Recovered fully and noticing changes

[therese83]

I am 48 and had depression/psychotic depression for 6 years.

Now that i am off medication completely and have stopped taking Cymbalta (2 months)  am doing good and minding my mental health.

(I tapered over a long time, i mean at least a year each medication).

I notice that all the weight around my middle has gone off me, i think it was fluid retention?  4 kilos just disappears. I can eat what i like.  I dont look as old, i dont have a bloated belly like an old lady any more.  Also my cholesterol problem is gone, i no longer have high cholesterol.  No more constipation of dry mouth and no long term damage to sexual functioning.  Also no more huge spots(pimples) I had more than my teenagers.  Everyone is asking how my skin looks so good.

IT must be very hard on the system that drug.  I would go back and take it again, for sure, but it caused a lot of side effects.

Some of these things i knew were side effects and some i did not.

[mandy876]

sounds like you are it how long did it take for you to feel normal again.  tha t would be such a wonderul feeling i kn ow i used to be so happy had such a wonderful family.  but .its gone.  hard to find away to go on i was only wth one man ad i loved him dearly.  my mom and i talked many times a day.  i miss er she was my mom my best friend nd i was her nurse when she had alzeimer.  sorry enough about me. good luck   hope i make i thought i had but naybe n ext  time,  gloria7

[therese83]

dwt7let  .  
Yes, patience is required and i had to resist the urge to go back up the doses, had to find faith that i could do it.  When it was fully gone from my system, i got so angry on two occasions.  I never had anger like that in my life.  But i am good now.  I forget now, that medication is an option, if i feel rough i tell everyone, i feel rough.  It is rare though, generally i feel very good these days.

I found myself, that sounds weird, but true.  I accept "I am feeling like this now" and i can handle myself better. I use great iphone aps for confidence and sleep.  Also deep feelings of love, for my children have been flooding back, the medication dampened them, i was a bit of a zombie for a while i think.  Then this fear, all the time if i had to travel with work , always checking , have i got my meds.  Afraid i would loose my bag and have to tell my boss... I can live without that.

AmyLC , thank you for the info. I have to say Cymbalta was great in lifting the darkest depression.  But these chemicals are very strong.  It is a shame, people cant go into a place where they get full care, and rebuild themselves, the modern world is too fast.  Even if people cant get of the mens, it is worth seeing how low one can go with the dosage, because they cant be good for your, body, liver and kidneys have to deal with them every day.

[AmyLC]

WoW.. Awesome news!!!  
I took that horrible drug and was progressively getting worse while on it and had to taper myself off of it.  Cymbalta, in my opinion should have never been approved by the FDA.  You probably don't know this, not many people do, but before the medication was approved and still in the testing stages, 11 , YES eleven negative occurances happened when people were taking this medication.  I'm talking pretty bad situations like suicide attempts and mental health deterioration (worsening of psychiatric symptoms) from the drug.  Cymbalta still got approved...  
Glad to hear you are off that horrible med and if I were you, I'd try the safer version which is Effexor.  Basically, when the patent was up on the Effexor and the generic of the medicine became available. Which means, the makers of Effexor wouldn't be raking in the $$$ on effexor anymore because venlafaxine, generic version would be available.  The manufacturer of the company (I think it's Lilly) created Cymbalta, a half-fast replica of Effexor (just chemically tweeked a little).  In short, basically Cymbalta was created with $$ in mind, not the health and safety of the people that would be treated with the med.  Sad I know.  
Glad you are off of it and feeling & LOOKING great :)  I'm happy for you.

[dwt7let]

Hi Therese
Well done it's not easy your patience has paid off and hope mine does too.
I came off effexor cold turkey in May 2010 Gp's fault and am now weaning off dolsulipin should be off April 30th 2012 with any luck.
Have you had to rediscover yourself and reassess people who are around you etc? Thers a feeling of being reborn and of waking up after along sleep !
Love
Lorraine xx