142 replies to this topic

[albergo11]

I've been off of this poision for 6 weeks now.  I did NOT anticipate this awful withdrawl experience, and promptly fired my doctor after week 5.  What type of sick, twisted, messed up people would put patients on a medication that is more difficult to withdraw from than heroine?  Seriously, I've withdrew from Benzos after 5 years of treatment, and this is actually very close to competing with that withdrawl experience.  The benzos lasted 2 months, and that asshole I call a doctor prescribed me this medication without warning me of the withdrawls.  This isn't the whole story - but what I can say has helped me with the headaches and the dizzyness, and the difficulty thinking are 2 things:  5 HTP and benadryl.  I also take a ton of fish oil and vitamin supplements now.

 

If you are going to think about taking this drug, DO NOT DO IT!!!!  Not even if you have exhausted all other options should this drug be prescribed, it should be illegal like crystal meth or heroine.  The worst and most guilty people behind all of our misery are the assholes at Eli Lilly and the FDA for actually allowing this medication to be prescribed to innocent people.

 

THIS IS NO PROZAC OR ZOLOFT - not even PAXIL!!  This will literally bring you to your knees, and make your life worse than when you started.

 

DO NOT START THIS DRUG!!!!  I've never experienced the hopelessness associated with the lack of abbeting withdrawl symptoms as I have with this poison.   DO NOT TRUST YOUR DOCTOR - HE/SHE will LIE TO YOU JUST SO YOU CAN GET ON THIS DRUG!!

 

 

I may seem sensational, but I'm serious.  After this experience, I'm never going on any other psych med or seeking psych treatment - I'd rather live with the anxiety and depression and go through hell for 2-6 months.  

 

Don't think you are going to be one of the lucky people who can get off of cymbalta in 2 weeks.  If you are like me and the rest of the folks on this board who are suffering, your life will be changed for at least a long time - maybe even years.  STAY AWAY FROM THIS POISON!!

 

 

That being said - cymbalta was also the most effective antidepressant in terms of sexual side effects - and it did immediately alleviate my symptoms of depression and anxiety.  But...but...but...the withdrawl has taken almost half as long as I was on the medication.   This is a lesson I will never forget, and no longer will I seek "western medical" treatments for my depression - I'd rather just be miserable and anxious than go through this hell withdrawl ever again.  The uncertainty of ever being normal again is by far the worst part - I was on Cymbalta for 4.5 months, so I'm praying to God that the short duration has spared me permanent withdrawl symptoms.  So far they seem to be getting better - I can see distant objects, and even make out colors.  I still get daily headaches but I can deal with that with benadryl and 5-HTP. 

 

 

Ugh...so frustrated, just so frustrated at my doctor and the misleading claims for cymbalta.  If they had warned me that the withdrawls could take up to 6 months, do you think I would have taken it?  MAYBE, but at least I would not be lead on by false promises and lies!  That's the worst part of this experience! 

 

Ugh!  It's getting better, but I want my brain back - I want to be able to walk around my yard and look at trees without getting a migrane headache.  I'm sure it will go away - but how long!?  How long must I suffer for beleiving their lies? 

[chimera]

poor Albergo11, yes you're also one of the unluckier ones who are having a rougher longer ride withdrawal wise. it's very positive that you are noticing some improvement, though I know it's so frustrating at the slowness of it all. 

it creates a lot of anger during withdrawal, the unfairness of it. the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that I was not the only one by far, but yes I raged too at it. 

I noticed a brain zap yesterday, had not had one for a few weeks, but thought 'really?! after over 3 months?!' I know it'll go eventually but it annoyed me immensely lol.

[Drivesidewayz]

I quit three days ago off of 60mg cold turkey. I thought I was going crazy with the electrical flashes. I didn't know if they were real or I was losing my mind. I didn't know this was a documented thing.
I forgot to bring my medication with me on a trip and stopped by accident. After feeling the way I do, I did an Internet search about cymbalta and found this site.
Sorry about my rambling. This is my first post. Thank you for affirming I'm not crazy.

Anyone who has experienced this:
How long does it last?
How bad can it get? It's pretty bad now. Thank you all.

[chimera]

I quit three days ago off of 60mg cold turkey. I thought I was going crazy with the electrical flashes. I didn't know if they were real or I was losing my mind. I didn't know this was a documented thing.
I forgot to bring my medication with me on a trip and stopped by accident. After feeling the way I do, I did an Internet search about cymbalta and found this site.
Sorry about my rambling. This is my first post. Thank you for affirming I'm not crazy.

