I’m banishing as many meds from my life as I can. From a lifetime high of 12 or 13 medications, I was down to taking “only” nine medications every day of my life. I hate taking meds. Every medication has side effects. Every medication can cause long-term harm. Medications are expensive. When it started looking like I was going to have to cancel my health insurance, I sat down and calculated the retail cost of my drugs. I only got through 5 of the 9 meds, because I started hyperventilating when I saw that five of my medications costs $622 a month. Those 5 drugs didn’t include the cost of the one medication that literally keeps me alive.
The current drug I’m eliminating is Cymbalta, an antidepressant used both in mood disorders and for treating pain in fibromyalgia. Stopping psychiatric drugs can be a nightmare. Those innocent antidepressants that doctors hand out to everyone aren’t so easy to discontinue. The withdrawal symptoms vary in type, intensity, and duration. Check out an excellent site if you want to look up potential side effects for psychiatric drugs.
I feel really crappy, and I’m concerned I won’t be able to quit Cymbalta. What if my mood crashes, or my muscles seize up? But I draw strength from the ineptness of my doctors. Before quitting any meds, I begged for help with my constant nausea (and sometime vomiting). The doctors concurred: any one of my medications could be causing the nausea, or it could be any one of my several health problems/conditions/illnesses. They just looked so helpless. So I decided to kick Cymbalta’s ass!
Saturday will be my first antidepressant-free day since sometime in 1998.
19 responses so far ↓
Amy's Brain Today // April 10, 2007 at 12:59 pm |
I’m emailing you.
Philip Dawdy // April 10, 2007 at 3:16 pm |
good luck with this my friend.
Stephany // April 10, 2007 at 5:05 pm |
I hope it goes easy on you, and that it doesn’t cause any flare ups in the other stuff, take care-Stephany
profacero // April 10, 2007 at 6:44 pm |
Good for you and I’ll bet it makes you feel better (partly I am just saying that to be contrary to big pharma hype). Seriously, I hope it goes well. Never underestimate massage for those muscles…
Bloggingmone // April 11, 2007 at 8:11 am |
Good luck with it, I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
Pippa // April 11, 2007 at 10:11 am |
hang in there. i’m e-mailing you too. XXX
Sally // April 11, 2007 at 10:50 am |
Thinking of you and wishing it were not so for you.
spotted elephant // April 11, 2007 at 11:53 am |
Thank you everyone, for the well-wishes.
Gianna // April 11, 2007 at 1:04 pm |
I just want to caution you to not stop cold turkey. That would be dangerous. I’m in the process of VERY slowly withdrawing from all my meds. I’m completely with you on wanting to do it. Just do it right. Check out my blog to see how I’m doing it. I’d be happy to talk to you about any questions you have and maybe direct you to helpful sources for information. Good luck.
Shira // April 11, 2007 at 1:12 pm |
I don’t know if you’d be open to smoking pot, but when I was experiencing constant nausea and intermittent vomiting from the pain meds I was taking for post-op pain a few months ago, smoking completely took care of it and allowed me to eat (although it was oral surgery so it still wasn’t too pleasant to eat!). If you’re in California you can get a cannabis card, and although I know you said you’re trying to avoid adding more meds that’s one medication that you’d be able to quit cold turkey without any trouble.
Good luck quitting Cymbalta!
Gianna // April 11, 2007 at 1:50 pm |
I’m labeled bipolar and pot makes me delusional! Be careful.
spotted elephant // April 11, 2007 at 3:13 pm |
Gianna-I had to fight with my psychiatrist to be able to taper off the Cymbalta. It’s fine he’s willing to risk symptoms for me, but I’m not.
Shira, Unfortunately, I’m in WA state. At this point, I’m afraid to put anything else into my body. I’m glad that you were helped, though.
seahorse // April 12, 2007 at 2:05 pm |
Hi, wow, how’s it going? Big respect. Meds are my next hurdle, although I will be giving it a while as I think a separation and house move is enough to be going on with
spotted elephant // April 12, 2007 at 2:47 pm |
Hi Seahorse! Yes, I think you’ve got enough on your plate for now. There’s only so much stress one should have to handle.
So far, so good. I’m hanging in there.
Beansa // April 12, 2007 at 9:54 pm |
Good luck SE, I hope quitting makes you feel better. I just got back from 3 days at a hot spring and I feel amazing. Pain, eradicated, for now anyway.
spotted elephant // April 13, 2007 at 9:04 am |
Beansa-That sounds wonderful! I’m glad you’re feeling so much better.
manxome // April 13, 2007 at 3:40 pm |
Congratulations, SE! Not an easy decision, full of doubts and fears. Most important thing to do is trust yourself – you know that – just don’t forget it.
William McKinley // November 11, 2009 at 10:09 am |
Hey, I am doing it also. Purging my system of Cymbalta and Tramadol. Have been on meds for chronic pain management since 1999 and decided now is the time to try holistic methods after purging.
Is there any guidelines indicating how long does it takes for the meds to get out of my system?
spottedele // November 26, 2009 at 3:00 pm |
It doesn’t take that long for them to clear your system, but side effects can linger. No matter what, please don’t stop taking them all at once! These meds, especially the Cymbalta, need to be tapered off slowly to reduce the side effects. Definitely something you want to do under a doctor’s care. I hope it goes well for you.