[TimC97124]

I am soooo glad this website is here and that I found it. I've been reading and reading and have met so many great people. Thank you all for your advice -- in this case your freely given advice is of immeasurable worth. And I'm working on it.

At this point, I'm a 59 year old male and have been addicted to 60mg of the damn Cymbalta for 4 years or so. I tried to get off of it 3 years ago or so, but quickly learned about the withdrawal symptoms and started taking it again after just a few days. I got started taking it because my wife was depressed and during a counseling session she convinced our counselor that I was depressed. (OK, maybe I was just a bit -- things had not been going well for several years.) So, I went to the Dr. and since I'm mildly ADD and I've had chronic pain in my neck and back for several years due to degenerative disk disease (which can be depressing), he thought Cymbalta would be a good idea. D'oh!

Recently my insurance got screwed up and I can't really afford to pay full price, so I received a month of samples from my PCP, and I figured it's time to get off of it.

I took my last 60mg dose on 15 Aug 2010 at 9pm ! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!!!!!!!!
16 Aug 9pm 30mg. (I had a few samples stashed away.)
17 Aug 9pm 30mg. Still feeling fine, with no withdrawal symptoms.
18 Aug 9pm 30mg.
19 Aug 9pm 30mg. That was my last one. But I found this website and started reading. I got concerned that I might be in for some trouble, so the next morning I called my PCP and got some more 30mg samples.
20 Aug None. I had to find out if I would have withdrawal symptoms or not.
21 Aug 8AM 30mg. I was feeling just a tad dizzy and had a slight headache so I figured maybe I control the symptoms. By 2 pm I was getting a pretty nasty headache (7 out of 10) so I took 800mg ibuprofen and took a nap - which helped. And I kept reading this website.
22 Aug 1pm 27mg. Headache = 4 out of 10, slightly dizzy, minor brain zaps, and my legs felt kind of weak and wobbly. I waited until 1pm to take the dose because I wanted to find out how long I could hold out before the symptoms got too bad. But still I wanted to start a 10% decrease, so I opened a capsule and removed 30 beads (about 10%.)

The leg weakness is really disconcerting because the last time that happened -- starting last September -- it lasted for about 5 months and got bad. Last Fall and Winter I went thru every muscle disease test there is and they didn't find any problem. Eventually, the wobbliness cleared up, but not before my wife divorced me and sent me packing. It sort of seems that Cymbalta's side effects were the last straw for her: I had no sex drive or ability, no emotions, and muscle weakness which left me nearly unable to walk. And my income has been lousy so she dumped me. So much for "richer or poorer, in sickness and health", but I digress.)

23 Aug 9am 24mg. Slept OK (not great), legs a bit weak, slight headache 2/10.
24 Aug 8am 24mg. Slept OK, legs a bit weak in the AM but better in the PM.

GTG, more to come.

[TimC97124]

25 Aug 8:30AM 21mg. Slept good. A little light headed, not exactly dizzy. Legs a bit weak in the AM but better PM.
26 Aug 8:30AM 20mg. Slept good. Felt good in the AM, so I decided to drop another mg. Legs felt a bit weak in the AM but not too bad.
27 Aug 7:40AM 20mg. Slept OK but didn't feel good enough to drop another mg. Legs about the same.

That kind of brings me up to date for now; I'll fill in a few details in the coming days.

God bless you all,
~TimC

[TimC97124]

28th Aug 8:35AM 19mg. Slept fairly good, and I was feeling fine, so I decided to drop another mg. Felt pretty good all day doing yard work and driving one of my kids over to Oaks Park for a BBQ. It was a beautiful day in the Portland area.

I'm thinking that if I can drop 1 mg everyday, I'll be done in less than 3 weeks. But we shall see.

My method of counting beads is a bit different than what I've read. I just pour the beads into my hand and then start counting beads that I scoop into the empty capsule. I use the lines in my palm to line up the beads and I just count them as they roll into the capsule whether it's one at a time or two or three or four or five at time. And I don't worry about precise counting; if I'm off by a few it doesn't make that much difference.

And then when I'm done counting out the beads that I'm removing I just the toss the beads into my mouth and wash them down. The Cymbalta literature says that the beads don't dissolve until they get into an acidic pH of 5.5 in the digestive system. There's no taste to them, so don't worry about putting the beads into a capsule.

Since I didn't swallow the capsule, I still have it to hold the left over beads. Then I write down how many beads I have left over and put them in a bottle that I marked as SPARES. When I have enough left over beads to make a day's dose then that's what I use.

Well, it's bed time and I'm getting kind of sleepy. G'night.
TimC

[TimC97124]

29 Aug 8:35AM 18 mg. Slept pretty good, felt pretty good so I decided to drop another mg. By late afternoon I was feeling a tad dizzy but not bad. My legs feel a bit weak but not bad.