Anyone who has experienced this:
How long does it last?
How bad can it get? It's pretty bad now. Thank you all.

Hi Drivesidewayz,

have you got your medication with you now, are you home? cold turkey is darn hard from 30mg, and definitely not advisable from 60, poor you no wonder you're feeling so bad! 60mg cold turkey is really not recommended.

first thing to do, is resume the 60mg. if you do want to come off it, then go back up, but to 30. that way you'll have just made one drop. you'll still notice withdrawal symptoms, but they won't be as severe as what you are feeling now, and you'll feel some relief pretty quickly.

stabilise on this until you feel more normal again. this might take a few weeks, as you'll still have made a decrease, just not as sharp a one.

then, and only then, you can taper down to zero. the bead counting method is best for a gentler withdrawal if you can. if you look through past threads on here, there's a lot on how to do this safely. 

people often find the jump down from 60 to 30, bad but not as problematic as the last drop. that's why the gentler tapering method is advisable. 

it is doable without the tapering, but if you can take your time on it, do! it'll make things a lot more comfortable for you. once off, the withdrawal effects generally last 3 weeks or so, then you should notice an improvement. even if it's slow.

general things you might experience (but not everyone does, so don't be alarmed, this is just for completeness) are dizziness, nausea, head zaps, skin tingling/burning, crying, anger. but again look through the threads and there are ways to ease this.

hope this helps

[Drivesidewayz]

I left my pills 300 miles away on a trip out of town sadly. Heading back in the next hour though.

[Drivesidewayz]

I feel all those symptoms.

[pammynmbr2]

I forgot to take my Cymbalta yesterday. Two doses a day of 60mg and I feel horrible. I didn't realize it could be from the Cymbalta until I looked up my symptoms also. Six years of this crap and I lost it today. I was going to admit myself to the hospital because I was having suicidal thoughts and thought about hurting others. I found this site and decided tomorrow is the day I start to ween myself off. I'm scared of what is going to happen. I'm going through a divorce and my husband took everything. All the money, house, and so my doctor put me on more Cymbalta, lunesta, and zanax. On top of the vicodin I take because of my cronic back problems. I get pain injections every month. I have sever anxiety, crying spells, anger, just to name a few. I woke up this afternoon and didn't even know where I was. I wonder should I go to the hospital and stay there until my withdrawls are gone?

[albergo11]

Update, it's now 8 weeks since I stopped 10mg of cymbalta, and the symptoms are still present.  This last week has been one with some improvement:  I can actually see depth and can converse with people without getting migraine headaches.  I'm not even close to normal, though.  I sort of look back at how I was before treatment, and yearn for the depression and anxiety that I used to have.  Sometimes I'll get a window of anxiety and depression, and I love it, and wish that it would last, but it goes away.  It's sort of like a cloudy month, where the sun occasionally shines through, and you wish it would last forever, but it gets swallowed up by the interminable clouds, while the rain resumes.

I only wonder how many other people are currently on the drug, and have yet to experience the withdrawl symptoms which literally seem to never end.  I think at the end of 2 months of not being able to see colors normally, and percieve depth, my life has been dramatically altered in ways that may take years to actually realize.  And imagine, my symtoms are from taking this poison for just 4.5 months...  What about those folks that have been on this stuff for YEARS?   This is a remarkably powerful drug, that should not be touted as a simple antidepressant.  When I described my anxiety and depression to my doctor, I wish I would have realized that his treatment would be such a long term ordeal.

 

From what I can glean from my ex-doctor and from the message boards and research online, the most efficient way to get off of this poison is to switch from Cymbalta to Prozac, and then wait until things get stable, and then slowly wean off of prozac.  It's a shame that I had to go on vacation 1 month into this ordeal - if my doctor had not been so self absorbed, maybe he would have given me Prozac to get off of this poison, but instead he just let me dangle in the wind as my brain attempted to correct the damage that Cymbalta produced.

 

Anyways, I think I'm getting towards the end of the cymbalta withdrawl ordeal, because each day seems to show some improvements.  This is in stark contrast to previous 7 weeks, which generally did not show any improvements, and sometimes the symptoms got even worse.       

[fishinghat]

So glad you are finally doing better Albergo. You have had a tough battle. Things should keep improving now and hopefully a few months from now it will be a dim memory. I agree with all you said about this drug. Can you believe they are selling $1.5 Billion  of this medicine a month? A lot of people out there who have to look forward to a lot of heartaches. Now in Dec a cheaper generic will be available. Even more people will be on it. Sad.

