Posted by barbaracat on March 24, 2005, at 19:18:22
I'm on week 6 of a miniscule dose of Cymbalta. Started out on 30mg and went into a psychedelic orbit, dropped down to 3 pellets out of the 30mg capsule and got a definite AD response that has been steadily improving - with NO side effects (which were terrible at 30mg).
Now up to 13 pellets and feeling better than I have in years. This is amazing and I don't understand how this small dose can work, but it is. My life situation is very stressful right now, me on disability, husband out of work, issues that put me in the hospital early February. But for the first time in so long I feel a sense of capability, of hope, of inner strength - I can do this - instead of that bleak hopelessness I was constantly stuggling with.
This is important because I am also bipolar (am also taking 600mg Lithium) and have not done well on SSRIs or Lamictal, APs for controlling depression. This small dose seems to be just enough to do the job, but not so much that it causes problems associated with SSRIs for bipolars.
This is a very good med, a strong and immediate NE response that purportedly has pain relieving properties. But many have a miserable time on the recommended starting dose and toss it. Instead, take the capsule apart, wet your finger, count a few teensy pellets (you'll need your reading glasses) and swallow. I feel it each time I increase by 1 pellet. How can this be? I can only think about the Alfred Hoffer, unwitting discoverer of LSD, getting some lysergic acid dust on his finger and tripping madly for hours. Maybe it doesn't take all that much with our meds?
Maybe not all can enjoy it's unusual miniscule dosing properties like I have. Maybe it's just a bipolar thing or tweaky chemistry. But certainly worth a try. Despite the same ol' catastrpophic worries, I can sign myself - Peacefully, BarbaraCat.
poster:barbaracat
thread:475145
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050322/msgs/475145.html