[snicklefritz]

I am new here as of today, and am not really stuck at 20 mgs as much as I dont know where to go from here. I am so very glad that this group is here. My doctor has had me freaking out the last few days as my blood pressure has gone up and nothing is bringing it down. It started to increase when I started Cymbalta three months ago, and stabilized, but now that I am going off of it, it is bad again. I never wanted to take Cymbalta because of the withdrawal stories I had heard. I was so depressed I decided to give it a try. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis and Fibromyalgia. I was getting very confused because it all seemed so much worse the last couple of weeks (the time I have been withdrawing). Now it all seems to make sense. I hope I can keep coming back here for help. I am guessing that now I should open a capsule and empty half of it out to make 10mg? Again, Bless you all for being here.snicklefritz

Posts: 1
Joined: October 16th, 2009, 11:27 pm
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[MaureenV]

Hi Snicklefritz,

(that name made my day!)


How high is your blood pressure?

When you say 'nothing will bring it down' do you mean over a few days, a few hours .... ?

Do you have your own blood pressure machine?


(enough of the questions!)


Mine went up both on, and during withdrawal.

Yes, you can open the capsules - it is important to take the little beads inside some sort of capsule, but you sound as though you know what you're doing.

I couldn't have gone from 20 to 10 without too many consequences, but you may be able to, we're all different.

If you don't feel o.k. on 10 you can always bump it up again. My suggestion would be to go to no less than 15, though. If you have no problem after several days you can drop down again. That's faster, actually than dropping to far and having to back track, which is what I had to do.


I'm glad you've found us.

keep in touch,

Maureen.

[nursedeborah]

Snicklefritz,
Welcome, I lived in Germany, and that reminds me of a wonderful dish I used to eat there?

Anyway, like Maurene said it does sound like you know what your doing as you said you were
going to open the caps, and take out 10, but I still want to ask you a ? Did you know this from
reading some of the posts, or, well how did you know to do this? There that sounds a bit better.

I am like Maurene, and I never could ever do a 10 mg decrease. I am very sensitive to meds
period, and like when you were on Cymbalta, I too had the same side effects, and also the
having lots of the same, and different one's now that I am going through these terrible
withdrawls.

I am getting ready to decrease my 25 mg by 2.5 mg as I had been dying on the 5 mg decreases.
Also the withdrawls do not always hit me right away, but on the 6-9 day. Then I suffered so bad
that I have been so afraid of this one to come.

I was one who also had to take Prozac to help with the withdrawl symptoms as mine were just so
brutal I couldn't function at all. Also the mental part was just to hard on me. It really has helped
and also given me a bit of a lift which I have not had in about 3 years since being on Cymbalta.

What ever you do decide we are all here for you to support you during this!!!
Keep coming back! Let us know how your doing.

Debbie

[snicklefritz]

Thank you so much for responding. My BP is averaging 164/92. It did not start to get high until I started taking Cymbalta. I thought that with going from 60-20mg it would help, but after reading here, apparently that might not be the case. My primary care doctor prescribed the Cymbalta for me, but she is admittedly not very familiar with the drug and was very reluctant to do so. I convinced her I would be ok. She is the one that suggested breaking open the capsule. I have not tried it yet, but my capsules are grey and I cant imagine what the inside looks like? Maybe grey powder? I am absolutely terrified of what the next few months holds as I was already in bad enough shape. It has made my arthritis flare up so that I can barely walk again, and all kinds of things I was totally baffled by until I found this site. How long has it been since you guys have felt ok? Or I guess a better way to say that is how long does this dang process take?

Snicklefritz was my sons nickname. My name is Vanessa. I am also trying to loose weight and on my first week of CYmbalta I fained 10 pounds. I have to lose weight to help my Rheumatoid Arthritis. Boy am I a mess.

Thanks for helping me out ladies, I look forward to hearing from you.
Vanessa

[MaureenV]

HI Vanessa,

Please remember that you can only focus on one thing at a time. If your objective is getting off Cymbalta, and you have a supportive, receptive doctor (HOORAY). The drug companies let doctors down badly, so sometimes they have to learn from us, and a good one will. You sound like you've got lucky with yours.

Forget trying to lose weight for the moment, would be my advice.

