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Happy New Year!


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#1 navywife43

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Posted 01 January 2015 - 05:01 PM

Hello everyone! Wanted to drop in and say Hi and Happy New Year to all of you. I am a year off of Cymbalta and I am so happy I finally had the courage and strength to get off that poison! Of course I couldn't have done it without the help and encouragement from everyone on this site.

 

I had my family over Christmas Eve and I was able to enjoy myself this year...last year I was so sick. The next day my mom called me to say that my sister who hadn't seen me in almost a year told her that I looked 100% better this year. She said I actually had color back in my face. lol

 

I am so happy to hear from other people how much better I am looking and doing. I will say I am still dealing with weight issues, but it could be the Zoloft. One day at a time still.

 

Hope everyone is doing well and stay strong...you can do this!!!!


#2 TryinginFL

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Posted 01 January 2015 - 05:13 PM

Hi navywife,

 

So good to hear from you - Happy New Year to you as well!  Happy to hear that you are doing so well at this point.  I am just about 1 yr off myself and my oldest son was here at Christmas and said I was better than he had seen me all year!

 

It's great when even our family notice that we are changed - for the better!

 

Here's to a better year to come - please stop back again soon..

 

Liz


#3 fishinghat

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Posted 01 January 2015 - 05:14 PM

Hey NW43. It is sooo good to hear from you. A real New Year's present. lol

 

I am so glad you are doing well. Stop by and see us when you can.

 

Happy New Year


#4 Clara

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Posted 01 January 2015 - 06:21 PM

Hi navywife! Great news!!! So happy for you!!!


#5 gail

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Posted 01 January 2015 - 07:50 PM

Navywife,

Great news, you seem happy and that is all that is needed!
Enjoy it, this is very encouraging to hear, thanks for stopping by.

#6 FiveNotions

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Posted 02 January 2015 - 08:17 AM

NavyWife !!! It's great to hear from you ... what a difference a year makes, eh? I remember you from when I first arrived here, last year in late Jan., I think ... TFL and I have also been off a year now ... and we're also looking back and seeing how far we've come ...

 

Please do stop by and say hello from time to time ...the hope and encouragement you have to share with all of the others who have come, will come, after you is precious!

 

May you have a New Year that's filled with continuing healing, recovery, and happiness!!


#7 Cinders

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Posted 05 January 2015 - 03:53 PM

Happy New Year, everyone!
As always, it is a great help to read what you folks have experienced and learned.
I haven't been very active on the forum because I was so miserable in the throes of Cymbalta withdrawal. I know you understand what it was like. I used the bead counting method over a period of a little more than four months and took my last 5 beads in mid-October 2014. It was amazing to me how much it took out of me, especially as I got closer to complete cessation!

As I look back, I realize I basically lost all of 2014 to that hideous drug. I spent waaaay too many days essentially in the fetal position in bed. I suffered painful chronic GI problems that precluded me from leaving the house for days at a time. My brain simply didn't function properly and the simplest tasks overwhelmed me. Some days I'm still suicidally depressed, accomplish nothing and have scared family and friends terribly. I'm better other days, get some things done and wonder why I was so negative just the day before. I keep expecting to feel more "normal" now that I'm off Cymbalta, but so far, I only have snippets of what could be described as good days. I had a great Christmas visit with my kids, held it together by sheer force of will through New Year's Day, then plummeted into three days of despair that have me really scared. When that happens, I basically have to use benzodiazepines (Valium or Ativan) to hit the reset button, sleep and hope to feel better the next day. I see my psychiatrist tomorrow and will report all this and am afraid he'll try to put me back on an antidepressant. That, I cannot do. Maybe I really am nuts, but I'm still blaming Cymbalta withdrawal/discontinuation for my angst.

I'm writing today because I'm so discouraged to be suffering profound ongoing symptoms. I understand that a lot of internal "re-wiring" has to occur, but can those of you with more experience of this process give me any information and an idea how long this might take? I've read that it took some folks a range of 4-12 months? Do you gradually get better across the board (mentally and physically)? Are there stages of improvement? Is is a "two steps forward, one step back" scenario? What can help? Omegas, still? I keep saying I need regular exercise (don't we all!) but so often am tired and weak that I just don't.

So, HELP! Please offer any suggestions, advice, ANYTHING! I can't bear to spend anymore of 2015 than I already have in Cymbalta Hell.....
Thanks, as always, for listening.

#8 brzghoff

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Posted 05 January 2015 - 04:08 PM

cinders,

 

i am sorry to hear the extent of your challenges, but others have said likewise, even after bead counting. i heartily recommend cognitive behavioral therapy with a good mental health therapist. withdrawal leaves our brain receptors "raw" and we are vulnerable to developing bad "thinking" habits that influence our self talk - perpetuating the mental anguish. time alone won't heal the mental as it does the physical. its a daily discipline. learning those "skills"  (well, that and this forum!) is what got me through what was basically a cold turkey withdrawal that started mid may 2014. i am much better now but still suffer setbacks from time to time - but at least i can see the end of the tunnel. yes it is a two steps forward one step back progression of healing  but i can function normally in the real world. you can do this!

 

with care,

 

brz


#9 fishinghat

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Posted 05 January 2015 - 04:30 PM

Cinders

 

The common thought among many drs is that the length of withdrawal effects is at least partly due to cymbalta being stored in your fat tissue and liver. There have been people tested who still had traces of Cymbalta in their blood 1 year after commoning off the medicine. This stored Cymbalta is only slowly released and extends the withdrawal. Improvement is slow but steady during this time. Like you said "two steps forward and one step back".

 

An observation I have made is that the withdrawal is worse the older you get. Seems like most of the old foggies like me have bad withdrawal. lol


#10 thismoment

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Posted 05 January 2015 - 05:14 PM

Hi Cinders

 

I'm sorry your discontinuation is so unbearable.

