Posted by barbaracat on February 23, 2005, at 12:27:32
In reply to Re: Cymbalta from a BP-II - dose question » barbaracat, posted by Ritch on February 22, 2005, at 22:53:18
HI Rick,
What alchemists we become on this stuff. I noticed some definite pressure in the head with 30mg Cym and my ears were pounding so intraocular pressure sounds about right. I felt my eyes were staring and somewhat bulged so again, some kind of pressure.You'll be interested to hear that I've been taking 3 individual grains of the stuff and feeling the effects quite strongly. Not nearly as unpleasantly because the uncomfortable body cramping and weird anxiety aren't there to such an extent - but still there. My pupils dilate and I feel the psychedelic effects only much less so. I get a period of maudlin grief where I have to release tears but then it feels better. I'm waking up feeling much less morning depression. I truly think these 3 grains are affecting me and that goes beyond amazing. How could this be? It is most definitely not my imagination because of the very distinct set of symptoms (dilated eyes for one).
I don't know how long I can expect to go on such a miniscule dose (3 friggin' little individual grains!) but maybe we need much less of this stuff than anyone can imagine. Certainly not 30mg!
I wonder about all that tention stuff in the neck and throat from SSRIs. It was a definite experience when I used to do LSD so it's got to be a serotonin activity. I just find it interesting and curious how and where these drugs affect us. Always nice to hear from you, Rich and wish you the best. - Barbara
> > 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).
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> > > 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.....
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> 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:barbaracat
thread:460241
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050222/msgs/462265.html