20 replies to this topic

[Sandlion]

I was prescribed Cymbalta for anxiety symptoms before I became pregnant; the doctor told me that it was a "safe" medication to use should I conceive. I have been taking the drug for 5 months and am 9 weeks pregnant. I looked online for further information about the safety of the drug during pregnancy and there really was nothing concrete as no studies have been done on pregnant women and are not likely to be done. Bottom line for me, had I been better informed at the time that I conceived, I would prefer not to have been taking the drug.

This week I discussed my concerns with my doctor, who said again that the drug is "safe" both now and for breastfeeding mothers, but that since many of the circumstances which led to my extreme anxiety have now been resolved, he would support my decision to stop taking Cymbalta if that is what I want to do. I asked about the possible side effects of withdrawal on both me and my developing baby, and he said "there are none! that's the beauty of this drug." I asked about the weaning process and he said "no, you don't have to wean yourself gradually -- just stop taking them." I was surprised by this, but at other times he has been a reliable and good family doctor so I trusted his advice again. I asked if withdrawal would affect the baby, and he said "not at all."

This is Day 3 after going off Cymbalta cold turkey and I am in hell and wondering how long these symptoms are going to last. Until I found this site, it was difficult for me to know what was owing to the drug withdrawal and what might be due to pregnancy, but when I read the postings of others on this site I found strikingly accurate descriptions of my own symptoms. Since late on Day 1,I have had a continual, killer migraine (I do suffer from migraines anyway, but this one feels far worse than usual and has characteristics that are not typical for me). I have begun vomiting every time I eat (I had been experiencing mild feelings of nausea as a result of first-trimester preganancy, but had not actually thrown up and the nausea was beginning to decline as of the past week.) I have nightmares every time I sleep. Yesterday, I had bouts of crying for no particular reason (again, could be a pregnancy symptom but I have not otherwise been crying.)

My body and brain feel so intensely sick, it is hard to believe that the baby is not also experiencing some of the side effects of withdrawal. More frightening for me is knowing that this is the time for brain development in a foetus. I don't expect anybody on this site to have answers to the fears and concerns that I now have relating to the pregnancy, but please, if anyone has successfully gone cold turkey off Cymbalta -- would you please share with me your experiences and tell me how long it took for the symptoms to subside. Thank you in advance.

[Sandlion]

I forgot to mention that one of the most horrible symptoms I am experiencing is the "brain zaps" that so many others on the site have described. Any movement of head or eye can set it off, it feels like a lightning bolt goes through my brain...

[Houdi]

Sandlion:

Many of us are 'cold turkey' survivors. We all have different time lines, so I'm sorry I can't give you much of an answer to your question, "how long."

I can tell you, a lot of us starting searching for answers on the internet about the same time you did, day 3. And, for most of us, we were so relieved we weren't the only one going through the withdrawal symptoms. I've been a forum member for a little more than a year, and I don't remember a pregnant woman going through withdrawal. I am so sorry you are in this situation. And I do hope for you and your little one, your withdrawal is fast and easy.

We will all keep you in our thoughts and prayers. Take very good care of yourself and the baby. Keep posting and all of us will chime in. There is a lot of advice on supplements and otc medications to handle the withdrawal symptoms, but I don't know how safe they are for pregnant woman. You are our very special member right now. I would take on your withdrawal symptoms to relieve you and your baby if I could.

You'll get through this. Promise. Hear from you soon?.....Houdi

[Sandlion]

Thanks so much for your kind words and encouragement, Houdi. You are so right -- reading about others' experiences on this site has been a tremendous comfort. I will gladly follow up with postings about my progress, for other pregnant moms who may visit the site in the future.

I called my doctor this morning to let him know about the withdrawal symptoms I have been experiencing, and he asked me if I wanted to to try a 30mg weaning approach rather than going cold turkey from the 60mg that I have been taking. My biggest concern is how all this is affecting the baby and he again assured me that it would not affect the baby or its development in any way. So, having read through some of the postings from people who weaned off more slowly, I felt that I would rather continue with cold turkey now and just tough it out. I asked the Dr how long I might expect to experience the horrible symptoms and he said the drug should be out of my system in 5-6 days, so he would expect the symptoms to disappear shortly after that. We will see!