 

Good luck and let us know how you progress!!

[buzzbuzz]

AGREED!!!!! So true. I'm 4 months Cymbalta-free, and I will NEVER, NEVER take that drug again!

 

 

ITHIS IS NO PROZAC OR ZOLOFT - not even PAXIL!!  This will literally bring you to your knees, and make your life worse than when you started.

 

DO NOT START THIS DRUG!!!!  I've never experienced the hopelessness associated with the lack of abbeting withdrawl symptoms as I have with this poison.   DO NOT TRUST YOUR DOCTOR - HE/SHE will LIE TO YOU JUST SO YOU CAN GET ON THIS DRUG!!

 

 

I may seem sensational, but I'm serious.  After this experience, I'm never going on any other psych med or seeking psych treatment - I'd rather live with the anxiety and depression and go through hell for 2-6 months.  

 

 

 

[tdgregory]

I have tried 3 times previously to get off Cymbalta without success.  The brain zaps did me in every time.  This time, when I researched new ways to try again, I ran across a web site, TRB Health products.  I have been using their products and methods and so far have tapered down from 90 mg to 25 mg in 2 months.  Every other day I count out 5 more beads that the last 2 days.  The first day is a little dizzy, but the second day is good.  From 90 mg down to 30 mg was actually a breeze.  Below 30 mg has been much more challenging.  I had hoped to be off of it by the time school started, but don't think I will make it.  Looks like I will be at this a couple more months.  BUT the TRB products have helped tremendously!  And they sell via Amazon.com, (thankgoodness for the credit card)  So overall, it will take me 4 to 6 months to get completely off.

[sk8mom]

Hi

I had found their web site and was wondering about this_ I had not heard many people talk about these supplements, although you are now the second person to come on here and mention good results with them, might be worth looking into - I am starting to wean in a couple of weeks....

[albergo11]

Hello,

 

Update:  Week 9.  I hate to say it, but my symptoms are still present.  I've read around the web that 3 months is not unusual.  I really don't beleive that these symptoms will go away in less than 6 months for me, probably longer.  I say this becuase my anxiety levels are quite low, which indicates serious changes in my brain chemistry.  Last time I was off of medication, my anxiety came back quite quickly, and it was very bad.  This time, it seems to be gone, and replaced by a "zombie like" state of non-emotion.  I seriously believe that my brain has serious damage from this medication that may or may not ever come back. 

 

I have never felt so hopeless and miserable, and never felt a better justification for taking my life than I do right now.  I mean, what's the point of living if you have perminant brain damage?  The weird part is that my depression is not the same - I seem to be this walking zombie that feels no depression or anixety, but only has a slow brain that can sometimes process information well enough to make the correct decisions.

 

My entire life has been changed from this poison, and I fear that I'm not the only one.  I just wanted to post here, because today has been very bad.  I tried reading for an assignment in school, and really noticed how much worse my cognitive function is now compared to before I took the medication.  I would die for my previous symptoms to return, the anxiety and depression that made me who I am.  The tragedy of this experience will never be forgotten, and I will never trust a pharmeceutical company ever again for the rest of my life.  If my brain ever returns to normal (which I suppose may take well over a year at this rate), I will have been perminantly altered and really have no idea how to discuss this with anyone.  It feels like a private hell that is experienced by only a few people. 

 

I would much rather withdrawl from benzodiazapines than from this stuff.  At least the benzodiazapines eventually get out of your system, and after 3 months or so, your body returns to normal.  This stuff - it's perminant.

 

Even when I was on the medication, my brain was all messed up, but I just assumed when I got off of it, my brain would return to normal.  Wrong.  This stuff perminantly changed my brain.  I will be one of those poor bastards on a youtube video 2 years later, complaining about how I wish I was normal again.  What a way to end life as I knew it.  I just can't beleive what's happening to me, I feel like I've had a stroke.  I just can't beleive it, I just can't beleive it!  I'm only 27 years old, yet I feel like I'm 80 or 90. 

[fishinghat]

Albergo 11, don't give up hope. Some research showed it can take up to 12 months for some people. This medicine took away all and I mean all sexual function and interest from me. There was zilch. Now six months later there has been a slight return to action (for lack of a better word). You are right though, I think this stuff can have long term even permanent effects. But you are only 27 so I would think that your chances would to recover would be better than I a 60 year old. And beside, remember your family needs you and your freinds need you. Be patient. I may be a couple more months. Hang in there.

