goes away in time and is forgotten.People with worse depression wether it be chronic depression,severe depression or bipolar etc....want the same things you are talking about!

[radiovegetable]

Thank you so much for this post. I have only been on Cymbalta for three or four months...but I already know that I need to get off of it. The side effects are just too bad. I feel so encouraged by your account of your withdrawal. I felt so "between a rock and a hard place" but I know that with the help of my doctor, I should be able to wean off pretty quickly. Cymbalta is the only prescription I am on now, not multiple drugs, so I feel pretty lucky. All I know for sure is that I need to get off the Cymbalta quick. (But not quicker than the weaning process takes.)

Thank you again!
Be well!