Other medications are off my menu, but I looked through the Nutritional Support discussions and I can certainly try Omega 3, probiotics and replacement electrolytes to ease some of the symptoms. I've also found that eating something very cold helps temporarily ease the terrible head pain and calm down the brain zaps, so I've now got a freezer full of orange popsicles. It made sense to me to try and drink plenty of water, but I found that was leading to bouts of vomiting, so instead of drinking whole glasses at a time I am sticking to small, frequent sips.

Best wishes to all,
Sandlion.

[MaureenV]

Hi Sandilon,


sorry to hear you're going through this. I'm weaning off cymbalta after only being on it for a few months (the side effects of 60mg along with resolution of some issues mainly) only to discover the withdrawal problems starting once I dropped down - nothing like others have experienced, mainly the brain zaps, BUT, reading of their experiences has stopped me going cold turkey which I was tempted to do.

Being a Mum, I can well understand your concern for the baby. If it's any consolation (and don't take my word for this - but it's something you may wish to research), due to other health issues, I was on category D drugs in the first few months of pregnancy. Category D are drugs KNOWN to cause defects. They were considered 'safe' for the first three months though, reason being that many drugs only affect the baby once they start to seriously share your blood supply, at about three months, by which time I had to be off them. It was a high risk pregnancy and I had no choice but to continue with some (other) drugs, so I DO identify with what you're saying. This info is 18 years old, but may help reassure you.

By the way, both my GP and my chemist repeatedly 'warn' me not to stop the drugs suddenly - that they should be tapered. They even put a little sticker on the box in Australia saying: DO NOT STOP TAKING THIS MEDICINE ABRUPTLY unless otherwise advised by your doctor. (Although I'm pretty sure that's the case with most anti depressant drugs.)

The nightmares? We should all write a book - would make for entertaining reading.

Lexapro was worse though, for nightmares - in February when we had the serious bushfires near Melbourne (Aust) I had one in which I was trapped by flames. My husband thought I was having a heart attack, and it took him several minutes to wake me, and I'm not someone who's ever walked or talked in their sleep.

Good luck, and keep in touch.

And Houdi: you remind me of the saying: Bad things happen when good people do nothing. Now that you're over it, it would be very easy for you to just move on. Helping others with the issues says a lot about you as a person.

[MaureenV]

Oops. That may not have read correctly.


It was only those particular category D drugs I was on (for severe blood pressure) that came under the 'o.k. for the first three months' category. Obviously there are other drugs which are not advisable even when planning a pregnancy.

I made the comment because that's when I found out about the blood supply of the baby.


cheers, Maureen.

[Houdi]

Sandlion:

I was thinking about your nausea and vomiting. Have you tried real ginger tea? You get fresh ginger root and peel the outside brown peel off. Then shred the ginger root and seep in hot water for 5 minutes or more. You won't need much of the shred pieces for the seeping. Put the rest in the freezer to stay fresh. The fresh ginger tea should help your nausea. Its supposed to be good for us too.

I understand your MD's comment about how soon the drug (Cymbalta) is chemically gone from our bodies, but for some reason some of us have brains that 'revolt' against the lack of the serotonin uptake. I say our brains go into the toddler temper tantrum phase and it causes our body systems it controls to go nuts. Like the nervous system, our digestive system, our muscles; everything is paying the price for the brain not getting the serotonin uptake it is so happy with. So, please don't be surprised if your withdrawal symptoms last longer than the time the actual chemical is cleared from your body. I hope you don't have this extended withdrawal. But if you do, we're here for you.

Obviously anything you can do boost serotonin and endorphins should help your brain get its 'fix'! And because of your pregnancy, it's got to be organic, like exercise. You take the best of care....Keep us updated and if I think of anything else, I'll write.

Houdi

[Sandlion]

Hi MaureenV,

Thanks so much for sharing that information about blood supply/early pregnancy, it made me feel so much better (at least in the worry department, if not in the physical symptoms!). That would also probably explain my doctor's total assurance that this withdrawal is not affecting the baby.

I don't know why my doctor advised a cold turkey stoppage of Cymbalta over a gradual weaning -- he didn't even mention the possibility of gradual withdrawal when we first discussed going off the drug. I'm going to ask next time I see him.