[albergo11]

Thank you so much for the encouraging words.  I sent that doctor an email and asked him to prescribe me some prozac.  I have to go back to work in 2 days, and my cognitive function was just awful.  So the doctor got me a prescription for 10mg of prozac.  Now, I wanted to be free from these poisons forever, but considering it's long half life, and that I've literally tried almost every single remedy that I can think of (NSAIDS, exercise, benadryl, caffeine, nicotine, omega 3s, vitamins, 5 HTP), aside from drinking alcohol, or doing illegal drugs - I was desperate.  So I took the 10mg this afternoon, and I haven't seen too much of an improvement yet.  I'll keep you updated, but I suspect it will help at least enough to improve my cognitive function.

 

Yes, I'll have to withdraw from prozac, and deal with the sexual side effects from yet another poison, but hopefully I'll have my cognitive function at least slightly back to normal, while my body heals from the damage done by Cymbalta.  Once I'm done with work in a month, I'll just get off of the prozac too, and deal with the withdrawls of both prozac, and the lingering cymbalta - but will have bought myself a month where I can function at a level which allows me to make an income. 

 

Who would have thought that Cymbalta would do this?  Not I.  I've been on and off of like 6 different types of SSRIs before, and I didn't have more than 2 weeks of withdrawl symptoms from any of them.  Then I get on cymbalta, and 2 months are down the tube (not including the other 4.5 months of being on the poison).  Hopefully my body will react to prozac the same way it used to, that is, with a relatively short window of withdrawl effects (no more than a week), without any of the hell associated with dizzyness and cognitive impairment which defined my experience with cymbalta withdrawl.

 

So today is actually week 8.5, and at this point I've decided out of utter desperation to go onto an SSRI with a longer half life to try to restore my seretonin levels to the point where I can at least think well enough to perform high-order cognitive tasks. 

 

I'm not too hopeful, but knowing that I'm not the only one going through this detestable experience gives me at least enough strength to keep going.  I really never realized how powerful these medications were until Cymbalta, and maybe this is a good lesson for me.  I don't know if this is totally true, but from the evidence I could gather, these "legal drugs" are actually more powerful than most "illegal drugs" (I suppose crystal meth is the only one that takes more than 6 months to withdraw from).  Let's examine what I just said:  Cymbalta has worse withdrawls than drugs such as pain killers, heroine, and alcohol.  Yet it's actually encouraged!!!

 

I hope that my posts in the future are more hopeful, and encouraging, but right now I'm so scared for my future that all evidence of hope has been dashed away from my thoughts. 

[Charliebrown70]

Tapered to 15 mg and even going from that to nothing hasn't been easy, 2nd day of nine, and emotionally not too bad, but the brain zaps are driving me crazy! I've started taking omega fish oil 1000mg in the morning and evening, evening primrose oil the same amounts and vitamin b complex daily. Is there anything else out there anyone can recommend?? If I'd known tapering would have still been this hard, don't know why I bothered! Am going away with my boyfriend and son on Saturday, and family are coming too, and really want to be drug free for that :-) x

[albergo11]

It's 10 weeks now, and the dizzyness is a little better.  I switched doctors and will now start to get second opinions.  I was only on this stuff for 4.5 months, so I'm confident that it will eventually get better.  How long that takes is anyone's guess.  I suspect it will be many months before I even feel slightly normal again.  I'm going to probably switch to a different anti depressant, I simply can't function without anything at all - cymbalta ruined my life and thank god I was only on it for 4.5 months, otherwise it could have killed me.

[albergo11]

I realize my last post said 8 weeks, but it was actually week 9.  I was actually 2 weeks ahead of where I thought I was.  Good riddance.  The best news I can think of is that I do not see too many posts on these forums of people who are suffering for too much longer than 6 months.  It looks like the side effects from the withdrawls are NOT perminant.

[Bronya]

My withdrawal symptoms are similar to others:
Emotional outbursts, aggravation, uncontrollable rage, mood swings;
Brain zaps, heart palpitations, vertigo;
Severe body and joint aches, headaches, ear/jaw aches;
Insomnia, feeling feverish, chills, flu like symptoms;
Manic ups and downs, feeling energized then sluggish, more OCD than usual.

Tomorrow morning will be 14 days cold turkey. I went down from 60 to 30 then 30 every other day then off over 2 months. It is not getting easier and I am exhausted. I work full time in my own business and that is so very hard but a helpful distraction. Kids, family, rescue dogs, oh my!

