40 replies to this topic

[Irisheyes]

I quit taking Cymbalta in June 2012. I had brain zaps, impaired mental processing, the swishing sound when you move your eyes side to side and tinnitus.
By the end of August I felt almost normal. Then my left foot started tingling. Then in October I got tinnitus.
Last week I start having the swishing sound when I move my eyes back and forth but just when I first wake up.
It's been 9 months and I'm having some of the same symptoms I had in July. Anybody else out there experiencing this?
I've had a brain and back and neck scan and there's nothing wrong with me. Except there is.

[mimimia]

Irisheyes, I'm SOOOO sorry to hear this. How horrible to still be having side effects this far out after you quit. I've not been successful yet in quitting. I tried last week after the standard way an MD advises. And by day 6 I was losing it.

 

Are the symptoms the same intensity as before? Have you tried any of the herbal or vitamins that are recommended on here? I'm sure someone will suggest something for the tinnitus as I think there is an herbal treatment.

 

Keep posting so we know how you're doing. It might be discouraging for some of us to hear but it's important we also know what can possibly happen.

 

Best of luck!

M

[lady2882Nancy]

Lots of omega 3 is what helps from the brain zaps or swooshes.

Using from both sources - fish & plant (flax and walnuts)- is the best.

 

I had to type the answer first before reacting.

 

OMG Irisheyes -

That you still have discontinuing sydrome symptoms is horrible. I am getting near the end of my bead counting and the thought that these problems could keep showing up as far down the road as you are absolutely horrify me.

Whoever the idiot (or idiots) is who thought that it was ok to allow this stuff that is so dangerous to your eyes and skin to be taken orally should be held accountable to the thousands of people who have suffered. At the very least they should be forced to take the largest dose of Crapalta (my name for drug) for 6 months and then go cold turkey with nothing to take for the Discontinuing Syndrome symptoms.

I mixed up my pill days and took the one I should have taken tomorrow and the zaps have been really rough, especially after hitting the 12 hour 1/2 life of this crap.

Is there any way that you can get your doctor to test to see if there is any residual cymbalta (Crapalta to me) in your bloodstream?

I know that it has shown up as long as 6 months, but 9 months later. Heaven help us all.

 

I hope your doctor can figure out a way to make this stop for you Irisheyes.

Come back and let us know how you are doing.

 

Take care of you

Nancy

[Irisheyes]

I don't know for sure that the tinnitis is from taking crapolta. I like that! I had tinnitis for weeks after I quit taking it then it went away after about 6 weeks. That would have been in August. I woke up one morning in October with it. I got the foot tingling in September. I don't know if they're related to taking crapolta or not.
I'm taking L5HTP and I will double up on the fish oil. I forgot about that.
I wish someone would post how to make the tinnitis go away. It's so annoying.
The tinnitis is as intense as it was after I quit taking crapolta but the swishing sound just happens in the morning. No brain zaps or fogginess, thank goodness. I only took cymbalta for post surgical depression and it did the job, but I thought I was losing my mind when I quit. And the doctor had never had anyone have withdrawal symptoms before. And the next time I saw him another patient came to see him with the same withdrawal symptoms I had. He's a believer now.
Thank you all for your posts. I'll ask my doctor if there's anyway to tell,if its still in my system.
What's worrisome is I don't know if its affected my brain in some weird, irreparable way and my foot will always tingle, and I'll have tinnitis and swishing sounds every morning forever.
By the way, I am very healthy, 64, mostly vegetarian and the only drug I take is a Xanax at night to sleep. I developed sleeping problems going through menopause.
I hope y'all get off that crapolta.
Keep me informed and I'll do,the same.

[lady2882Nancy]

Hi Irisheyes

I do know that residual crapalta has been found in blood tests as long as 6 months after the last dose as apparently it can be stored in the fatty tissues in the body. I would say another reason to diet but as a woman there are places  that females have fat reserves that do not go away unless you starve yourself long term which I will not do lol. 

I only know people that are still suffering with long term symptoms and none that have had long term symptoms that finally stopped so who knows when this annoying noise will stop.

On the up side I am at least crapalta free now and am hopeful that the better times are ahead.

 

Question - what kind of side effects do you have on Xanax? I have had sleeping problems all my life and really need to find something to help get me through the additional sleeplessness caused by no longer taking the crapalta.

I'm running on about 3 to 4 1/2 hours sleep a night these days which is about 2 hours less than I normally have. Not good.

 

Take care of you

Nancy

[fishinghat]

If you decide to get a prescription Lady2882Nancy I would suggest you try hydroxyzine. It is non-habit forming and with NO withdrawal effects. It is not only for sleep but is used to treat withdrawal symptoms from things like alcohol, opiates, etc. It comes in 25 mg tablets and you can take up to 50 mg to induce sleep. The xanax on the otherhand is a benzo and is very habit forming and does have withdrawal symptoms. Doctors will tell you that at 0.5 mg once per day for sleep there is no withdrawal. That is crap.

