Boom Cymbalta cold Turkey withdrawal

[Boom]

Hello guys , my name is autumn . In august of 2022 I had started cymbalta at 30 mgs  for anxiety that I had after a bad panic attack at the end of July of 2022 . The first week of taking this med I was in the hospital because I felt extremely sick dizzy unwell and having vision issues while driving . For some odd reason I didn’t think the medicine was the cause of me ending up in the hospital because I thought maybe my anxiety was just that bad or maybe something medical and more serious was wrong with me .

 

After that week of taking it and going through that experience I had stopped taking it , called my doctor and we had a brief argument over the phone about symptoms of the medicine , I shortly after had gotten a new primary care doctor because the one who perscribed me the meds was very under educated . I felt so disconnected from the world I felt like things around me looked weird felt weird like I was in a dream , I had discovered over time I was having derealization and depersonalization .

 

So I had went back to the hospital to double check to see if anything else could be off or wrong with me before I just assumed it was my anxiety , again they found nothing and I was left with this panic and doom so I had went inpatient  for 4 days and the  psychiatrist had recommended me to continue the cymbalta and told me maybe I just needed to get use to the medicine .

 

Fast forward I was on cymbalta for 2 and a half months , I still was experiencing symptoms of feeling unreal and sick but I was in therapy and trying to work through the discomfort that I thought was just my anxiety , at the end of my therapy I had decided that C was not helping me at all, if anything making me worse , so I was told to taper from 90-60-30mg all within 2 weeks from the psychiatrist on staff .

 

I stopped taking C October 1st of 2022 , in the beginning I felt a little weird until the end of October beginning of November I was having sooooo many symptoms of withdrawal, I was having extreme intense panic almost everyday a couple times a day , I couldn’t sleep , nothing helped calm me , I was rocking back and forth shaking , unable to work unable to drive crazy thinking patterns , suicidal thoughts , intrusive ocd panic patterns of thinking , I had developed imbalance issues , feeling like the drop of an elevator or sea sick or the sensation of falling consistently everytime I walked , in the beginning of my withdrawal I had to crawl to my bathroom because everything was spinning shaking it was horrible .

 

I also suffer with vision issues , my vision got worse and things appeared to be shaking jumping giggling and unable to focus from one thing to another , the derealization felt soooo much worse which caused me to panic more and more .

 

Since October I’ve been to the hospital 8 times , no answers no help , I’ve also been to eye doctors also no answers and no help , everything became so hard that I couldn’t work couldn’t drive could barely walk right and I became soooo depressed from this .

 

Before C I was a hard working independent young women with 2 jobs and hobbies friends and motivation . I feel like I lost everything . A few days ago marked my 10 months off of  C and I’m still struggling with balance issues , vision issues , derealization . Anxiety and now I fear leaving the house feeling this way because it always results in discomfort and panic .I have no been to stores or far away from my house in months due to the thoughts I get and panic I feel while being away from the house .  I’m really struggling I just turned 21 in June and I feel like im missing out everyday on my life and I am scared alone and upset , I feel like everything has been stripped away from me , any feed back or relatable stories , encouragement , recoveries , anything helps seriously thank you !  I’m so worried I will not recover from this and it is setting me back so much in life and I am missing out so much on the beautiful things in this world  

Edited August 12, 2023 by Altostrata
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[Altostrata]

Welcome, @Boom

 

I am sorry you're going through this. I moved your post here, I am sorry it got overlooked in the other forum.

 

Please hang in there. What we've seen is that it very slowly gets better.

 

Among our members, we have a small group of people who never did get along very well with the antidepressant. Many have had severe adverse drug reactions (ADR) within a few doses. This appears to apply to you.

 

These people, who are tagged "immediate ADR", have symptoms that are like protracted withdrawal syndrome but they don't have withdrawal syndrome, they have similar symptoms because their nervous systems were upset by taking the drug. Their recovery is slow, with frustrating waves and windows, like people with withdrawal syndrome, but it seems their recovery isn’t as long. Since they had a serious ADR to an antidepressant, they probably should not consider reinstatement.

 

Please read Immediate adverse reactions to an antidepressant or within a few doses? How long for recovery?

 

However, although you had a severe adverse reaction early on with Cymbalta, your doctor got you on it again long enough for you to get withdrawal symptoms when you went off. So you also have protracted withdrawal syndrome.

 

Still, we see this very slowly gets better. How has your symptom pattern changed in the last 3 months?

 

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