dmajor7th

Yeah, Puss in Boots was hilarious when he did his pitiful look. Interesting to know where they got that from. How's the Effexor feel?

eddie z.

I just took 37.5mg today, so I haven't noticed anything at all. I took Effexor for a while before and don't remember having trouble with side effects then either...except nightmares and I have those anyway.

Love and hugs,
Eddie

2stop

I took Cymbalta for almost two weeks..but it felt like I was doing speed on it..my mind raced so bad, and I was so wired up...it wasn't a pleasurable energy I can tell you that.....I stopped taking it told me doc no way..it wasn't for me. I am quite sensitive to antidepressants nowadays though. Hopefully it will be an antidepressant that works for some...I read it was great for pain...but like I said it just didn't work well for me at all.

eddie z.

((((Tammie)))),
Sorry the Cymbalta didn't work out for you! Sounds like you may have been started on too high a dose. Generally, for people with anxiety problems such as yourself, antidepressants should be started at LOW doses and increased very slowly. That way you can avoid problems with those "speedy" anxiety-provoking side effects. Hope this helps!

Love and hugs,
Eddie

shaire

The class that these drugs belong to (SNRI's) is very effective in treating depression, however, good luck getting off. I was on Effexor for six years and tried getting off once. Found out I didn't have the time to be non-functional to go through withdrawal and went back on. Then Cymbalta came out ~ it was supposed to be a better, cleaner drug, better 1/2 life, easier to get off it. This is day 4 off of Cymbalta, I have been very tearful, I experience the "brain-freezes" that others have described. I am miserable. I cannot function. I am more miserable now then when I got diagnosed with depression. I would not recommend this drug of anyone unless NOTHING else has worked AND they are ready to kill themselves. I talked to one gal who is 7 months off Cymbalta and still experiences that Brain Freezes of shocks every once in a while.

eddie z.

((((shaire)))),
WELCOME to SR!! Thank you for your post, too!! I'm sorry that you are having so many problems. Did you taper off the Cymbalta or go cold turkey? If you just stopped abruptly, you may need to go back on a lower dose and wean off slowly. Have you talked to your psychiatrist about how you're feeling? Since you're feeling so bad, I would really suggest you give them a call. Best wishes to you!!

Love and hugs,
Eddie

Don W

eddie, I'm sorry but, you've got me in stitches. " I don't know, PMS or Medication causing my ill temperment." Thank God, I can't have PTSD, Bi-polar, etc and eliminate PMS.

eddie z.

, Don!!

Love and hugs,
Eddie

bbobunny

hi, im new to the forum. i take 60mg. cymbalta daily (for about 4 months now) and so far so good. no strange side effects. previously i had been on prozac and ritalin. a really bad combination. it just made me in a really high but depressed state all the time. and i seemed to spend money uncontrollably. bbo

eddie z.

Hey, bbo !! WELCOME to SR!! Thank you for sharing your experience, too. I'm glad the Cymbalta is doing alright for you. I thought it was a great antidepressant; it's just that I gained so much weight on it.

I am doing really well on the Effexor, etc. I just :sweat an awful lot is all. I can live with that, though.

Love and hugs,
Eddie

Wolfstarr

Eddie, how goes it friend? Effexor?

Me, still on the "Welzac" combo and it is working well.
Decreased the 300 XR Wellbutrin due to tremors and down to 150XR QD now.
Prozac still at the 20mg mark.
I am not predisposed to seizures, never had one, but...I cannot take Ultram along
with these two meds. Strange occurances happened when I did...
Ultram is some crazy stuff...messed with the seratonin and I had some awful dreams, palpitations and panicky feeling.
Scared me pretty good. Now I take Motrin or some other Nsaid for the pain...

and hi to bbobunny, welcome to SR!!!

((((eddie))))) hope you are doing well.

eddie z.

Yeah, Ultram and Wellbutrin together is not a good idea. Glad to hear that the meds are working out, Wolfstarr!! Mine are good, too. All six of them. LOL. I am doing very well. Did you hear that I'm actually back at work in pharmacy? I'm very busy and rather tired, but still also content and satisfied to be working again.

Love and hugs,
Eddie

shutterbug

I was one Effexor for 2 years, but my depression outgrew the maximum dosage so my doc switched me to Cymbalta. I lost 40 pounds on the Effexor though. I thought it worked well for me.