Is that your blood pressure without taking any medication for it? If so, it's not actually all that bad. I suspect most doctors would not actually want to treat it with medication unless they knew it was ongoing, despite the fact that it's over the desired levels. Blood pressure does most of its damage over time without any warning signs - that's why it's called the silent killer. There are lots of exceptions, but over time, the biggest worry is the bottom (diastolic) reading, and yours is barely above normal. The systolic (top) reading is often the one which responds more to temporary issues, and 165 is still only 'mild' as far as high blood pressure goes.

(I don't know a lot about the human body, but blood pressure I DO know about, having suddenly developed BP of 180/120 at 35, having had absolutely normal 120/70 all my life before that. 20 years later the cause of mine - which has been measured by professionals at 230/140 - was found and I now take no drugs for it, but it does fluctuate a bit, which is why I have to watch it.)

If yours is being regularly checked and hasn't been up for long, it may just be Cymbalta withdrawal. Mine went up to about that level too, but has since dropped down, so take heart that dropping to 20 hasn't solved it.

IF, IF you have plenty of capsules, just open one and empty out the contents. I've only seen 60mg and 30mg, but assume the 20mg are also a 'take-apart' capsule?????

If so, each 20mg capsule contains approx 180 little beads.

If you want to conserve the remaining drug supply, you can buy empty gelatine capsules and use these. I found it quite easy to do it visually at the larger (above 5mg) doses, as the gelatine capsules are transparent, and the little balls are quite 'fluid' flowing.

What most of us have found, sometimes the hard way, is that it's best to drop down a small amount and stay at that level for either several days - a week, or until any annoying withdrawal affects have disappeared.

Don't be in any rush - remember that the withdrawal effects are your body's way of telling you that it's not managing without the dose you need. If you feel 'fine' (which is a very relative term!) on 20mg then no harm in dropping, but if you don't, then it might be better to wait.

Also, having your own blood pressure machine is very valuable, especially if your blood pressure tends to fluctuate. It's also great if you tend to make your dr. appointments at the same time of the day, because you'll know then what yours is doing at the other end of the day.

keep in touch,


Maureen.

[snicklefritz]

Maureen - thank you! My bp has always been on the low side, kinda like yours initially. Then when I was diagnosed with RA the meds raised my bp. I was on medication for it and it stayed around normal limits while on the meds. Once a month I get an IV for my RA and the last time I went my bp was too high for them to give it to me. So - the doubled my meds and nothing happened. I realized that what was probably doing it was the Cymbalta, and I had already decided to start coming off of it. Anyway, long story short, the doc has changed my meds 3 times and it stays at the 165/90 level. She wants me to go and see a cardiologist, but I am going to wait until I am off of the CYmbalta before doing anything else. Question though - what do your capsules look like? Mine looks like a dense grey capsule - guess I need to try and take it apart!

Thanks for your help;.
Vanessa

[MaureenV]

Hi Vanessa,


I'm in Australia where we don't have a 20mg capsule, so I've only seen 30mg and 60mg. BOTH are two-tone capsules with one half a darkish colour and the other half white. If you apply gentle twisting pressure to both ends the capsule should open.


If you have sufficient to spare one, try it over the sink. (i'm not keen on sending drugs into the waterways, but sometimes it's cost vs benefit).

Ah yes, so many drugs can raise your blood pressure. Beware even dutch liquorice and herbal liquorice tea, along with herbal things like gingo baloba; also most sinus medications (which I've personally tested on several occasions and found my bp went up by about 20%).

Funny thing with Cymbalta, even though the consequences may not be severe, (as in BP increases, headaches) it seems to be that these consequences are very hard to shift. The headaches I got with Cymbalta withdrawal were not that bad (given I've had dozens of migranes I know what BAD means) but a couple of paracetamol did nothing. Even Mersyndol, which is of enormous benefit to my bad migraines, didn't completely fix the headache.

I would agree about waiting to see the cardiologist - not that it's NOT a good idea, mind you. Anyone with a history of blood pressure should be checked thoroughly from time to time. But given than doctors in general are sadly misinformed about these drugs, you may just strike someone who's adamant it's nothing to do with Cymbalta and before you know it you've paid for a raft of tests you didn't need.

