cymbalta side-effect & withdrawal

[mzteris]

:rant:

Damn it damn it damn it.

All that "getting used to the damn thing" and I plateaued fairly quickly - again. AND gained a bunch of WEIGHT - again.

Though the damn doc SWORE = SWORE on his Mother's grave - that he knew of NO ONE who had EVER GAINED WEIGHT on CYMBALTA! And - in FACT - everyone he'd prescribed had LOST WEIGHT!

Well - guess what jack - you know someone now.

I was on Fluoextine - plateaued - moderate weight gain - and switched to Cymbalta 30 to 60 in about 2 weeks. I've gained 11 pounds since January, 5 pounds in the 2 weeks after bumping to 60. And it's not working. Amotivation. blah blah frickin' blah.

So I'm quitting. Damn fricking drugs. Now I've got the brain zaps. And the weird f'ing dreams. And I've started feeling achy already and it's only been about a day. aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhh......

I don't really need the depression meds right now - but anxiety - yeah - I'm going back to my Inositol and B complexl vitamins.

If I can just get through the next few weeks. I have a few 30mgs left I'm going to try and dole out - whenever the zaps get too bad. Hopefully I can start EO day for a few days (though don't know if I can get through today/night w/o) - and then every two then every three - but I don't know if I have enough.

I'm wondering whether I should call the doc and let him know. He'll probably panic. He thinks I'm a whack job anyway. lol.... I think he just hates having an "informed patient" who doesn't blindly believe every damn word he says.

[bling bling]

1. Sounds like a nightmare.

I've been there just a couple of years ago. One of the worst time of my life, hands down. I was on Effexor, though. Doc told me it was "weight neutral." I promptly gained like 40 pounds in 2 months. It worked for a while and then it's like I became allergic to it or something, I was worse ON the meds. My doctor didn't believe me when I told her that I never felt rested, I slept ridiculous amounts of hours on the weekends and still never felt better. Night sweats, crazy dreams. She insisted it couldn't be the medication. It must be that I'm not really depressed, but that I have bipolar disorder. I refused to start any meds for this because I vehemently disagreed with the diagnosis. I *never* had manic episodes of any form. She insisted it wasn't necessary and that one of her patients had bipolar his whole life and didn't have his first manic episode until he was almost 60 years old. Whatever. I told her I'm going off the Effexor. She made me sign a form that said if I killed myself it wasn't her fault.

Fine.

So I just quit it cold turkey all by myself. I just wanted off. But it was hell. I had vertigo, brain zaps, nausea, and an over-all 'sicky' feeling for over a month and I didn't recover from the fog for about 4 months. I found a couple of discussion boards where other people were dealing with the same thing and I was shocked to see how many of them were out there going through this horrible withdrawal, even the ones who tapered off.

Anyway, as far as drugs go I think some people must just be more sensitive to SSRI's or SNRI's than others. I'm technically not allergic to anything. And with pretty much all of the prescription and over the counter drugs I've taken in my life, I've managed to escape whatever side effects are listed for the drug. That just isn't the case for me with anti-depressants. I've also taken Wellbutrin by itself and it just contributed to some major irrational anger and rage and that was tremendously unsettling. I had some withdrawal issues even with Wellbutrin and had to taper.

There's no doubt that anti-depressant medication is the answer for some people. No doubt at all. But for others, like me, it doesn't seem to be such a good fit.

[no name no slogan]

2. My doc said the same thing about Paxil

this is back in 1994, before they knew much about it. I gained 80 lbs on it overall-- from 140 to 220 at my max. I wasn't able to take it off, even after I switched to Effexor in 1997.

I think weight gain is a problem with any SSRI/SNRI for many people. Unfortunately they don't report on it a whole lot. :(