I felt awful for a day or two,

I felt awful for a day or two, [2007-09-27]
but the problem was nausea. I did better when I would take one and then skip a day for a few days, and then once I felt fine doing that, I could take it every day and had no problem with it. I was started on 60 mg, too. I had previously been on Effexor, which is fairly similar, but causes people a lot more problems, per my psychiatrist. My psychiatrist uses Cymbalta and one other drug for depression more than any others. I believe the other is Lexapro. (I think I've posted all this before). But the reason she favors the 2 drugs is that most patients actually stay on them (presumably because they are satisfied and have no unacceptable side effects). The compliance rates are much higher than any of the other antidepressants. No drug works for everybody, however. A psychiatrist is the best person to work with you and evaluate what should be most helpful for you. I hope you are feeling better soon. By the way, I can now eat fine, yet I'm not terribly interested in food. I'm down to 132 lbs from about 150, which is just about ideal for me.

I was like that as well...sm [2008-08-30]
I use to get real angry, irritable, the littlest things would set me off. It was uncontrollable. Even to the point where I As well as feeling depressed and sad, cry easily, etc. Actually, the reason I went to the doctor was because I smacked my 5-year-old son and knocked him down. I felt soooo freakin horrible. I went to my room and cried and cried and cried til morning.The scary thing is that it was so impulsive and I literally had no control when I smacked him.I called my doctor the second they opened the next day. She put me on Prozac for the week before and the week of my period. It was a miracle! I know Prozac isn Anyways, talk to your doctor before it gets worse. Anyways, you Just know that there are things that will help. You canget through it.

Fibromyalgia [2008-07-21]
I have fibromyalgia and the pain is excruciating. When getting out of bed in the mornings, I have to take pain meds and wait for about an hour just to get moving. I am so depressed over this and the only antidepressant i can tolerate is wellbutrin which does absolutely nothing for me. Tried lyrica and Cymbalta, awful, awful side effects. The side effects of Lyrica was the awful weight gain, Cymbalta left me with terrible GI problems. MT is my only means of support as I am alone supporting myself. I had to quit a nice full time job because I can no longer work full time. Anyone who suffers from this, you know what I am referring to about this disorder being just terrible. Most days, I do have to PUSH myself to do anything, including work. I take pain meds (narcotics) 3 times a day at 10 mg of hydrocodone, I take Tramadol in between, and alprazolam with the hydrocodone for the muscle spasms. I feel like a zombie. I am allergic to all NSAIDs. I went thru testings for Lupus, MS, etc.....and they were all negative, which was good. I had suffered with this for almost 2 years as the doctor i had at the time said that he did not treat nor believe in fibromyalgia, so when I was able to get health insurance, I changed doctors and she completely understood and believed that fibromyalgia IS a disease and it was not all in my head. If anyone out there suffers from this, how do you deal, what do you do for it besides drugs? If I have typos, sorry...it even hurts to type this morning.

I don't cut but I know what it is like to be sad (sm) [2007-10-03]
I just want to say I'm sorry too that you are having such a hard time. Even though I don't physically hurt myself, I know I do other self-destructive things that hurt me in other ways. I am taking an antidepressant but think I may be bipolar, but I am trying to avoid being diagnosed with that. Just don't want it to be true. I have felt sad all day today and I just keep searching frantically for something that will make me feel better. I just want to say I am sorry you feel bad, for whatever reason, and I hope you feel better soon. Take care.

I had this exact problem. Went and [2007-09-28]
had the physical (nothing wrong). Get enough sleep at night. But could NOT make it through my work schedule w/o several naps, which, of course, seriously hurt my production. I have never been a coffee drinker in the past, but I started drinking one cup of coffee about 2 hours after awakening and since then haven't felt the need to take naps. I even think it has helped with other problems I had been having, like headaches. Now, I know this may not work for everyone, but I just wanted to let you know what worked for me. Couldn't hurt to give it a try. Research says 1 cup of coffee per day is actually healthful. You just have to find the right amount for you (2 cups is overboard for me--I stay up TOO long). And the right time to take it. Now, even on my days off I drink 1 cup because I just feel better all day. Keep taking care of yourself, eat right, get some exercise. Since you had a physical and know there is nothing medically causing your fatigue, coffee could be the thing that works for you, too!

Experience with Cymbalta? sm [2007-09-27]
My internist suggested a trial of Cymbalta as I am not myself lately, mostly because of back painwhich is a problem inthis profession. I cannot perform half of what I used to. I am at times very moody. I tried this just once and I felt awful, could not sleep, made me feel like a zombie. I have had to reject several other meds for different problems because I am highly allergic. I am afraid he's going to say that I'm just plain nuts. That's how I feel right now but I cannot tolerate the thought of putting this drug in my system. I do try healthy alternatives, PT, walking, vitamins, all that is good for me. He gave me 30 mg to be advanced to 60 mg. I have researched message boards on this and have seen very positive and very negative feedback. However, one does not know if drug reps input into these boards, i.e., promoting their own or degrading the competition. I feel this is a dangerous drug as I have a rapid heart problem as well. I would like to hear if anyone has any input on this, I could not believe how awful I felt just taking one dose. Thanks.

