Posted by Ritch on February 22, 2005, at 22:53:18
In reply to Re: Cymbalta from a BP-II - dose question » Ritch, posted by barbaracat on February 22, 2005, at 14:59:26
> Thanks for the math, Ritch. That's pretty good. Could you describe what your experience was on Cymbalta? I'm curious because I was also on high doses of seroquel and wonder how someone else's experience compares. Did you have the 'claw' like tension in your neck, occiput and throat? Was your hypomania the fun productive kind or anxious and a little insane? (Mine was definitely insane).
>
> > Each one of those Cymbalta pellets is .1mg, so if you take ten pellets it is 1mg. I *started* at 3mg (30 pellets) and got an immediate hypomanic reaction. It kind of settled and fluxed over the course of a couple of weeks, but ended up making me panicky and it didn't get better. I tried *lower* doses which helped, but ended up off the stuff. I don't think it is so much the 5HT/Ne reuptake inhibition levels, I think it is a difference in affinity to agonize different receptor subtypes (super wild guess). Whew, if I would have taken 30mg all-at-once, I would likely have similar or worse problems that you are having.....
>
>The experiment with Cymbalta had to do with seeing if I could drop the very low dose Celexa and very low dose Stratterra I was taking at the time (which replaced low - dose Effexor which was "working" ok, but had sleep disruption that the Celexa + Stratterra seemed to do better at not provoking and "worked" about as good as the Effexor did)... anyhow.... I simply went from my usual Depakote + clonazepam (plus very low dose Celexa/Stratterra) to my usual Depakote + clonazepam (plus very low dose *Cymbalta* 3mg + Stratterra 5mg). I got a really bad stye in my right eye, also noticed really intense facial flushing at times and some transient intense vertigo (that was Prozac like for me). I thought there was just too much norepi, so I just stopped the Stratterra... So then I was at Depakote + clon. + Cymbalta 3mg. The eye stye got better right away. Figured it was just the Stratterra was interacting negatively. But.... I seemed to get more agitated and started to feel more panicky after another week, and it wasn't getting better. I went to an eye appt. and was told that my intraocular pressure in my eye was up quite a bit. I backed off the Cymbalta some more and felt better. I eventually just quit the stuff. There was just something unique about it that agitated me unlike Strattera, stims, Effexor, etc., very weird. I think it is just some specific 5HT receptor agonist thing-just my hunch. Not taking that one again. Claw-like tension in my neck.... I've gotten that reaction (more or less) from *all* SSRI's, Effexor, Cymbalta. I didn't get that particular reaction any more or less with Cymb. than the others. I've also gotten what seems like dystonic neck muscle tension from all of the SRI's as well. Some a little worse than others. Effexor was more back of the neck and shoulder. Celexa was more in the front (SSRI's - the 'lump in throat' type of thing), Zoloft was mostly "jaw-clenching" stuff. ... The initial hypomanic reaction from the Cymbalta was the fun kind, but seemed to just give way to increased agitation and anxiety.. just didn't like that. I spent more than 3 weeks tinkering with the Cymbalta before fading the dose away.. so I really think it just didn't mix with my chemistry.
poster:Ritch
thread:460241
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050222/msgs/462081.html