Introduction from rhonda

[rhonda]

Hi everyone, my name is Rhonda, and I went from 90mg to 30 mg in one week and then stopped everything at once 4 days ago, this morning I woke up with Brain zaps, sick to my stomach, and cannot concentrate at all. I took a 30 mg of Cymbalta but nothing has happen except it made me more sick. The reason I stopped this evil pill is because I started breaking out in a rash all over my body and last month I became dehydrated from sweating so bad that I ended up in the hospital being pumped with fluid. My whole body is in severe pain (this is why I started it the first place). Does anybody have any information that may help with getting off this awful medication?? I read that starting fluoxetine (Prozac) may help with the side effects with Cymbalta, has anyone else heard about this. I am very glad that I found this site this morning, because I thought it was just me, and I became very scared.

[Skyler]

Welcome to the forum Rhonda.. someone with more knowledge that I have about tapering from ADs will be along shortly, but know your message is important to us! We are here to help.

 

Did the rash go away when you were off Cymbalta? If so, has it now come back.

[rhonda]

Hi,

yes it went away, and when I took 30mg this morning it came back.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, rhonda. I am sorry you are feeling so poorly.

 

It sounds like you may be allergic to Cymbalta. This is serious. Do not take 30mg. To take the edge off your symptoms for a few days, try opening the capsule and taking 10 of the beads. I have no idea if this will help but if it does, it may buy you a little time.

 

Switching to Prozac, 5mg or 10mg, might be a good idea for you. It's best done with the help of a knowledgeable doctor.

 

You were on a irresponsibly high dose of Cymbalta. Are you still seeing the doctor who prescribed it? How long were you on it?

[Skyler]

Welcome to the forum Rhonda.. someone with more knowledge that I have about tapering from ADs will be along shortly, but know your message is important to us! We are here to help.

 

Did the rash go away when you were off Cymbalta? If so, has it now come back.

 

Rhonda.. you may be in so much pain because of a rebound effect from Cymbalta. I had the same when going off Lyrica (also used for pain), and it reverted to what it had been originally within a couple of weeks. That said, follow Alto's expert advice.

[Brandy]

Welcome, Rhonda!

 

What was the cause of the pain for which you were originally prescribed cymbalta?

 

And how long have you been on it, and what medications did they give you for the pain before putting you on the cymbalta? Oh, and are you taking any other medications (for pain or for anything else).

 

Not being nosy - but pain relief was a secondary reason I was put on paxil, so this information might help.

[rhonda]

Hi,

 

Yes unfortunately I am seeing the same doctor, and I have been on this for 6 months. I just went to see this doctor to let him know that I was trying to stop this medicine and I asked for something for my anxiety because cymbalta never helped me with that, it did help with my fibro and chronic back pain. He has refused to give me anything. I am now looking for another doctor. Thank you for answering me back I will defiantly try opening it up tomorrow and taking 10 of those. Monday morning I will be at that doctors office demanding something to help me, because it has made my skin raw with a rash.

[Altostrata]

rhonda, if that doctor didn't recognize a classic allergic reaction to Cymbalta, I don't know if I would take his recommendation for any kind of treatment.

[rhonda]

Hi Brandy,

 

I've been with chronic back pain for 12 years and fibro for 3 years. I am allergic to codiene, vicodine,ect.. I was on tramadal recently for pain until I broke my foot last year. Still working on that one (it doesn't seem to be healing correctly) I have been on prozac, zoloft, and now cymbalta. I have anxiety but where I live everyone seems to think that when your in chronic pain you are immediatly depressed. My doctor wants to put me on lyrica not sure about that one. You mention that your doctor prescribed you Paxal? Does that help with pain and anxiety?

[Skyler]

Hi Rhonda, I take Lyrica for fibro and got stuck on way to high a dose, now tapering from this, see my sig line. Lyrica helped reduce my neuropathic pain but not enough to justify the side effects. Alto said a much much lower dose could be effective and you might want to ask her about this. Your doc seems to have a penchant for putting you on very high doses of medication. Note Cymbalta: The highest recommended (in and of itself very high) is 60 mgs while he had you on 90 mgs.

[Altostrata]

rhonda, I thought of something -- a doctor told me there's a similar antidepressant to Cymbalta called Savella that's milder and may act as a "bridge," rather than Prozac, to get off Cymbalta.

 

Savella is also prescribed for fibro. Here's the FDA info: http://www.drugs.com/pro/savella.html

 

Again, try at a low dose. If I were you, I would NOT try to replicate that excessive Cymbalta dosage. Also, your nervous system might have become additionally sensitized by the adverse reactions to Cymbalta and you might not be able to tolerate much Savella, or Prozac, either.

