I was prescribed Cymbalta shortly after a traumatic experience in my life and it worked extremely well .. . for a while. It then launched a bout of mania. They assumed that Cymbalta was responsible and yanked me off of it cold. The withdrawal results were horrific.
I experienced hallucinations, sweats, tremors, insomnia, and anxiety attacks. They placed me back on Cymbalta with Buspar to counter any mania. (I am still taking Trileptal as well.
So far the results are awesome. I hope the cocktail never stops working!

I think it's great that this cocktail of meds is working for sure.

But one thing I have noticed, is a trend of people unable to get off of some psychiatric meds. Not only do I believe in withdrawal, but also in the chemical change that has been made within the body and brain, that with some people, many cannot go off of the medications. Sometimes the smallest and (what docs think is non therapeutic)doses are needed to maintain this chemical addiction the brain/body gets.
It can take months, and up to 18 months for some antidepressants to clear the body, and most people cannot wait that long for the suffering involved in the withdrawals.
My personal withdrawal from Prozac took about 8 months.Like clockwork every day I would break out into a sweat, severe stomach pain, you name it, it was the wildest thing to ride out, and this is what concerns me re: children taking these meds, and then being taken on and off of them.
This also shows there are no clearcut answers to what works for one and not another.
I really demand excellence in this area, and we just are not getting it from the research world.
The doctors are just as confused. It is a true guessing game, and when you hit on a combo of meds that works, it's like the lottery.
It should be easier than this to feel good.

So many days, weeks, months and years are taken from so many people figuring out what works, does anyone else feel like their life is going to pass them on in the carpool lane before you can merge to follow it!?

Okay, it's been 2 weeks since I went off the cymbalta after taking it for only 10 days (I wrote an earlier post) and I am still feeling like crap. I've gone back on the paxil regular dose that I have been on for years (and been fine) and I am completely off balance. Half the time I feel very depressed and the other half I feel very nervous and anxious. I think cymbalta is an evil drug. At least it has been for me. I'm wondering if I will ever get back to feeling normal at all.

It can take 2-18 months to stop feeling the withdrawal effects from antidepressants. Been there. Hang in there.

i'm 15 and i've been on so many anti-depresants and anxiety meds since the age of 12. of course my dad and step-mom never told me that i was on meds for depression, but i thought i was taking medicine every morning for anxiety. Yes the meds worked and i stopped crying in school and i stopped sleeping with my parents at the age of 13, but it turns out i wish they had never put me on these drugs. For 7th and 8th grade i was on effexor.... never take it... withdrawl symptoms are horrible. the summer after 8th grade dad and my stepmom decided that since we were going to homeschool in the fall that i would no longer need to be on effexor because there would be no anxiety while homeschooling. well over the summer i slowly weened off of effexor, and it went ok. But if i forgot to take my pill for a day, that day was miserable and so was the next even if i took the pill the day after. It turned out that during homeschool, i did have just as many anxiety problems.... and yes, i've seen counselor after counselor..... so dad and dani decided to use herbal natural stuff.... didn't work. They took me to a lady and she perscribed lexapro... i took it for a week and then they took me to another doctor. This doctor prescribed me 60mg of cymbalta and 300mg of trileptal twice a day. Things got better in a few weeks. Now it is the summer after 9th grade year, i am 15, am am a girl. That should explain a lot. I now live with my mom... cause things went haywire with dad and my stepmom. So i moved to a whole different state and mom of course continued getting the meds for me but we wanted me to get off them because it turns out that cymbalta should not be given to children under 18 and it could increase thoughts of suicide in children under 18....so i started taking 30mg of cymbalta and 150mg of trileptal a day. Which i find out that trileptal is used for epilepsy. I don't have seizures... and never have. things were fine... i had no problem taking that low of a dosage, but now i have run out of meds and since mom wants me off them we didn't buy anymore. Going cold turkey is really really hard. I have been off it for 5 days now and i feel like crap still. i am dizzy, light headed, i get hot and cold flashes, and i feel totally pointless about everything. Now that i think of it, i've been sleeping with my mom everynight now because i am scared like when i was 12. This really really sucks. I don't know what to do, i thought the withdrawals would wear off in a few days, but i can't handle this anymore!!! What do i do?

