Posted by lorena on December 11, 2005, at 16:05:32
In reply to Re: Cymbalta withdrawal, posted by LinnieLoo55 on April 28, 2005, at 9:22:54
Hello everyone,
First of all, I am happy because I found this website, so I can share with everyone my experiences.First of all my personal opinion is that there is no pill to fix our problems, I think that medicine can help you, it can be a start, but it won't give you the peace of mind that we all need.
I move to the US because I married an American, before that I had a job and great friends in my native country, but I didn't get along with my family, my dad passed away and my beloved grandmother. When I got to the US, I was homesick, with no job, depression took over, and not only my husband had left to India for about 2 months due to work but also I had panic attacks, depression, and anxiety. I went to see a Dr. who didn't know anything of the situation and prescribe pills to sleep and send me to see the family physician that prescribed 30 mg of Cymbalta on a daily basis and told me I should take that during my whole life. When I was told that, I started wondering why I was having those issues; I researched on my family looking for people with some kind of mental illness but didn’t find anything. My biological dad is still alive and in good health, my mom has high blood pressure, but that’s it. I am an electronic engineer, I may not know that much about medicine, but I knew that I had gone thru a lot, somehow I had hopes of things getting better and that I was not going to be on medications forever, at least not for depression issues. I have to say I am catholic, I may not go to church every Sunday but I believe that there will always be someone out there with a good heart. My husband in the very beginning wasn't that supportive, because he was scared, he put a lot of pressure on me to follow the Dr.'s advice to take the medications. I agreed on taking Cymbalta after talking to some friends who took other kinds of Antidepressants for a month or two and then were able to move on with life without medication. But in my situation, I was way scare to stop taking it and to continue on it as well. With my husband gone my deepest fear was to die alone in a foreign country, not even having my husband by my side. I would tell him, I need to see people I need to go out, I miss home and my friends, but for him all that was hard to understand since he felt at home and he is not a social person. Time passed by as slow as it can be when things are not going as well as expected, and I continued to take 30mg of Cymbalta, at the beginning I didn't know if the side effects were because of the medication or because my anxiety and panics attack, I though I was going crazy. But deep inside I knew I was good, I never though on hurting someone or myself. At some point I wanted kind of disappear from the planet I felt that I wasn't myself, and that was a horrible feeling. But slowly I just got acceptance and started to interact with my in laws and made an effort to take one day at a time. And things got better, I went to a therapist not the best one I have to say, but that brought back to my life some sanity. So far I've been on Cymbalta for about 10 months, 30 mg daily, and then I decided it was time to get off the pill because I feel as a pill slave, whenever I forget taking it, I felt weird, weak, dizzy etc, Thanks God I decided to don't take pills to sleep, I told myself at some point my body will be tired and I will fall asleep. I talked to my family Dr., and told him about the sexual side effects, and the low or none libido I had. And he agreed that I should try to see how it goes without the medication now that my life has come to a more normal basis, I got a job, have a small support network (2 or 3 friends). I started taking Cymbalta on and off, (mon yes, tues no, wed yes thurs no etc..) It took my body a week to realize the new doses it would get. And then I was fine, I was doing that for a month, and then I decided that it was time to stop. I had a lot of stress on when it will happen, but I decide that I was to continue to focus on my daily activities and the day that I forget about it that was day I would start taking the pill. So far I've been off Cymbalta since Tuesday Dec 6th, the 9th my body realized it didn't get the 20mg, and the symptoms started. I feel little weak, but it comes as a wave that goes quickly and then I am normal I feel ok, but then there is again. I've had a little of diarrhea, I think it is more because I am kind of concern but really nothing that bad. I have to say at this moment my husband is traveling for work, out of the country, and I have to work and rely on myself and my closest friends for support. Every once in a while I would go online to check on the withdrawal symptoms of cymbalta but I decided not to do that often because sometimes we can find really bad stuff out there not necessary true or related to the side effects of the medication. I wanted to tell you all my background so you can have a better understanding of my particular case, and hopefully it will be helpful. At this moment I feel good, I am happy with life, and have a lot of goals that I look forward to accomplish. I am also aware that it was my decision to get off the medication. I know it hasn't been easy, but with positive thinking and peace of mind I think we all can move forward in life. My advice to anyone coming off of this medication or any other antidepressants medication is to take one day at a time, know that the easy way is just go back to the medication. But if we are looking for long lasting results, and we really want to take our body, we need to go through this withdrawal time as relaxed as possible, and looking forward for the long lasting results of coming out of the medication. I am also looking forward to go back to the gym, and continue to go out with friends and talk about silly stuffs and life and have a good time. I’ve read working out, and doing stuff that we enjoy increase help having the chemicals in our brain balanced, that along with a good diet. I think about all the people out there who have gone thru a lot in life but they didn't even have the money or the time to go and get a prescription of happy pills (refer to antidepressants) to be fixed, instead they had to fight and they still do to survive on a daily basis, to bring home food. I think that for all those people out there who besides their big time problems, still are willing to put up with it and make it happen somehow, we should be able to keep going and do the best that we can to handle these rough times, and finally get off antidepressants. May God bless you all, and I'll keep you posted on how I feel after 2 weeks off the medication.
poster:lorena
thread:466069
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20051018/msgs/588117.html