I bought L-Theanine, B100, Omega 3 all from Whole Foods.
What are the proper dosages and times to take them? PLEASE HELP!

[CLTURPIN]

I am sooooooo not looking forward to getting off this medication. I have experienced it's demons firsthand after deliberately avoiding the medication for 5 days while preparing for nerve testing on my legs and spine. This medication is no joke. It is dangerous. Very dangerous.

[buzzbuzz]

I took my last cymbalta pill back in March. I have been having a terrible time with mid-day depression while on vacation. I feel so guilty about this. My husband is wonderful, I have a good job, family and friends who love me, and I just want to die...now...

[fishinghat]

Did this just start buzzbuzz? or has this been going on since March?

[buzzbuzz]

No, this feeling started a few days ago. I am on this beautiful vacation with my loving husband and I am in abject misery. I can't stop crying. Thanks for responding fishinghat....it's nice to know someone is out there....

[fishinghat]

Hey Buzz Buzz. I just left another post for you. If this just started a few days ago something had to set it off. These neurotransmitters don't just screw up for nothing. If you family is supportive you might set down with them and see if they have noticed anything lately that might be the trigger. People on the outside looking in sometimes see more clearly than we do when we are having problems. I am so sorry you are having problems and wish I could do something to help. Sorry

[albergo11]

Update:  It's been around 11 weeks since my last cymbalta pill.  My doctor who got me into this mess put me on prozac to help abate the symptoms.  It helps, I can function enough to work and might actually keep my job.  The prozac took about a week to kick in, but my thinking is restored to a relatively acceptable state and my headaches are less severe.  I have no depression or anxiety, but the sexual side effects are quite awful. 

 

If anyone has recently gotten off cymbalta without switching to prozac, I would highly recommend making this switch with your doctor.  The protracted withdrawls from this medication are just devestating, and although prozac is pretty lame, it's better to be on 10mg or 20mg of prozac then totally dysfunctional.

 

I'm anxious as hell about how long I will have to stay on this shit - but prozac is fairly benign compared to the awful Cymbalta with it's rediculously short half-life.  My doctor said 4-8 weeks of prozac, then go from 20-10mg of prozac, then off completely and I should be fine.

 

I don't think the doctor's even realize how bad cymbalta is, but the prozac intervention seems to be acceptable even if they can't explain why it's necessary.  I'm hoping that my thinking will be restored to it's normal state, and the headaches will go away forever, but who knows.  I just felt like it was necessary for me to give you an update since my last posts were pretty depressing.

 

Prozac helps!  Take it!  Then get off all of it!

[fishinghat]

Amen to that las t comment. I am glad you are doing better too. Hang in there and good luck with kicking everything in the future. Keep us posted.

[albergo11]

Update:  it's been 4 months since I stopped taking cymbalta.  The dizzyness is gone, which is a relief.  I stopped taking the prozac because it was creating analgesic effects throughout my body that were extremely worrysome, and it's been 3.5 weeks since that point.  I had also been taking Norco pain medication for my shoulder, due to a surgery that had some complications, and stopped taking that about 5 days ago.

 

I can't really tell if the withdrawls from the norco are causing it, or if its still the cymbalta, but my cognitive processes are still not right.  I have noticed improvements, mild ones, in most areas of my cognition, but I can't tell if its going to last since I keep having various confounding factors influence my recovery.

 

Either way, I'm guessing that many of the cognitive effects that I'm feeling are associated with cymbalta withdrawl, since they started when I was taking cymbalta before any of the confounding variables. 

 

The way to describe it is:  my working memory, and concentration are impaired.  I have read that there are such things as Post-Acute-withdrawl-symptoms, that are commonly observed in illicit mediation use (opiates, alcohol, etc), which can take generally 6 months to 2 years to clear up.  To be honest, I think that's what I'm experiencing, since most of the effects of cymbalta are quite similar to those induced by "illicit" medications.   The good news is that these more subtle withdrawl symptoms do eventually go away, the bad news is that it can take an extremely long time.

 

I would love to get off of the last psyc med - adderall - that I'm still taking, but the withdrawls from that are even more debilitating for my schoolwork than cymbalta.  I have vowed to myself this:  once I graduate from school, I am off everything for good.  Prescription medication generally works quite well for me, within the first 1-3 months to 1 year, but then the effects produce diminishing returns, and actually reverse all the "progress" I made when I was taking them - even if exactly as prescribed.

