The Extensive Suffering “Discontinuation Syndrome” Can Cause

When I started taking Cymbalta, my doctor and I both agreed it would be a good choice to help me with both depression and physical body aches. It was the intense marketing campaign of the Eli Lilly Company claiming Cymbalta would help ease body aches and pains that prompted me to make the suggestion to my physician. She followed all the correct procedures, starting me on 30 milligrams and then increased my dosage to the normal amount, 60 milligrams.

For months everything seemed fine. My mood had lifted but my body aches were still there. I continued to take the drug a while longer to be on the safe side then finally went to my doctor with the idea of discontinuing it.

I started weaning myself off by cutting the dose from 60 milligrams to 30 for about two weeks. Then I cut that in half to 15 milligrams, and finally down to 7.5 milligrams. At this point I was sure I could stop the medication, since it had been 6 weeks of weaning down the Cymbalta, so I removed it altogether.

When the first signs of withdrawal appeared I simply thought I was getting the flu. I had cold sweats in 95 degree weather, an irritable sense of anxiety, and I was vomiting. I was dizzy and felt extremely fatigued. I had diarrhea an average of 6 times a day and could barely eat. My head constantly hurt and I felt as though there was a knife stuck in the top of my skull. What finally convinced me that I had more than the flu were the extremely odd and unbearable sensations I felt in my brain, now commonly known as “brain zaps”.

The feeling in my head felt as though my brain had turned to mush and was swishing around in my skull. When I moved my eyeballs around, the sensations coincided with the movements. I couldn’t’t sleep and I couldn’t’t think clearly. I felt as if someone had stuck electrodes to my skull and was zapping me with little bolts of electricity. At this point I thought I was going to die, and realized it may be from the medication. I ran to the medicine cabinet and took a small dose of Cymbalta. Six hours later I was about 85% fine. I called my doctor the next day and rushed in to see her.

When I explained what was going on, she was noticeably upset. She explained to me that she had two other patients suffering from similar issues while trying to discontinue this medication. One man suffered from the “brain zaps” and another woman had severe headaches. She informed me that when she asked the drug representatives from Eli Lilly about it, they said there was no such problem and the medication could be stopped without worry. Clearly this was not the doctor’s fault and even more clearly than that she seemed to have no idea any of this could happen.

The doctor prescribed me a smaller dose of the Cymbalta so I could cut it down even further and wean off at a slow, steady rate. She also gave me something to help calm my nerves and eliminate some of the feelings I suffered from in my brain. The medication helps but is a controlled substance and its use needs to be monitored. This is hard to do when you feel like a bolt of electricity is pulsating through your brain.

It’s been a total of 8 weeks since I began discontinuing the Cymbalta and I am still stuck on 5 milligrams of it, along with a small dose of Klonopin to ease my adverse reactions, which are still aplenty. The literature that accompanies the Cymbalta suggests that “If intolerable symptoms occur following a decrease in the dose or upon discontinuation of treatment, then resuming the previously prescribed dose may be considered.” In other words, once you start, you’re hooked. I immediately pictured a drug dealer standing on the street corner pushing his product on the physically ill addict. I had become a legal drug addict, and it had nothing to do with enjoyment or pleasure. I needed this pill to stay physically healthy and the literature that Eli Lilly provides with the Cymbalta proves that they are well aware of it.

The pharmaceutical companies have even given a more politically correct name to the withdrawal associated with their product. It’s known as “discontinuation syndrome”. After all, withdrawal is a term associated with drug addicts and that’s not what’s going on here, right?

Not to mention that clinical studies have shown adverse effects on embryo/fetal and postnatal development. So if you want to get pregnant while taking Cymbalta, expect to wait a long time before being able to do so.

So why does this happen with Cymbalta and not, let’s say, Prozac? Apparently it’s linked to the half-life of the drug which is significantly shorter than those of its competitors such as Prozac. I’m not going to get into a science lesson here, but the fact remains that when you suffer from this you really could care less why it happens, you just want it to end.

After scouring the Internet I’ve found hundreds of people just like me, suffering from the same intolerable side effects of attempting to quit the drug. My husband and I have decided to contact a lawyer. Not just for my sake, but for the millions of people across the country falling prey to the enticing commercials and starting a drug that will most definitely end up causing them more harm than good in the long run.

I would’ve probably been better off had I tried heroin. At least then I would’ve know what I was getting myself into.

Reference:

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_zaps