How many different blood pressure drugs are you on?

take care, Maureen

[nursedeborah]

Vanessa,
I too had a very, very low bp, and hr for so many years due to be an athletic.
My bp was 80/60- 80 /54, and my hr was 42-58.

The when I started taking the Cymablta, and would go to the doc's it would read
122/82 or around there, I knew right away something was not ok! Of course the
little girl who took it refused to listen to me, until oneday I told her that is NOT
MY NORMAL BLOOD PRESSURE! I was so pissed as just because the normal rage is
around the 130/70 to 120/70 either are considered just fine, unless of course a
person has a history with a much lower one!!!!

The Cymbalta did make mine go up, and one as high as 128/86. I didn't go see
a cardio because I knew I had chronic pain, and that will increase it too, but
now I know it was also due to the Cymbalta. I even got swelling in my feet a
few times before I figured all this out, and thought I was developing Congestive
Heart Failurre.

My only concern with your BP is that that is high for for a BP period. Being a nurse
for so long, and working ICU/CCU I would just suggest that you go and have it
checked out now, and not later. Have you read the withdrawl symptoms???

Please go to this site http://prozactruth.com/cymbalta.htm

This really helped me, and tells you everything about what this drug does to every
system of our bodies, and minds. I couldn't believe what I found there. Also get
the FDA report that barney has posted, and take that with you to your doc so he
can see what your going through.

I live in Calif, and the 20 mg caps I have are not grey in color, but a dirty mustard
light yellow is the only way I know how to describe them. I know they don't come
in generic so I am just not sure what to tell you, or we just see the color different!!!

I do want to clarify, that just because I am a nurse does not mean I am giving any
medical advice, it is only a suggestion because you said that your doc had given you
3 different meds, and none of them brought down your blood pressure! Even if it
is a withdrawl symptom, it can still cause major problems, and that also why I suggest
that you read the site I gave you so you will be informed.

Please take good care of yourself, and your health as your trying to get off this noxious
drug.

Debbie

[snicklefritz]

Debbie thank you. I am paranoid enough, and now that info has really scared me. Can we really survive this stuff? It should be illegal. My doctor was really reluctant to give it to me in the beginning. One thing I am wondering though is how long does it take to feel normal again? The reason I ask is because I was suffering from depression because of all the health problems I had anyway. I mentioned before that I have RA, Fibro, etc etc. and now this stuff has exaggerated all of the symptoms. My kids (teenagers) are so sick of seeing me crying, I am sick of crying, sweating, and just feeling like pure you know what. Does it last weeks, months?

Thanks in advance
Vanessa

[snicklefritz]

/Maureen, thank you! The internet makes this such a small world. How long did it take you to get off of this stuff? I am amazed at at some of the stuff I am reading. This drug should truly be illegal.
Vanessa

[MaureenV]

HI Vanessa,


Unfortunately the things we're experiencing are common to withdrawal from many anti-depressants, not just Cymbalta, although it really does seem to 'take the cake' when it comes to difficulty withdrawing and the percentage of people who have difficulty getting of it. I suspect mine has more to do with Lexapro than Cymbalta, as I was on Lexapro for six months, then went straight from that to Cymbalta for only two months. Out of curiosity I googled Lexapro withdrawals and came up with again, huge numbers of people with exactly the same symptoms as the rest of us here, although the number of sites etc was definitely lower. Same goes for many of the other anti-d.

For me, it's taken about two months so far to get from 30 to less than 5mg, but I did an incredibly slow wean. If I'd had the luxury of it being earlier in the year I could have gone faster, but my work has already suffered from being a bit of a zombie on Lexapro and I'm getting to the stage of the year where I have to work every day, so just couldn't tolerate the withdrawal symptoms AND get enough work done.

With your blood pressure, I'm afraid I have a different opinion to Debbie, but we come from different experiences with it: she's seen the end result of people who've had high blood pressure (and strokes are soooooo common) and I'm coming from a 20 year experience of having had severely high blood pressure.

What concerns me is that just as we've all ended up on drugs to deal with pain, depression, anxiety etc, some of that comes about from jumping on the medical merry-go-round. You start on a drug for something, end up with side effects, take another tablet for that, etc etc. Once my BP problem was solved I got rid of a few conditions that no one had even thought were connected to my BP (which they weren't exactly, they were caused by one aspect of the condition I had).

