My Reflections on the First Two Weeks of Treatment of Depression with Cymbalta

It has been almost two weeks since my psychiatrist switched me over to the new prescription antidepressant, Cymbalta. I had first heard about this drug through television ads that advertised the treatment of depression not only for its mood symptons but its painful physical symptons. I was very interested because I often ached and did not know why, and I knew I was depressed because I was diagnosed a couple years back, and was being treated with Zoloft, which I did not feel was working. So I approached my psychiatrist with the idea of maybe switching to Cymbalta, and he said that he had other patients who it had worked wonders for, and that the transition from Zoloft to Cymbalta was not very difficult. The two drugs are very similar in what they do as they are both Selective Seretonin Reuptake Inhibitors(SSRI), but Cymbalta adds another dimension, the letter N, which in this case stands for Neuropenepherin and fits between the S and R in SSRI. This extra chemical is intended as a way of regulating the brain to reduce pain, which can often be associated with depression. I left the office with a goodie bag of free samples, and started treatment immediately the next day.

So far, it is hard to tell if it is working or not, because when I started it I had to begin weening off of the Zoloft. I had always had serious withdrawal problems with Zoloft, where I would run out of it, and not be able to renew a prescription for a couple of days, and I would shut down, and stay in bed because I could not move. These past few weeks have a been a different combination of those symptoms as I decreased my dosage from one-hundred-fifty to one-hundred to fifty to zero miligrams, while increasing my dosage of Cymbalta from thirty to sixty miligrams. I have been dizzy, tired, nauseous, disoriented and have had occasional headaches, symptoms which are both side effects of Zoloft withdrawal and the onset of Cymbalta.

The most disturbing listed side effect of any antidepressant is the increased risk of suicide, which I have never really experienced, but I have noticed stronger symptoms of depression during the initial onset of the medication. It bothers me that things have to get worse before they can get better, but the fact that things could possibly get better is heavier than a couple days or weeks of feeling despondent. There have been moments where I have felt great, but they are hard to pinpoint amidst the slew of down spells. There are times when I feel a bit numb, which I assume is a reaction to the Neuropenepherine, but there are times when my head feels heavy and my back and neck aches. My appetite comes and goes, and I have been sleeping a lot more than I have been trying to. All of these things are common, and I still have yet to reach my second week, which is generally when everything clears up, and comes into vivid focus. I will surely report back in coming weeks, hopefully with a feeling of great improvement.