About 1 year ago I cold turkied myself off Cymbalta. I can't remember if it was this site or another site but i read some forum that really helped me and I promised if i survived i would add to the buyer beware stories.
I was put on cymbalta after a motor vehicle accident had left me a bit awry, and a $300 an hour overweight psychiatrist who had a series of security cameras positioned around his office which he watched while he examined me told me Cymbalta would cure all my problems. He told me 9/10 of his patients were happy with the cymbalta and the remaining 1/10 were happy on another drug. He told me cymbalta side effects were very rare, he said that sexual dysfunction was unheard of, he said I shouldn't read into all the crap on the internet.
He is one of the leading most respected psychiatrist in the city I live in.
Cymbalta didn't work for me. I am not to sure what it is supposed to do. At first i thought it was some type of snake oil with a placebo effect so my dose was upped from 30mg to 60mg. I just felt off. Not really happy not really sad. I put on weight like sumo in training but i didn't really eat allot. I lost all interest in the opposite sex, I lost interest in everything that i use to like. I just kind of went to work then came home. My brain lost the ability to have creative thoughts. My quack advised me this was all good and a sign that it was working and that i should continue to hand over my money to him every month. When i told him about the erectile problem he asked me if i had a girlfriend. I didn't. He then said "so what do you need an erection for?" The logic was sound, but it still worried me.
I first knew something was wrong when i would forget to take my Cymbalta, or i stayed over a friends house and didn't have my pills. Those nights resulted in little sleep and horrible nightmares. Once i went 2 days without it because i left my pills at a friends house along with my prescription. It was a horrible 2 days. I realized something was not right with this drug.I was addicted. I was addicted to a drug that didn't even get me high. It is a horrible substance and i knew it. I knew i was hooked, i had to keep getting my prescription filled or otherwise i would lose my mind. I became convinced it was all a scam to make fat psychiatrist and pharma companies rich.
After only 9 months on 60mg a day i began to research getting off cymbalta. I knew my $300 an hour "expert" would try to convince me not too or at best wean me off as slow as possible. I thought about going to see another doctor but had already figured out doctors don't know anything about this drug yet feel comfortable shoving it down peoples throats. I didn't want to have to go through the motions of getting evaluated by another quack. I didn't want to go through the long process of weaning. So i made the worst decision of my life, I got all my cymbalta pills and my prescription and flushed them down the toilet.
DO NOT COLD TURKEY CYMBALTA! SEEK PROFESSIONAL ADVISE WHEN GETTING OFF IT!
The first night was terrible i slept a total of 30 mins i think the rest of the time was spent fearing the next nightmare. The second night i slept for about 1 second and had a vivid dream that i had died and gone to hell. I spoke to the Devil, he was cool. The next 4 nights i didn't sleep at all. On the sixth day without sleep i was pacing up and down my hallway with all kinds of crazy things going through my head. I thought about going to my psychiatrist and beating his door down then ramming my foot at his arse (oh... that's why he has the security cameras). I became convinced i was dying, i could smell rotting flesh, my rotting flesh. There was a bird chirping constantly but I couldn't find it. It just chirped and chirped but there was no bird. I feared for my life. I had gone mad. I couldn't eat I couldn't sleep. What in Gods name was this stuff? I really thought i was going to die or that the phone would ring. Both scared me equally.
Somewhere through the madness i realized that it was all in my head, it was just withdrawals. I needed to get back on cymbalta fast, this was a bad idea. I decided to see a doctor. I got on my motorcycle but i couldn't hold the thing upright let alone start and ride it. I thought about calling a taxi but for some reason was too afraid to make the call. There is a pharmacy walking distance from my house i thought i could make it, I would go and beg for a cymbalta pill, please sir i flushed them all I just need one to call a Taxi to get to a doctor to get another prescription. I got as far as my letterbox and then was overcome with fear. I never knew anything like being too afraid to call a Taxi or walk down the street. It was weird.
After 5 nights of no sleep and going completely mad, not being able to get out of my house, i panicked and called an ambulance. I sobbed when i spoke to the girl on the other end. 3 hours later an ambulance and 2 police cars arrived at my house. They asked me if i intended to hurt anyone or myself. I said no, the police left. I explained to the ambulance officers what drug i was taking how much i was taking and that i had abruptly stopped. They treated me like I was an attention seeking faker. It was so embarrassing but i was desperate and demanded to be taken to a hospital to see a doctor. There would have to be a doctor at a hospital that would know what to do and would be able to give me some precious cymbalta right? Wrong. At the hospital again i was treated like an attention seeking faker. The staff made fun of me, gave me horrible advise like "my freinds on prozac she said it takes a few weeks for this stuff to work." or "you shouldn't have stopped." and "what do you want us to do about it?" They then after arguing for an hour agreed to get a social worker to see me. Yes a social worker. The social worker thought i was an attention seeking faker and after another hour of arguing he agreed to call a doctor (from another hospital) to see me. It took me a while (another hour) to explain to this doctor what cymbalta is and what was happening and that he needed to give me cymbalta. He had to make a few calls (to other doctors at other hospitals) and do a bit of googling (he really googled cymbalta) before finally he gave me a sample pack of cymbalta and a referal to see another doctor to begin a program of weening off. When i left I turned and asked him, if you people have no idea what this stuff is and what it does why do you prescribe it? He gave no answer.
My time at the hospital was the most embarrassing time of my life. Never have I felt so humiliated. They had no idea what cymbalta is or what i was going through and they just presumed i was a weirdo who was faking. I wondered how many others had the same experience.
When i got home i realized the trip to the hospital had the positive effect of getting me out of the house and tiring me out a bit. With the feeling of precious beautiful sleep approaching i thought about continuing on the cold Turkey path. I had got this far, i didn't want to go back, i can make it. I got my sample pack of cymbalta and my referral to another psychiatrist quack and flushed them down the toilet. Then i fell into a dreamless sleep for 16 hours. It took about another 3 weeks before i started to feel normal again.
I don't believe I ever needed cymbalta. I believe this fat quack put me on it because he didn't give a crap about anything except making money and cymbalta's addictive quality made it the best choice for ensuring repeat customers.
I believe this drug should be illegal. I believe everyone profiteering from this drug should be persecuted by the force of law. This was the most evil thing i have ever ingested and I want to let everyone know if a doctor mentions the word cymbalta, question the hell out of that doctor, then get a second opinion, then get a third, and a fourth. Do not put this stuff in your body on a whim. Be very careful.
Anyway that is a bit of my story.
Thanks.
