STOPPING ANTIDEPRESSANTS MADE ME WORSE THAN EVER!!

I have been on various anti-depressants through the years for various reasons. And I’ve always come back to Cymbalta. It helps with my major depressive disorder (along with work with my psychologist) and I believe it truly decreases my chronic pain from fibromyalgia and bad arthritis. Decreasing cymbalta from 60 to 30mg in one month seems too fast and not enough time for your body to adapt to the changes, which may be causing the way you are feeling. This is assuming you were doing well at the higher dose and you are trying to decrease to a maintenance dose. It’s best to do this under the care of a physician who is familiar with cymbalta. It really makes a difference. Trust me. I’ve been there and back. I’m lucky because I have a psychologist who I trust and knows me well and a rheumatologist who works WITH me. I hope you stay the course because depression sucks and it’s a dark place to be.

Well put @leilanis. May I ask why did you switch off if it was working so we'll? Weight gain?

@merpreb I believe you meant @leilanis, not me
Ginger

Oopps

@merpreb Everybody is not putting the @before a name and is causing confusion maybe a reminder would be helpful

Good evening all. Let's remember to put the @ in front of names. I'm guilty of this too. It's confusing following the posts and who said what otherwise. Thank you.

i was getting more severely depressed but with increased dosages of Cymbalta i develop tremors in my hands that make it difficult to function. So we tried other anti-depressants that worked well (trintellix in particular) but I felt i was gaining weight while on it, whether it was true or not as my case is also complicated with an eating disorder. Trintellix worked really well for me; i felt more energetic and lesss depressed. However, eventually, I went back to cymbalta, which is better overall for all my other ailments anyway, at a higher dose until i was stable and slowly lowered back down to a tolerable maintenance dose. What i've learned is you must give anti-depressants time to work and time for your body to get used to the side effects (they usually go away or get less annoying) but that takes weeks to a couple of months. It's definitely not instant gratification. It's been almost 7 years for me to go from deep dark depression of not wanting to live to a living a life that is hard but not always hopeless and less dark days.

@aliali: First, please don't panic or get discouraged. Resume the previous dosage of the medication you stopped. Second, if you are in Riyadh, the Hammadi hospital has psychiatrists. You could consider going to one of them. Whether the doctor would be competent or not depends on your luck. Do you pray to God? If not, it might be a good idea to start doing so. It strengthens your willpower and determination. How old are you? Do you live in Saudi Arabia with your family? Please do let me know. I have lived in that country many years ago. Also, please refuse ECT at this stage of your illness. You are still very far from it.

@aliali

We haven't heard from you for about a week now, and I'm wondering how you're doing? Have you been able to find some relief for your symptoms? Have you found a new doctor? Please let me know. I'm hoping for a better new year for all of us. Peace.

Ohh; I cannot believe that I am O.K again!! The problem was nothing but the sudden withdrawal of the antidepressant called “Cipralex” or Depralex (they contain the same chemical). After changing the medication to “Brintellix”, I felt worse because I stopped using Cipralex, which is a sudden withdrawal !! I felt worse than ever once disobeying the physician instructions! So far, I have been taking Depralex again for about a week; a noticeable positive change is observed immediately !! Well, why did I use to share information on this website during the last days? Actually, I needed to forget that I am depressed and imitate that I am well; if I share ideas here I may type “I feel badly” which may make the matter worse and thus I decided to temporarily stop using Connect.MayoClinic!