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[CAB]

I am on day 21 of my journey to Cymbalta freedom. I only now have the wherewithal to post this. Thanks to all of you for your help during this liberation from medication. I have been on anti depressants for 25 years because of disabling panic attacks/Agoraphobia. The anti depressants would work for a while and then quit which would lead to having to take another one. I have been on Prozac, Zoloft,Lexapro and then Cymbalta over the course of 25 years. All the while I have had to take Xanax. About a year ago I became addicted to Xanax and had to go withdraw from that. Brief history.

In hindsight I would have tried the 'counting' the beads in the pill program. It has been a very difficult 3 weeks. But in addition to that I think that I have found some things that may help others.
1. Check out TRBHealth.com. The supplements are expensive and they do not work for everyone but they helped me. With my decrease from 60 mg to 30 mg I had nightmares where I woke screaming EVERY night. With the supplements and the second decrease from 30 mg to nothing the dreams were vivid but not as terrifying.
2. Epsom salts baths helped. Since I am having extreme hot flashes since withdrawing it was hard to get in a tub of hot water so I made it lukewarm and it helped relax me.
3. I would have prepared myself better as far as diet is concerned. I did start taking the supplements a month before my second decrease to be sure I could tolerate them and to have them in my system. You can research online and stock your home with serotonin producing foods. I was almost bedridden due to extreme vertigo (even moving my eyes was difficult) so going shopping was out of the question.
4. If you are a believer in vibration healing check out Green Hope Farms. They have some amazing flower essences that helped tremendously. My favorite 'cocktail' is Emergency Care, Anxiety, Elderberry and Passion Flower. I use Sweet Pea to help with sleep. You can put them in water and sip them all day. If I had a panic attack and I have only had a few, the first three I listed I would put directly in my mouth and it worked within 5 minutes. Even a valium takes at least 20.
5. This is the last thing I did and stumbled upon it unknowingly. Since the very first Cymbalta capsule I took I was hit with extreme constipation. They gave me more medication to counteract that symptom which I took for a while. So I would go for colonics to help with that. Doctors do not believe in them. I however had no choice. Since I was unable to drive I did enemas at home. But I was having a good day and decided to drive to my colon hydrotherapist just to keep things 'moving'. I came home and was shocked at the decrease in my symptoms! It must have something to do with the detoxification from the medicine. You can also do coffee enemas that will help cleanse the liver. I know I read somewhere that there is a connection with the colon and serotonin production. I need to do further research.

I am feeling so much better and I think that with some thought beforehand the withdrawal symptoms can be lessened. I was learning the above as I was going through it and feel that had I known what I know now I could have saved myself some agony. So I put this out to any and all of you who are going through withdrawal or considering it. Take from it what you need. And don't forget to pray. Sometimes when you are on the bottom there is nowhere else to look but up.

Be well.