8 replies to this topic

[hagansquared]

I am so happy I found this forum. I had been taking 60mg of Cymbalta for 6 months for anxiety. I actually was pretty happy on it except I had an increase in sweating and the kicker... unable to have an orgasm. Which sucked horribly. I am getting married in 3 weeks and the sexual side effect was making my anxiety so much worse. I made a dr's appointment exactly a week ago and he switched me from Cymbalta (60mg) to Celexa (20mg). I asked if I needed to ween myself off the the Cymbalta so I would not have any withdrawal symptoms. He said no, since I would be starting the new drug immediately. I have talked to a friend who is a doctor and another who is a pharmacist and they both agreed with that. I was only on the Celexa for 3 days. I had started to feel dizzy the night I started taking it and it got increasingly worse. I called my doctor on the 3rd day and asked if I could stop taking it. He said there should be no problem. I now believe that the dizziness and nausea that I was feeling at the time (and still am) was caused by withdrawal from the Cymbalta, not from the new drug. My question is this... How long is this going to last??? It has been 8 days since I last took 60mg of Cymbalta and 5 days since I last took 20mg of Celexa. I have missed so much work because of it and I can't afford to miss anymore. I am still dizzy and nauseated. With crazy numb/tingling sensations in my face and hands. I am also having abdominal cramps and diarrhea. Plus bad night sweats. I just need to know that there is a light at the end of this tunnel and that I'm not crazy. October 18th will be the happiest day of my life and I don't want to feel like this when I am walking down the aisle. I might be all woe is me, but I need some cheerleaders in my corner to help me get through this.

[nursedeborah]

hangsquard,
I am so sorrry to tell you that both of the friends of yours the doc, and pharm were totally wrong!

Most doctor's, and pharm, do not even know about the withdrawls from Cymbalta!!!!! You have to go
offf it very slowly!!!!!

Your going through horrible withdrawls right now, and need to call your doctor, and tell him that your
not able to do it this way.

Here is the site with the withdrawl symptoms, please read them it will save your sanity!
http://prozactruth.com/cymbalta.htm

They still will sometimes tell us it's not that, but my doctor gave me what I asked for so I could
wean myself off Cymbalta anyway I wanted to.

I was on 60 mg, and I am now on 30 mg. I started my withdrawl process Aug 31, and had to try
several different doses to get it right for me. The Cymbalta did so much damage to me just
being on it, so I really was having just the hardest time, and had found out here that Prozac
helped to ease the withdrawls, so last week I was started on Prozac 20 mg.

I stilll have some withdrawls symptoms, but nothing like before. I am feeling more energy, not
as paranoid, anxiuos at all, sleeping, and the dreams are not that bad either. It really has just
helped me so much.

Please read several posts here, and see how others have gotten off this awful drug. What your
doctor has done to you is WRONG. He is not at fault, they just are not told by the company or
the reps when they get the samples, and this is not in the inserts.

I am here for you if you ever need to talk,
Debbie

[Houdi]

Hi hagansquared:

Oh my goodness, a wedding in a few weeks. That's enough pressure to cause me to be dizzy... Just Kidding. How exciting! Congratulations and I wish you a long and loving life with your new spouse! Marriage is great!!!

Well, you asked the million dollar question, "How long will this last?" You are going to hate this answer, but it is different for each of us. Some people can get through in a couple of weeks. I wasn't one of those. But I am a year + out from Cymbalta withdrawal. Either way, you are bumping up against your wedding day, all the stress from that, and maybe not feeling well. That's not a good thing.

You have some choices...dah... and you should talk with your MD about all of these. One is to go back on Cymbalta; same dose or lower. One is to switch to a longer half life anti depressant that seems to help with the Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms; that may be Celexa given a little more time. Some find a low dose of Prozac really helpful for a couple of weeks to a month. And of course, you may want to try to get through and hope you are one that can get through quickly.

No matter what your choice, there are a plethora of forum members in various stages of withdrawal via all kinds of methods that are here to support you. All of us will be here to cheer you on and help anyway possible. I hope you are also discussing this with your spouse to be and family. It is always good to have a local support system along with us 'internet' friends. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

All my best wishes....Houdi

[hagansquared]

Thank you guys so much. I called my dr. and am going in this afternoon to talk about all of my options. I know that everyone is different and most of this is all trial and error, but I feel like I have this crazy deadline looming over me. I talk about this with my fiance and he is incredibly supportive. He was relieved that I decided to go off of the meds. I guess it really changed me without me knowing how bad. I hate to think that I might to go on a different drug to help with the withdrawal symptoms because I am so afraid of the possible side effects from that. It's like which is the lesser of two evils. I have read and researched A LOT these past few days and I noticed that quite a few people mentioned going on Prozac to help. I am about to try anything. Thank you all so much. I am at work (since I am completely out of sick days) and when I got back from lunch and read your responses I just sat at my desk and cried. Thank you for the encouragement and the support. I'll keep you posted on what I decided and how that is working for me. Keep your fingers crossed!