[lady2882Nancy]

It's funny as when you mentioned that you had Hydroxyzine for anxiety I was really curious as I thought it was strictly an antihistamine.

I have it already for when I have severe allergic reactions as it works so well for skin reactions from ingested reactions as well as contact dermatitis. I have been taking it as I am so itchy on my back and legs that I was scratching off my skin.

I was told by the doctor who originally gave me the Rx that it will make you sleep, but it doesn't have that effect on me.  Of course with whatever sleeping disorder I have, I have found that very few drugs have that effect, not even most sleeping pills.

[johanna7272]

If you can go without the xanax Nancy, I would.  I was taking clonazapam and ended up physically addicted to that as well.  I am still taking it, but am finally down .25 mg.  And xanax can be a particularly nasty drug in that you have a "high" when you first start taking it, the your body gets used to it.  A lot of people end up taking a larger and larger dose to get the same affects, including sleep.  The theanine with melatonin has been amazing for me.  My mom used to take hydroxyzine and it helped her sleep, however, it also made her sleepy all the time.

DON"T DO IT    !!

[lady2882Nancy]

I was on Lorazepam for 2 months at one point to try to get some sleep and had to keep doubling the dose every 10 days or so for it to keep working.

After the 2 months my doctor and I decided that it wasn't going to work for me so I tapered off for 10 days then stopped taking it.

I don't know if it was just the short period I was on it but I didn't have any problems when I stopped.

 

It's funny as everyone tells me that L-Theanine will help you sleep but it does the opposite for me. It really helps with the headache and the jitters, but it also makes me feel wide awake. The first time I took it was in the afternoon so no problem. The second time I took it at about 9-10 pm. No matter what I tried I couldn't sleep until 3am lol.

[fishinghat]

Johanna7272 is right. Your body builds up tolerance to benzos (xanax, clonazapam, lorazepam....) very quickly andd then you require more and more to have th same effect. If you look at the manufacurers websites you will see on every one of them the statement that benzos are for short-term use only..."4 months"!!!

[lady2882Nancy]

Well I took it every night for 6 months but only 1 mg then my doctor had me go off for a couple of months and we tried something else then but I don't remember the name of it. Anyway it didn't work so we went back to the lorazepam for two months but when it wasn't working at the max dose we decided there was no point to keep taking it so took the 10 days to taper off. That was over a year ago and that's when he started to send me to other specialists to try to find out what was causing all the pain. Unfortunately that led to the Crapalta and the misery of the last couple of months.

 

Day 3 off the crapalta and was bearable until late this afternoon when I had a full blown anxiety attack. My poor hubbie didn't know what to do or think. He did finish cooking supper and nothing got burned. And he was there for me when the rage was over to hold me and tell me that it wasn't my fault.

Oh yes that's a little bonus with my anxiety attacks. I get wound so tight that when it becomes beyond my control I lash out physically. Thank you God that I don't strike out at people, I just want to smash something.

 

Now I feel completely wiped - emotionally, mentally and physically. I really don't know how much more of this I can take, but don't know what to do about it either.

[fishinghat]

I remember those days lady2882Nancy. I am glad they are over for me and they will be over for you soon too! Hang in there girl!!!

[Heartfeathers]

I have been off of the poison for over 10 months.    I STILL have withdrawal symptoms after all this time.   They just hit me out of the blue and hang on for days .  Then it starts to disipate....only to happen again in a few weeks or so.    Lovely. 

[fishinghat]

I am really sorry to hear that heartfeathers. I will keep you in my prayers. It is bad enough to go through it once let alone repeating it. Did they put you on any other ssri after cymbalta? I thought that might bring on some relapse. Any other new meds you started about the time the withdrawal symptoms reappearred?

[GreenMachine]

Well I took it every night for 6 months but only 1 mg then my doctor had me go off for a couple of months and we tried something else then but I don't remember the name of it. Anyway it didn't work so we went back to the lorazepam for two months but when it wasn't working at the max dose we decided there was no point to keep taking it so took the 10 days to taper off. That was over a year ago and that's when he started to send me to other specialists to try to find out what was causing all the pain. Unfortunately that led to the Crapalta and the misery of the last couple of months.

 

Day 3 off the crapalta and was bearable until late this afternoon when I had a full blown anxiety attack. My poor hubbie didn't know what to do or think. He did finish cooking supper and nothing got burned. And he was there for me when the rage was over to hold me and tell me that it wasn't my fault.

Oh yes that's a little bonus with my anxiety attacks. I get wound so tight that when it becomes beyond my control I lash out physically. Thank you God that I don't strike out at people, I just want to smash something.

