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Side Effects Or My Year From Hell


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#1 thismoment

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Posted 04 May 2014 - 04:56 PM

DON'T BUY ANY OF THIS SHIT!

⬅

 

 

 

 

CYMBALTA (DULOXETINE) SIDE EFFECTS:

• Nausea, stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, decreased appetite, vomiting
• Dry mouth
• Insomnia, anxiety, tremor
• Dizziness, fatigue, sleepiness
• Sweating, hot flashes
• Blurred vision
• Headache
• Sexual dysfunction, lowered libido, erection difficulties, lack of orgasm
• Liver damage
• Serious skin reactions, rash, hives (requires immediate MD assistance!)
• Glaucoma
• Irregular heart rhythms
• Bleeding problems
• Blood pressure problems
• Interaction with other drugs (leading to serotonin syndrome among other reactions)
• Pneumonia
• Seizures
• Depressed mood, suicidal thoughts and behavior, suicide

 

 

I didn't get them all, but I can add a few to this list: vertigo and tinnitus. Maybe you have a few you can add too!


#2 TryinginFL

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Posted 04 May 2014 - 05:27 PM

In addition to the above, I didn't suffer them all, but I would like to add problems with short term memory as well as shortness of breath - these I DID have...  Not to mention the upset of weight gain!


#3 gail

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Posted 04 May 2014 - 07:27 PM

The mind waking up in panic before the body.  Had to get up feeling so tired and so bad for months and months.

 

Thinking that I was losing my mind.

 

Not knowing if I could make it.

 

Suicidal thoughts once that scared the hell out of me.

 

Nausea of course.

 

No weight gain, anxiety through the top kept me from gaining weight.

 

Near agoraphobia.

 

When I think of this, I wonder how I made it after all this time.

 

Stopped seeing my friends for 3 months, phone off the hook most of the time.

 

Wanted to die a thousand times, not suicidal, but side effects were UNBEARABLE.


#4 fishinghat

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Posted 04 May 2014 - 07:52 PM

I can sure understand that. Been there and done that. But it does show you one thing. You can walk through hell and maybe get a little singed BUT you WILL walk out the other side and realize what kind of person you are.


#5 GonnaMakeIt

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Posted 05 May 2014 - 01:34 PM

Okay, here goes (fun fun fun - NOT!) ….

 

SIDE EFFECTS:

 

Extreme fatigue (originally only in the afternoon, then, constant)
Massive weight gain of 60+ lbs (20+ in 1st year, 40 within 5 months of 2nd year--30 of which were in a 5 WEEK period)
Severe headaches, some with eye pain, felt like eyes were burning
Diarrhea, usually in the morning, many times without any notice--MANY accidents
Diminished sex drive/inability to orgasm
Depression
Time distortion, absolutely no concept of time
Memory problems, short term worse
Concentration problems
Very spacey, felt sedated most of the time
Lethargy/Anhedonia, completely lost interest in anything I enjoyed doing
Lack of excitement about anything/numb, no feelings, just completely flat emotionally
Lack of motivation, lazy both mentally and physically
Isolation/agoraphobic, I didn't want to be seen, avoided leaving house whenever possible
Withdrew from friends and family, became a recluse even in my own house
Lack of personal hygiene
Disturbed sleep pattern, nightmares (screaming that woke up my husband), never woke up feeling well-rested
Extremely vivid dreams
Very sensitive to light and sound
GI problems, bad bloating--felt like I was going to explode
Overall health declined: sick frequently
Sweating (started off as just night sweats then became constant)

Paranoia
Burning cheeks/face
Restless legs
Muscle tightening in my jaw and neck, intermittent abdominal muscle tightening (could have been twitching?)
Joint pain/body aches
Numb hands/feet as well as edema
Toe/foot cramps, twitching toes
Shooting/zapping pains all over, worse in toes and on bottoms of feet up inner thigh and/or back of leg to buttocks
Intermittent shooting/zapping from shoulders down inner arm to hands
Intermittent brain zaps
Intermittent slurred speech, like my tongue got thick
Some agitation/irritability
Some rage
Intermittent disorientation
Intermittent vision problems
Intermittent dizziness/lightheadedness
Intermittent nausea
Lost some sense of smell and taste
Intermittent numb/cold sensations on skin (mostly on back)
OCD-like behavior
Spending/shopping out of control
 

In doing a time line, I’ve noticed that most of these started or worsened after dose change or when I was switched to the generic and most are now basically gone (unless listed below).