I know one thing for sure about severely high blood pressure - if you turned up in an emergency department, they wouldn't try to get it down asap. That's even more dangerous than the high BP itself - the blood vessels etc, esp in the heart, have to be able to get back to normal slowly. When I landed at the GP with 180/120 out of the blue, I was sent straight to a specialist to deal with it, rather than it being treated as a typical 'emergency'. Even then, I wasn't given whammo amounts of drugs. He knew the doses were going to have to increase, but he didn't want it to come down too rapidly.

Yes, your BP is not good - and over an extended period any doctor would want/need to treat it further, as over time, anything over about 140/85 would be considered to be 'not good' for your organs. This damage tends to take time, though. It doesn't seem unlikely that your current higher BP is due to both Cymbalta withdrawal and the RA medication, so perhaps an objective of coming off Cymbalta faster than you might otherwise like may be an option.

I'm not suggesting for one second not treating it as a concern; all I'm saying is be wary of having it 'investigated' by specialists. It's very rare for a 'cause' of high BP to be found other than the usual suspects of weight, exercise, other drug side effects etc. You may end up on a merry-go-round of tests and investigations and that's not stress you need at the moment.

You mention that your doctor has 'changed drugs' so still not sure what you're on. There's a truckload of information on the net about blood pressure, and you'll generally find that most people are on more than one drug. The reason for this is that there are about three groups of BP drugs, plus a few randoms. They work in different ways, so you wouldn't be on two from the one group. I was rarely on less than three, and was sometimes on the max of four. This can also apply to someone with BP lower than mine if increasing the dose of the current drug doesn't help: the dr may reduce that dose again or leave it the same, but add in another drug. Just because you're on two or three drugs doesn't necessarily mean you're on a high dose.

Another reason I'd be careful about starting new BP treatments for you at the moment is that at first lots of them can make you light headed when you stand up, especially the ones which work on your systolic, which is your main concern. One of the cymbalta withdrawal effects is giddyness, and you sure wouldn't want them both at the same time.

Again, I'm not saying don't worry about it, just that it shouldn't be treated as being a separate issue to your Cymbalta withdrawal, and I suspect other doctors than your own may not accept that.

How many different BP drugs are you on?

keep in touch, Maureen.






p.s. Debbie your rice recipe is there under 'let's talk about something else' - cheers, Maureen.

[snicklefritz]

Maureen - I was on one - it went up and we doubled it. DId not work. Stopped that and went on another one. Made my feet swollen, my heart beat too fast, and my face all flushed. Stopped that one. So now I am on one. It is called Atilonol and calms down your heart rate too. If you want to add insult to injury, I desperately need a knee replacement, and I am almost sure they wont do it if I have unstable blood pressure.
I cannot tell you how very thankful I am for the support. Most people would not believe this stuff. I had to stop working a year ago just because of all of my other "stuff" CYmbalta was supposed to help - HA!
Take care
Vanessa

[MaureenV]

Hi Vanessa,

Funny, you can tell sometimes with some of these drugs, because most of the beta blockers end with 'olol'

atenolol, propanolol metoprolol, and on and on.

Yep BP drugs are a pest the way they can cause flushing - unfortunately due to the dose I needed sometimes I just had to accept the benefit was worth the cost. The flushing usually settles down a fair bit over time, but not much point in continuing if it's not helping much. Unfortunately it's common to most of the ones which relax your blood vessels, because they do this by dilating - same as happens when you're hot.

I was on atenolol as Tenormin (brand name) it was one of only two that I had to stop because of unacceptable levels of side effects (the other was Clonidine). Tenormin gave me really bad nightmares, on top of which I just couldn't wake up. The radio would be on for an hour and I would sleep through it, the stuff on the news sometimes entering my dreams. I particularly remember when the first space shuttle blew up in the 80's - I went to work saying I'd had this awful nightmare that it had happened and got some very funny looks.

Cymbalta also gives nightmares of course, some people here have found they either got them for the first time, or they got worse with withdrawal, but the lower my dose, the lower the incidents of bad dreams. I actually had far worse dreams on Lexapro than on Cymbalta.

