Is it okey to take anti-depressants like cymbalta for life?

Question

I have been taking cymbalta since february 2006 until now, i feel it is helping me and i don't want to quit, is it okey to take cymbalta for life?

Answer 1

At this time, the official answer should be "no one knows" as the drug is too new.

Sometimes drugs demonstrate side effects that only play out once large amounts of people take them (such as after the drugs are put on the public open market). Think back to Vioxx (rofecoxib) being taken off the market due to what they found in post-marketing studies of increased risk of cardiac complications (heart attacks) and death.

Sometimes side effects don't show up until after many months or possibly years of taking the drug. One such drug that has such side effects is amiodarone. It can cause pulmonary fibrosis, corneal deposits after long-term usage of the drug.

Some drugs have a lifetime limit before they become toxic--meaning you can only take so much before the drug side effect profile becomes really bad. One such drug is doxorubicin (a chemotherapy drug), for which there is a maximum lifetime dose of 550mg per square meter (of your body mass). Beyond this amount, the risk of cardiac problems like heart failure and death increases exponentially.

So with all this said, it's simply too early to tell if Cymbalta has any of these characteristics.

However, it's best not to stop taking a drug on your own, and only under a doctor's advice. Seek his/her professional opinion if you are concerned about anything that the drug is doing to you or if there are any other drug-related concerns.

Answer 2

Yes. It is the recommended procedure for three-time losers. Some people take anti-depressants for a year, then the Dr. takes them off. It may take years but the depression returns. When clinical depression returns for the third time, especially in older people (say over 50) a good psychiatrist will keep that person on meds for the rest of his life.
I have been taking Zoloft for 11 years and it works for me. Isn't it a real joy to be free of depression?

Answer 3

everyone who in simple terms says 'use cognitive therapy' and that meds are a short-term degree, do no longer knwo what they're speaking approximately, and have often under no circumstances suffered the indicators the likes of you and me experience. i all started having panic assaults, and that one and all started a vicious cycle. I had to ward off many circumstances (my paralysing stress replaced into related to public speaking) in my job, and value me promotions, as i could no longer do the 'upward thrust up' component to my job. medicine is the final way, i've got been on Paroxetine for the final 7 years. i might say that ninety% of my condition has completely been controlled utilising medicine, and that's the way i like it. human beings can harp on approximately self-empowerment and each of something of it, yet for many individuals that in simple terms does no longer artwork. Plus, it demands years of self-help strategies, which to me, are a load of cr ap. pass to physician, there is not any stigma in taking pills. in case you have have been given a broken leg, you get medical care - it incredibly is precisely an analogous for stress. believe me, i'm ideal in what i'm asserting. do no longer hear to those that inform you to no longer take medicine, as those human beings have not have been given a clue. you would be supervised by using your physician, so what's the super deal?

Answer 4

OH YES is it ok. I don't see why you would have to stop taking it if it is helping you...

I am on two antidepressents and two panic attack meds. I would be lost without them. It is amazing how they help and make life look different.
Manic depression sucks!