I am making the switch now from the Cymbalta to Welbutrin. I went cold-turkey for 4 days straight (wasn't thinking that my doc was wrong to tell me that and left the meds behind).....and i nearly had my sis take me to the ER by the 4th day because i felt THAT bad with all the electric shocks (which mine are triggered by any kind of eye movement).

I went back on them regular for a week then only taking it every other day. Now I am only taking it every few days and I pull the capsel apart and dump half the contents out and put it back together. Basically, i'm letting my body be my guide about when i need to take some and i just keep decreasing the dosage.

I don't really have any opinions about the Cymbalta b/c i was really only on it a few months, but the shocks of the Effexor is the only reason why i am med compliant now. I never could make myself stay on any meds for any length of time before until the shock reminders started telling me i had forgotten to take my med that day. So there are definet pros and cons.

(I might have posted this all in this thread before, but i can't remember....so please excuse me if i'm repeating anything.)

Hugs

eddie z.

Thanks for sharing, shutterbug!! No need to apologize! I hope I can lose the weight I gained on the Cymbalta now that I'm on Effexor, but I haven't really started trying yet. I was on Wellbutrin AND Cymbalta for a good while and thought it a very effective combination. Just FYI.

Have to run now!
Love and hugs,
Eddie

shutterbug

Hey...that's interesting that you say that because my incompetent psychiatrist, who i'm stuck with now, when she bumped my Wellbutrin from 150 to 300 mg, she told me to stop the Cymbalta. At the same time she switched me to taking lithium and off of Lamictal.

I told her about the withdrawls from cold-turkeying the Cymbalta (which she should have been well aware of that side-affect) and she told me to..."well, okay then take one every other day for 2 weeks and then stop the Cymbalta. And if you still can't get off it then we'll have to take you off the Wellbutrin and keep you on the Cymbalta"

The more i learn, the less that woman makes sense to me!

RN92

I recently tapered off of Paxil. Took it for 10 yrs and it seemed to just stop working all at once. I, too had the "electric shocks" feeling or as I call them, "the zaps". If I ever skipped a dose, I would zap like crazy, then get very ill - just one dose!! I was wondering though, if any of you have noticed that when you come off of an antidepressant, and your new one isnt working-do you get the "rebound effect" of going into a major, major depressive episode? I tapered off Paxil and onto Lexapro. appearantly, Lexapro wasnt working and I had the worse episode of my life. I wanted to die! Then my Doc added Wellbutrin and I came alive again. Wellbutrin has been a miracle drug for me. Trouble is, Im paying the consequences of things i did while I had this last episode.

eddie z.

((((shutterbug)))) I'm sorry about your situation! Why are you "stuck" with her?

((((RN92)))) WELCOME to SR!!! Paxil is the worst of the SSRIs for having bad withdrawals because of its short half-life. And I know what you mean about that rebound effect, too. I just hope that now that I've found the right regimen, it keeps working for a long time!

Love and hugs,
Eddie

bbobunny

hi all....... RN92....I took paxil a few years back before they put me on lexapro and then on to prosac. the paxil did not work for me very well and when i did come off it, i did have a very difficult time. very depressed. the lexapro did not do so much for me either. and the prosac did too much. put me in a "lets just spend all our money and do whatever without thinking mode" i was kind of spinning out of control.. of course i was on the prozac and ritalin and a few other meds for other problems at the same time. i think it was just a BAD combo.

shutterbug

Eddie....i'm unemployed and have to go through a state-funded psych program. I'm also stuck with my "cluck only when you're suppose to cluck" therapist, but she's at least nice and she really does try i think - not like my pdoc at all.

I told my pdoc that as soon as she put me on the lithium i started getting super nausious and it got so bad after 3 weeks that if i tried to do anything other than lay down then i would puke (or dry heave) and during that same time i was also throwing up blood. You know what she said?????????? She started talking about my weight and how the fat can be pushing against my stomach and making me nasious!!!!!!!!!!! And it's not like i'm even giantly fat either....about 80 pounds over.

eddie z.

bbobunny,
Sometimes antidepressants cause people to "switch" into a manic episode. That sounds like what you described. I worried for a little while that my meds were causing me to switch because I started sleeping so much less, but in my case things evened out after a bit.

shutterbug,
She sounds like she doesn't have a clue! Lithium makes people sick. Duh. I wish there were some way you could see someone else. I know how it is, though, when you're in "the system." Why did she take you off the Lamictal anyway?

Love and hugs,
Eddie