Posted by fauna on October 10, 2005, at 18:26:53
Hello to all,
I’m new to the forum but certainly not new to depression and anxiety. I’m 43 and have been dealing with depression (and occasional anxiety-panic disorder) since I was about 14. My kind of depression is the endogenous type. I can trace depression all through my paternal bloodline like breadcrumbs! So it is quite clear that I will never be off of AD’s for any length of time without sliding into the depths of suicidally-severe depression. That said, I have also been on just about every AD ever made. From TC’s to SSRI’s and now an SNRI- Cymbalta. I have trouble with “poop-out” syndrome or rashes. And this is why I need someone’s — anyone’s advice.
I was well maintained on Lexapro 10mg daily for over a year. I experienced minimal to no SE’s from Lex either. Then for some stupid reason I felt that maybe I could go off of it and maybe be okay. (I know, bad mistake!) But I was okay for about 4 months. Felt great, functioned well. However, at one point I recognized the decline beginning and restarted my Lex at 5mg and was about to go to 10mg when I began experiencing a lot of tension and anxiousness. Near panic attack strength. This floored me since I had not had problems with anxiety for almost 20 years! And hadn’t experienced this SE with Lex in the past nor with Zoloft or Paxil. I went to a new pdoc (limited choices here) and he felt that I should give Cymbalta a try to boost my norepinephrine a little more than my serotonin. I went one week at the 30mg dose with no effect whatsoever, then increased about 4 days ago to 60mg daily. I now have some very strange and disturbing feelings (SE’s?) going on. Still no improvement in my depression but major trouble focusing on anything (visually and cognitively), significant drowsiness, muscle tension, headaches, distractibility, agitation, and a dull-like feeling in my head— kind of like there is a rock sitting on my forehead between my eyes! People at work say I have a wide-eyed, glazed-out appearence and this seems to fit what I sense as well. It seems my brain is just not processing info properly and all I want to do is sit and stare at a wall! I have called my pdoc’s nurse and have another appt in 2 days and I told her that I was cutting back to 30mg a day till then. She agreed.
Do these symptoms make any sense at all to someone who has been on an SNRI? Is this common with Cymbalta at a 60mg dose? If these symptoms are just the start up kind, do they generally subside after a while and maybe I should just give it a little more time? I’m just wondering if I should push to have it dc’d and go back to Lex or try Zoloft again and ride out any anxiety symptoms (if they reoccur) since both have worked well for me in the past. I do have Xanax .25mg to .50mg as needed but I hate taking it for fear of dependency. BTW, I’m sorry to post such a long message and to trouble the board with my questions, but I really can’t seem to process a rational decision at this time by myself. I would GREATLY appreciate any words of wisdom!
poster:fauna
thread:565333
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051010/msgs/565333.html