37 replies to this topic

[FibroGal]

Well semi cold turkey. I was at 60 mg. and took at 10 beads last Wednesday and 20 beads last Thursday and have been off ever since. Another thing that freaking has not gone away are these nights sweats which also happen in the day now!! I don't know what to do...I still work, and it is becoming a problem having these hot flashes and then start sweating for no reason but standing. Ughh...but I had this issue before cymbalta and I forgot about it until I started going off of it...somehow the cymbalta stopped this hot flash sweating issue for me...it's just a part of my fibro symptoms...it's unwelcome!

I agree green machine that it's an impulse. Because I know I'm not hungry, but I feel like I need it now to make me feel better...like with restless leg syndrome. There isn't anything going on with my legs per say, but I need to move them around to make them feel better...

I've been trying to juice fruits and veggies to get so full that I don't want to think of stuffing anything else into my face...lol. So far no good...lol.

As I'm coming off, I am starting to recall the things that it did help me with...but I am going to have to find a better way to deal with the fibro than this med. what brought me here was when I ran out of my meds and couldn't get a new script for a week or so...that was an awful time. I felt like I was going crazy and wasn't going to live through...at that point I knew that this should not be the case...not for me...and then I found this site, and realized I wasn't crazy, it really was the meds and the withdrawal symptoms, and I didn't want to put something that overwhelmingly controlling in my body. Especially because I had suicidal thoughts...which I have not had in a long long long time...

[lady2882Nancy]

FibroGal

You hang in there. You are doing great!!!

 

Most of the side effects of stopping the Crapalta are due to the low serotonin levels that it causes including being too hot and sweating. Apparently our brains don't like being low, so that will start getting better as our systems start making serotonin itself again.

You can help by eating walnuts and other tree nuts if you can and ground flax (plant based omega3), and omega3 fish oils.

I say and not or as a combination of plant based and fish based omega3's together seems to be what the brain needs.

 

I know what you mean by starting to recall why you were taking the Crapalta in the first place as I have started to have some serious pain again but like you I am going to find a better way of dealing with it.

 

I seriously hate this. I type a message and then have to read it 3 or 4 times to make sure it makes sense.

[FibroGal]

I do the SAME thing! One of my co-workers thinks I am super on top of things, but I do it to make sure what my brain tells me to write is what I am actually relaying. AND I tend to jump around a lot...half thoughts, etc...so it can be hard for anyone else to follow if I don't read over things. And my magic number is 3 times too. Lol! Plus by the time I get to the bottom of what I've written I'll have forgotten what I wrote earlier. Depending on what I'm writing, I sometimes impress myself by what I had to say...hahaha...

I don't eat any nuts or take either type of omega 3. I need to get that. I feel like I am waiting to get over these withdrawal symptoms before trying these new healthy alternatives. That's stupid, I know.

[GreenMachine]

lol 

I go over my posts and edit them at least 3 times every time...glad I'm not alone!

 

But I agree with Nancy that omega 3's will help...a diet high in omega 3's (i.e. 2-4g of epa/dha fish oil) could help with fibromyalgia as well...so either way, it's worth looking into...

[FibroGal]

I've been trying the omega 3 since yesterday. No notice of anything yet, but it's only been 24 hrs. Lol!

[THP]

I too am trying to wean off Cymbalta and have found this site very helpful.  I started at 60 mg per day and tried to go to every other day which was a nightmare. Severe tinnitus, nausea, emotions, etc.

I talked to my doctor and we decreased my dose to 30 mg since I had already been off of the 60mg for three days.  This helped considerably.

Now I am switching to 20 mg this week and am sure will have a couple of days where sx return.  I am glad I read about the bead counting so I can go slowly down from the 20mg to completely off.

The Cymbalta was helping my sx and I felt better than I had felt in a long time, but I simply can not afford it anymore.

 

Good luck to all those trying to get off this medication.  I sure hope sx don't return.

[fishinghat]

Good luck to you THP. Be sure and let us know how you are doing and if we can help just drop us a post.

[FibroGal]

Good THP. this site is amazing for helping others. Keep reading and posting and researching good alternatives. I've been completely off for a week, and I'm still having dizziness, brain zaps have started up, terrible sweats, concentration issues, vivid dreams and other stuff. But I didn't wean all the way down like I could have. The bad thing for me is Cymbalta did help me with my level of pain...I went from an average of a daily 8 pain level to and average of 5. That made a huge difference for me. But it seems to be coming back with a vengeance. I am going to ask my doc to complete a disability form for me to get the placard in my car and a card for my wallet, and then take that to my job to try to convince them to let me telework twice per week. Because otherwise I have been missing more and more hours and days because of the inability to be mobile several days a week and it sucks.

Anyways, this site has made a world of difference to me. I also found another site that I am just getting into, but really like it. It's not for posting but rather the info: http://www.theroadba...ithdrawal.aspx. I'm also reading a book that my mom bought FibroWHYalgia by Susan Ingebretson. I honestly have hated when others wanted to give me input that don't go through this, because I have heard a lot of stupid things from family, friends and doctors (several), so I didn't have much hope for this book...but I've actually learned a few things to put into practice.

This is a lifelong journey, and I feel like these past 16 years have already been a lifetime for me. I've had no remission or off again on again periods of symptoms that apparently some people do have. I have been ON and in pain every day since May 7 of 1997. . . 5, 807 days. I am now ready to start finding more natural solutions. I've always hated drugs, but I've noticed that's what docs like to give you...one day I left a doctor's office a few years ago, after explicit instructions that I wanted to figure out my issues (before I was officially diagnosed) instead of just taking random meds. They gave me a small paper grocery bag full of MEDS!!! I took them home, threw them in my Rubbermaid bin of medicines, and have several still around today. One rheumatologist fussed at me a year ago (still before I was diagnosed) wondering what my problem was to not want to take the sample drugs she was offering me. I was so angry and told her I wanted to KNOW what was wrong before taking random meds. (This was about 5 months after I had purchased a Fibro book from B&N and determined that my symptoms fit the syndrome. I never went back to her, because I knew she was full of *sheet*. Lol. Or *schnit* as my grandma used to say.)

I'm now at the point where I'm acting on what I've known and said for years and years. I KNOW my body...I know down to the muscle where to "dig" to find a knot causing my myofascial pain in any particular area. When I have pains anywhere, I can tell where it's coming from specifically. I now need to get the docs to understand and not be so dismissive and work with me. My current doc seems to listen more to me...any test I've requested he's ordered without hesitation. I am happy about that...and I'm ready to use a more holistic approach...which I don't believe is his area of experience. So I may find a second doc for that.

I'm pretty much rambling and don't feel like doing my standard re-reading to see if this makes sense. I guess my overall point is we all need to take our bodies back from the docs and have them listen more to us instead of the other way around. We are NOT to be guinea pigs just because the medical community overall doesn't fully understand (or some don't even believe) in our ills...how many "it's in your head" comments have you heard? --I know one particular place even had the nurse come back into my exam room to give me a pamphlet on mental health providers dealing with traumatic situations because I probably was making myself physically ill through the stress of never letting go of the car accident that brought on my Fibro (again at that time in diagnosed). Argh!

Okay, I'm shutting down my soapbox...

*smiles*