rvnewMy depression has returned after weening myself off of Celexa. I really just don't want to take antidepressants anymore but I can't keep feeling like I am feeling. My doctor wants me to try Cymbalta. He gave me some samples today but I'm afraid of the side effects. MedlinePlus has a long list of side effects. The Cymbalta list is longer than the Celexa list of side effects. I just want to know how Cymbalta has effected some of you all both positive or negative. Thanks!
Who has taken Cymbalta?
- Posted:
- 23 Nov 2011 by rvnew
- Topics:
- cymbalta, depression, doctor, antidepressant
Details:
Added 23 Nov 2011:
Thank you to everybody for your responses. They have all been very helpful. I tried 30mg Cymbalta last night and it was awful! I had little, tiny pains in unusual areas of my body, strange feeling in my head, ringing sounds, and difficulty getting to sleep. Today I have no appitite but I have to eat so I dont' feel worse. I'll be glad when it all worn off so I can go back to Celexa. I guess I'll have to use something and Celexa never caused me any side effects. I just hated the idea of continuing to use an SSRI drug because of the "brain zaps" I would have when ever I got off of them. No more Cymbalta for me, I done. Thanks again.
Responses (39) Page 2
anitalite22 Jan 2012
Hi,
As you know, any medication has a long list of side effects. I've been on Celexa for a short time and found the side effects worse than the Cymbalta that I've been on for years now. lol. Medications effect everyone differently. I found the Cymbalta to be very helpful with depression and the pain that depression causes. If I miss a dose (or sometimes two!) I really notice the difference and have horrible pain, depression, and feelings of nausea and sickness. When I first started taking Cymbalta I did have a few of the side effects you described but they went away after a few weeks, as happens with most psychotropic medications. A lot of them have strange effects on our systems at first - effects that subside after a few weeks of taking the medication regularly.
Tyice30 Jan 2012
I see that you've made your decision. Personally, I am glad that you have decided not to take the Cymbalta. In my experience, I had an absolute hellish experience weaning off of it (not cold turkey, mind you, but with a doctor's supposed care). Other warned of how hard it is to get off of... and I absolutely agree. I don't think psychiatrists are at all educated about the true effects of Cymbalta - and I mean the part where you want to or need to get off of it. I chronicled my journey of coming off of it in the Cymbalta support group last summer, if you're interested. It did help me for about a month, but because I was on it for a number of years, boy did it cause more problems than it did help them.
I am not putting anyone down for saying positive things about Cymbalta. Everyone has different reactions and experiences. I think that is, in part, why it is so hard for psychiatrists to truly know what they are prescribing and if it is "Right" for you.
Anyway, I hope you find something that works for you.
derrall8 Feb 2012
I have taken Cymbalta (a 60 mg per day) for 10 years. I use the drug in combination with Lamotrigine 1 x 100 mg oral tablet two times per day). I am 60 but have been using doctors for 30 years trying to find what is wrong with my health. I have gone through HELL. In 2000 my regular doctor put me in the hospital and assigned 4 different specialists to run their test and evaluations. After that all of the doctors got together and made their recommendations. After working out a plan the specialists all developed on what drugs to give me. Cymbalta and Lamotrigine is where my treatment for my condition. The combination gave me for the first time in my life a feeling you could call “normal”.
roozie1
Anonymous 20 Feb 2012
Hell rvnew,
I started taking Cymbalta when it first came out, in two weeks I was a new woman. No depression, happy, hypomanic (which is normal for everyone else I know) for about one week, and then was fine... until January of this year, 2012, then I hit the Cymbalta "Crash and Burn"... suicidal, homicidal, the whole nine yards, and when I realized what was happening to me, I signed myself into the closest Psych Unit that still did ECT, and had a few to reboot my brain's operating system once more. I came down with symptoms of bipolar when I was thirteen, let us see, that makes it 43 years I have been dealing with this "issue". mmmHmmmmmm... Went to a new shrink, love him, and we are changing one med at a time (or variable) so when we get a negative outcome, we know who's at fault. Good idea.
dsac6060
msfino5 Mar 2012
That might be a good choice, as I was on Cymbalta, and it has been months since I was weaned off, and I am still having problems with side effects. Just a suggestion, if the Celexa stopped working on you, Lexapro is the SAME chemical make up of Celexa, except that it is a mirror image of the make up. For some reason that makes them identically the same, though working differently. You might want to try Lexapro, ask your doctor. Other thought is that you have just gotten off of the Celexa, and you have to give your body a chance to balance out the chemicals in your brain. That can take awhile, unless of course you are suicidal, or simply are not functioning without the medication. Good luck.
BTW, I am a person who never advises what med you should take, as everybody has a different genetic make up so they all react differently to meds. I just suggested the Lexapro because you said that you did so well on the Celexa, and they are mirror images of each other chemically.
24 Mar 2012
NO NO NO My doctor put me on this and I had a bad experance with it. I couldn't sleep and just felt weird its the only word I can use to describe it "weird" My husband had the same effect, So it just wasn't me. I think the only reason he gave it to me was becouse the drug rep was just there prior to him giving it to me. I think they pay him to give it out. It really sucked. I'm just a normal mother of two I have no ultearier motives behind this.