I am also an Aussie, although I now live permanently in Canada. As soon as I saw that you had written "Mum" rather than "Mom" I started wondering...

Houdi, thanks for the ginger tip. I tried it when I first had ordinary pregnancy-related queasiness, but for some reason I developed a real aversion to ginger.

I am so appreciative of the time you have both taken to share your knowledge and experiences. Many, many thanks and I will keep in touch.

[Junior]

Just a thought: Another way of easing nausea is peppermint. Peppermint tea is one option although I personally don't like the taste of it. I have the essential oil version and sniffed it when on a scenic flight recently (wonderful holiday in the north west of aussie). It worked well. I've also seen it stop my son from suffering sea sickness. Even when he was on the verge of vomiting! Might be worth a try.

[BeverlyB]

Hi sandlion- Thinking of you. Going cold turkey is so hard. While it may be true that cymbalta won't hurt the baby, I'd probably do what you did given how harshly withdrawal has affected us.

My sister saw a prenatal psychopharmacologist when she got pregnant with her first because she was on klonopin which is known to cause cleft lip. He told her that the stress of withdrawal was worse than the risk (it's about 1 in 100,000 pregnancies) so she stayed on it. But klonopin has been around a LOT longer than cymbalta. I think it's just key that you take really good care of yourself during withdrawal- whatever supplements you can take, drink lots, stay hydrated with pedialyte pops- especially if you are vomiting- because they will keep your electrolytes up!

Hang in there and keep posting here! ((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))

[Sandlion]

Hi Junior, hi BeverylyB,

Thanks for your tips and good wishes. It's day 5 and I'm finding it very hard. Yesterday, I was able to eat a little and drink a little and keep it down, but today I cannot keep food or drink down and just feel so incredibly ill. I got some electrolyte solution from the pharmacy and am freezing it, as regular popsicles are also making me sick now. If this is still going on by Monday, I will have to go back to the doctor.

Hats off to all those who've made it through this horrendous process, and thanks for the support.

[Sandlion]

Day 6 has dawned and I have no idea how it's going to go. Yesterday was the 4th straight day of being unable to keep down food and liquids -- I thought I might be headed for hospital and an IV as I could no longer even manage sips of electrolyte solution or plain water. However, by about 3.30 pm I felt ravenously hungry and thirsty and kept thinking of shaved ice. My husband got out the blender and made a mixture of mostly crushed ice with a tiny bit of watermelon blended in.... the ice felt so good, I was able to "drink" it down and the little bit of sugar from the watermelon gave me some energy. I had an overwhelming urge to eat something with protein in it (I kept thinking of steaks...) so I had a burrito-like mixture of beans with a little bit of sliced steak and found myself feeling pretty good. Some hours later I started to feel a queasy again and I drank a cup of miso soup (another intense craving, which I decided to listen to) and ate a few sushi maki rolls (all with fully cooked ingredients). I found that I was able to drink ice water too. I kept it all down and felt better yesterday evening than I had all week. Just being able to DRINK again was wonderful.

I woke up feeling nauseous again this morning so the first thing my husband did was make the watermelon drink... so far, so good....

[Sandlion]

Day 7 and things are getting a little easier:

- Vomiting has stopped, although I still have bouts of nausea. (Junior -- your tip about peppermint was helpful. I have been using Scotch Mints, which contain real mint essence, and they really do help when I feel nauseous.)
- The migraine is gone.
-The brain zaps still happen, but not as often. They get worse when I haven't eaten for a while, so now that I can actually hold down some food and liquids, I'm concentrating on eating small and often so that my blood sugar levels stay more even. I really think this helps to keep the worst symptoms in check.
- Appetite has returned
- Still have nightmares whenever I sleep
- For the first time since Day 3, I was able to read, concentrate, focus and even do a few things around the house today.
- Feeling -- not normal -- but more human today! Yay!!!

[Junior]

Sandlion,
I'm glad the peppermint is helpful for you. We all need to support each other through this and it's - well, if you read my story elsewhere you will understand - it's very much part of who I am to want to help others.

I've had tests (see the other thread) to determine whether my upper abdo pain was gallstones or something related. Turns out it's not. The scan and blood test results were normal. So it seems to be a withdrawal thing. Great! Terrific! *waves sarcasm flag* I'm already on Pariet for heartburn as I have a small hiatus hernia and my GP told me to increase it to 2 per day. That is certainly helping. The worst of the nausea - which came on late on Day 3 - now seems to have passed. I'm going to try taking ginger now to see if it might calm my GI tract. If this crap continues for too long, I might go and see my naturopath....