[Houdi]

hagansquared:

I am so glad you got an appointment this quickly. Two quick things, and I hope you get this before you go. The key to a 'support' anti-depressant to get off of Cymbalta is the longer half life...or so I have read from many 'old' forum members. Also, I hear that Wellbutrin is known for not hindering your ability to obtain an orgasm, but like all things, not always to be true.

Good luck today...I am so wishful for you. Houdi

[hagansquared]

Soooo. I saw my doctor and we talked for at least 30 minutes. I know he was trying to be thorough, but jeez. He was actually quite shocked at how bad my withdrawal side effects were. He was also really surprised that I had withdrawal symptoms while I was taking the Celexa. He said he as about a dozen patients who have come off of Cymbalta and none of them had the side effects I did. He said that some of the complained of being a little dizzy, but nothing like I was describing. Of course, everyone is different. He even made sure I didn't have an inner ear infection that could explain the severe dizzyiness and nausea.

I have two options to try right now:

1) Prescription for a drug called Antivert 25mg. He said this is usually prescribed for people with vertigo or motion sickness to help with the dizziness.

2) Prescription for Prozac 20mg.

I am trying the Antivert first. If I could reduce the dizziness significantly, then I will be able manage the other symptoms a lot better. Both my doc and I weren't too crazy about the idea of starting me on another anti-depressant to get me off of anti-depressants, which yeah, seems very backwards. I told him about what I had heard and read about the use of Prozac for that reason. He said it was worth a try, but I did decide to try just the Antivert for 2 or 3 days. If it doesn't help, then I will stop taking that and start using the Prozac. I had used Cymbalta for both anxiety and mild depression. He said he could prescribe Xanax for me when my anxiety level gets the the point of a panic attack. I don't get them that often, but when we decided I should go on Cymbalta (for one year) I was having them more frequently because of some added stressors. I'm thinking that getting off of Cymbalta and using Xanax when I absolutely need it, will work much better for me.

Will let you know how the Antivert works out.

Thanks!
Carrie

[nursedeborah]

hangsqard,
Hope I got that spelled righ, just waking up.
Trust me it's not an inner ear thing, that's on the list of withdraw symptoms!
Did you check out the site, and look for that one, it's there, http://prozactruth.com/cymbalta.htm

The Xanax will only help some with the anxiety that your going to have from coming off this, as I too
use that, but trust me it does not help that much. I too had anxiety before I went on the Cymbalta,
but it made it so much worse!!! My Xanax used to work wonders for that, but not for the kind I got
on Cymbalta, or for the brutal withdrawls.

I wish you the best of luck, and don't want to tell you what to do, but I did take the Prozac route just
short term until I can get all the way off this crap, and it has stopped so many of the withdrawl symptoms,
and my anxiety is hardly anything to speak of!!


This is just what worked for me. We are all different, but just wanted to tell you what helped me, and also
to give you the site with the withdrawls so you would have them at this time.

Happy wedding bells!

Debbie

[nursedeborah]

Oh just wanted to add something really important!!! After almost 4
years of no sex drive at all, and not being able to have an orgasim if
I tried, this is coming BACK!!!! Since I started the Prozac!!!!!

Debbie

[hagansquared]

Yeah I am absolutely certain that everything that I am feeling is withdrawal. Convincing my doctor of that was another thing. Have tried the Antivert and it doesn't help. I knew it wouldn't, but I thought I would give it a shot for a day or so. Not helping. Switched to the Prozac this afternoon. Doc hasn't prescribed the Xanax yet. I will ask for it when I go back for a follow up in a couple of weeks. I was started on Cymbalta for my anxiety and for mild depression. There were huge stressors in my life back at that time, and since I was having a hard time sleeping/relaxing/shutting my stupid brain OFF for a few seconds, we both decided that it would be good for me to take a daily medication to help with that and to only stay on it for a year. Now I look back and think that it would have probably been better to just get a Xanax prescription and only take them when I needed them. Oh well. I'll have them for any future "let's lay awake at 3 am and try and figure out what is wrong with my vaccuum" times. On the road to recovery right now, it's just a very long and windy road.

Oh and my username is hagansquared. Cute story... both mine and my fiance's last name is Hagan. Complete coincidence. I think it's just meant to be. He actually said on the night that we met "Oh well that's good, when we get married you won't have to change your name".

Oh and about the sexual side effects. My drive was never decreased, I just couldn't have an orgasm. Well, ok I could, it just took so friggin long that I would get anxious about it taking so long, which would make it even more difficult. We usually just gave up or, really, I would. Just made me feel so inadequate. Blah. Of course I was only on it for 6 months and not years. But..... don't ask me how we did this with how I am feeling right now, but Sunday night, I had my first orgasm in months!!! I actually cried. It was such a relief. Of course afterwards, I felt all dizzy and crappy again, but to have that time with my fiance again just made it all go away for a little while.