A Little Something I'm Passionate About Lately

For anyone who checks out my site at all you might have seen that back in May of this year I decided to stop taking Cymbalta. It just felt that it was time to experience the world on my own and not under the influence of a mood elevator.

To my surprise, I was told that I could not just stop taking this medication but that I would need to taper down. Ok, not what I was planning on but I wanted to be successful at coming off Cymbalta so I followed my doctors advice.

To my dismay as soon as I started taking a lower dose my body started to go through withdrawal from Cymbalta. I couldn't believe it. I thought that when I was in rehab detoxing and withdrawing from Oxycontin it would be the last time in my life that my body would be sick due to not having it's drugs. I was wrong.

My doctor didn't prepare me for what I was going to experience. I had flu like symptoms, canker sores, bone pain, total malaise (I was taking a four-five hour nap each day), explosive anger and worst of all...brain zaps. For anyone not familiar with this phenomena a brain zap is an electrical jolt feeling in your brain. I was getting those a couple of times a minute. These symptoms lasted 19 days...19 DAYS!

Suffice to say, since my doctor was "unaware of Cymbalta causing withdrawal" I was convinced I was dying. That was until I googled the term Cymbalta withdrawal. Although there was no "official" information on Cymbalta withdrawal there were message boards filled with people experiencing the same thing as I.

I posted my frustration on my site in an article I lovingly called Cymbalta Withdrawal Sucks. The response I got to this post was astonishing to me. I have hundreds of comments from people going through the same thing that I was. And what was the common theme? They were never told upfront that Cymbalta had the potential to cause withdrawal and even worse their physicians were unaware of this fact.

To put it mildly...this has me really fired up. I started thinking that I need to do something, I need to get the word out there. So I am proud to say that I have done a couple of things to spread the word.

1. I have started an Online Cymbalta Petition addressed to Eli Lilly which is essentially a demand that they make any and all information regarding the potential for Cymbalta to cause withdrawal. There is also some stuff on their about their drug reps informing physician offices prior to giving them free samples to hand out like candy. I am urging anyone and everyone who would like to see a drug company disclose complete information on a drug so that patient's can make an informed decision about their drug sign this petition.
   
2. I have filed a formal complaint with the FDA and through my website am urging those who have suffered through the Cymbalta withdrawal with no prior knowledge of the potential for this withdrawal to file a formal complaint with the FDA.
   

I have also started to email information to local and national TV News channels and Newspapers and so far I have gotten some interest in this story. All of this is in an effort to enact change. I appreciate all of you being patient with me ranting about this subject to no end.

Take Care
Erin