Put on Topomax for severe Migraines plus Maxalt work great, but got aggitated, a!


Question:

Put on Topomax for severe Migraines plus Maxalt work great, but got aggitated, all my dr.s put me on Cymbalta?

My pchychitrist, my neurol & reg. dr. all agreed I needed to be on Cymbalta to calm the aggitation caused from the Topomax & assured me that I wouldn't gain weight. That was my main concern as I had been off ant-depressents for over 10 mo.'s and was doing fine till alot of horrible things happened in my life which were stressful and triggered migraines 24/7, interrupting my life, my job, everything. It took months for the meds to work, but, I became aggitated to the point I was screaming, everyone thought I was crazy, and all three dr.s agreed it was the stress,med and the migraines got under control and they said I needed Cymbalta to get my mental status under control. Been on Cymbalta for 6 weeks & I had lost over 60 lbs before taking this anti-depressent and now I'm not aggitated, but, feel like I could cry at anything, don't feel rea depressed, just want to cry over the slightest thing plus, I'm even eating less but gaining weight, +craving sweets,which don't eat, what's wrong?

Additional Details

1 week ago
I've been on all kinds of different anti depressents since many horrible incidents have happened in my life and I'm a small person and they all made me go from a size 6 to a size 20, which for once in my life when I got off the anti depress under the dr.s care before cymbalta, got back to my normal size felt great looked great, was the real me again, until all these tragedies happened in my life again, not the same ones, but, felt like me again, not in a fog, felt like I could think straight again, tried everyone of the anti-depressents, was allergic to most of them but Lexapro, it worked for years, but, am allergic to it now, it made me go up over 200lbs, I'm a size 8, people say Iook like a different person/beautiful, if it's only been 6 weeks and gained 10 lbs and still exercising, not giving in to the sweet craving, eating my food, which under a nutrionalist care on food too, eating the right food, one for life and not over eating, it's got to be the cymbalta..go next week 2 Dr


Answers:

Cymbalta is a scary drug for a a lot reasons. It is too new for anyone to know much about the long-term effects of it and it has not been made into capsules any smaller than 20mg -- which can cause terrible withdrawals (discontinuation symptoms) if you stop taking it at the high a dose.

This is because Cymbalta alters your serotonin and norepinephrine levels in your brain (which is how it's supposed to "work" -- though there is no test to prove that it helps anything) and when your stop this medication, your brain must adjust to not being bathed in these neurotransmitters anymore, which can leave you very sick.

I am currently experiencing withdrawals at approximately 8mg (which I have to open the capsules and measure myself -- a huge inconvenience) and cannot miss a day without getting very sick. Dietary supplements and tapering off the medication slowly has helped me.

I first tried to stop the medication when I noticed the rapid weight gain with no apparent cause. After one year on Cymbalta I gained 35 lbs.

Weight gain with SSRIs and SNRIs is fairly common and it is not easy to say why. Your doctor with probably tell you that you are eating more without realizing it or don't exercise enough. If you start keeping track of it, you will probably find that that is NOT the cause.

I have also had a lot of problems with headaches since starting Cymbalta. It is probably a side-effect of messing with the serotonin. If you have the same problem when you stop the Cymbalta it is same deal. Your brain has had to cope with the changes from the drug and it may have to readjust to functioning without the drug.

My best advice to you would be to try to stop now before you get even more physically dependent on this drug and the weight gain gets completely out of control. It will only get worse from here. I say this from being on it for a year and 2 months. I wish I had known at 6 weeks what I know now.

If you have withdrawal symptoms you will have to go off slowly -- not any faster than 2.5mg per week. Some people have to go *much* slower than that with SSRIs/SNRIs.

Get a good nutritional supplement program (Omega 3 fatty acid is recommended) and try to stop this medication before it affects you any further. Omega 3s can help depression and are not dangerous like anti-depressants.

Educate yourself on this class of drugs and you will probably realize that you should avoid them altogether. There are better ways to deal with depression. And you will feel much better if you use these rather than dangerous substances which alter your brain chemistry.

I am getting off of this drug with the help of a good General Practitioner. My psychiatrist just wanted to switch me from one drug to another and treat the side effects of one drug with another. If you can, get someone other than a psychiatrist. The only thing they can do for you is give you psychiatric medications. They are very limited in their ability to treat anything without introducing powerful chemicals which can do more harm than good.




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