 

I'm very worried about your doctor. Are there any others you can talk to?

[Brandy]

Hi Brandy,

 

I've been with chronic back pain for 12 years and fibro for 3 years. I am allergic to codiene, vicodine,ect.. I was on tramadal recently for pain until I broke my foot last year. Still working on that one (it doesn't seem to be healing correctly) I have been on prozac, zoloft, and now cymbalta. I have anxiety but where I live everyone seems to think that when your in chronic pain you are immediatly depressed. My doctor wants to put me on lyrica not sure about that one. You mention that your doctor prescribed you Paxal? Does that help with pain and anxiety?

 

I was prescribed paxil to address a severe protracted withdrawal from benzos that I was taking in quite high doses for anticonvulsant purposes (seizure disorder aka epilepsy). This was the first year paxil was on the market and doctors were told that it couldn't possibly cause physical dependence. WRONG.

 

The rheumatologist I was seeing for neck and back problems as well as long-term fibro was very pleased that I was prescribed paxil because he felt that it would provide pain relief as a secondary benefit as well as "balance my neurotransmitters." (That would be another whole post, but his office has told me he is now aware of the severe problems some people are having from these meds.)

 

I was highly skeptical but the paxil did help relieve pain to some degree. FOR A WHILE.

 

But over the years (I was on it 13 years), it CAUSED more pain than it (initially) relieved. I developed severe inflammatory arthritis (literally couldn't even get out of a chair without a cane and in some cases cortisone that only caused rebound increased pain repeatedly so I refused further courses of cortisone). Also developed other back and other pain problems. Not immediately, but over time it was like a stack of dominoes going over.

 

Not just pain but many things which are now gone or for the most part greatly improved now that I am off paxil.

 

I never saw the connection at the time because the paxil really did reduce pain for a while, no question about it. But I've learned that meds affecting the nervous system do not achieve an effect that stays static over the long-term. They alter various body functions over the long-term and the patient and doctors don't make the connection because there is no immediate cause-and-effect to associate them.

 

You asked about whether the paxil relieved anxiety as well as pain. Anxiety was not an issue with me when going on paxil, though some benzo withdrawal symptoms certainly resembled anxiety in some (not all) ways. I don't know if anxiety is a long-term problem with you or whether it might be from the SSRIs and now SNRI you've been taking. I had absolute terror for NO reason after going off paxil much too fast. Not anxiety per se, but I expect the physiological processes are similar and just manifest slightly differently in different people. I've seen that some people develop anxiety or have increased anxiety while on SSRIs (particularly prozac) and especially SNRIs, others develop such symptoms in withdrawal, especially when cold-turkeying or tapering off too fast. I have no idea whether or how much this applies to your situation, just relating what I've experienced and also observed in many other people.

 

I guess you've probably figured out that I don't recommend any SSRI or SNRI for chronic pain. They are not cures, not long-term solutions, and cause more pain problems than they briefly helped. It's deceptive that there can be rebound pain by going off them too fast, but that doesn't mean they didn't cause or exacerbate the pain over time prior to the withdrawal.

 

You mentioned in your reply (above) that you were on tramadol last year until you broke your foot. You didn't give the chronology for the SSRIs you'd been on prior to the cymbalta (or the doses), but tramadol is a serotonergic drug that is strongly contraindicated with SSRIs or SNRIs. If your doctor prescribed tramadol while you were on an SSRI, your doctor is very irresponsible with medications. If it was the same one who put you on such a high dose of cymbalta and failed to recognize and immediately address a possible allergic or certainly adverse reaction to the med, I'd say the word is incompetent (dangerously so), not just irresponsible.

 

I never feel comfortable interfering in a doctor-patient relationship, but I really, really urge you to "interview" other doctors and find one that's knowledgeable and responsible about the meds they prescribe. It's extremely unlikely you'll find one who defines "slow tapering" the way we do or who will know how to do it, but you have a right to be treated by one who at least is knowledgeable about even the minimal guidelines and warnings the FDA and drug manufacturers give.

 

And if your foot doesn't seem to be healing properly, have you been checked for possible nutritional deficiencies like Vitamin D. (Please don't "self-medicate" with it, but any doctor can prescribe a test to see if that's an issue. Too much vitamin D can be toxic, but too little can impair the body's ability to direct dietary calcium to the bones.) There may be other things that should be checked as well, though I'll speculate the cymbalta may account for at least some of the problems you're having. And has the broken foot been evaluated by an orthopedist if it's not healing as it should?