 

Now I feel completely wiped - emotionally, mentally and physically. I really don't know how much more of this I can take, but don't know what to do about it either.

May I suggest trazodone...?  I've been down the benzo road and back, used a boatload of varying sleeping pills, but nothing induces sleep as well as gives the quality of sleep trazodone does, nor is it addictive.  And, as long as I give it 6-7 hours after taking it, no morning grogginess either.

[Irisheyes]

I tried trazodone and it did nothing but I gained 15 lbs. I actually lost a bit of weight on the cymbalta. I lost 10 lbs before I started taking it because of the shoulder surgery side effects that caused the depression that led to using the crapalta.
I've taken 1 to 1.5 mg of Xanax for several years at bedtime and I sleep. I do wake up but im able to go back to sleep. I may be addicted but I don't care. I WILL sleep. I take 9 mg of melatonin with it.
Heartfeathers, what kind of withdrawal symptoms do,you have after 10 months off it? I'm thin and don't think I'm storing it in body fat. I do have concerns about brain alterations.
I've doubled my omega. 3 and the tinnitis is slightly better. The old left foot is still tingling away.

[lady2882Nancy]

Thanks for the info Irisheyes.

You sound like someone who understands just how hard it is when you don't sleep more than a few hours a night for months.

I consider 6 hours to be a wonderful sleep the odd time that I get to sleep that long. Most of the time its only 4 to 4 1/2 hours a night. 

That is but a distant memory. With getting off the Crapalta I'm lucky if I sleep for 90 minutes straight then up for an hour or more.

Doctor says no to any meds right now so I guess I have to tough it out until either I start to sleep again or drop from exhaustion.

[Irisheyes]

How about melatonin? It works well for some people. Just not me bt itself.
I did sleep well while taking cymbalta. And I stopped laying on the couch crying all the time. But quitting it was very unpleasant.

[lady2882Nancy]

It doesn't work the way its supposed to with me. I will get tired but not sleepy at all even with my amitriptyline.

It seems that a few things work to get me to go to sleep but no luck on finding anything that will keep me asleep for more than 4 hours and that's when everything is ok. Carpalta has even screwed that up for me.

[Heartfeathers]

I am really sorry to hear that heartfeathers. I will keep you in my prayers. It is bad enough to go through it once let alone repeating it. Did they put you on any other ssri after cymbalta? I thought that might bring on some relapse. Any other new meds you started about the time the withdrawal symptoms reappearred?

 

No, I did not replace it with another poison.   I'm using natural methods of pain control now.  

[lady2882Nancy]

Hello Heartfeathers

Did you have any problems with anxiety?

I would really like to know what kind of natural products you are taking that help fight the side effects and some of the problems caused by taking the poison drug.

My doctor says that the problems I am having not could not possibly be because of taking it and that I should not have had any side effects from stopping it. He has now given me more prescriptions but I did not get them filled.

There are no naturopathic doctors anywhere near my rural area and am searching for help.

[Heartfeathers]

I havent had to take a pain pill in YEARS now.   However, I am seriously considering going back on $ymbalta.   It will be a full YEAR in a few weeks and I am sick of the continual cyclical withdrawal symptoms that I am still having!   I feel electrical current running through my body.  I awaken in the morning with the most paralyzing anxiety that I NEVER had prior to taking this fucking shit.     The suicidal thoughts creep back.   I NEVER had ANY of this before taking Cymbalta!  And I never had any of it while on it...

 

 

 It does NOT get much better. 

[fishinghat]

Heartfeathers, I am so sorry to hear about your continuing battle. I wish I had an answer for you. I hate to see you go back on crapalta but I am not the one suffering. Only you can make that decision. You might talk to your psychologist, buspar or hydroxyzine may do just as well and certainly don't have the side effects of cymbalta. Maybe The Dr. would have another less 'toxic' suggestion.

[lady2882Nancy]

Heartfeathers

You have had a long battle with this terrible drug. I hate to think that you would have to take $ymbalta again. There has to be something else that would be safer to take.

I feel foolish offering you suggestions as you have been at this way longer than I have, but since I really don't know what you have tried I can tell you what is helping me right now.

I have been trying to find out the exact amounts of Vitamin B, magnesium and zinc were in my last blood tests, but my GP isn't very helpful there as he just says they were ok.

I add ground flax to just about everything I can and take mega doses of omega 3 and that combination has finally reduced the body and brain zaps to almost nothing. I usually only get them now when I am feeling very tired at the end of the day. Although I have noticed that they seem to be part of the anxiety cycle.

I find the pounding irregular heartbeat is the one thing that I still have that really bothers me and I have not found anything to help with it. 

Have you tried L-theanine? It is a totally natural supplement and it has helped me so much with my anxiety as well as the headaches. I take 2 x 100mg first thing in the morning and the same amount again at about 2 in the afternoon. I can take another 2 in the evening if it has been a stressful day.

