So, I recently got off my antidepressants.
I had the WORST fucking withdrawals of my life. I actually got off of these the safe and proper way, tapering the dosage down, but it still fucked my shit up. I was having manic mood swings, insanely dramatic irritability, violent rage moments, having strange bodily sensations, getting headaches, staying awake between 24-48 hours, and having nearly constant brain zaps, which aren’t too bad in general, but when they’re this frequent and accompanied by all this other shit, they’re nearly unbearable.
Something I didn’t know about Cymbalta when I started taking it 2 years ago is that it has a, comparatively, short half-life of around 12 hours. This is why when I occasionally missed even a day of my medication, I would experience “brains zaps,” which I’d never experienced from previous medications.
I’ve quit medications cold-turkey twice before (stupid) but I’ve never experienced anything this bad. I never had any physical symptoms that I can remember, however I would get crazy mood swings, typically lots of anger and crying, for like 10 days afterward, then, I’d pretty much be good. Or as good as one who impulsively decided to quit taking their antidepressants when they’re clearly not in a good head-space could be.
I still prefer Cymbalta to any of the previous meds I’d tried prior. I think because it’s as SNRI and not an SSRI, which I guess is what works for me. The first medication I ever tried was Zoloft, which I took on and off from ages 16/17(?) to 22, later briefly trying Prozac before switching to Lexapro. I also took Bupropion, a DRI, for a bit a few years ag and kinda liked that... Anyway, idk why I’m in giving this in-depth discussion of my medication history like anyone gives a shit lol.
Anyway, I didn’t wanna talk to anyone about it while I was coming off of it cuz talking about meds with people is so annoying. I always get feedback from people who are NOT professionals, and who have NO personal experience with medication, and who know NOTHING about my mental health journey or my progress. It’s annoying enough on a good day, but I knew I’d completely lose it during those crazy episodes I was having.
Honestly, if someone tells you they’re considering getting off their meds, or that they recently got off of them, even if they’re having a difficult time adjusting, just like, congratulate them. It’s a big step feeling well enough, and comfortable enough to make that decision. And, as long as it’s done in the right circumstances, it’s something to be celebrated.
So anyway, yay, good for me. We’ll see how it goes. I’m still kind of coming out of the withdrawals, but doing WAY better mood-wise, well enough to finally talk about this at least. And I’ll just take it day by day, and if I feel like I need to get back on it, then I will, and it’ll fine. It won’t be setback or a failure or anything like that. So yeah... I guess that’s it.