The other classes of BP drugs that can be used are:
Calcium channel blockers (relax the blood vessels) (usually give flushing)
ACE inhibitors
Angiotensin Receptor blockers.
Diuretics.
Alpha blockers (they don't use these much any more - sometimes see combined pills)
Plus a few randoms, generally old fashioned ones which hang around because they're proven safe in pregnancy, have other uses, can be used when testing for things which the others interfere with.

There are quite a few too, which have combined diuretic with something else

If you're only on one drug there are plenty of others your doctor can add without doubling up.

I'm surprised your doctor hasn't tried adding a second one; that may of course be due to things barking at each other with your other conditions, but it's often done before doubling the dose of the first one.

I'd still strongly advise getting your own machine. Here they're about $150, and it means you can test at all times of the day; before you get up; after activity; before AND after activity etc, and as it sounds like you've got a great doctor, I'm sure she'd find the readings useful.

Problem is, doctors have to make assumptions about what's happening when they're not seeing you. Most would tend to assume your blood pressure went up when you saw them (that old furphy: white coat hypertension), and might assume it's not as bad the rest of the day, and because yours is contributed to by the RA drug and probably Cymbalta withdrawal, it may not follow a typical pattern.

Cheers, Maureen.

[snicklefritz]

Man does life get complicated. Here we can get our BP taken at the firestation which is a pain in the butt in itself. WIth my RA and having difficulty getting around its harder. The strange thing is that last month at my check up, I just kept saying I was worse than I had ever been and said I had all these new arthritic pains - methinks that was the Cymbalta. My husband and i opened up a capsule tonight and low and behold it was full of little beads. I think I might try to follow the 9 week withdrawal thats on this site, ie. taking out 20 beads per week. The blood pressure drug that made my face flush caused my feet to swell horribly, I could not get my shoes on. THe flushing was combined with flushing from my RA drugs and rosacea so you see, I was quite a sight. I had however been wondering why I cant wake up in the mornings - you have just explained that. Will this vicious cycle ever end??????
By the way I live in Seattle, Washington but was born in London and used to have an aunt and uncle in Sydney, my uncle worked for Chubbs safes.
Have a great day.
Vanessa

[MaureenV]

Hi Vanessa,


I have been on other beta blockers which were not as bad as atenolol.


The best ones I found for least side effects were ACE inhibitors and angiotensen receptor blockers.

Not sure if that's common, or if that was just me.


Your RA medication may mean the doctor is limited in what they prescribe, but it'd be worth asking.

cheers, Maureen.

[Junior]

Hi Snickle

Can't help with the BP issues and I see Maureen is doing a great job with that... But just wanted to pop in and say HI....and welcome to the board.

Cheers
Junior

[nursedeborah]

Snickie,
got the from junior!
It is not about being right wrong or whatever, I only know that being that you doc has
tried all these different meds on you, and nothing helped, Cymbalta withdrawls and all
one stilll needs to treat the symptoms.

This drug might very well have done some damage to your heart, who know's, I have
had so many things that I never had, and now have it all due to Cymbalta. Did you
look at the withdrawl symptoms?

I only know what I have learned and that is to never just put off things regarding the heart.
The medication injections, or IV that you get, doesn't it say "May increase blood pressure"?
Still it is always just better to have the tests done, find out there is nothing wrong, and
then you sure would feel much better knowing.

No we do not bring a bllod pressure down fast, of course not. We use an IV drip, and run it
very slowly, but at other times we do need to get a very high one down, and use something
else to bring it down pretty quick as it can cause the patient to go into cardiac arrest, so it
all really depends of the patient, and there blood pressure. Your's is not one that needs to
be brought down really fas, and it is the diastolic that I would be concerned about(the lower
one) we want the two of them to be not as close together so to speak. Yours is just inching
it's way up there, so that's why I would be concerned.

I have had two heart attacks so I am just one who does have these things checked out.
Sorry about the other problem your having. It always seems to happen like that.

Take good care of yourself,

Hugs,
Debbie

[snicklefritz]

Junior, thank you so much for the welcome.
Debbie thank you for all the information you have given me. Both you and Maureen have been a Godsend. When I went to the doctor last week, she had said to give my bp two weeks and then make an appointment with the cardiologist. I took it today and it was 120/88 puls 72. So thats a good sign. Wednesday I get to go and see the ortho to see if I can have my knee replaced. One day, I will get this straightened out, and pray that nothing else crops up for a while. Yea right, getting old is not for sissies!!!!

