Posted by moesje on September 15, 2007, at 9:29:47
In reply to Re: Cymbalta Withdrawal-Awful,Still Continuing » moesje, posted by Tennisplayer on September 15, 2007, at 7:33:04
> > > I would like to at least go back to work part time. What symptoms did you have during the early phases of tapering or withdrawal that would have kept you from working? And if you don't mind my asking, why did you decided to discontinue the drug. thank you.>
> >
> > for the past 10 years my husband and i had agreed that i'd stay home and take care of the kids, who are now 15 and 16.5. i've worked off and on, and my last main job was what really drove me off the deep end. my best friend literally stabbed me in the back, so that i lost my job, best friend and all stability in one day. i've worked other small jobs since then, but nothing full time. i have also been typing at home as a "job", but the pay isn't very reliable. so just a month ago we decided for me to try full time again, and i'm so in love with my job right now it's unbelievable. the women i work with are fantastic (of course, they all have their problems, etc), but it's great overall. plus i get a great workout every day, no need for drugs to put me to sleep now!
> >
> > i had been taking welbutrin off and on for 5 years, and it worked for most of that time, but then stopped. so doc moved me to lexapro, which stopped working after 18 months and then we moved to cymbalta. with the lexapro and cymbalta i became more and more of a zombie and less interested in life at all. i could sit on the couch all day long watching tv, then realize it's time to go run errands and i haven't had a shower yet. it was horrible. i gained weight mostly from just sitting, not so much eating.
> >
> > so when i went to the doc and explained the cymbalta wasn't helping, he suggested upping the dose and i said no more, i just want off. so he showed me the pills coudl be emptied and divided, and i did that. of course, i didn't taper off so slowly, so i had all the symptoms of withdrawal as if i went cold turkey. dizziness, brain zaps (like electrical shocks),and i would get these just when i blinked my eyes, and extreme mood changes. but i persisted because i wanted off.
> > Thank you very much for sharing your experiences.
> > as for the road back, i believe they promoted fish oil and vitamins. i did try some fish oil, but mostly stuck with my standard vitamins and added cal-mag (which you can get at GNC) and fluids. even if you ignore the vits (which i don't suggest), you need fluids to flush your system.
> >
> > also, everyone reading this needs to know that although i will never take these drugs again, some people NEED some sort of medication. someof the typing i do at home pertains to this, and i want to make it clear, if someone needs medication to function,they need to take it no matter what. if it's not working, talk to the doc and get on something that will.
> >
> > nuf said.
> thank you for sharing important and personal information. I appreicate it. I have the added problem of chronic pain since I have interstitial cystitis (no cure). The severe chronic pain from I.C. requires Lortabs for me to even function without severe pain. Cymbalta was advertised as helping both depression and pain, and I had gained 25 pounds over the summer, had no energy, etc. and was moderately depressed about that and having a chronic incurable pain disease for the last 5 years. But I too, began to do nothing but sit and had very little real emotion of any kind left in me, after being on Cymbalta for several months. Paradoxically, I lost 20 pounds while taking it, and began to gain after stopping it. This is one reason I don't think I had a chemical imbalance to begin with. Doctor said I just needed to up it to 60. Wrong, but I didn't realize it at the time. By the time I finally figured out that it was the cymbalta making me feel so sleep and terrible (I had thought it might be a build up of my 3 years of Lortabs (which incidentally help me stay alert as opposed to Percocet or something)and I had had a neurostimulator implanted in Nov of 2006 to help reduce the pain, I mistakenly decided to quit cold turkey also. The stimulator helped but I was so sleepy I had to plan my day around 3 or 4 naps, just able to get up long enough to fix supper for my husband or other essential activities.
> I agree that some people need to take medications. I have no problem with medicines for proven medical conditions like diabetes, multiple sclerosis, esophageal reflux, etc. or even subjective pain conditions, but since reading that book "Your Drug May be Your Problem" I am convinced that many people are hurt much more by psychotropic drugs than they are helped by them. I still feel if someone is in extreme distress they should take an antidepresant or tranquilizer or whatever is needed for short term to get them thru without their committing suicide or something, but take it in conjunction with counseling or even help from a trusted friend who has good insight. And eventually get off of it. Many people are just given more or different medicines and get addicted to them in the sense they can't quit them without horrendous withdrawal symptoms. A lot of them just give up trying to get off the meds (after all, the doctor approves of them and the drug company says they are good and the withdrawal symptoms are so horrible), and those people just keep taking them, and they cause deeper and deeper damage. Having read how much of the psychoactive drugs are based on speculation rather than any real proof, and the information that drug companies conceal from both doctors and patients about their adverse effects, I still think it is important only to take them for short time periods and taper off them slowly under a doctor's regulation. Again, I am only speaking of psychoactive drugs. Some drugs for physical ailments are needed life long. I also took lexapro and zoloft for a short time, and was able to get off them fairly easily without a lot of severe withdrawal symptoms. They helped the inital overwhelming problem, but later didn't seem to help much. Sorry to be so long. I really enjoy working as a medical secretary or transcriptionist, and feel like now I can probably go back part time because I am alert again and can stay awake for 8 or 10 hours or more straight. thank you.
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funny, i'm a legal transcriptionist! thought about going to medical for more money, but never did. you'd think with myself and my boss being the only ones in this town who do this, we'd have lots of work and lots of money, but we're both working full time jobs now just to make sure we can make ends meet.i hadn't read that book, just knew that i needed to get off the drugs as i was now addicted to them. i was only at 60 mg and doc wanted to up me to 120 . . . enough is enough. i would get up to take my daughters to school, but need a 2 to 4 hour nap a day and nothing else ever got done. my weight loss is attributed to my working, as in 3 weeks i've lost 10 pounds, and this includes eating breakfast and lunch, and two snacks a day - i'm too wired to eat dinner when i get home, so i might have cereal or oatmeal for a late night snack. i stay away from suger, except for in my coffee, which has been cut in half, too!
yes, a counselor or good friend is better than the drugs.
off to work . . .
poster:moesje
thread:466069
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20070419/msgs/783026.html