Cymbalta

By admin on August 22, 2011

Cymbalta
Lori Heitman
I was on Cymbalta 90 mg for approximately 4 years. During this time I was also prescribed Temazepam for sleep and Xanax .05 prn for anxiety. I took everything as prescribed but was noticing side effects, such as ”brain zaps” after a late or missed dose. I knew something was wrong but did not know how to go about getting off Cymbalta.
In June 2008 my son found me unconscious on the kitchen floor, with a suicide note at my side. He called 911, but hid the suicide note. This was the start of a 15 day nightmare in the local hospital’s ICU. I was not breathing on arrival & had to be put on a ventilator for two days minimum. From here the details are not clear to me. The hospital called in an addiction specialist, I believe they did a rapid detox with Ativan. This only made me sicker. I was still in the ICU, suffering from extreme hallucinations while i was getting visited from friends and family. I have never been so embarrassed in my life. I was told that on several accounts that my requests for basic needs were denied because I was ”crazy”. When they finally got me off Ativan, I was sent to the psychiatric floor for approximately 36 hours. Upon my release the psychiatrist told me to go home and continue on the medication. The same medication which they had detoxed me for only I knew better and now am completely drug free and have never felt better. I have since tried to get answers about my ordeal, but haave hit a brick wall. Several doctors have told me to forget about it, one local psychiatrist even told me that I should let him hypnotize me so i would forget about the whole ordeal. I would just like my story to be documented in hopes that it might prevent someone else from going through such a horrible ordeal. (162)

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4 responses to “Cymbalta”

Ann Blake-Tracy
December 2, 2011 at 12:44 PM | Permalink

This is how people end up staying on antidepressants 20 years! Their doctors DO NOT know how to get them off safely! This is why I put my CD “Help! I Can’t Get Off My Antidepressant!” (Available on this site) together for patients wanting to know how to safely withdraw from these drugs. IT IS POSSIBLE TO WITHDRAW SAFELY & RETURN TO A NORMAL LIFE AFTER TAKING AN ANTIDEPRESSANT!
Ann Blake-Tracy
December 2, 2011 at 12:34 PM | Permalink

Parkinson like symptoms was the very first reaction noted with SSRI antidepressants. And muscle damage was one of the first reports of adverse reactions. It has long been known that these drugs peoduce both. How sad that your mother has had to suffer so much as a result of these drugs! What has most likely thrown her into a spin of acute reactions is the switching of her medications from Cymbalta to Pristiq. The FDA has warned that ANY abrupt change in dose of an antidepressant, whether going up or down, can produce suicide, hostility, or psychosis – generally a manic psychosis which is why so many end up with a diagnosis or Bipolar Disorder. But these are all withdrawal effects involving toxicity. What was not addressed is all of the PHYSICAL reactions one can have when going abruptly off one medication (all changes with an antidepressant are abrupt since doing so in less time than half the amount of time you have been on the drug is too fast!) to then abruptly go onto another antidepressant can all too often begin an absolute nightmare as the body goes into shock!!! After 20 years of researching antidepressants & working with those having reactions I have concluded that switching from one of these drugs to another is possibly the most dangerous thing one can do. What a shame physicians remain unaware of this!
cindy
November 11, 2011 at 2:37 PM | Permalink

My mother just got put on Pristiq (parent drug is venlafaxine – this is also Effexor) and before that she was taking Cymbalta for years. She has suffered major muscle pain, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, very slow movement, serious tremors, and now she is having problems initiating movement (she has to literally concentrate and tell her leg to move as she walks). I know this sounds as if she has Parkinson’s – but – she ended up in the hospital in January (2011) because she was placed on Methadone for pain and she took a laxative per doctors instructions to prepare herself to go off of Methadone and go on Morphine for pain. It became toxic in her body and her kidneys shut down and her breathing stopped. Her body went into shock. She was in ICU for about a week. After she was moved from ICU, she did not have the strength to feed herself. She went to physical rehab for about 6 weeks (insurance would not pay for longer even though she needed it) and then got rehab at home. She eventually got the the point where her tremors went away and she could walk without assistance. During all of this, her body got a break from the medications. She was placed back on antidepressants as well as blood pressure medication and Hctz (diuretic) and because she tells the doctor that the antidepressant has not been helping – they have increased the dose. Her tremors are worse and she can barely walk WITH a walker (she also has all of the symptoms I mentioned in the beginning – weakness, muscle pain, slow, unsteady gait, etc). I think the drug is causing problems with basal ganglia and motor neurons or even damaging them. I read lots of posts of people having problems with muscle pain. I wonder if anyone else has had serious issues like my mother.
Beckey
November 8, 2011 at 11:52 AM | Permalink

I understand what you where experincing while getting off the medication or missing a dose. I know that when I miss a dose that i experince the brain zaps and a buinch of other things. It is horriable and I also asked my doctor to get off it and she stated that was not a good idea. I have been on 120mg for five years going on six.