I will let you know how the bp goes.

[MaureenV]

Yay on the Bp front.

I hope mine settles down once I've been off Cymbalta for a month or so. At the moment it tends to be sitting on about 150/95, which is not a worry short term, but not good if it's 24/7 ongoing.

The blissful thing for me is that I'm going to be able to pick & choose which one/s suit me best depending on the side effects, compared with the 20 years of one from each group, often the max dose, and jolly bad luck about the side effects.

(I keep telling myself this to try to stop myself being pig-headed about taking anything at all. I'm not entirely convinced I'm convincing myself.) :)

Let's know how you get on with the ortho.

cheers, Maureen.

[nursedeborah]

snicklefritz said:

Junior, thank you so much for the welcome.
Debbie thank you for all the information you have given me. Both you and Maureen have been a Godsend. When I went to the doctor last week, she had said to give my bp two weeks and then make an appointment with the cardiologist. I took it today and it was 120/88 puls 72. So thats a good sign. Wednesday I get to go and see the ortho to see if I can have my knee replaced. One day, I will get this straightened out, and pray that nothing else crops up for a while. Yea right, getting old is not for sissies!!!!

I will let you know how the bp goes.

Vanessa,
I think that's your real name? Right? Your vital sign are totally normal!!!! That of a young
person's, now lets keep it that way,LOL. Another thing that can raise the BP is pain, is
the pain in your knee really bad at times? That could be a reason for your BP getting so
high, but then that doesn't mean the other meds wouldn't work!

Oh don't mind me, I just have me thinking cap on. When I was still a nurse, that is what
we really were dectivies. We would be presented with a patient, and have to just start
asking questions of all kinds, to look for the answers. So I tend to still do that after 30+
years of being one.

Do you really want to take on a knee replacement right now? I know how much your knee
can be hurting you, but withdrawling from this crap is really a big thing to tackle, then add
having a knee surgery. Well that's none of my business.

Good Luck, and your not old!!!

Debbie

[snicklefritz]

Thanks - hope I have not hurt your feelings!
V

[nursedeborah]

Vanessa,
I looked at the post prior to this one, and it was something I had writen to you.
You have not hurt my feelings! Why would you even think that? You havn't so
don't even go there:)

How's it going today? How is your knee?

Trying to just keep up on everyone is hard for my brain to do!
Where are you with this med as far as dose wise?

Take care,
Debbie

[snicklefritz]

Oh I was just trying to crack am much needed joke!!!! Right now I am on 20 mg minus 20 beads whatever that means. Now just to throw a monkey wrench in it all I am supposed to get a knee replacement on November 10, and I dont know whether to continue decreasing or hold at 20. Any thoughts?
V

[MaureenV]

Hi Vanessa,


My opinion?

You could always go down a few more each day to see what happens, but I think a sizeable drop would be crazy - you may find the withdrawal symptoms kick in just when you want your body to settle. You don't know how much your blood pressure was affected by the withdrawal. You blood pressure may, MAY be affected by the volume of IV fluids given after surgery for one.

Just as a short period of high blood pressure does not a serious problem make, one good one doesn't mean it's solved, either. Your lower reading means that at worst, your blood pressure is only high/er intermittently. Unless it's checked regularly though, as in for a few weeks at different times of the day, you won't be sure the problem's under control. Since I've had my own machine (about 10 years) I can see how pointless it is relying solely on 'doctors' appointment' readings - unless they're all consistent.

What I did was to do little reductions and stay there until I had had absolutely no (obvious) withdrawal symptoms for two days. Generally each time I drop, even a tiny amount I get 'messages' that tell me that I'm going about it the right way, and that pushing it further would mean putting up with c**p. I just figure 'why', when I don't have to?


20mg less 20 beads = 17.77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777 mg.





What??

Nothing wrong with me!




Maureen. *!#*!^*&:-

[snicklefritz]

To make a very long complicated story short, it has taken my doctors forever, (and in fact in the end it was me and not the docs) that decided to take a look at my knees. When I went today, he took one look at my x rays and did not even hesitate to tell me that BOTH knees needed replacing. I thought it was just one. You can see they are riddled with arthritis. I have walked a very very long hard road, and I am hoping that this is a turn in the path that is putting me in the right direction. I will go down as far as I can and just see where it takes me. Please just say a prayer and hope that your new friend in Seattle is doing the right thing!