 

 

WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS SO FAR:

 

Very shaky, severe dizziness/vertigo
Severe Nausea
Severe headaches, mostly in temples, pulling across forehead and/or on top of head
Severe neck/back pain, joint pain/body aches
Severe itchy/crawling skin
Very sensitive to/bothered by smells
Tightness across my chest
Hot flashes/sweating
Intermittent upset stomach, diarrhea
Intermittent blurry vision
Intermittent racing heart feeling
Irrational fears, suddenly afraid of the dark (if go to bed before hubby need to leave light on)
Intermittent slamming noises while falling asleep
Intermittent depression/mood swings, crying, increase in irritability/anxiety
Intermittent fleeting suicidal thoughts/feelings of hopelessness
Some energy swings
Some disorientation
Some Brain Zaps
Shooting/zapping pains in toes and on bottoms of feet up leg
Some cold chills/shivering along with chest muscle tightening
Increased sex drive
Personal hygiene getting better
Slowly increasing attention span which, along with the previous two listed above, is good, encouraging ;)
 

 

At day 15 CT, most of these seem much better after going to acupuncture.  Bouts of vertigo, nausea, intermittent temple headaches (right side worse most of the time) and itchy/crawling skin are the only constants (somewhat) that remain along with the strange sudden fear of the dark and bothered by smells.


#6 Clara

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Posted 08 May 2014 - 07:27 AM

Question.... Has anyone ever found that the tinnitus goes away? I hate it!


#7 Hickupp

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Posted 08 May 2014 - 10:01 AM

Question.... Has anyone ever found that the tinnitus goes away? I hate it!


Sorry Clara but at least for me it has never gone away and I've been off for several years. It doesn't happen every day but it still happens.

#8 Jones

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Posted 17 June 2014 - 10:03 PM

Sorry Clara but at least for me it has never gone away and I've been off for several years. It doesn't happen every day but it still happens.

Question.... Has anyone ever found that the tinnitus goes away? I hate it!


I am so pissed. I never connected that mind piercing noise I have been getting could be connected. And, I know why it took me so long too.

#9 thismoment

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Posted 18 June 2014 - 07:47 AM

Jones and Clara

 

I've had the tinnitus since I started withdrawing in June of 2012. Still here. It's in my right ear- constant- not too loud- and at 13000 Hz. And for what it's worth, I also have a 24/7/365 tension headache that goes with it. 


#10 FiveNotions

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Posted 18 June 2014 - 09:12 AM

Ditto here on the tinnitus....started while I was on cymbalta....so bad I was unable to hear conversations...kept asking "what" to people at work talking to me...faded after about two or three months into withdrawal....now it's back, higher volume than ever...seems mostly in the right ear, but sometimes both...so, I'm back to being partially deaf....have had hearing tests, but the ones I've had don't show any real deficit ...?

Sometimes it sounds like a waterfall, sometimes like crickets, sometimes like a whining high pitched engine....sometimes all three....

I got a sound machine....the rainfall sound helps mask it...but not completely...I'm pretty much used to it now....and can ignore it...used to keep me awake....now, in brief moments when it fades, I'm astounded at what silence inside my head,, and normal sounds of the world are like!

Not one doc believes me....they say "that's not possible" from cymbalta....

TM, how do you know yours is 13000 HZ? That's impressive!

#11 thismoment

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Posted 18 June 2014 - 09:19 AM

FN

 

I no longer mention the tinnitus or headache to any medical people because they get this far-away look in their eyes; clearly, they don't want to hear about it or they simply don't believe me. My therapist (haven't seen her for a while) said I had 'fused thoughts' regarding antidepressants and their long-term effects and residual artifacts. Perhaps the fused thoughts go with the fused symptoms.

 

On the 13000 Hz, I downloaded a free Tone Generator App and matched the pitch. 


#12 FiveNotions

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Posted 18 June 2014 - 09:41 AM

Gee, after all my years of therapy, I figured I'd heard almost all the psycho-lingo...but "fused thoughts" is a new one....I'll have to look that one up..... Sheesh....

