[crosswordsmile]

After over a 3 month weening process from 60 mg, I am successfully Cymbalta free. I had joined this site after the first couple of weeks when I realized I needed to hear other people's stories. It was very upsetting to hear from people who hadn't had the luxury to ween off the medication as slowly as I was able to. I dropped dosages only every 3 months, and I STILL would feel disoriented, overwhelmed and desperate at times. There were also certain dosages that I had a harder time coming down from than others.

A very important part of this process for me was a supportive therapist. I believe therapy is absolutely VITAL in this journey! The decision to come down from my meds started out as an experiment (I was on 75 mg of Zoloft and 60 of Cymbalta) to see how not being on medication would affect my emotionality. I would often feel numb, experience derealization quite frequently, and thought that weening off of medication might allow me access to some more of the tools that I had acquired while in therapy. There were times when my body would acclimate to being on a lower dosage that I was actually feeling better than I had in years. Now that I have been completely off for a week, I honestly can say that I feel better. I had been medicated essentially since I was 9 years old (I'm 25 now) and had reached a point in my therapy where medication simply wasn't relevant anymore. I'm really looking forward to exploring this "new life" of sorts without medication.

The greatest thing that I have received from being off my meds is the invaluable knowledge that I truly am okay; I had spent so long thinking that I was "broken" and that being on medication was the only thing that could fix me. I have a wonderful therapist who has helped me through much, this experience included. I live in Orange County and have been making the trip down to her office in San Diego for several years now. If you live in the San Diego area and are looking for the support of a truly empathetic therapist, look up Kristin Moorehead at www.sagetherapycenter.com, I really can't recommend her enough.

[tp225]

how did you wean off???

[crosswordsmile]

tp225, on 14 February 2010 - 08:10 AM, said:

how did you wean off???

Very slowly... I realized I mentioned lowering the dosage every 3 months, when I actually meant every 3 weeks. I was on 60 mg and dropped down to 40 for 3 weeks, then to 30 (had to stay here for just over a month), and then to 20, and finally to 10 for about a month as well. 10 is essentially a below therapeutic dosage, so I really didn't notice much of a change from stopping altogether after that. The reason I went from 40 to 30 to 20 instead of directly from 40 to 20 is so that there was not a time where I was reducing the dosage by half, until I got down to 10 mg. The whole process took almost 4 months. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

[crosswordsmile]

Correction! I dropped dosages only every 3 WEEKS.

[nursedeborah]

crosswordsmile, on 13 February 2010 - 11:27 PM, said:

After over a 3 month weening process from 60 mg, I am successfully Cymbalta free. I had joined this site after the first couple of weeks when I realized I needed to hear other people's stories. It was very upsetting to hear from people who hadn't had the luxury to ween off the medication as slowly as I was able to. I dropped dosages only every 3 months, and I STILL would feel disoriented, overwhelmed and desperate at times. There were also certain dosages that I had a harder time coming down from than others.

A very important part of this process for me was a supportive therapist. I believe therapy is absolutely VITAL in this journey! The decision to come down from my meds started out as an experiment (I was on 75 mg of Zoloft and 60 of Cymbalta) to see how not being on medication would affect my emotionality. I would often feel numb, experience derealization quite frequently, and thought that weening off of medication might allow me access to some more of the tools that I had acquired while in therapy. There were times when my body would acclimate to being on a lower dosage that I was actually feeling better than I had in years. Now that I have been completely off for a week, I honestly can say that I feel better. I had been medicated essentially since I was 9 years old (I'm 25 now) and had reached a point in my therapy where medication simply wasn't relevant anymore. I'm really looking forward to exploring this "new life" of sorts without medication.

The greatest thing that I have received from being off my meds is the invaluable knowledge that I truly am okay; I had spent so long thinking that I was "broken" and that being on medication was the only thing that could fix me. I have a wonderful therapist who has helped me through much, this experience included. I live in Orange County and have been making the trip down to her office in San Diego for several years now. If you live in the San Diego area and are looking for the support of a truly empathetic therapist, look up Kristin Moorehead at www.sagetherapycenter.com, I really can't recommend her enough.

Hi,
You really got lucky in finding that doing it slow is the best way to go.
I look back now, and wish I had gone much slower than I had. I n fact I
just read?? could have been here, anyway that certain doses were harder
than others to get off of.I am finding this true with the 30 mg. I had
gone down to 25, but had to go back up to 30 mg, and really can tell the
difference.

I so agree with you about therapy, I just wasn't even able to do as I just
found out 2 weeeks ago what was causing me to sleep all the time, and not
be able to do anythimg was that I now had "Sleep Apnea"

Thanks for sharing your story of success,

Debbie

[nursedeborah]

crosswordsmile, on 14 February 2010 - 07:46 PM, said:

Very slowly... I realized I mentioned lowering the dosage every 3 months, when I actually meant every 3 weeks. I was on 60 mg and dropped down to 40 for 3 weeks, then to 30 (had to stay here for just over a month), and then to 20, and finally to 10 for about a month as well. 10 is essentially a below therapeutic dosage, so I really didn't notice much of a change from stopping altogether after that. The reason I went from 40 to 30 to 20 instead of directly from 40 to 20 is so that there was not a time where I was reducing the dosage by half, until I got down to 10 mg. The whole process took almost 4 months. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

crosswordsmile,
I just saw this after I wote to you, and I never could have done this!
This is way to fast, but I am glad it worked for you!!!!

Good Job!

Debbie

[MaureenV]

northandsouth, on 16 February 2010 - 03:12 PM, said:

Congratulations for being Cymbalta free. After getting free about three years ago I swore I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use Cymbalta again. But after falling down the slope my psychiatrist and I decided to try again. DUH! After nearly a year on the med I am on the top of the mountain again and suffering through withdrawals again. The doc only gve me 1 week of 30 mg and after 5 days I have headaches and really bad brain shocks. I will be leaving the house shortly to get another 7 day script. I will definitely mention to my doc about using a much slower rate of weaning off the stuff.

My former therapist did not think much of antidepressants anyway.

After five days off, you may not need to take the full 30mg to get complete relief from the symptoms. Weaning off 20mg is going to be faster than weaning of 30mg. Have a think about that before taking it, if you read this beforehand.

You can buy clear gelatine capsules to divide up your doses.


regards, Maureen.