 

I'm waiting for good things to start happening - I've had now 4-5 months of just utter hell, and I'm really desperate for my perception of reality to stop being so awful.  I know this is not depression - it doesn't feel the same, this feels like I'm hung over, rather than sad and feeling despondent.  It feels like my body is overcoming some illness, rather than my old sense of discontent that I could easily label as "depression".  

 

One very good thing from all of this:  I will NEVER go on psyc meds again.  I just happen to take adderall because my body has developed physical dependence on the garbage, and my entire life is propped up by the stuff - but once I graduate, that too will have to go.  I expect extreme hardship when I get off the adderall, but I'd rather be homeless than a slave to a pharmeceutical company.  Where will I go when I cannot function because of medication withdrawls?  I'm scared, and my future has never looked so scary, but I see no benefit of taking medications, the long term side effects only seem to be negative.

 

Overall, I'm better, but still not back to how I was before cymbalta.  Hopefully, in 1-2 more months, my brain will slowly regain those functions that I lost when I decided to poison it with this garbage.

[Ape]

Good luck albergo 11. I am still in cymbalta I just start stabilize in it. But I hope to withdrawal from cymbalta before 2014 and hopefully from Ativan the end of 2014. But I really hope not to have so many withdrawal

[albergo11]

Hey folks.  It's been a little over 4 months since my last dose of cymbalta.  As I mentioned in my previous posts, at around 2.5 months, I took prozac 10-20mg for 1 month and stopped taking that 1 month ago.  I also was taking 5-10mg of hydrocodone almost daily for 1.25 months due to physical therapy associated with a SLAP tear in my right shoulder, which I stopped taking approximately 14 days ago (those withdrawals were bad, but NOTHING close to the HELL of cymbalta).

 

I am posting good news for the first time in 4 months.  Although my symptoms are still present (cognitive challenges, memory issues, some twitiching, lack of inhibitions, a bit of depersonalization), my symptoms have DRASTICALLY improved in the last week. 

 

I am able to see details again, and have essentially no dizzyness at all.  My vision is still messed up a bit, but not too much, and I have some issues with cognitition which are really frustrating, but compared to my completely non-functional state of continued misery over the past 4 months, my new reality is greatly preferred.

 

I had a strange anxiety attack last night, which was a welcome change - the fact that I have anxiety means that my brain is returning to its baseline state.  Prior to cymbalta, I had pretty nasty anxiety.

 

It seems like improvements occurred very slowly, and then all of a sudden got better in a matter of 1 week.  I've read similar accounts from various other SSRI and SNRIs with short half lives.

 

What have I been doing:  I exercise at least 3-4X per week, and importantly I keep using my brain, even though produces headaches that can make my eyes hurt very badly.  I've been forcing my brain to work, and keep trying to memorize details and facts that I remember that I was once able to do without much difficulty.  This seems to have allowed me to turn the corner, altough it really hurts my brain to do these tasks.  It's similar to weight training, and I'm just grateful that I was able to get these functions back at all.

 

I'll keep you updated, but now I'm even more confident in a near full recovery within the next few months than I have been in the past.

 

The key is patience.  Don't off yourself (trust me, I thought about it many times), and explain to your employers if necessary the situation - you may lose respect, but you won't lose your job (hopefully).  Interestingly, I am noticing old thought patterns, and memories - my visual memory is dramatically improved, and creativity tasks like visualization and artistic rendering skills are improving at steady rates (if they could be quantified).

 

Have hope, and if possible switch to prozac - prozac made a masssive difference in the time course of my withdrawals, and if you live in the USA or a country with access to prozac, take that stuff, build a steady state (continue taking it for 2-4 weeks), and then slowly taper off.  I am experiencing some withdrawal effects from prozac, but seriously, compared to the devestation of cymbalta withdrawals, these symptoms are a walk in the park.

 

I am grateful - but also very nervous about my brain processing all the information it had not been capable of perceiving for the past 4-8 months of being on this poison.  I know I will get through it, but it's really hard to deal with anger, sadness, happyness, and anxiety again.  My inhibitions are slowly coming back - I avoided most social situations lest I do something irreparable, whereas now I seem to be able to process fear and have some capacity to make rational decisions.

 

One thing is for damn certain:  I will never take another SSRI, SNRI, anti-psycotic, or any other bullshit psych medication that doctors claim to understand, for the rest of my life (unless someone literally knocks me out and forces it down my throat).  In reality, doctors and big pharama (the real culprits here) are completely clueless about how these poisons work.  Doctors may mean well, but they are rediculously uninformed. 

 

Screw big pharma.

[fishinghat]

You said it all Albergo11. Right on!!