Patiently...2 Apr 2012
I see this is an older post but just had to comment if others come across it. I was prescribed Cymbalta for anxiety/clinical depressin as well as pain from Rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. I was on a 90 mg dose (split 60 in am 30 in pm) for about 2 years. The Cymbalta seemed to work better than any of the other antidepressants I've tried over the years even though it did not relieve all my symptoms (which is a lot to expect from a little pill considered all my ailments). Anyway, I have since been approved for disability and had no insurance coverage for about 3 months since I was no longer working and there is a waiting period for the state medical where I live. So you can guess what happened-no Cymbalta since the cost was almost $300/month. I thought I could live a little sad til my insurance kicked back in since I did have meds to help with the other ailments but boy was I wrong. Doctors really need to inform patients of what happens coming off these depression meds.
msfino
13 Apr 2012
friendless< BTW, please change your name, because you have MANY friends here!!! You can get free cymbalta if you call the company, and explain your situation. I'm sorry that you had to go through what you went through with w/d, as it is one of the hardest antidepressants to get off of. In fact, there are class action lawsuits because it IS so hard to stop the cymbalta. I did, and I was on 160mg/day for years, but I went VERY slowly, and even after I was off of it, I had problems for months! BUT, if the medication was helping you, there are programs out there for people without medical insurance. Good luck, and I'm glad that you are better.
equinox14
5 Jun 2012
I am so very sorry for your awful withdrawal. I tapered off of it slowly last year and still had that very horrendous, feel-like-I'm-dying withdrawal. It took months to feel better. I put my family through a hard time... oh my goodness, I look back and am surprised I survived it. But I did. And I feel so much better now. My vivid every-night nightmares the Cymbalta caused in me disappeared and I feel more clear-headed than every before. I agree - if anyone decides to go off of this drug, they MUST know the huge withdrawal complications of it and plan accordingly. If someone decides it is important enough to taper down off of Cymbalta, please share and ask questions of people who have done this. You'll need a lot of support. But if it is something you really wish to do, it can be done. I'm always around to answer questions and be a support to anyone who needs it. Thank you for sharing your story, friendless (yes, I agree, change that name!:) ) and I do hope you are doing well today.
NewYorkGu...21 Apr 2012
I have taken Both Cybalta, and I am Currently taking Cylexa, I hate being on these ssri's, I have been on so many, Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, Sroquel, Rispadol, Lyrica, and more, known truly seem to help, but everypne is different, when i was a teenager Paxil worked, Dr's had to adjust the dose for a while, but now i have severe anxiety and all that really seems to help is Xanax, Colonopin used to work, but it isn't a immiediate relief from an attack. I have GAD, and a little bit of Bi Polar Disorder. When I felt the best is when I stopped taking it for a week, then started my regular Dose again, but the Dr said thats not the proper way, but it helped me, I hope I can be of use, Neurontin, also helped as well. GOOD LUCK :)
Kwbakca5 Jun 2012
I am new to this group. My father was a coroner and had suffered from alcoholism for 50 years, believing antidepressants were for the weak and whiny. He took Prozac first month it was on the market, he was a different person. It was incredible to watch this wonderful man believe in life and willingly be free of alcohol. The next month his insurance denied coverage and shortly after he committed suicide. My mother, a nurse, (they divorced when I was a baby) also an alcoholic, refused antidepressants for the same reason. She could prescribe them for patients but didn't believe she was "mental". Instead she drank beer until her last breath dying with cirhosis of the liver. I intend to take my Cymbalta and Aplenzin (chemical name for Wellbutrin and works for me much better than Wellbutrin) until I die. It's not a choice, it is why I am still alive. Depression is bigger than us all, take your medicine and be proud of yourself for not being stupid. Stupid can't be fixed. Take your medicine to live, for you and those who love you.
equinox14
5 Jun 2012
Greetings to you, Kwbakca. I am so sorry to hear about the tragedy in your family. I am also glad to know that you have found something that works for you and that you are committed to taking it and believe so strongly in your choice.
As you no doubt know, every body is different; every person's chemical make-up is different. In talking with many people here who have taken Cymbalta and having taken Cymbalta myself, I know of people who swear it is what saved their lives and they intend on continuing to take it and I know people to whom Cymbalta was very damaging and have chosen to no longer take it (myself being one of those people). There are also people who are on the fence and just not sure.
There are a lot of "thumbs down" on taking Cymbalta and I'm glad that your "thumbs up" can help people know that it can work with some as well.
Kwbakca
5 Jun 2012
I am so sorry if it sounded like a person was stupid for not taking Cymbalta. My parents were kind of stupid for their issues with taking any antidepressant so they needlessly died very young. I just meant take your medicine, whatever medicine that may be, rather than being like my parents,and be proud of yourself for doing so, rather than think the way my parents did about medication. I would never call anybody stupid. I have fybromyalgia and get lost going to the corner market, put cold food in the pantry, milk in the microwave and sugar in the fridge. I am not totally sold on any one medication, for me it is a case of which is worse than the worsest I have tried. I figure if I have the ability to know which one helps I am doing okay. Please forgive.
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