You're not alone! [2007-09-27]
I tried Cymbalta and took one dose. I was awake for literally 36 hours straight and felt like my skin as crawling. My mom said I was talking super fast and acted like I was on speed or something. Needless to say, I never took another one. Doctors that I've told this to don't seem suprised, so maybe it is a common reaction to this drug.

Cymbalta [2007-09-27]
I was on Cymbalta for about 7-10 days last year and i was horrible! I had just lost my brother and the doctor felt I needed to be on it. It made me really jittery and also horribly nauseous. So happened, my doctor was out of town and so I tapered myself down and off of it before she came back. I don't ever want that stuff again!

Thanks so much for responding! smj [2007-09-27]
I really appreciate the fact that I am not the only one who felt like it was the worst reaction I ever had, up and down all night, restless legs, heartburn, walking the floor. I hope I don't discourage others but I am so grateful to you for acknowledging my bad reaction. I did receive a lovely e-mail which also helped. I am just not going to try it again and this was only 30 mg, he gave me both 30 and 60 and I don't know if samples can be brought back unopened, but I feel like it's poison to me anyway, don't know about others. THANKS!!! I'm not nuts after all.

I had a similar exp. w/Wellbutrin...sm [2007-09-27]
I too only took *1* dose, and couldn Honestly, it was a good 2 weeks before I felt mostly back to normal, and several weeks longer before I felt completely back to normal. It was awful. The Wellbutrin made me feel sort of like I had the flu in many ways, and very dizzy, but there were other bizarre things too, likethe smell of coffee (which I love) and the smell of many other things,made me feel sosick and nauseous. I was also crying at first, but not really feeling sad, just sort of like the tears were leaking out for no reason. Strange! I told my doctor about it right away. (I called her office, cause I halfway thought I was dying!), and she didn She jotted something in my chart about the Wellbutrin causing I asked her if I was allergic to it, and she said no, not allergic, just an adverse reaction (I I felt like telling her to but in my record that I AM allergic to it, just to be safe. So long story short, 1 pill can make you very sick if you have a bad reaction to it, and you Hope you

I felt awful for a day or two, [2007-09-27]
but the problem was nausea. I did better when I would take one and then skip a day for a few days, and then once I felt fine doing that, I could take it every day and had no problem with it. I was started on 60 mg, too. I had previously been on Effexor, which is fairly similar, but causes people a lot more problems, per my psychiatrist. My psychiatrist uses Cymbalta and one other drug for depression more than any others. I believe the other is Lexapro. (I think I've posted all this before). But the reason she favors the 2 drugs is that most patients actually stay on them (presumably because they are satisfied and have no unacceptable side effects). The compliance rates are much higher than any of the other antidepressants. No drug works for everybody, however. A psychiatrist is the best person to work with you and evaluate what should be most helpful for you. I hope you are feeling better soon. By the way, I can now eat fine, yet I'm not terribly interested in food. I'm down to 132 lbs from about 150, which is just about ideal for me.

Effexor withdrawal? [2007-09-19]
Has anyone successfully quit Effexor? Can you share how you did it? My internist put me on it when I was having a stressful period in my life. That was 4 years ago, and I can't stand being hooked on this drug!! I'm on 75 mg daily. Every time I try to decrease the dose, the withdrawal symptoms are just awful. Thanks in advance!

depression, anxiety - sm [2007-09-04]
My anxiety gives me the feeling of impending doom. I just know that something really really awful is about to happen, my heart beats faster and I cannot breathe correctly. The depression had me crying at every turn and not sleeping hardly at all, which just made it worse. I felt responsible for everything bad that ever happened to anyone. I also fought and fought against going to the doctor and admitting that there was something wrong. I hope that you are able to figure this out, my advice is to go to your doctor either way, because if it is not depression/anxiety, it is definitely something.

I agree 100% about Effexor. I take it for anxiety and panic attacks. SM [2007-04-13]
I It lasted for two weeks. I couldn I wore the carpet out from pacing the house. It started with pain in my right rib cage which I knew in my mind was not a heart attack, but apparently my body didn Next thing you know I My panick attack lasted two horrible weeks. I went to my regular doctor who belittled my symptoms and treated me like the loon I already thought I was. I am hypersensitive to medications and everything was giving me stomach upset. I finally found a wonderful nurse practitioner who completely understood what I was going through, said her daughter had panic attacks, and she prescribed me Effexor. I am now titrated up to 150 mg a day and it is wonderful. I feel calm. My teenaged son calls it my chill pill and that about sums it up. Wow, I No one can every really understand a panic attack unless they've been through one themselves.

I had major postpartum depression with both my kids. SM [2007-04-13]
Looking back, I was probably more prone to the postpartum depression because I Anyway, I found that breastfeeding actually added to my anxiety during that time. I wanted to breastfeed because I wanted to be a good mother and quite frankly the nurses at the hospital really pushed breastfeeding. With my second baby, my OB doctor told me that I would be a better mom to my baby if I eased my anxiety. So I stopped breastfeeding and started taking my Klonopin and felt much calmer. Just the decision to not breastfeed anymore took a big load off. I applaud you wanting to breastfeed your baby and I say go for it to women who can successfully do it, but some of us are just not cut out for it and that So if you need to take your medication and switch to bottle feeding your baby, you shouldn Your baby can sense when your anxious and will respond to that. I would say it would be better for your baby to be on a bottle with you calm and soothing rather than breastfeeding and you tensed up. Ya know? I wish you well whatever you decide.