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Feeling Better Finally - A Thank You


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#1 Beacon

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Posted 30 April 2018 - 01:58 PM

Hi Friends - I feel like you guys are my friends, because we've been through so much together.

Reading your stories and piecing together a plan for myself really helped me as I was going through my own journey on this, so I want to thank you for sharing and for being so supportive of one another.

I didn't want to post anything until I had good news, and I'm happy to say that after 8 weeks, I have good news!

I wasn't on Duloxetine long (just about 4 months) but the benefits were no longer outweighing the side effects, and my heart condition (IST- Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia) was getting aggravated so I decided to Clean Slate my body and try to get off as many medications as possible to get a baseline.

That meant cutting back to only Propranolol (my beta-blocker) and my BCP, generic Ocella.

And that also meant no more Duloxetine for Anxiety and no more Mirtazipine for sleep.

I did it backwards at first, and weaned off Mirtazipine, which was its own special kind of hell, but the REAL party started the following week when I casually halved my 30mg dose of Duloxetine and expected it to be fine.

It was not. 

But you guys know that.

I went back on Mirtazipine, took 15mg of Duloxetine for a week, then took 15mg of Duloxetine every other day for a week. It. Was. Awful.

After a 2-week weaning process, I bit the bullet and stopped Mirtazipine next.

I feel like I went a month without sleeping, or if I did sleep I'd have the most horrendous nightmares of my life.

The sweating, the shivering, the sensation of being "poked" and all the electrical craziness zapping up my legs into the base of my brain. Vertigo, mood swings, the whole bag. It sucked, it sucked, it sucked.

But little by little, it got better.

And reading your posts and knowing I wasn't alone made me feel better too.

Week by week, the withdrawal symptoms lessened and now I'm 8 weeks off Duloxetine and 7 weeks off Mirtazipine and pretty much back to "normal."

("Normal" for me is a decent amount of Anxiety, but this is my life and I can function, work, play, and still be pretty happy overall.)

My heart is getting back to "normal" as well - still very fast but it seems like the Propranolol I take is more effective now that I'm not on Duloxetine.

There's really not a lot of information out there about Beta Blocker interactions with these meds, but I made an appointment with my Cardiologist and I'll definitely share my experience. If anyone else here is in the same IST/Heart Condition boat, I'd love to hear your story! I'm 38, healthy (other than IST) and in pretty good shape but this roller coaster withdrawal was a butt-kicker and I was definitely couch-bound for a couple days while my pulse raced.

I realize I wasn't on Duloxetine very long. And maybe the reasons I was prescribed it are different from other peoples'. I am so grateful that my hell was a brief hell, by comparison. Thank you for holding my hand through it.

I thought it would be appropriate to respectfully let you guys know that I'm OK and although it was a rough ride for a couple months, I haven't had any symptoms for a while now. I feel good.

Everyone's mileage may vary, but there is so much hope. Wishing y'all the very best - you deserve to be happy and healthy.


#2 Farfaraway

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Posted 30 April 2018 - 02:08 PM

Glad you are doing better, still going through hell but I quit cold turkey. Keep getting better!

#3 fishinghat

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Posted 30 April 2018 - 02:25 PM

So good to hear from you Beacon. Thanks for sharing your story. You are soooo lucky your trip was a short one. I too suffer from a heart arrhythmia. Atrial tachycardia. Luckily none of the ssri/snri had any effects on it and I now manage my episodes without medication. Best of luck and once again, thanks for sharing your story.

#4 Raven72

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Posted 30 April 2018 - 02:26 PM

So, glad you are doing better.

#5 gail

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Posted 30 April 2018 - 04:24 PM

Gosh, I replied then vanished it did.

First, thanks for updating. And you are right, everyone's route does vary!

Your's seems hard and somewhat easy at moments. Count yourself blessed!

Thank you for your good words, and hope it continues this way for a long time,and again thank you!



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