Report Cymbalta Withdrawal Symptoms To The FDA
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As I read all of the comments on the Cymbalta Withdrawal Symptoms Suck post left by people suffering through the Cymbalta withdrawal I am infuriated. I decided that more needs to be done than just compiling signatures on a Cymbalta petition
to send to Eli Lilly.
I figured rather than just inform the pharmaceutical company themselves the FDA should be informed. I was able to find the FDA MedWatch Online Reporting Form and I filled out a complaint against Cymbalta. I’m going to tell you how you can file a complaint with the FDA too.
I urge all of the people that are effected by Cymbalta withdrawal to do the same. Just follow the link above and answer the questions. There is also a field that allows you to explain in your own words what your complaint is about. This section allows you something like 6400 characters so you won’t run into the problem of running out of space while ranting.
Who knows if this will have any effect but I figured if a good number of people start reporting this problem directly to the FDA maybe they will start to look into this situation.
I’m a realist so I am assuming that Cymbalta is too much of a money maker to ever be taken off the market completely. My complaint focused on the fact that the information about the potential for Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms is not made available to physicians and patients. Therefor there is no effective way to avoid or treat them.
The FDA form takes about 5 minutes (depending of course on the length of your rant) and I beg anyone who has experienced Cymbalta withdrawal to fill out a complaint. Thank you
Posts
September 21st, 2007 at 12:05 pm
[...] personally have filed a complaint with the FDA and I am strongly urging others that have dealt with the withdrawal to do the [...]
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:12 pm
I just started Cymbalta and so far like it very much. I am a bit nervous if I quit it but I have tried Lexapro and had the same problem quitting that as you describe for Cymbalta. It lasted MONTHS and was extremely awful. I was also considering filing something just to let people know what they are getting into when they do try Lexapro. Its a bummer now that I have to worry about this one too but so far with the good results I am thinking (hoping)it is worth it…….
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:46 pm
As of right this second there are 111 signatures on my online Cymbalta petition. Thanks to everyone who has signed so far and for those of you that haven’t…what are ya waiting for?
October 5th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
I am on Cymbalta and was attempting to go off but stopped because of side effects. I have major brain zaps. It feels as though I’m stuck sometimes because I want to go off to see if I can manage without it, but it is so difficult to attempt to get off it!
October 5th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Is it not truly scary that you are on a drug only to avoid the withdrawal symptoms. I wanted to go off for the same reason, I felt I was at a place and time in my life that I could try and manage without the help of drugs…which by the way is fantastic. But I had to get through those awful withdrawal symptoms…there is not way other than to just do it. It’s like anything else you try to get off of, you just kind of have to go through the pain.
October 6th, 2007 at 10:48 am
i missed two days of cymbalta i have eectric shocks in my head i did not know who i was where i was i was confused i never felt anything ike this in my life i am obsessed with suicide i have headaches everyday no one told me this . i do not even know where the last year of my life has went because of this medicine. i need help i want off this medicine and cant.i walk and it stunns my head like a stunn gun. do not take this medicine
October 9th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Cymbalta has the worse withdrawal symptoms I have ever experienced. I told my doctor that this medication made me feel worse than being depressed. His solution was to increase my dosage, when he got me to the maxiuman dosage he added lexapro. I felt like I was going over the deep end. I told him I wanted to stop medication as I felt worse than ever. His advice take both meds every other day for 2 weeks then stop all. He never warned me about side effects, never told me to come in if I have problems. This was told to me by his nurse, he never had the decency to even call me. I am on my own with the worse withdrawal you can imagine. I feel brain zaps and nausea. I CAN NOT function. I hope and pray I can survive this awlful withdrawal. DO NOT TAKE THIS MEDICATION.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I have been so sick and so scared and didn’t have a clue what was wribg with me. I realized that I had slacked off on taking my cymbalta and was curious if this could be the cause of my symptoms. Thanks to this site I atleast knew what the problem was. I don’t know how to resolve it. I am so achy dissy, my head hurts, I am exhausted and I have had the strangest sensations in my head. My doctor didn’t even think it was from the withdrawal of the cymbalta and they had no sympathy.