I have just started today to take Passionflower as it is also supposed to help you relax and sleep better too so can't say much about it yet.

I really wish I knew something that would magically heal us all from the lasting effects of Crapalta.

Take care of you

[Heartfeathers]

Saw the doc today.    The poison gave me gastroparesis and thus I lose weight during flares.   Well, I am going back into horrid withdrawals because the $hit STAYS in your fat cells and throws you back into cold turkey-like withdrawls if you lose weight!   They Rx'd liquid Prozac, valium and Trazadone (for sleep)   And I was given this poison for pain...   

[lady2882Nancy]

Heartfeathers

I don't understand how this terrible drug is still on the market.

I know you didn't want to take any more Rx drugs but I hope the Prozac, valium and Trazadone helps you.

Your doctor didn't give you the poison for pain again did he/she? Because it is not supposed to be taken when you have gastroparesis due to the risk of the capsule and bead covering dissolving in the stomach. That is right on the Prescribing Information now.

I pray that you will be ok

Take care of you

[DinCA]

In case anyone is still following this topic....

Trazadone is now also known to pack a pretty good punch as far as withdrawals go.  I was taking it for the insomnia....it was great GETTING me to sleep but didnt get me back to sleep if I woke up an hour or so later....or keep me asleep thru the night.   I was only taking half of the lowest dose so Dr. suggested I increase the dose, but by then the cymbalta nightmares( I didnt know they were from the cymbalta) had started showing up once in a while and I was not about to get "trapped" in the nightmares, unable to wake myself up from the horrid little things (altho they got much worse during withdrawal,  I have had the nightmares the entire time I was on cymbalta).  So, I weaned myself off them.  I am glad I did.  I didnt have suffering from it but I have found in my search, trying to get answers to the crapalta conundrum, that Trazadone is a nasty little bugger all by its self when coming off it.  And saw ...somewhere...that it could have an interaction with cymbalta. 

It is another pill like cymbalta...good for any number of problems.   And I wonder if drugs like these are just a reallllllllyyyyyy BAD idea.  If they can treat such a variety of problems....maybe that is one reason they cause such a variety of hellish side effects.  just wondering out loud.

look into the side effects and withdrawal symptoms before you ask for it, and if you are taking it...dont try stopping cold turkey on your  own.  I think we all here have found how bad that can be. 

 

from wikipedia...

"While trazodone is not a true member of the SSRI class of antidepressants, it does still share many properties of the SSRIs, especially the possibility of discontinuation syndrome if the medication is stopped too quickly.^[45] Care must therefore be taken when coming off the medication, usually by a gradual process of tapering down the dose over a period of time."   ......wikipedia.org/wiki/Trazodone

and here are some of the side effects...from wikipedia too....ANYTHING SOUND FAMILIAR? 

• Headache or heaviness in head
• Nausea, vomiting
• Bad taste in mouth
• Dry mouth
• Stomach pain
• Diarrhea or Constipation
• Changes in appetite or weight
• Weakness or tiredness
• Nervousness
• Decreased ability to concentrate or remember things
• Confusion
• Brain fog or "zombie-like" sensations
• Nightmares
• Muscle pain
• Sweating
• Blurred vision
• Tired, red, or itchy eyes
• Tinnitus (Ringing in ears)
• Restless leg syndrome

and some of the "serious"   side effects....

• Chest pain (angina)
• Fast, pounding, or irregular heartbeat
• Shortness of breath
• Fever, sore throat, chills, or other signs of infection
• Hives
• Skin rash
• Itching
• Difficulty breathing or swallowing (dysphagia)
• Swelling of the face, throat, tongue, lips, eyes, hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs (peripheral edema)
• Hoarseness
• Decreased coordination
• Uncontrollable shaking of a part of the body
• Numbness, burning, or tingling in the arms, legs, hands, or feet
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Fainting (syncope)
• Painful erection that lasts longer than normal (priapism)

Just wanted to give a heads up. 

 

 

[fishinghat]

DinCA, I agree with you all the way around.

[DinCA]

I am so glad you agree Fishinghat,

....scarey stuff.   

[DinCA]

I had forgotten about this thread...I am glad I found it.

I just hit my 5 month mark last week.  After well over a month of just a few mild symptoms once in a while.   ...maybe even more like 2 months......Now here it is back again.  Started a few days ago with that same  bad headache from before... and now it has graduated to the restless leg thing and problems sleeping again...vivid dreams (NOT the nightmares...thank God)  and some anxiety. 

I am so sick of this crap!     I thought things had evened out enough...and for long enough that I thought maybe I was going to be able to start living life.     Some things were still a little bit of a problem...but I thought I was done with this part.   Well...I hoped so anyway.    ARRRRGGGHHH!!!!

 

I guess I will up the fish oil.  Any suggestions would be very welcome.