3 replies to this topic

[Ramona80]

The psychiatrist I was going to left the practice, to so they put me with a different one. My appointment with him was the worst experience I've had with a doctor. I told him all that's happened with my withdrawal experience. When I was done, he told me he doesn't think any of my symptoms have anything to do with Cymbalta. He told me it was a "fantastic story" or something like that, but he can't see how Cymbalta could have caused any of it. My initial drop was from 60 to 40 mg, and that's what set off withdrawals. He said that level of a drop can't cause withdrawals.

 

When I told him what I have learned about Cymbalta and withdrawals, he got defensive and argumentative and kept interrupting me, and kept saying "what do you want from me? What do you expect me to do?" And he concluded by saying he can't see me as a patient after this. I ended up in tears. I've never been treated like that by a doctor before. He said, "you need to find someone who's an expert in Cymbalta." I asked him "how do I find someone who is?" And he said he didn't know. 

[fishinghat]

So sad but so common Ramona. Sorry about your experience.

 

I have had fairly good luck finding replacement drs by using the rating websites. I pick the kind of dr I want, such as a psychiatrist, find a list of all such drs in my town (internet) and then look them up one at a time on the internet using healthgrades, drreiew, etc to collect ratings on each dr. I then pick the dr with the best ratings and best written reviews by the patients (same websites). I then request an appointment to see them. If they are not taking new patients then I move to the next dr on the list.

 

So for example if the first frs mane is John Smith then I would enter "Dr John Smith psychiatrist  abc town reviews" in my search engine (google, yahoo or what ever you use. Once the list pops up I then go to the main 7 or 8 dr review sites and write down his review ratings (eg 4 stars out of 5 with 10 reviews). I then look at his years experience. I then read the written reviews to see peoples comments on his performance as well as his staff. By the time you get done with all the pdocs in your area you will have a good idea who NOT to see and who to consider. 

 

It takes time but this is your life we are talking about. If you need any help let me know.

 

How are you doing right now? What is happening?

 

God bless     Time and patience

[Ramona80]

Thank you, FH. I am 3 weeks off of Cymbalta now. I am having what seems to be cycling of certain things...for instance, every 3 to 5 days or so, I get a day where I'm sad and crying all day. Then the next day the sadness is gone. Anxiety is cycling like that, too. Every so often I get a day where I have butterflies in my stomach, but then it goes away...My muscle spasms/twitches/buzzing will be quiet and hardly happen at all for a long time, and then suddenly there's a whole flurry of them. 

 

Oh, and still having brain zaps, but they have softened and I'm not having as many. Whereas before, they were very sharp and would branch out into my cheeks, or zap through my body, now I mostly only feel them in my head, and they're soft.

 

I also want to add that this psychiatrist said he thinks the things I've experienced have not been withdrawal symptoms, but rather are signs of some neurological disease. He is the 2nd psychiatrist to tell me that. Funny thing is, when I was in the hospital, they did NOT suspect any neurological disease. THEY (3 different psychiatrists) told me I am sensitive to Cymbalta and these symptoms have been due to the drug.

[fishinghat]

I am still convinced that this is due to withdrawal and the up and down spike in concentration you went through. This on again/off again symptoms are classic with Cymbalta withdrawal and with time the good part of the cycle gets longer and the bad time gets shorter. I am sure you can remember when the symptoms were almost constant and debilitating. 

 

Having said that it maybe be reassuring to see a neurologist tell him your concerns and have some tests run to check things out. If it were me I would wait and see if things continue to improve over the next 2 or 3 months (I know that is a long time) as it can take that long for things to be obviously better. One thing about it, if the neurologist suspects some condition and runs tests showing a certain condition may be possible you can come back here and we can gather some info on it so you can make an informed decision.