December 30th, 2007 at 7:51 am
I have been off Cymbalta since May 2007. I suffered a host of symptoms that I cannot even name due to my confusion. I had 2 solid weeks of vertigo/dizziness with my doctor telling me there was nothing he could do to help. Am considering getting back on it but feel that if I do I will be “wasting” good withdrawals that I have already suffered. Can no longer work due to the brain fog that I still have. I made an appt with my dr. to get back on them but am thinking twice about this move. I feel weak, no energy, no motivation to learn or read or even work (and I need to work). Am considering filing for disability maybe this will make the FDA pay attention. dunno, dont care anymore.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I am on my third week of cutting down the cymbalta. I was off of it as of Saturday, Feb 9 2008. The Vertigo, nausea , diarrhea and many more side effects was overwhelming. I when to the ER, and was told there is nothing they can do. Since I was feeling so sick, I did take 20 mg. of cymbalta. My plan is to take it for a few more days till i feel no more withdrawal. Then try again not to take any. I was on Paxil and got off that, but this medication is worst. I will not ever go on a SSRI again.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I had to quit cold turkey due to financial reasons…emotionally I feel ALOT better…but physically..the symptons are crazy..kinda like pregnancy type & my vision is garbage but my vision turned cruddy when I started taking it it also made me not care about stuff..I neglected my friends & family alot…but the withdrawal is worse than any medications ive ever been on including effexor.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
From Lexpro to Cymbalta I went for fibro pain and the standard ration of depression that entails. I quit Cymbalata, and Lyrica which was only a recent pharmacopial element, cold turkey, a week ago. The 60mg dose had ceased in 5 months to help much. Having been on something for 7 years, I realized the original depression triggers had been resolved, and I was tired of being forever in a gauze coccoon that shrouded me from much sensation at all. What I have noticed most, is the crying jags. A macaroni dinner commercial has me in tears. I know this will pass. I would like to know how long the sleeplessness, and sobs, and slow mo stuff will last until I am me again?
March 20th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Well, I finally went back on the Cymbalta and am feeling more “normal”. I figured out that when i was on them b4 I was fine and felt like i could do anything. But when i got off all the bad stuff came back along with the side effects. there is nothing the doctors can do about the side effects and they wont even try. some wont even admit that it is a side effect opting to do expensive tests only to find out the results are all negative.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
My sister has been on Cymbalta for close to a year, and recently passed out at home, and has got to have surgery on her heart. I read the side-effects, and heart problems is listed as one of the less common side-effects. I thought about trying it, I am on Prozac. BUT i have not had any problems with Prozac, and will just continue on it for now. Some people have had trouble with Prozac, fortunately, it hasn’t been a problem for me so far.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I have been weaning off this poison for almost 6 weeks. I took 40 mg on Sun Apr 13 and another 40 mg on Wed Apr 17. I planned to take 40 mg on Sun, April 20 but thought I would forego it since I was at home. The brain zaps were bad but I figured, if I can make it through today, tomorrow would be much easier. Monday was worse. Today I stayed home from work and literally thought my brain would explode. There were times I would yell out in pain before realizing I was yelling. By 6pm, I decided to take 20mg. My brain is starting to feel a little better.
This drug seems to affect the brain like crack, or heroin. If you don’t give it the drug, the brain reacts. I wonder how long it will be before I’m totally off of it and normal again.
The drug company has nothing in their literature about these withdrawals. I cannot believe that they were not aware of these withdrawals, esp when their (and the doctors who prescribe this poison) suggest restarting the drug to get rid of the brain zaps (and other withdrawals).
As an aside, I’m a diabetic. Since starting the weaning, my blood sugar has gone completely haywire. My blood sugar normally ran in the 85-110 normally. Now it runs 225-350, regardless of what I eat or if I eat. I asked my pharmacist about whether weaning from cymbalta could cause it and he said absolutely. The only time my blood sugar even gets close to normal is when I take one of these pills. Before going on cymbalta, my blood sugar stayed pretty stable.
I have never experienced anything like this in my life, and look forward to my brain becoming normal again. I have a feeling the drug company just loves that the withdrawals are so bad that doctors recommend going back on the medicine.
Usually when you start looking online for help with a drug, there is some dr who knows about problem such as these with cymbalta and at least is there to provide some advice and assurance. I have found none.