Paisley,
My daughter was 11 when she was given an antidepressant for a non-psychiatric issue. She went through what you are going through, and if this comforts you at all, the hardest part for her and high school was crying and anxiety too. Docs trialed many medications including antidepressants, as well as anticonvulsants, she even trialed Trileptal. Going cold turkey is very, very hard. I suffered through some pretty awful withdrawals coming off of Prozac, and my daughter did as well coming off of Zoloft.
The best way to come down off of a antidepressants or any of these meds, is very slowly, and and much as one wants to be done with the meds, it makes it easier.Cymbalta in particular will be hard. I did dose reduction very slowly over many months.(from Prozac) Some docs will insist on large milligram lowering (titrating off)weekly or every 2 weeks. I would go slower.
I am not a doctor, but have lived through withdrawals and lived with my daughter, who last summer withdrew from 3 medications all at the same time.
It takes time. You WILL get through this. It is like riding a rollercoaster...just visualize yourself hanging on, when it's bad, but know it will pass.
Also, if you have anxiety, and see a doctor for it, have your mom make sure you get services at school, with an IEP or 504 plan. You have rights.
These in place, can allow for what my daughter had: more time on tests, reduced homework (down to no homework), it is possible to get through school with support , if school is what you choose, just remember there are support services due to you there.
My daughter's anxiety completely stopped in her 2nd semester of High School, when she was given a reduced workload and NO homework. All books stayed at school. That worked better than any med for anxiety they gave her.
Also, moving and transition to a new state can give anyone anxiety, this coming from a person (me)who lives with anxiety every day. It's hard but you can do it.
Try a yoga class, I know it sounds weird to some teenagers, but the relaxtion and breathing techniques you learn can help a lot with anxiety and fears.
Good luck, you will be okay.
Stephany

For depressive symptoms persisting several years, I started taking Cymbalta on July 9th, 2006. At 36 I have had severe anger problems all my life. The closest I have gotten to a diagnosis is bipolar, but I certainly have some variation of a mood disorder. My doctor replaced 300 mg daily Welbutrin with Cymbalta, lifting me up within days; I had an interest in sex for the first time in 6 months. With a new job starting I, the timing seemed great.

On the night of the 8th day that I took it, I wasn't able to sleep. But I had been sleeping a lot so I wasn’t alarmed. I couldn’t sleep on the ninth either but I attributed that to my starting a new job the next day. After work in the afternoon of the following day (July 18th) I started to feel a mild panic attack set in, odd for me since I have had very few of them. Within hours I began to feel like I was high on adrenaline with extreme agitation, aggression, irritability, etc. I wasn’t able to sleep for the third night in a row. I stopped taking it after the 10th, 30 mg dose. 24 hours after the last dose my aggressiveness was higher than ever, I shouldn’t have driven to work, I was in a VERY dangerous state of mind. I knew I was too volatile to work so I went home sick. I couldn’t sleep a fourth night in a row. Again I couldn’t work the following day still feeling surged with adrenaline and 48 hours after my last dose. It was nothing like the one 72 hour period in my life when I believe I was truly manic, this was so much more severe. Cymbalta made me feel like I was in the most adrenaline-stressful environment I have ever experienced and continuously for over 120 hours, without having in any kind of stressful stimuli. I survived the experience, I believe, because I kept away from everyone. 7 days later I am still not sleeping more than 2 to 3 hours at a time but I no longer feel so wound-up.

When I was on Prozac I had a 6 day no sleep period of time, the adrenaline rush was so enormous, I carried a mattress into the house under one arm like a purse. My teen kids laughed at Mom's unexplained superhuman strength she attained during a move into a new home.
The worse I got, the more Prozac they gave me.
With antidepressants, what I have observed and talked to many people about, is that there is a basic rule of thumb, that an immediate "good" response usually ends up in a crash within 6-8 weeks.
Slow titration off of antidepressants is essential, withdrawals can be expected.
I drank a lot of organic chamomile tea, as well as getting out the old juicing machine and drank a lot of pure fresh vegetable combo drinks.
Also do not watch violent TV or movies, seriously, this is a tip, you'll have nightmares.
Good luck, anyone surviving coming off of antidepressants or any medication and suffering, it is hard, no doubt about it.

www.antidepressantsfacts.com

Is a helpful website, and there is a helpful section pertaining to titration off of antidepressants, plus a lot of good stuff to read.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003180227_depress07.html

Quitting antidepressants an ordeal for some patients

By MATT CRENSON

The Associated Press

"When Gina O'Brien decided she no longer needed drugs to quell her anxiety and panic attacks, she followed her doctor's orders by slowly tapering her dose of the antidepressant Paxil.

The gradual withdrawal was supposed to prevent unpleasant symptoms that can result from stopping antidepressants cold turkey. But it didn't work.

"I felt so sick that I couldn't get off my couch," O'Brien said. "I couldn't stop crying."...
"Patients report experiencing all sorts of symptoms, sometimes within hours of stopping their medication. They can suffer from nausea, muscle aches, uncontrollable crying, dizziness and diarrhea."..."Many patients suffer "brain zaps," bizarre and briefly overwhelming electrical sensations that propagate from the back of the head. Though not exactly painful, they are briefly disorienting and can be terrifying to patients who don't know what they are experiencing. There are case reports of people who have just quit antidepressants showing up in hospital emergency rooms, thinking they are suffering from seizures."(more)

* it's a pretty good article that explains the brain shivers, etc .I personally had the zaps feeling like they were shooting from my finger tips, the extreme abdominal pain, very sick, coming off of Prozac. I could not work a debit card at one point, the first 2 months coming off were the worst. I titrated Prozac over 6 months by opening the capsule and microdosing into jam or juice. Once the last few milligrams were done and I decided it was time to totally come off of the microdose..I felt withdrawals another 2-4 weeks.