30 Aug 7:55AM 17 mg. Slept good, felt good so I dropped another mg.

My legs feel a lot weaker today than yesterday. I felt the need to use my crutches for stability and balance; and its so hard to go up and down stairs, but I think it's probably good for me to do it. Last year I had to use crutches all day every day for a couple of months. So far the past couple of weeks its just been once in a while that I feel weak and wobbly enough to need a crutch or cane. Ha! I cut a branch from a tree for a cane and some friends call me Yoda. Well it sort of fits; I'm 5'5" and closer to 800 than they are; so what if I don't have long pointy ears or a light saber.

I finally remembered to set alarms on my phone to remind myself to take Ritalin at 9am and 2pm. I sure focus better with the Ritalin; without it I can get so distracted that I constantly jump from one thing to another, doing a gazillion things that just waste time. Maybe I should just try taking the early Ritalin earlier and see what that does.

I also got my insurance straightened out, so I made an app't with the Dr. for Thursday (today is Monday.) I'll find out what he knows about "discontinuation syndrome".

Well, it's bedtime. G'night friends.
TimC (aka Yoda)

[TimC97124]

31 Aug 8:25AM 16 mg. Didn't sleep real well, so I slept in a bit and that helped. Felt good enough to drop another mg. My legs felt better today. I should reiterate that I have no idea whether the leg weakness is due to Cymbalta or some possible pinched nerve or damage somewhere in my spine. It will be interesting to see if the leg weakness clears up forever after getting off Cymbalta.

Worked until 11:30pm and didn't get home until midnight (I do IT.) Felt pretty good all day.

1 Sep 8:45AM 15 mg. Slept good, felt good, so I dropped another mg. I got down to 15 mg on the 18th day after I took my last 60 mg dose. Felt pretty good all day; that means that the dizziness and zappiness are very, very minor, but I can still tell it's there. Combine that with my legs feeling slightly weak, I still feel the need to use my cane or crutch at times. And while I feel a bit dizzier at night, that's a good time to go to bed.

Cheers!
TimC

[TimC97124]

2 Sept 8:30AM 14 mg. Slept good, felt good so I dropped another mg. Legs were a bit weak and wobbly today.

Went to see a psychiatrist today that recently got me started with Ritalin for ADD (he's not the one that started me on Cymbalta.) I asked him "So, what do you know about getting off of Cymbalta." His response, "Oo boy! That can be rough for some people but it wasn't too bad for me." I told him I was down to 15 mg and he said "You're doing good. You're going slower than I would go, but that's fine. Just keep going like you are. For some people, we add a dose of Prozac if they are really having trouble."

So, it's like this guy knows that what we're all going thru is real. We're not crazy. Aaahhh! I feel better already.

I asked him if he knew if there was any correlation between Cymbalta and my weak leg muscles. He said that there is no correlation that he knows of. So, the jury is still out deliberating on that one.

Cheers! G'night from Oregon.
TimC

[TimC97124]

3 Sept 9:30AM 12mg approx. = 100 beads out of a 30mg capsule.

Since I've been doing 'eyeball estimating' I'm not real sure how accurate my milligram estimates have been. Maybe I should redo the math and see if I can fix the estimates. I've been estimating 10 beads per milligram but maybe it should be 9 beads instead; so maybe the dose today was more like 11mg, or so.

The bottom line for me is not how accurate the count or estimate is, but rather that I am decreasing the dose and I'm still feeling OK. And yes, I did feel fine all day.

Cheers! G'night from Oregon.
TimC

[TimC97124]

I've been away from home for a couple days so I need to catch up a bit.

4 Sep 8:30AM 90 beads (10 mg) Dropped another mg from yesterday. Felt relatively OK all day.

5 Sep 3:00PM 81 beads (9mg) I knew this would be a very relaxing day, so I figured I could take a chance on not taking my dose in the morning. I made it until 3pm until I knew I had to take some, But still I dropped another mg.

6 Sep 6:00pm 72 beads (8mg) Yesterday worked so I figured I'd try it again. I was getting a bit dizzy and a little zappy as the afternoon went on, but still I cut down another mg.

Fight on!
TimC

[TimC97124]

I freely admit to having a dazed imagination, so when people ask what the brain zaps feel like, I've posted this description a couple of times. I figured I should post it here too.

You know when you touch the tips of a small 9-volt battery to your tongue in order to see if it's dead or not, and your tongue gets a jolt. The brain zaps are a lot like that, except that it isn't a 9-volt battery, it's an 18-volt, and it's not your tongue, it's your brain.

The zaps remind of the scene in Men in Black when Jay touches that floaty energy thingy and it takes off around the room like a supercharged super ball breaking everything that it hits. Only except its all inside your skull.

Alright. Maybe its not that bad, but you have to have little humor. OK?

G'night from Oregon. Fight on!
TimC

[TimC97124]

7 Sep None! My dose the day before had been at 6 pm and by bedtime on the 7th I still felt OK so I just skipped it.

8 Sep 9:20 AM 63 beads (7mg) I was hoping I would find that I could get by with stopping Cymbalta, but I was getting a bit dizzy and zappy. So I figured if I was going to be able to work I should take a dose, but I was still feeling good enough to drop another mg. Yay!

