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[blazinhot]

When I was 21, I had a pretty bad panic attack. I had to leave school for a week, and was prescribed Xanax to control my anxiety. Everything was great! It immediately eliviated my anxiety, but after about 6 months on the medication, my primary care physician suggested that I see a psychiatrist to monitor my medication. I agreed, and the psychiatrist said that anxiety was often caused by depression and that he would like to start me on an anti depressant and said that cymbalta would be the best choice. I was not very depressed, I just had high anxitey, but I began taking a very small dose of cymbalta and everything was still fine. He then increased the medication and things took a turn for the worst. I was at 90 mg a day with 1 mg of Xanax. I began having trouble sleeping, so he prescribed seroquel to help me sleep better. Seroquel made me too tired the next day. So I just dealt with the insomnia. I did not realize it, but I was becoming very depressed. However, being that I was on an antidepressant, I thought that everything was working itself out. My anxiety was also through the roof. I began having to double my xanax dose just to feel relaxed enough to function. So I just talking to my doctor and taking what he gave me. I began feeling so depressed and so nervous that I had began drinking quite a bit more just to be able to function. I was at a point where I could not fall asleep, and just being awake was miserable for me. Everything in my life was great though so I couldn't understand why I was so depressed. My doctor then prescribed Lunesta to help me sleep at night. It provided zero help. Then he prescribed Ambien. I would have to take twice the normal dose just to be able to sleep for a couple of hours. My life was completely out of control. I couldn't sleep. I was afraid to be awake. All of my relationships were detiorating and I had no interest in anything. After A YEAR AND A HALF of becoming worse and worse, my doctor suggested that maybe I have bipolar II (depression accompanied by anxitey, insomnia, etc). I started taking mood stabalizers, and they help. So 2 years after seeking treatment and watching my life spin out of control, I finally feel as good as I did before taking cymbalta (aside from the withdrawl.
So now I am waning off of the Cymbalta (90mg to 60mg for 2 weeks and the 60 to the 30mg for 2 weeks, then zero) I asked my doctor whether or not to expect any side effects from the withdrawl, and he informed me that I could become more depressed. This was not a worry for me, because before taking cymbalta my depression was mild and tolerable. However, he did not tell me that my mood would become so unstable that I would cry at tv commercials. He did not tell me that my brain would feel like it was being repeatedly shocked from the inside or that I would become so dizzy that I would have trouble standing up, and that this could last for HOURS. He also did not tell me that I would become so fatigued that performing simple tasks would be a challenge, or that falling asleep could be an even bigger challenge, or that I would have the attention span of a 4 year old. Nor did he tell me that I would have nights that I would have diahreaha while vomiting into a trash can.
So yes. Cymbalta has changed my life. If I had never began taking cymbalta, I would have had a year and a half of my life that could have been much more enjoyable, or at least tolerable. And I would not be sitting on my couch with a trash can by my side trying not to vomit on a beautiful day like today.