Newbies Nest
Fly....settle in, this is going to be a long post! In November 2010, I went to a rhuemitologist for arthritis (I'm 51). They did a battery of tests...a couple days later his office calls and says I have Hemochromotosis....too much iron in my blood. I said, 'that sounds like a good thing!'. Instead, it's the equivalent of having heavy metal poisoning in your major organs. With that news, I stopped taking every med I could because I know they are all metabolised in the liver.(as is AL, but I wasn't going to give THAT up). One of the pills I stopped taking was Cymbalta. I started on it after hurricane Katrina, I couldn't get those horrible images out of my head and cried all the time, so I asked my Dr and he gave them to me. I just took them...and next thing you know 5 years had gone by. About a week and a half after I stopped them cold turkey, I got flu like symptoms, nausea, vomiting, felt like hell. 3 days later, I'm sitting at work and my pulse starts racing! I start sweating profusely and uncontrollable shaking in my arms and legs. I got hubs to take me to my dr who sent me to the ER. Drug withdrawls! They gave me that stuff they give dang herion addicts!! I am like June Cleaver or the girl next door!! So drug withdrawls was nuts to me! Well, it turns out you aren't supposed to stop taking it cold turkey. So that was one lesson learned. The cure for hemochromotosis is a series of having blood taken out...so over the next few months there was all that, and a balancing act between too much ferritin in my blood (800) and amenia from having the blood removed. What a nightmare, and from all this my liver readings were off the charts too, so I was going to every specialist in the book. 3 of the 5 wanted a liver biopsy. This is about the time that i woke up to reality...I could keep drinking and die of cirrosis (I can't spell, sorry) or stop and try to go it without my best friend. I was on 3 blood pressure meds at this time too. Everything was wrong, and I had no where to go but up. Around this same time...the Cymbalta was leaving my system...my mood became better and brighter. I woke up one morning about 6 weeks after stopping it...and it was like when Dorothy from Wizard of Oz opened that door from black and white to color!! It was an amazing difference. I had been totally numbing myself with that and AL. Every day that passed without Cymbalta was better, moodwide. I was flabbergasted that I felt so much brighter. That's when I made the decision to stop AL too. So on Jan, 20, 2011...a Thursday. I did. 3 weeks later more blood work and still bad readings, liver, kidneys and blood....Now get this...first of April, more blood work...my ferritin down from 800 (150 is normal) to 67! My liver and kidney functions, right on normal...I gradually weaned off of first one BP medicine and finally now I'm off all of them. Back in January, I went to the eye dr and got a new RX for glasses...I went back last week and the dr said, 'I don't understand how this could happen...your vision has IMPROVED 5 steps since January!' That Cymbalta, along with my drinking was absolutely killing me! These 2 things were burning out my liver!!! So since January...off 3 BP meds, eyes improved, lost 9 pounds...and am AL free. My blood work is stellar.
What is the point of this story? (and not a moment too soon) Try to get yourself off that anti depressant...Dr's give them out like candy. I bet you'll feel 110% better without them. They just do something to your head that's not good...plus the AL! Just see if you are better...if not, you can always go back on. But you will not ever catch me taking another one! When I had those awful withdrawls I googled 'cymbalta withdrawls' and you wouldn't believe the hundreds of people who are mad as hell that they were put on it! and not told how hard it is to get off it!! So google what you are taking and see what the deal is with it. Sometimes I am my worst own enemy....and this was one of those times. What a boob...I shoulda never just kept taking it for all those years!
The fewer pills I take, the better I feel....now go figure! If i ever write a book (close, with this post) it'll be called 'Side Effects'. xo, Byrdie
Fly....settle in, this is going to be a long post! In November 2010, I went to a rhuemitologist for arthritis (I'm 51). They did a battery of tests...a couple days later his office calls and says I have Hemochromotosis....too much iron in my blood. I said, 'that sounds like a good thing!'. Instead, it's the equivalent of having heavy metal poisoning in your major organs. With that news, I stopped taking every med I could because I know they are all metabolised in the liver.(as is AL, but I wasn't going to give THAT up). One of the pills I stopped taking was Cymbalta. I started on it after hurricane Katrina, I couldn't get those horrible images out of my head and cried all the time, so I asked my Dr and he gave them to me. I just took them...and next thing you know 5 years had gone by. About a week and a half after I stopped them cold turkey, I got flu like symptoms, nausea, vomiting, felt like hell. 3 days later, I'm sitting at work and my pulse starts racing! I start sweating profusely and uncontrollable shaking in my arms and legs. I got hubs to take me to my dr who sent me to the ER. Drug withdrawls! They gave me that stuff they give dang herion addicts!! I am like June Cleaver or the girl next door!! So drug withdrawls was nuts to me! Well, it turns out you aren't supposed to stop taking it cold turkey. So that was one lesson learned. The cure for hemochromotosis is a series of having blood taken out...so over the next few months there was all that, and a balancing act between too much ferritin in my blood (800) and amenia from having the blood removed. What a nightmare, and from all this my liver readings were off the charts too, so I was going to every specialist in the book. 3 of the 5 wanted a liver biopsy. This is about the time that i woke up to reality...I could keep drinking and die of cirrosis (I can't spell, sorry) or stop and try to go it without my best friend. I was on 3 blood pressure meds at this time too. Everything was wrong, and I had no where to go but up. Around this same time...the Cymbalta was leaving my system...my mood became better and brighter. I woke up one morning about 6 weeks after stopping it...and it was like when Dorothy from Wizard of Oz opened that door from black and white to color!! It was an amazing difference. I had been totally numbing myself with that and AL. Every day that passed without Cymbalta was better, moodwide. I was flabbergasted that I felt so much brighter. That's when I made the decision to stop AL too. So on Jan, 20, 2011...a Thursday. I did. 3 weeks later more blood work and still bad readings, liver, kidneys and blood....Now get this...first of April, more blood work...my ferritin down from 800 (150 is normal) to 67! My liver and kidney functions, right on normal...I gradually weaned off of first one BP medicine and finally now I'm off all of them. Back in January, I went to the eye dr and got a new RX for glasses...I went back last week and the dr said, 'I don't understand how this could happen...your vision has IMPROVED 5 steps since January!' That Cymbalta, along with my drinking was absolutely killing me! These 2 things were burning out my liver!!! So since January...off 3 BP meds, eyes improved, lost 9 pounds...and am AL free. My blood work is stellar.
What is the point of this story? (and not a moment too soon) Try to get yourself off that anti depressant...Dr's give them out like candy. I bet you'll feel 110% better without them. They just do something to your head that's not good...plus the AL! Just see if you are better...if not, you can always go back on. But you will not ever catch me taking another one! When I had those awful withdrawls I googled 'cymbalta withdrawls' and you wouldn't believe the hundreds of people who are mad as hell that they were put on it! and not told how hard it is to get off it!! So google what you are taking and see what the deal is with it. Sometimes I am my worst own enemy....and this was one of those times. What a boob...I shoulda never just kept taking it for all those years!
The fewer pills I take, the better I feel....now go figure! If i ever write a book (close, with this post) it'll be called 'Side Effects'. xo, Byrdie
Comment