Help
Carrie, on 21 April 2010 - 11:50 PM, said:
I am afraid. I already have these symptoms you all describe but I knew nothing about this. Worse yet, I'm heavily medicated on the drug for very serious medical problems (not so much mental but have extreme anxiety now). I had no idea. My doctor has never tested my liver but I am yellow and can't stop getting so sick. I'm 5'7" and just went from 135 pounds to 110 overnight. I can't continue to take this "worst EVER never-ending flu" feeling that is depressing the heck our of me. I'm on 120 mg a day and I've read and read and have seen no other patient on that high of a dosage. I've retired at 50 because I am so sick. Could this be hurting me -- Cymbalta itself? Please advise me as I'm very ill and no one is treating the problem, just the symptoms. I am on my own right now and I don't know how to deal with this. I've lost my career after being at the top of my field and walked out on my 22-year marriage (Being sick was only partially to blame for either one: I am married to an extemely anxiety inducing husband0. Can someone who knows something email me directly? Carrie -- ctuft2005@yahoo.com I THOUGHT CYMBALTA was supposed to help. All 10 of my doctors know I'm on it and not one said anything about this to me. PLEASE HELP ME!
Cymbalta dose goes up to 150mg a day. The doses I've seen people on (through this board) are 20mg (rare) to 150mg (also rare). Most drugs are processed by the liver, and liver disease is of concern for almost any drug, so if you have any concerns in that area, insist on tests.
I believe even the drug company themselves say that there's often not much benefit in going from 60mg to 120mg. Were you put on to 120mg fairly quickly? Or were you on a lower dose which got increased at some stage? In which case, did the higher dose make much difference.
The reason I ask is because people often find they don't have too much problem getting down to 60mg or 30mg from higher doses. HOWEVER, perhaps they're just the ones for whom the higher dose didn't help much anyway. Who knows? All we've got on this board are anecdotal examples of the problems with Cymbalta.
If you do decide you want off, keep in mind that many doctors are not as familiar with the problems that can occur for some people. They suggest things like taking it alternate days, which doesn't work for those with serious withdrawal problems, because it's only got a short half life.
I'm not saying this is going to work for you, because I'm only going on what I've read of the experiences of others who've posted here, but you could try dropping to 90mg per day and see what happens.
Many find that the withdrawal effects don't really kick in for up to a week, so don't even think about further drops until you know how you're feeling after a few weeks of the reduction (if that's what you do).
If at any point you feel bad, you can add back some of the dose, without going right back up to 120mg.
Firstly, though, you need to get that liver stuff sorted. I haven't the faintest idea how that would affect any withdrawal symptoms.
KEEP IN TOUCH>
regards, Maureen.