I was only ON this stupid drug for 19 days. Can't believe the probs I'm having with the withdrawal. I was on Aropax for 10 yrs straight and had no trouble (I did wean slowly) coming off it. It is supposed to be one of the hardest to get off. Go figure!!

[karma0226]

Hi Sandlion,

Thank you so much for sharing...I was happy to see this thread because my husband and I have made the decision to get pregnant and I started tapering last week.

I've been on varying doseages of Cymbalta for about 5 years. It never really seemed to do much...I guess it did help with anxiety. I was up to as high as 90mg (plus Ativan and Sonata) after a very traumatic experience last year. But I definetely have always felt like a blob on it. After doing a lot of reading and speaking to my doc, I feel that the benefits of the drug are just not enough for me to possibly harm a baby.

So, last Friday I stepped down from 60 to 30 and quit the Ativan and Sonata altogther. The weekend sucked. I pretty much had all the symptoms here that everyone else is describing. I could not drive at all. THe dreams haven't bothered me...they are for sure much more vivid, but they are not nightmares.

I felt really good last night...so good that my husband thought I was behaving rather manically (I was obsessively cleaning). I was wondering if anyone gets that way?

So since I was feeling better, I stopped completely today. The withdrawal is coming back hard. I'm worried about driving home from work.

Well, sorry for highjacking your thread!! It was nice to read a mom to be's experience. Please keep posting!

Thanks!

[Sandlion]

Hi Karma0226,

I've been so grateful for this website myself, that I'm really glad to post for others that might be pregnant or trying to get pregnant and thinking about coming off Cymbalta.

Today was Day 8, I had far fewer brain zaps and was able to be a lot more active than I have since going off the drug, but I felt really queasy all day. The best cure for me seems to be food, food and more food! I try to eat something at least every few hours, and I notice an immediate easing of brain zaps and nausea when I do. In particular, foods containing protein and salt (Miso soup, cheese on rice cakes, stir-fried meats and vegetables, even burritos!) have been helpful for me when the queasies become very bad, as have very cold things like frozen yoghurt, blended ice/fruit drinks. Not a brilliant diet for life -- or for a whole pregnancy, for that matter -- but hey, it eases the worst of the symptoms and I am able to keep food and liquid down, which is a lot more than I could manage a few days ago.

Compared to days 3-6, which were hellish, I feel MUCH better today, but by no means normal. Still have nightmares every time I sleep, still wake up feeling crappy with lightning bolts buzzing around in my brain. Houdi and others on this site have mentioned that the withdrawal process goes on longer than it takes for the drug to leave their systems, and that seems to be the case for me too. However, I can feel an upward trend and that is very heartening!

From what I read on this site, it would seem that many of the people who've weaned gradually off Cymbalta have experienced the final withdrawal at almost the same intensity as those of us who've gone cold turkey from higher doses. I may be wrong about that, but it sure would make an interesting study. All I can say is, the benefits in my case were not worth the agony of withdrawal, and nothing would induce me to take this drug again.

Good luck with both your recovery and your baby quest, Karma!

[imnessa]

Hello Sandlion,

I was very surprised to read your messages on Cymbalta and how little your doctor knew about it! (although I am sure he is a wonderful doctor) I am in the US, I was told very quickly that I should not take Cymbalta while I am pregnant, I am 12 weeks now and began tapering my dose a week ago. I was told there could be problems for the baby as found in FDA studies and human reports. I didn't want to worry you, but surprised at how you were being handled. In the US we are advised never to quit cold turkey and that you and the doctor need to work out a schedule for tapering off the meds. I am unsure what the doctors there have said, but here they say that it does travel to the fetus. I just wanted to encourage you to taper your dose slowly for your sanity and the babys sake. Let the doctor know how you are feeling after tapering or if it is to drastic and to take it slower. I was on 60mg. For this week I have been alternating between 60 and 30 each day. I may do this for two weeks, then I will be taking 30 each day. After that it will be 30mg every other day for awhile. So far I feel fine other than a little bit more anxiety and irritability. I hope this helps you, please feel free to write.

