Okay, here goes (fun fun fun - NOT!) ….
SIDE EFFECTS:
Extreme fatigue (originally only in the afternoon, then, constant)
Massive weight gain of 60+ lbs (20+ in 1st year, 40 within 5 months of 2nd year--30 of which were in a 5 WEEK period)
Severe headaches, some with eye pain, felt like eyes were burning
Diarrhea, usually in the morning, many times without any notice--MANY accidents
Diminished sex drive/inability to orgasm
Depression
Time distortion, absolutely no concept of time
Memory problems, short term worse
Concentration problems
Very spacey, felt sedated most of the time
Lethargy/Anhedonia, completely lost interest in anything I enjoyed doing
Lack of excitement about anything/numb, no feelings, just completely flat emotionally
Lack of motivation, lazy both mentally and physically
Isolation/agoraphobic, I didn't want to be seen, avoided leaving house whenever possible
Withdrew from friends and family, became a recluse even in my own house
Lack of personal hygiene
Disturbed sleep pattern, nightmares (screaming that woke up my husband), never woke up feeling well-rested
Extremely vivid dreams
Very sensitive to light and sound
GI problems, bad bloating--felt like I was going to explode
Overall health declined: sick frequently
Sweating (started off as just night sweats then became constant)
Paranoia
Burning cheeks/face
Restless legs
Muscle tightening in my jaw and neck, intermittent abdominal muscle tightening (could have been twitching?)
Joint pain/body aches
Numb hands/feet as well as edema
Toe/foot cramps, twitching toes
Shooting/zapping pains all over, worse in toes and on bottoms of feet up inner thigh and/or back of leg to buttocks
Intermittent shooting/zapping from shoulders down inner arm to hands
Intermittent brain zaps
Intermittent slurred speech, like my tongue got thick
Some agitation/irritability
Some rage
Intermittent disorientation
Intermittent vision problems
Intermittent dizziness/lightheadedness
Intermittent nausea
Lost some sense of smell and taste
Intermittent numb/cold sensations on skin (mostly on back)
OCD-like behavior
Spending/shopping out of control
In doing a time line, I’ve noticed that most of these started or worsened after dose change or when I was switched to the generic and most are now basically gone (unless listed below).
WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS SO FAR:
Very shaky, severe dizziness/vertigo
Severe Nausea
Severe headaches, mostly in temples, pulling across forehead and/or on top of head
Severe neck/back pain, joint pain/body aches
Severe itchy/crawling skin
Very sensitive to/bothered by smells
Tightness across my chest
Hot flashes/sweating
Intermittent upset stomach, diarrhea
Intermittent blurry vision
Intermittent racing heart feeling
Irrational fears, suddenly afraid of the dark (if go to bed before hubby need to leave light on)
Intermittent slamming noises while falling asleep
Intermittent depression/mood swings, crying, increase in irritability/anxiety
Intermittent fleeting suicidal thoughts/feelings of hopelessness
Some energy swings
Some disorientation
Some Brain Zaps
Shooting/zapping pains in toes and on bottoms of feet up leg
Some cold chills/shivering along with chest muscle tightening
Increased sex drive
Personal hygiene getting better
Slowly increasing attention span which, along with the previous two listed above, is good, encouraging
At day 15 CT, most of these seem much better after going to acupuncture. Bouts of vertigo, nausea, intermittent temple headaches (right side worse most of the time) and itchy/crawling skin are the only constants (somewhat) that remain along with the strange sudden fear of the dark and bothered by smells.