Cymbalta & Other AD Drugs

I was on Cymbalta for nearly 18 mos, and it turned into a horrid experience.

I am afraid to consider any other ADs, and I have not been on any AD for several years.

I don't buy all the stuff posted on company drug sites about AD side affects, etc.

I would really appreciate hearing about other ADs from the group - what went well, what went bad . . .

It's not the companies that count in my view, it's the stories of those who take the drugs.

Thanks.

Scythia

My problem is many of the Cymbalta side effects never went away completely.  In addition, I began having new side effects pop up after being on the medicine for many months - terrible insomnia was one of those.  Many nights, I would toss and turn for 3 to 4 hours trying to get asleep. 

I was so brain tired on Cymbalta I could barely make it through my days (this was even before the insomnia).  I would fall asleep just about every evening right after I got home from work.  And the crazy thing was when I needed to sleep at night, I couldn't get to sleep.  I was tired, but I couldn't sleep.  So I was given sleeping pills that either didn't work or knocked me flat.

The lightheadness from Cymbalta never went away either.  That had a lot to do with Cymbalta dropping my BP to the 90/50 range even during the day.  My dr. prescribed salt and fluids to treat the hypotension.  To this day, even after Cymbalta, my BP is about 10-15 points lower than what it averaged before getting on Cymbalta.  I guess that's a good thing, but I don't understand it at all.  High BP runs in my family.  I just took my BP now with my home kit - it's 109/67. 

A month or more ago, my reg. dr. (a new dr than the one that had me on Cymbalta) suggested a number of meds, but told me with my adverse problems with Cymbalta (I had many more than what I have said just here), he would not recommend any standard AD for me because he said they are all similar.  I don't know if that is true or not, which is why I'm asking to get some feedback here.  If I try another standard med, I don't want a repeat of Cymbalta.  I know the SSRIs are all similar, which is what Cymbalta was, but after that, I'm lost.

Since Cymbalta withdrawal for me was a 1.5 month living hell, I don't want to be moving between AD med symptoms and AD med withdrawals.

My therapist wants me to be on a medicine not usually used for treatment of depression, but we are having a difficult time getting that done.

At this point, I feel very, very, very lost as to treating my depression, and my situation isn't helping me cope with things on my own. 

Thanks for your support.  I am seeing a therapist, but she is a psychologist, not a psychiatrist, so she cannot write prescriptions.  She's not that keen on me getting back onto an AD herself - after I told her what happened. 

Honestly, the side effects themselves caused more depression than the AD was capable of helping me cope with.

I have issues with meds in general.   I'm allergic to penicillin, erythromycin, and I'm pretty sure now cephalexin. If I ever get into a serious accident and need massive antibiotics, I'm probably done for. 

I had a major side effect with reglan and a significant one with celebrex too (neither side effect listed for the meds unless you dig deep - so not the common ones).  I can't even take pseudoephedrine at the normal dose because it causes me to buzz. 

What I can take, is ibuprofin, and lots of it, and though I had my 1st visit to the pain clinic, no meds were prescribed, only therapy and an upcoming trigger point injection - so I continue to take ibuprofin at about 6-9 a day.  I thought I was pretty clear about how many I took a day, and one would think they wanted me to reduce that, but PT is only going to work so fast, so the NSAIDS continue.

My body, apparently, does not agree with quite a few meds out there, and it isn't always an immediate reaction.  With what happened on Cymbalta, I don't want to get 5 mos. into a AD med, then find out it's doing this, that, and that, then have to get immediately off of it.  I went cold turkey on Cymbalta, and I paid for it dearly.  But with what happened on Cymbalta, I felt I had no choice.

All of what you state - the meditation, exercise, etc, are good things, but without a med to be on, they are only going to help so much and no more - as you state.