@
Wishful @
caledonia
When I started with this I was taking amitriptyline and it was really bad but the doctor told me to continue it was normal. I continue but I often left it since I consumed some drug and from one day to another I noticed the change in my body. I do not know if it was the abrupt interruption of the treatment or what happened but now I found that with cymbalta I triggered the symptoms that I did not have
So to summarize your history:
Under an extended period of stress - had anxiety
Took amitriptyline (Elavil) and had symptoms of even more anxiety and thoughts of suicide. Then flu like symptoms and fatigue. Abruptly discontinued amitriptyline.
Then took duloxetine (Cymbalta) and had even more severe fatigue to the point of being bed ridden at times.
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http://www.optimallivingdynamics.co...diazepines-induced-guide-vitamins-medications
This page says that psych drugs in general and amitriptyline in particular deplete CoQ10, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and folate. It doesn't mention duloxetine.
Note that CoQ10, vitamin B2, vitamin B12 and folate are all necessary for energy production. Vitamin B6 supports neurotransmitters and the nervous system.
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So what I think may be possibly going on is that you may have already been borderline deficient in one of more of the nutrients I mentioned. Then you took amitriptyline and that depleted more of those nutrients causing deficiency symptoms. Then you switched medications and the issues got even worse (from even more nutrient depletions).
My suggestions would be, if you need another doctor, to find a functional medicine doctor. Find an MD if you can, so they can help with medications. A functional medicine MD should be versed in both western medicine and naturopathic medicine. Their goal is to get to the root of the problem, not just prescribe medications to cover up anxiety, for example. You can go to the link to see if there is one in your area -
https://ifm.org/find-a-practitioner/
You can do nutrient testing like with the NutrEval test. This will show what you're deficient in.
Or you can (very cautiously) start trying various supplements that might be depleted by the medications you took.
You can also test your adrenals to see if you have adrenal fatigue (possible with the long term stress).
If you're still taking duloxetine, you may want to consider a very slow tapering off program. Do not abruptly discontinue psychiatric drugs. This forum has a tapering program for psych drugs that I have been using successfully:
http://survivingantidepressants.org/