[Sandlion]

Imnessa, thanks for your thoughts. When I discussed with my doctor the drug and its use during pregnancy, he said that a Class C classification means that there is the possibility of harm to the baby, not that there are any empirical studies showing that harm is likely. Eli Lilly is unlikely to fund any studies to establish the true risks to developing foetuses, so this question is unlikely to be resolved one way or the other.

I too was surprised when my doctor advised going off the drug cold rather than tapering, as even the packaging advises not to do so. He did eventually say that I could try tapering, but only after I called on Day 3 to tell him how badly withdrawal was affecting me. By that stage I felt I was in the worst part of withdrawal and I made the choice to continue cold turkey rather than go back on even a low dose of a drug that has proved, for me, very unpleasant to come off.

My doctor certainly was incorrect to say that there would likely be no side effects from withdrawal, but from what I have seen on this site, even those who taper down eventually have to go off the drug entirely and many of them suffer the same side effects when they do, just in varying levels of intensity. With so little statistical information available from Eli Lilly, it comes down to personal choice and a judgement call about what our bodies can/cannot take.

By the time I was offered the tapering method, I was in the middle of the most harrowing withdrawal symptoms and I felt that they were likely to start improving within the next few days, which they did. At that stage it did not seem worthwhile to me, to go back on a low dose of the drug that was making me so sick; I didn't want to do withdrawal a second time, for me or the baby. I should add that I also had a hard time acclimatising my body to taking Cymbalta in the first place; it made me quite sick for about 6 weeks.

Yesterday was Day 9, and for the first time since I started taking Cymbalta I had an urge to use my hands and do something creative; I sewed an entire cot quilt in one day and felt like my old self. Mild queasiness persists -- although this could be pregnancy related rather than caused by Cymbalta. I have found that I need to eat small amounts of food at least every two hours to keep my blood sugar level even and stave off the terrible brain zaps that Cymbalta withdrawal brings. My body tells me in no uncertain terms when to eat, and provided I listen, I manage OK. I had far fewer brain zaps yesterday (those are, for me, the most unpleasant effect of withdrawal from Cymbalta) and I felt happy and hopeful that I have come through the worst. I am still having unpleasant dreams at night, but they have become tedious and annoying rather than violent and scary! The profuse sweating and overheating has stopped.

Imnessa, best wishes to you for a happy and healthy pregnancy, and I hope that you will post more about your experiences as you taper off Cymbalta.

[Sandlion]

Day 14... and I feel really good! Over the last 3 days the brain zaps have diminished greatly, even first thing in the morning; the nausea has subsided; the overall sick and unpleasant feelings of withdrawal have disappeared; and I find that I have energy and a zest for life again. It feels wonderful!

I think I've made it through withdrawal! Thanks so much to all the contributors on this site, whose stories and encouragement were like a lifeline when I was going through the worst of it and wondering if it would ever end.

[PregnantCymbalta]

Hello,

I just joined this site today. I am also pregnant and going off of Cymbalta. I think that Sandlion, Imnessa, and I are on almost identical timelines. I'm so thankful to have found this forum and set of posts. I thought I was losing my mind (literally). I found out I was pregnant around August 10. Turns out, I was about 4 weeks pregnant. Although it was not a planned pregnancy, my husband and I are EXTREMELY excited about it. We already have a 3-year old son. I started taking Cymbalta in Jan '09 for anxiety. I had only tried one other medication prior: Busipore. Ironically, I actually went off of it because I was experiencing the brain zaps (I could tell my doctor thought I was overreacting when I mentioned them).

Anyhow, I was told when I went on Cymbalta that it was a category C (not known to be or not be harmful in pregnancy). I didn't really give it a thought because we weren't planning to become pregnant while I was on it. Well, of course that changed come August 10. I visited my doctor on August 13, and she gave me a week's worth of 30mg samples to help wean me off of it. She didn't mention any side effects. I was also told to stop taking my blood pressure meds cold turkey. I did both.

Before going further, I should mention that I had pretty bad morning sickness (morning, noon, and night throughout my pregnancy). I also had pre-eclampsia (potentially dangerously elevated BP during pregnancy). I had to be induced at 37 weeks and delivery early because of it.