I will never again take a drug my doctor prescribes without checking online for withdrawals and side effects from their victims, er patients.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I took Cymbalta for only four days before I decided to stop taking it because of the way it made me feel. Only four days and at 30mg a day and I have been on major withdrawal symptoms ever since (they started immediately and this is my 7th day without the drug)!!! I feel like raging and yelling at people on the street, I’ve thrown plates and chairs at the wall, I keep yelling at the TV, I have brain zaps constantly, now I have a fever and other cold-like symptoms, I keep sweating like crazy yet I feel cold at the same time, I feel so surreal it’s like I’m a zombie from a different world when I’m out in public. Yesterday I slashed my wrists because I was in such a rage/anxiety driven stage of mind and when I went to the ER the doctors wanted me to start taking the drug because it would releave my withdrawal symptoms!!!! How insane is that??!!! This drug is way worse than Effexor, which I took for a year and when I stopped taking it the withdrawal symptoms were similar but way less severe. I was on Zoloft before this Cymbalta experience and I have never experienced any withdrawal symptoms from that even though I have sometimes been off it for a week at the time. I am now back on Zoloft (halleluja!) which doesn’t really help with my depression ( or so I thought… hard to tell now) but which doesn’t give me any negative side effects either. I’m also now taking high doses of oxazepam to deal with these Cymbalta problems. Thank you so much for not warning us about this poison Eli Lilly!
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:13 am
Damn. I thought I would have the chance to be happy again. I just got a prescription for Cymbalta and now, I am so frightened by it. Now what? I can’t take lexapro, wellbruten, celexa all because of allergies. Prozac didn’t work for me. Now what.. Just makes me sadder. I wonder if I should just try it and when it’s time to quit, just cut everything in quarters and take like 3/4 of the pill for a month then take half, then a quarter for the next month, then quit… I just want something to work. What should I do?
June 14th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I thought Cymbalta was an answer to my prayers 6 years ago. I had lots of emotional problems that have in essence worked themselves out. I have weaned myself off Cymbalta because I want to “feel” again. This has affected my marriage and my relationship with others. BUT I feel like CRAP! I have crohn’s disease and the intestinal side effects are about to kill me. Plus the brain fog, the slow motion, the “huh, where am I” feeling. Last night I actually thought I was going to die..couldn’t breath, heart racing, chest pain, sweats…finally subsided but this is awful. I am going to renew my prescription but I am going to try to stick this out….Does anybody have any idea how long this hell will last?
June 17th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
After reading all the above, I wonder why no one has mentioned nightmares? Thru a mix up with my online pharmacy and my insurance company, I ran out my Cymbala and didn’t get my refill when I should have. Just now called my Doctor and asked if nightmares were a side effect as was told yes, they are. Last night was an absolute horrow show. The only other withdrawal I’m having is nausea every other day. But the nightmares come every night. As I’m taking Cymbalta for my Fibro (and does help with the aching) I will continue taking it as nothing else has come close to helping. Now I just have to pay out of my own pocket for 5 days worth of pills until the insurance gets straigthend out. Prayfully, when I take one this evening, I won’t have nightmares tonight. I remember withdrawing from Oxycontin a year and a half ago and this is nothing compared to what I went through then. Thank the Lord.
August 14th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I have never felt so terrible in my life with the withdraw symptoms of Cymbalta. There should be warnings given to anyone who starts this hellish drug. It has been almost a month now & the withdraw is still real bad, it is not getting any better. The brain zaps are terrible along with flu like symptoms, very moody, a lot of rage I have never felt in my life plus many other withdraw symptoms everyone else has listed. I would like to see these drugs off the market. There has to be something else out there.
August 16th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Under my doctors orders I weaned off of Cymbalta over a period of 3 weeks. First he cut my dose from twice a day to once, then to every other and now for the past 7 days I have been off. I have had the flu-like symptoms, mood swings like everyone, but the most challending side-effect is when I move I feel like my body is trailing me. If I get up too quickly, my tongue and left side of my head gets numb/tingly. This happens whenever I move. It has been really bad for 4 days and is not getting better. Anyone else have this? If so, did it go away? I can’t function.
August 17th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Matt,
Yes, I had similar and more severe reactions. Tell your doctor and be careful. I ended up in the hospital with seizures (a week after total withdrawal over a 10 week cycle slowly). I told my a little of my story in the recent blog . My Nuorologists have seen my condition and knew how to handle it. I do credit them with saving my life. Cymbalta can have dangerous side effects and the FDA called me this passed week and did a phone interview over my situation (doctor reported; Adverse Severe Serious Life Threatening Side Effects). You may need so addition help withdrawing from this medication. The FDA did tell me that “investigating withdrawal complaints”. Take yourself and your withdrawals seriously but most of all “be kind and gentle to yourself”. I fought my withdrawals and tried to rough 2 months out ; refusing to take any other meds. due to being scared of the condition the Cymbalta had placed me in. I lost — I’m so happy my life was saved.
By the way— TOPAMAX 25 mg. is an anti seizure medication that can help settle your nuerons. A Neurologist named Dr. Raymond in Austin, TX is a “specialist in this area”. The other 2 Neurologists called her in to help me out.