Exercise in what NOT to do. I've been on Cymbalta since last summer, prescribed by my PCP. She's tried a number of meds for my depression over the last 2 years with little success. Not sure what made her decide to try this one, but I wish she hadn't.
A few weeks ago I was due for a refill but my insurance had just changed and there was some issue with getting it approved. Since I had an appointment with a psychiatrist anyway, I decided to just wait to see what she thought in case she wanted to change my meds. I've changed meds so many times and it never makes that much difference. So I might be a little moody, right? HA!
Backstory: I've been having occasional dizzy spells for the last year. Not sure on the cause but my ENT thinks they might be a form of migraine. For some reason prednisone always clears them up. So a week after I stopped the Cymbalta I had another dizzy spell flare up - the worst yet. Not surprising considering the amount of stress I've been under. So I got a ride to urgent care and got my prednisone. Usually takes about 36-48 hours to kick in. Three days later, still just as bad. This time I'm having trouble eating anything too which hasn't been an issue before. Couple that with the emotional instability and I'm not in a good place. Went into ER to see why the prednisone isn't working. ER doc shrugs it off (after all, I'm not dying) and gives me an antihistamine to try. Worthless. Couple more days and something made me think to look up Cymbalta. Cue BIG RED WARNING LABEL about withdrawal. Oh...oops. That explains it.
Got my refill pushed through insurance and within 12 hours I was improving. Rescheduled my therapy and psych appointments that I missed due to being sick, and psychiatrist adjusted my meds. Aside from the miserable physical symptoms, the week off of Cymbalta made me realize just how negatively it affects me (exhausted all the time and can't think straight) so I'm now stepping down from it GRADUALLY. Apparently it has some of the worst withdrawal of any psych meds.
Tl;dr don't be like me. Step down your meds CAREFULLY with professional supervision, especially Cymbalta!