It is important to educate any doctor who has prescribed an antidepressant, withdrawal symtoms if you have had them,( any other adverse affect)This is the only way doctors and psychiatrists will possibly start to understand that these are powerful chemicals that deserve more consideration when being handed out like candy via samples to patients without discussion.

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"Doctors pour drugs of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, into human beings of whom they know nothing."~ Voltaire

When I went off Lexapro, I got those "brain zaps" too. It was the strangest sensation ever. I tired to describe it to my doctor saying, "I hear brain waves". I think he equated that statement to "I am hallucinating". BUT I WASN'T THAT TIME!!! It was just the Lexapro. That just goes to prove that not even my doctor -- who's the best damn psychiatrist in the world -- knows everything.

And that reminds me: I have the BEST psychiatrist in the world. The BEST. He is SO great. He's extremely smart, he really knows psychiatry, and he cares SO much about me. It's becuase of him that I have been out of the hospital for three years. It's because of him that I'm never going back. If I had anyone else, boom, I'd be right back in that shit hole again. He keeps me good. Plus, visiting with him is so much fun -- we take walks in the park near his office, we get shakes at the little coffee place nearby, and, most importantly, we play chess, backgammon and SET, which is mega fun. And he tells me all about his two little boys, and all the funny things they do and everything. And one of the best parts about it all, is that I could call him any day or night and we could talk. He's one of the greatest people alive. One of my best friends.

I don't know what's wrong with me: I can't spell. I just can't. I read, I write, I do all this literary stuff, but yet I couldn't spell to save my life. It's wierd. I remember in elementary school getting A's on everything, yet failing my spelling tests. I also remember it taking me the LONGEST time to figure out which one is "b" and which one is "d". My teacher thought I had some form of mild dsylexia. Anyway it's embarrising and annoying. But, thankfully, God did create spell-checks.

Very good reading. Peace until next time.
WaltDe

I just started taking cymbalta.The first day i felt like crap.The second and third day was ok.Then the fourth and fifth felt like crap again ..Now i cant seen to sleep.I have weird thoughts.Feel restless and anxious.And irratable.Is all this normal.I have to take zopax as soon as i cant handle it anymore to calm me down and get me through it.I get the shakes as well.Please someone please let me know if this is normal and if it will subside.Thanks duane.

Gah, nothing to offer but hate to see you hanging, Duane, I hope you're feeling better. I don't know what to tell you, other than talk to your p-doc, and for patient-consumer-med issues read like the dickens. "Crazy meds!" gets a lot of good press, and they have a message board, google on and good wishes.

Duane,
I would advise to keep a chart of how you feel on what dose and stay in close contact w/doctor. Some people are hypersensitive to certain classes of medications. Hang in there, this is hard, but you are not alone.

I have been expeirencing chest and back pain dizzyness upset stomach high blood pressure cold and numb arms and legs. I wake up after a few hours of sleep with pounding heart and tightness in my chest. I have been to the er 3 times for this and ekg is normal. Am I having a panic attack or is it something else.
My doc thinks it is anxiety and prescibed me buspar along with cymbalta. But when I mix the 2 I feel more severe symptoms of the same.

I titrated off of Lexapro for 3 weeks and now have stopped completly for 5 days. I am having the worst brain shivers. I can hardly conduct daily life. I told my pcp and he had no idea what I was talking about. Does anyone know how long this might last.

I am married to someone who started taking Cymbalta 1 1/2 mo. before our first son was born (10/06). He is an avid drinker, and despite the warnings cont'd to drink while taking Cymbalta. Since beginning this medication, my husband has turned into the most hateful, aggressive person. He wants nothing to do with me because I had to leave with our child after the police were called (by him) during his aggression one night. He is now seeing another woman and would like to get divorced. His family MD gave him this medication with no couseling involved. I understand alcohol doesn't help, but he is out of control and has no feeling of attachment what-so-ever. Does anyone have any suggestions, or have you heard of this happening? I have read some cases of mania, and it sounds like what is happening to him. He LOVES the medicine because he no longer worries about anything...including his family. Please help if you have any advice. Thank you

I am 19 and taking Cymbalta for depression and anxiety. I take my Cymbalta regularly like I should but there has been some days when I will forget. The side affects are very severe. I uncontrollably cry even if I have had a great day, and I have attacks where I hold my breath and tighten up all my muscles. It scares me and I need advice for what to do when that happens.