hey jessicah

[FONT=”Microsoft Sans Serif”]you’re right, you’re right about everything– its very scary stuff we take sometimes. thing is, we all, this cohort, tends to take it for neuropathic pain. since the fda approves it for the use in diabetic neuropathic pain, it gets prescribed a lot. as you and i did, for example. it seems common and i concur, that the pain relief we first enjoy when starting cymbalta, for some anyway– does not, it would seem, have sustainability. it doesn’t last. it goes poop. so then many of us and other folks, non-cidp’ers, taking it for pain relief, end up hooked on the damn stuff. and it is not properly documented both: a) that it is addictive and b) that the come down is excruciating (and could use some medical acknowledgement and support). anyway, i rant on… and i know you get it. i too feel that having lost 6 months in the beginning hurt me and my recovery now. i never needed to get that bad– turns out, prednisone, as hellacious as it was, worked for me. but i went untreated for that time believing that “i can guarantee you alice, this will all be better next time we see each other…” bummer, but nothing i care to linger in emotionally. truthfully, i don’t feel much about it anymore. my mom wants me to parade around his practice to show him how much improved i am– you see, he said that my damage was irreversible, as in the example of my foot drop– my foot drop is so long gone… i digress like there’s no tomorrow.

cymbalta is bad, be very careful coming off it, it can and most likely will unhinge you. the only way i have found to do this is to come off their lowest dose of 20mg and begin subtracting beads contained within them. (i think drummer wrote earlier this thread that she worried that all the beads were not of the same medicine– actually, they are all the same, i checked it out with a pharmacist) for me, i took away 2 beads per day. i also sometimes skipped a day but carefully monitored my mood and feelings. but pretty much i stuck to the minus 2 beads per day until i was in the last 25% — sweet sophie did the tedious labor with the beads, she even knows how many are in each 20mg capsul…lol) then i jumped off and it wasn’t easy… but it was manageable. it seems that folks are not much affected from the higher doses to the lower doses, like from 90mg to 30mg– it seems to be when it gets very low in your bloodstream. search this stuff, its all over the internet– i even attached a link in my opening of this thread, of a website that was made just for, let’s call them [I][B]cymbalta victims[/B][/I].

i’m not on any mission here. i only thought it socially responsible to spread the word and let folks know its pretty common, so that they can make educated decisions about whatever they want to do.

i am floored by your experience with only one day of cymbalta and ending up in the ER. wow! i can only imagine– chest pains? racing heart? you see now how desperately i wanted off that dog-forsakin drug…?

[U]peace/health[/U]–[/FONT]