3 replies to this topic

[tinktatt]

I am a 29 year old female in Australia.

 

I am on Cymbalta 120mg, due to bad depression/anxiety and thanks to the jeans in the family, a few more have it too, but i am the worst.

 

I am also on Seroquel 50mg an evening to help me sleep and level my moods out the next day so im not too high or too low.

 

My parter and i want to try harder for a baby and this means i will be weening off Cymbalta and Seroquel.

How i will sleep that deep again? I dont know. How i will control my rotten thoughts? I don't know...and the rest of the withdrawal symptoms that go with it. One day without Cymbalta, has left me knocking into things, slurring, brain zaps, wild and horrible emotions and fatigue. I hated it, and that was only because i forgot to take it or get a new prescription. Now this ride is going to be alot harder and im scared i will push my gorgeous partner away. 

He is one of the most understanding people i have ever met and said i will never have to go through anything alone. But i dont want to hurt him...emotionally or physically.

He is rarely home due to being a Chef up the road here, but i know im definately going to be sleeping, snapping, feeling too anxious to leave the house and even drive to see my family who live 2 hours away.

 

Before i was put on a higher dosage, i was an absolute misery with my ex. I was violent towards him, begged him to love me, begged for attention of ANY sort, gave him a black eye and bleeding nose, ruined things we both owned and pushed him away for good. Yes, completely over him but im scared to do this all over again...or even worse.

In general, no i am not a violent person nor angry. But i am confronting, outspoken, and as ive been before, violent. Only in these situations so im considering that if i get to a rotten state, i would want to put myself into a mental hospital while i go off them.

 

My life is so so so much better now than it ever was (partner wise) and it may be so much easier. But i dont know and i so scared to hurt the person who looks after me most. We are so in love and i want to have a baby so bad im just worried i will hurt Aaron. And would definately not try for a baby while weening off the meds. Prob will be the last thing i want to do anyway but its propably a good point to try and not fall pregnant. 

I am going to see a doctor next week about my options of going somewhere if im too out of control off my medications. Or what i can slowly go on while weening off them.

 

I thought it would be a great idea here to talk to people as i ween off them, about their stories and what i can do for when i decide to go off it.

Im meant to be starting a new job soon working with people with disabilities and due to history of infertility etc (and now am in the clear), i dont want to risk never having a child at all. So if i start soon, i wont be able to work for some time. I need to learn how to collect the real world again...like a puzzle and try and put it all together once i am done with withdrawals.....

 

thank you for reading this and i hope someone is going to through the same thing (only for talk reasons-not "you" personally lol) so we can chat and try to help eachother.... cheers! xx

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[albergo11]

Hello, glad to hear that you are getting off of cymbalta.  I took a fraction of your dose, 30mg, for approximately 4 months, and then weaned down to 10mg before stopping.  This was four months ago, and I'm still feeling withdrawl effects from cymbalta.  I am confident that the dosage doesn't make too much of a difference, aside from the weening process that can be pretty debilitating and long lasting (order of months to a year) - the eventual discontinuation syndrom seems to be pretty awful for most people, and not necessarily dependent on how long anyone was on the medication in the first place (it sure would be nice if Eli Lilly actually conducted research on this drug, but most of their studies are based in Europe, where the standards for reporting adverse effects and patient complaints are MUCH more liberal).  Basically, browsing this site, and doing research on the web will make you just as informed about cymbalta as your prescribing physician.  These are extremely powerful drugs, that affect neurotransmitters that affect everything from stomach mobility, to nerve impulse transmission in the pre-frontal cortex.  Basically, they are black-box drugs and we are the guinea pigs.  But the good news is that you are not alone.  None of are alone in this mess, and eventually the drug companies will pay for their injustice to the world.  In the mean time, we must focus on getting through this experience with some semblance of sanity.

 

If possible, I would strongly recommend switching to prozac (make sure it's equivalent to the cymbalta dose).  It has a very long half life, and if you can get a steady-state built up in your blood and brain, it may help reverse some of the discontinuation symptoms associated with cymbalta.  You can get off of prozac after 1-2 months, and it should (for reasons that no one really understands) help with discontinuation of cymbalta.  Please note, that you will probably (like I did) have to tollerate some strange sensations with prozac, but these are reversable.  I did the prozac trick, and it helped with the vertigo, and the migranes.  In fact, now my main issue are the cognitive challenges, but I understand that these can take up to 2 years to fully reverse.  I hate my psychiatrist who did not warn me about this garbage, it's by far the worst medication out there, and mostly because it's so broadly prescribed without any warnings.  At least benzodiazepines and barbituates are well known to have hellish withdrawls, but no one knows anything about cymbalta. 

 

The seroquel is an excellent way to fall asleep without building tollerance to drugs like benzodiazepines, or barbituates - both of which have discontinuation symptoms that make cymbalta withdrawl seem like a walk-in the park. 

 

I cannot really comment on the child decision, but it's entirely likely that cymbalta is making it difficult to become fertile.  Considering that this medication effects serotonin, and norepinephrine, in addition to painkilling properties (meaning serious nervous system changes), I do not doubt that the hormonal balances in our bodies are severely disrupted while on this type of medication.   It may take 3-6 months before hormonal changes are realized, especially those like estrogen, progesterone, cortisol - any steroid hormone will take a long while to change in concentration.  I'm not a doctor, but I have been a biological researcher for several years now, so I have some general knowledge of these phenomenon.  Unfortunatley, my brain isn't working at levels that I have become accustom to, once withdrawing from cymbalta.  I feel as if my IQ has dropped by 20-30 points after getting on cymbalta, and is only slowly returning to previous levels.

[Ape]

Did you experience all the withdrawal symptom that are in this site? I am of 60 for 4 months now I really want to start tapering but my pdoctor says I am not ready I am very scared about the withdrawal. What did you take for the withdrawal Albergo? I really don t want to go to other depressants

[jdhibbard]

Hi Tinktatt. I was on 30mg of Cymbalta for 8 years. I quit cold turkey and have been Cymbalta free for 23 days now. The withdrawal symptoms were pretty horrific during the first 10-12 days. The dizziness/vertigo seemed to be my worst symptom. On the bright side though, I'm feeling better with each passing day! I didn't experience any of the violent tendencies you spoke of, but then again everybody's experience is different. Have you thought about bead counting? A lot of people have had great success doing that. It would probably take you longer, but your well being is the most important thing here. Stopping Cymbalta cold turkey is brutal. It throws you into withdrawals almost immediately. I mostly just slept for the first several days. At least while I was asleep, I wasn't suffering. lol  A good support system is vital in overcoming this devil drug. Discuss your concerns with your loved one, he might just surprise you with how supporting he can be. My husband definitely surprised me. The most important thing is educating your loved ones. If they know what to expect, they wont be so shocked when you have a meltdown. We've kind of worked out a system at my house. When I have a mood swing my husband/daughter will ask me, "Okay, is this the Cymbalta or did I really do something to make you angry?" It helps me to stop and really think about why I'm feeling the way that I am at that particular moment. It's good for me to talk about it and it's a great way to help them understand what I'm going thru. I've learned a lot about myself in the last few weeks by doing this. It might seem silly to some people, but it works for us. I'm happier now than I have been in years. I have a great family and I know that I couldn't do this without them. I still have a ways to go yet, but I'll get there. This forum has also helped me tremendously. There is a lot of good information here, and everyone is very supportive. You can do this Tinktatt. If I can help you in any way, let me know. The best of luck to you.