Cymbalta withdrawals part two ' The Aftermath'

My next 2 days (7-8) of my Cymbalta withdrawals were really rough. On day 7 I was not keeping any food down, extremely nauseas and literally staring into abyss, not caring the least bit that I was doing nothing. My body switched between hot and cold spells within seconds of either trying to warm myself up or cool myself down. I was sensitive to noise and light and could barely keep my eyes open. The bags under my eyes felt as though they were being dragged down along with my knees by weights to the ground.

We called a GP who came to the house and provided me with an injection to stop my nausea and throwing up. It worked for the nausea however I spent 2 days in bed, not doing anything and it didn’t bother me.

I saw my GP on day 9 of my lower dosage of Cymbalta. (90mg currently down from 120mg) I was still very tired and nauseas however a huge improvement from the last 2 days. He made it clear all of my symptoms that I explained to him days 7-9 were withdrawal symptoms.  My GP made sure I understood that unfortunately with each drop in medication I would most likely experience these withdrawals and that it was important for me to push through these bouts of horrible withdrawal symptoms. I have his support. I have his understanding. I sit here and think I’m so lucky to have this support however knowing myself I’m one who does her research and makes sure I get the best treatment, Drs, specialists etc. You can do this too. It’s not easy however life isn’t always meant to be. I’m the kind of person if I’m not happy you won’t see me sit there and complain about it I’ll do something about it. In the end it’s worth it and makes life so much easier.

I’m going back to see my GP in 2 weeks to come up with a solid plan to wean off my Cymbalta. We’d both rather it take longer and have less withdrawal symptoms if possible then to rush it and suffer more. I missed 2 days of work and my GP wrote a letter for my directors explaining that I was reducing a medication and that it was hard to say when my symptoms would improve

Days 10-11 were so much better. I only had to take 1-2 anti-nausea tablets. I was definitely still tired however I could keep my eyes open and I went to work and struggled towards the end however on day 11 whilst at work I was buzzing with this extreme energy which appeared to settle when I got home. Perhaps there was too much stimulus however I felt as though there was this incredible amount of energy surging through my body. I couldn’t sit still and kept myself moving.  Sure worked off a lot of energy that day.

Day 12-13 I felt almost back to normal, still some mild nausea however nothing too bad. I have less brain fog, better focus and clarity. My husband even thought I have some of my old spunk back.  I thought….eek! More spunk I’m already spunky and over the top however he loves it .

I worked on a watercolour piece before my more severe withdrawal symptoms took place. It was funny because my husband had wanted to play table top games that night however knowing I never know when I’m going to get a flare up replied to him and said “not knowing how I’m going to feel tomorrow I really want to paint as I was feeling creative”. I almost threw out the painting I started on as I wasn’t happy with it. I threw it across the table however took it back and continued working on it. I ended up being very happy with it and plan on prepping a much larger canvas to re-create it on. Earlier in the week the title of my piece just came to me ‘Before the Aftermath’.