Okay, so during that first week of being on 30mg Cymbalta, I noticed a marked increase in morning sickness--nausea, vomiting, dizziness, being tired. The brain zaps started around day 6 and gradually increased in frequency and intensity (keep in mind that I felt these while I was on Busipore). I still hadn't made the connection that it was the result of going off of Cymbalta, though.

Then, I went off of the 30mg on day 7. By day 8, I was so incredibly sick that I couldn't hardly get out of bed. Terrible dizziness and brain zaps. I still chalked it up to extreme morning sickness. I went to the doctor three times over the next 5 days and was given many anti-nausea medications, in many different ingestion forms (topical, melt aways, IVs, and suppositories). At no point in time was Cymbalta withdrawal explored as a potential cause of this. This "severe morning sickness" lasted about 5 days and then got much better. In other words, 10 days after taking the last 60mg dose and 5 days after taking the last 30mg dose, I noticed a marked improvement.

It was only after my mom and I were talking about my "morning sickness timeline" that we realized that Cymbalta was the culprit. I am very upset with my doctor, yet I'm very proud of myself for having made it through my own personal hell. I have not talked to my doctor or seen her since this discovery. I have an appointment next Thursday and fully intend to grill her. I will probably go see an OB for this pregancy and find another family physician.

It's now day 18, and I am still feeling better. I still have dizziness and nausea and brain zaps, but they seem to be getting better, and I am pretty much fully functional. I think I now just have "normal morning sickness," which is still not fun, but boy, it's so much better than before! Oh, and my BP has been lower now than when I was on BP meds (pregnancy will do that oftentimes)!

Sandlion and Imnessa, I'll be thinking of you and would be interested to see a comparison of our progress over time. I'll try to give regular updates (at least weekly).

PregnantCymbalta

[MaureenV]

Hi, and good luck with the bub.

Sorry folks, this first bit's a bit off-topic:
I also had such severe pre-pregnancy blood pressure that I had to see two specialists before being given the o.k. to even try. I was on Category D drugs, which were (then) o.k. for the first trimester (they now recommend none). My blood pressure dropped dramatically when pregnant, then the day my daughter was born by caesar at 37 wks (planned, due to danger) my blood pressure went to 240 / 140. That was 17 years ago, and two years ago (after another exhausting round of tests, taking a full 12 months) the cause was found - a benign tumour of the adrenal gland producing mind-boggling amounts of aldosterone, which is the hormone which tells your body how much sodium to retain. When the normal level is about 800, mine was 53,000! Ask if hyperaldosteronism might be the cause of yours. It's being recognized as an increasingly likely cause of severely high blood pressure in younger people - I was 34 when mine suddenly developed. Feel free to email me directly (I think the link is at the side) if you want more info. After 20 years of massive doses of blood pressure drugs, at 57 I now take NONE.

Don't be too hard on your doctor; often the ONLY information they have at their disposal is the information the drug companies give to them. Sure they can do their own research etc, but there are zillions of drugs out there and the side effects and withdrawal effects have a different impact on everybody. I was on Lexapro before Cymbalta and had absolutely no side effects coming off it (although I DID go straight on to CYmbalta). My GP was all ears when I told her what was happening to me, and how I'd found this site, and she was going to look it up before a conference she was going to.

I probably wouldn't be here to tell the tale without modern drugs, so what can I say? EXCEPT drug companies should be obliged to list the withdrawal symptoms in the same way they're obliged to list the side effects. The reason from both the drug companies and doctors for NOT putting the side effects on many years ago, was that people would start imagining they have them all, whereas what's actually happened is people don't turn up to their GP complaining of new symptoms, because they know it's a side effect which frequently (as those of us who've been on a few drugs know) disappear as your body adjusts to the chemicals.

In Australia doctors can't even write 'repeat' prescriptions for 30mg of Cymbalta, so the information that this is an adequate introduction/weaning off dose is coming from much higher up.

Instead of getting angry with our doctors, we need to inform them. First of all though, they need to trust what we're saying. Fortunately, mine in fantastic. Because the drug companies don't issue this type of info, for all we know, all of us here may only represent (eg) 5% of those withdrawing from Cymbalta. Your doctor may have had three people quite successfully wean off without suffering any side effects much at all.

kind regards, Maureen.