Still feel terrible. Worse today if that is possible. So dizzy/off balance. Visual yuck. Nausea. Inside shivers every few minutes.
Good news is, I went to my doctor. Do love her. Apparently, my worsening symptoms make me the poster child for the side effects you experience when you stop taking Cymbalta. (Remember I stopped b/c it wasn’t helping AND my favorite side effect of not being able to go to the bathroom was rampant) Apparently Cymbalta has the dubious distinction of being one of the most, if not the most, difficult medicine to stop. The immediate (hopeful) solution is for me to start taking it again to see if the worsening symptoms disappear. (Meaning the all-day dizzy, inside shivers, in ability to focus – mentally or visually etc.)
She is hopeful I will get back to ‘baseline’…where I was after the first loss of vision….meaning, the numbness and heaviness in the right arm/hand, the pressure around my right eye, some loss of coordination and dizziness.
Of course, I don’t imagine this will solve everything, but it certainly would be nice to know that I am not getting worse minute by minute.
Have to take it for the next week. If the extra symptoms dissipate, we know all of the ‘worsening’ can be blamed on the Cymblata. If that happens, I then have to begin the nearly 2 MONTH process of getting off this terrible drug.
On the other hand, if the ‘worsening’ doesn’t get better, I have to have a spinal tap (don’t be jealous) to definitively rule out MS and a muscle biopsy to rule out ALS and the like.
In the mean time, I still go to the neuro opthamologist next week and hope he has a recommendation to solve my initial and pervasive visual problems….and I go back to the neurologist in 2 weeks with an update on everything. Who knows what she will think 🙂
The other good news (thank you bloggy friends for offering suggestions) I did ask the doctor about all of your suggestions (those I received online and personally via email). I do not have lupus (previously ruled out by a blood test), I do not have chiari malformation (I did have an MRI of my spine and brain during which it would have been visible) and it is not a cold/flu/inner ear imbalance. All great things to ask about…and it is because of many of you that I have been able to rule out some serious conditions. Thank you.
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