1 reply to this topic

[JackTheRiffer13]

Hi everybody

I have been on anti-depressants for many years and have been taking Cymbalta for at least 3 years starting on 30mg a day and then being increased to 60mg. What I noticed while being on this drug is that it made me completely emotionless, lethargic, not sleep properly it messed up my sex drive and caused problems with my concentration and physical well being enough was enough.

I started University last September and have got through my first year. While being on the course I had wondered how the hell I managed to do this whilst being on medication for anxiety and depression and other medication for spondilitis, rheumatoid arthritis etc.

When Uni finished in May of this year for recess I had been pondering whether to take a risk and see how I felt about coming off the cymbalta tablets as I was wondering if this would hinder me with learning stuff on a academic level.

I headed down to to the doc and told him about the memory problems i was having and the general side effects i was experiencing while i have been taking this medication and how I wanted to stop taking the tablets. However he would not offer me any help in weaning off these tablets saying come back in a couple of months and we will talk again.

This annoyed me a bit because I felt he was not listening to me about the side effects.

So I continued taking these tablets but in my mind felt they were no longer helping me and were just making me feel worse. So I made a decision I decided to cut down the dosage I was taking from 60mg every day to 60mg 3 times a week for 2 weeks then take 2 60mg a week and so on until I ended up taking just 1 60mg capsule a week. I did this for just over a month until I stopped taking them completely on the 20th July.

It has now been a month since I have taken any Cymbalta and so far so good. The initial couple of weeks have been awful I have had brain zaps, horrid Diarrhoea, Night terrors and halucinations ( Truly terrifying) but I guess thats because I decided to wean off them so quickly .

At the moment its the 22nd August and so far I have not had any brain zaps or severe withdrawl reactions although my emotions have been up and down atleast I have started to feel emotion again (my sis had a baby in April of this year and I have been feeling warm and happy)

There are days when my mood drops but so far this is no different to how I felt while taking the AD
The worse thing for me so far is waking up in morning and feeling completely shattered and fuzzy headed and issues with my anger (getting snappy at the tiniest of things) I am hoping this will get better ,also I hope the Cymbalta has not permanently damaged my brain and that it will recover itself eventually.

diet wise I have noticed I am eating healthier and eating lots of fruit and veg although I still like to occassionally binge on crisps :-).Also I have been taking a daily supplement called Neurozan which contains omega 3's and other vitamins for my brain which I am hoping will help.

This is where I am at the moment I will keep in touch and let you know how I am getting on.
Wish me luck.

All the best.

I hope you will all heal too. :-) X

[Houdi]

Hey Jack:

Great story. And I DO WISH YOU LUCK!!! Good luck....good luck....good luck! Many good lucks. You have an awesome story and I am so glad you posted here. Please continue posting, it will be so helpful for so many. Oh, and did I say Good Luck?

I have two college students, so I HAVE to type this....Study hard and be really proud of yourself. You are the future of our world, and I want my future to be in the hands of the great college students of today. Smart, sensitive, worldly, and so on.

Best wishes....Houdi