I sure do appreciate you, keep in touch.
Vanessa

[MaureenV]

Hi Vanessa,


Are you having both knees done at once ?!?!?!?!?


Please also be aware that one Cymbalta withdrawal symptom that I can personally vouch for, is pain in places that you haven't felt it in years. There was no element of pain relief for me in the prescribing of Cymbalta - purely for depression. I DO have some ongoing pain in my back due to dodgy disks, but take diclofenac (Voltaren) for that, and have to say I didn't notice any benefit from Cymbalta, as I take Voltaren on a 'needs' basis.

For those for whom the pain relief element of Cymbalta was a consideration, well, who knows what the withdrawal is going to do. It might be a consideration given you're about to go through surgery.

This might be an issue for you if you're going to be in hospital for more than a day or so, because you generally have to hand over management of your drugs to the hospital. They also usually (understandably) require you to come in with your drugs in their original packaging, which would preclude you making up your own (20mg less 20 balls) dose.

Just something to think about ...

(I know what I'd be doing, I've been in hospital enough times to know my way around the system ... )


cheers, Maureen.

[snicklefritz]

Oh dear - what would you be doing? Help

[MaureenV]

Hi Vanessa,

First thing I would be doing is working out whether my regular doctor or the specialist is someone in whom you feel you can confide that you're tapering off Cymbalta your way, and only your way. If you feel they're not the sort to support you doing that you might have a problem.

Secondly, my experience is a bit unique. I fully appreciate the way hospitals need to run, and that patients coming in with their own versions of what they should be taking is a nightmare waiting to happen. Can you imagine people coming in with unpackaged drugs, claiming they were one thing and finding out later that they were quite another. The hospital would be in strife for allowing this to happen.

Hospitals are busy places, frequently understaffed. One drug I used to need to take 'on demand' I would sometimes wait over an hour for in a public hospital, whereas I should have been taking it within minutes of being aware I needed it (long story).

It depends a bit on how long you're going to be in hospital - stays tend to be much shorter than they used to be. If Cymbalta was just in a bottle, you could open the capsules and remove the 20 beads from each of the ones you needed while in there and no-one would be the wiser, but being in a blister pack it's not possible.

You could always claim to have stopped taking them, and just take the capsules yourself, but I really wouldn't recommend this option unless there's no other way. You run the risk of being given other drugs which may not otherwise be given to you if those prescribing knew you were also taking Cymbalta. NOT that that seems to stop too many people being on drugs that shouldn't be taken together anyway!

Have to confess my gut feeling in your situation, given it's only 20mg and given you've just started removing some of the beads, is to just take the 20mg again, perhaps only near the date so that you can start tapering again as soon as you start to recover.

Unless, UNLESS you feel you can talk to one of the doctors, pref the specialist about what you're doing.

What had you planned to do regarding tapering, now that you know the date for the surgery?


Maureen.

[snicklefritz]

It was purely coincidence. I needed treatment for a very bad back. The doc suggested trying to get some treatment on my knee. In the meantime I made an appointment and put it on the back burner, and came out of this weekend in seventh heaven because I finally had some help with the Cymbalta. My appt. was on Wednesday. The doctor looked at my xrays and did not even hesitate for one second to say that they BOTH needed replacing. He wanted to get started asap. November 10 was a date that worked between some of my other meds, and I really dont want to wait until the 9 weeks was over. Now I dont know what to do. You see I am convinced the Cymbalta is causing so many problems, my bp, depression much worse than it has ever been, you know the drill. I am thinking of trying to come down off of it faster than 20 beads per week, just dont know, and am hoping that between all of us we can come up with something. I have waiting a very long time to be able to walk properly again.

Any other input is very very very welcome.
Thanks
V

[snicklefritz]

Oh no - one at a time - first one being November 10. I never ever would have anticipated that soon.
Today I had a cortisone injection in my left wrist, well at the base of my thumb, the other one needs to be done too, but I have to wait for an ortho to do it. Apparently I have no cartiledge left between both of my thumbs and forefingers. Oh Joy!
V