A man from Florida has filed a Cymbalta withdrawal lawsuit against Eli Lilly, alleging that the antidepressant causes a distressing and debilitating constellation of withdrawal symptoms.

Plaintiff Anthony V.’s Cymbalta withdrawal lawsuit alleges that Cymbalta side effects were devastating.

According to the Cymbalta withdrawal lawsuit, Anthony’s physicians started him on Cymbalta in 2008 to treat depression.

However, in January 2011, his physicians took him off Cymbalta due to concerns about Cymbalta side effects. According to the Cymbalta lawsuit, this kicked off Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms, which included suicidal thoughts, violent mood swings, insomnia, and what’s know as “brain zaps.”

Brain zaps are a symptom described by Cymbalta withdrawal patients in which it feels like their brain is suddenly jolted with electricity. The alleged Cymbalta withdrawal symptom is considered both painful and startling.

Anthony’s Cymbalta withdrawal syndrome lawsuit holds that the drug’s maker, Eli Lilly, was aware, or reasonably should have been aware, of the symptoms he allegedly suffered.

To support this allegation, the Cymbalta lawsuit cites a number of studies, some of which predate Anthony’s prescription, which found that large numbers of Cymbalta patients experienced “discontinuation syndrome” or withdrawal symptoms.

There is a subtle medical difference between the terms “withdrawal” and “discontinuation syndrome,” though what a doctor would describe as “antidepressant discontinuation syndrome” would include the symptoms Anthony’s Cymbalta lawsuit describes.

Additionally, the Cymbalta lawsuit further alleges that not only was Eli Lilly aware of these risks, but that they actively downplayed the risks, preventing patients and healthcare professionals from having a clear understanding of the possible Cymbalta side effects.

For example, the drug’s packaging information — based on data Eli Lilly provided to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — states that serious Cymbalta side effects are experienced by 1 percent or more of patients, and these symptoms were as “rare or infrequent.”

However, independent studies, including studies published in 2005, three years before Antony’s prescription, found that roughly half of patients taking the drug experienced severe Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms, including those experienced by Anthony.

If true, this kind of disparity could harm the doctor-patient relationship, as physicians might not expect or understand what patients experience during Cymbalta withdrawal.

Anthony’s Cymbalta withdrawal lawsuit alleges that Eli Lilly’s actions were negligent and constituted fraud. His Cymbalta lawsuit seeks to recoup the cost of medical and psychological care, as well as compensation for pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life due to his alleged case of Cymbalta withdrawal.

The Cymbalta Withdrawal Lawsuit is Case No.6:14-cv-01816 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.