Yeah, I keep the tinnitus to myself with docs now....I just keep asking them "what?" And making them repeat themselves...and tell people in general that I have a "slight hearing deficit".....I've now got sufficient gray hair that they just chalk it up to "old fartism" ;-)

I'm gonna down load a tone generator app......I wonder what Hz I'm at....hehehe

#13 thismoment

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Posted 18 June 2014 - 09:58 AM

FN

 

Here's the one I have on my iPhone. I just re-checked my tone and it seems to have dropped to around 12300 Hz. 

 

 

https://itunes.apple...d457003837?mt=8


#14 thismoment

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Posted 18 June 2014 - 10:13 AM

FN

 

Here's a note on fused and defused thinking from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

 

http://www.mindfulne...ion-vs-defusion

 

An example of a fused thought is this: "I am lazy." Here is that thought defused: "I am having the thought that sometimes I take longer than I would like to accomplish some tasks."

 

We can also defuse from judgements that attach us to an issue and cause us to engage and participate in the (perhaps unsettling) event. We can defuse from implicit evaluations like, "That's bad"; "relationships always go sour." etc.

 

Here's a definition of Mindfulness from the same material:

"Mindfulness is the defused, non-attached, non-judgemental, deliberate awareness of experiential events as they happen in the moment."


#15 fishinghat

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Posted 18 June 2014 - 10:45 AM

FN, TM

 

I just have to say drs are idiots. (It always feels so good to say that.

 

And as far as the tinnitus being from Cymbalta withdrawal or not. All I can say is withdrawal hertz!!


#16 FiveNotions

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Posted 18 June 2014 - 02:51 PM

Hahahahahahahaha

Gasping for air....

Hahahahahaha....

I just came from seeing one of my idiots...I sure needed that laugh....!

Will post about the latest idiocy from the idiot of the day...but later...I need to chill out...

#17 Clara

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Posted 18 June 2014 - 05:18 PM

Hey Friends! And welcome to those of you I haven't met! I haven't posted much lately, but I do check on everyone daily and continue to pray for all! after a tough bout with a sinus and ear infection that threw me back into some type of w/d situation, I thought OMG,(literally) help me. I do not wanna go thru the crying, negative thoughts, feeling useless, etc. etc. again! I am FINALLY coming alive again! And the tinnitus seems to have mostly GONE AWAY!!!!! So grateful about that!!!! To you newbies, hang in there and listen to our "resident pros" here on the forum, ie. fishinghat, thismoment, FiveNotions and others! They have supported and kept me sane for the last 7-8 months. Hugs and prayers as usual my fellow Cymbalta survivors!!!!  clara in sweet but HOT Carolina!!! :)


#18 Madison1

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Posted 24 February 2017 - 07:47 PM

Jones and Clara

 

I've had the tinnitus since I started withdrawing in June of 2012. Still here. It's in my right ear- constant- not too loud- and at 13000 Hz. And for what it's worth, I also have a 24/7/365 tension headache that goes with it. 

thismoment how long did it take for the tension headaches to go away?


#19 TryinginFL

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Posted 24 February 2017 - 08:15 PM

Hi Madison1 !

 

thismoment was a great help to us all and is now, unfortunately, on hiatus.  We all love him and are looking forward to his stopping by occasionally. :)  I do know that his headache was still with him for at least 2 years

 

Liz


#20 Madison1

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Posted 26 February 2017 - 11:05 PM

Hi Madison1 !

 

thismoment was a great help to us all and is now, unfortunately, on hiatus.  We all love him and are looking forward to his stopping by occasionally. :)  I do know that his headache was still with him for at least 2 years

 

Liz

I'm sorry, I just saw you replied. Thank you! I sure hoped thismoment was still here, although not in pain. So he had the headache for two years but do you know if it ever subsided? 


#21 TryinginFL

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Posted 27 February 2017 - 10:04 AM

No, I'm sorry to say I don't know, but sadly he was still carrying it around the last time we heard from him :(

 

I might add that I had the headache from hell for 2 solid weeks after quitting cold turkey - I thought my head would split :angry:

 

Hang in there - I know it's tough but you can do it!!





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