 

What other antidepressnt-related meds to you take? Are you still on Prozac? And if you take benzodiazepines, is that daily or just once every couple of weeks (as-needed)?

 

I ask this because it's very easy to compound the discontinuation symptoms with withdrawal symptoms from other medications that are being taken intermittently-- especially benzodiazepines. If you take a benzo every day for a week and then stop, you will have withdrawal. Alternating benzos week-to-week won't keep you withdrawal-free, but rather you will get nasty withdrawal symptoms from both!

 

If you're using a benzodiazepine, it must be taken every day as prescribed. If taken as-needed, it has to be few and far between-- once a week at most. All benzodiazepines have withdrawal and discontinuation, and some are as bad or worse than SS/SNRIs.

 

I see you are coming up on 3 months off Cymbalta, which is for many the worst part of discontinuation. 6 months appears to be the big break in this fever, with good light appearing at the end of the tunnel. Most reinstatement on these meds occurs within the first few months after quitting. 6 months appears to be 'hump' month, meaning it's palpably downhill after that. 

 

The best I can suggest is to 1) inspect any other medications to see if you may be inadvertently compounding the problem and 2) try to find some distractions, something that captures your interest and takes your mind off discontinuation-- even for a few moments at a time.

 

When you are able to relax some and concentrate more in the coming months, please consider CBT and Mindfulness training to help you view things from a different perspective. It helps a lot.

 

Remember, these drugs physically alter our bodies (brain is part of the body) and there is much trial-and-error repair and alteration being done in an effort to seek equilibrium. It takes a lot of time, but eventually we arrive at a state of repair with which we can function. It gets better! Hang in there!


#11 Cinders

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Posted 05 January 2015 - 06:47 PM

Thank you, brz, FH and this moment, for your quick responses, questions and helpful suggestions. It really means a lot.

I was taking 10mg Prozac to help during the withdrawal process, but weaned off it within a couple weeks of my last Cymbalta dose. I was using benzos fairly regularly at that time, also, because they helped greatly with the excessive sweating. I never really used them daily, and sometimes not at all for longer periods (days to weeks) after I stopped Cymbalta. I'm So Tired of feeling lethargic that I only use a benzo as a last resort, either to help pull me through a really bad period of physical (sweating/cold) discomfort (this varies all over the place) or the days when I'm so depressed I feel the insidious lure of suicide, which scares the bejesus out of me and occurs intermittently. So sometimes I take benzos for a day or two until I crawl out of my hole, but most of the time, those drugs are not on board. I don't think I use them chronically enough to really experience withdrawal, but I'll take a closer look at that factor.

FH, I'm intrigued by the fat storage information you shared. In the last three months of bead counting and withdrawal, I gained 30 POUNDS, with no change in eating habits. I calculated I would have had to ingest at least 1200 extra calories per day in order to gain that much weight that fast and I simply didn't! Mostly I was nauseated and suffering nasty diarrhea, so I don't think I'm kidding myself. I think water retention is a part of it because I can't even remotely get my wedding ring on and when I got married 13 years ago, I WAS 30 pounds heavier. Is it possible my body built my new fat self just to have a reservoir of Cymbalta? Yikes!

I cherish y'all's feedback and will try to find a version of CBT I can feel okay with. I just got fed up with paying $200/hour to watch my supposedly "top local therapist ", with whom I had an eight year relationship, doze off while in session with me.

It's 3:45pm and I'm still in bed, in my jammies. Time to get dressed, venture out to run a few errands and hopefully spend some time at my local yarn shop, where the therapy offered by "the estrogen cesspool", as my husband calls it, is free. One of the reasons I'm so worried about me is that I'm taking less interest in knitting, which is normally a joyful activity for me, and spending less time around the table with my knit shop buddies, who are wonderful, supportive friends. Self-sabotage is so frustrating!

Thanks again. I'll check in later and participate more regularly. I clearly need you.
Cinders

#12 fishinghat

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Posted 05 January 2015 - 07:51 PM

Water retention is a common part of Cymbalta withdrawal but Cymbalta is not water soluble and should not add to the length of recovery.


#13 Cinders

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Posted 07 January 2015 - 03:53 AM

Thank you, FH. I understand that Cymbalta's fat, not water soluble; I guess I'm grasping for explanations and mixing rationales.... Fat or water, the new 30 lbs has to go! I can't wear my wedding ring or watch and my self esteem doesn't need pudgy Cinders on top of nutso Cinders!

Tonight, after a pretty tough day, I've found some nice, healing music on Pandora and am enjoying a knitting project. My angst is lessened somewhat and I've found a meditation series from UCLA that I'm going to give a good try before going to bed. I've never been any good at meditation, but I'll give it my best shot! Anything to avoid antidepressant medication!

I just wanted to have something positive to report today after so much despair yesterday. I'll do my best to have an even better day tomorrow by going to the therapy pool at my YMCA; 94 degree water feels so nice on my arthritic joints!

I hope everyone has a good night and a great start tomorrow!
Many thanks.

#14 ShadyLady

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Posted 07 January 2015 - 08:45 PM

Good for you, Cinders! You are really trying. Glad you're engaged in a knitting project and soothing music. I'm stealing your husband's line of 'estrogen cesspool!' Best laugh I've had today, thanks;)

On the weight issue, I gained 25 lbs in two months during cold turkey withdrawal from 30ish mg (eyeball method from 60mg!). At seven months off, I have lost it (12lbs from the flu). Still need to lose more, imo, but easy does it, right?!

Be well and hang in there....xxxxxx You have a great attitude and that to me is the biggest battle off the Crap!



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