Around noon time, I read an email that brought back an interesting memory so I started to reply to the email. And in doing so, I was quite surprised to find some emotions that I hadn't had in years, and I cried tears of gladness at those memories.

I hate the damn Cymbalta. No emotions and no libido were two of the big things that ended my marriage of 27 years. Damn Cymbalta!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fight on!
TimC

[TimC97124]

9 Sept, 8:40AM 54 beads (6mg) Felt a little bit dizzy and zappy all day, but it's not bad enough to slow me down.

10 Sept, 7:20AM 54 beads again. I was in a bit of a rush to get out the door, and not quite awake, so instead of counting out 45 beads, I think I did 54 again, but I'm not sure. Hahaha on me! I wrote down 45 beads, but it seems to me I did 54. Oh well. Since I'm not real sure, I'll do 45 beads tomorrow. At any rate, I'm still feeling about the same: a bit dizzy and zappy but not bad. My legs are a little bit weak, but not bad; again, I'm not sure if the weakness is from Cymbalta or the arthritis in my back and neck.

Fight on all you warriors! Our own brighter tomorrows are in our own resolve to fight the damn devil drug.
TimC

[TimC97124]

11 Sept (I cannot write that date without thinking about the loved ones of those whose lives were taken 9 years ago. I pray that God will give them strength and peace as they continue to deal with their loss.)
9 AM 45 beads, 5 mg. Felt a bit dizzy, zappy and light headed, but hey, I'm still feeling good enough to keep on cutting down even though I'm cutting more than 10% each day now.

12 Sept 1:50pm 36 beads, 4mg. Counting beads is getting easier and more fun every day. Still feeling the same, but that's not stopping me from quitting. !! What? And I couldn't be happier to be getting off of this damn anti-depressant.

And while I'm on a roll, my advice for getting off of Cymbalta is to pick up one of Yogi Berra's books. Well, and read it, of course. You'll laugh yourself into feeling better. I learned from Mr. Berra to have my pizza cut into 8 pieces because I can't eat 12 pieces of pizza, either. And the next time I come to a fork in the road, I'm going to take it.

Fight on!
=TimC

[TimC97124]

13 Sept 5:45 pm, 27 beads, 3 mg !!!!!!! Yes !!!!!!! I was able to go about 28 hours since the last dose before the dizziness was getting to me. If I'm lucky, I won't need a dose before bed time tomorrow and then go down to 2 mg the day after. We shall see. If that doesn't work out, it's OK, I won't be disappointed.

I am so happy to be getting off of this damn devil drug.

Fight on!
=TimC=

[TimC97124]

It worked!!! None yesterday on the 14th and 2 mg this morning on the 15th. In the past 3 days, 72 hours, I've had 5 mg!! Man, am I excited or what?!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure I'm feeling a little dizzy, zappy, light-headed, and wobbly, but hey, I've got emotions and a few days ago I enjoyed some music and laughed like I hadn't laughed in years. (That reminds me of a real riddle: Why doesn't "laugh" rhyme with "Baugh" and why isn't 'rhyme' spelled 'rime'? Sometimes English makes no sense at all. But I digress.)

I know, comedians are out of work, and what am I doing here?

Hopefully, 1 mg will be OK for tomorrow and Friday. I don't think I'll quit until the weekend. But we shall see; I may need to drag it out a little longer. Maybe I'll drop by 1 or 2 beads per day for a few more days.

Fight on!
=TimC

[TimC97124]

16 Sep 2pm 2 beads! I was getting a bit dizzier and a little more buzzed, so I took 2 beads, just in case 1 was a dud. It helped enough to get me thru the rest of the day.

17 Sep 7:20 AM 9 beads. I was feeling a bit buzzed, and I knew I would need to have some brain power, so I figured that 1 mg might get me thru the day. Now at 10:30pm I am really buzzed.

G'night from Oregon.
TimC

[TimC97124]

BTW: I modified my method for counting beads.

I pour them into my hand as always, and then I use the empty capsule to start counting beads by scooping them out of my hand. I'll count 10 beads and them dump into a small dish. That way the count in the dish is always going up by 10, and if I mis-count how many beads have rolled into the capsule, I just dump those back into my hand and start counting that batch of 10 over. Of course, it's really easy to count once you get down around 50 beads or below.

Fight on!
TimC Hillsboro Oregon USA.

[TimC97124]

18 Sep None today!! My last dose was 1 mg 36 hours ago. I'm feeling a little dizzy and zappy and I have a bit of headache but it's not bad at all.

Fight on!
=TimC

[TimC97124]

lthomp0911, on 21 September 2010 - 01:53 PM, said:

TimC, I have found your notes encouraging and helpful. I had been on antidepressant medications for a long time (mainly due to stressful work conditions), but was put on Cymbalta after my 24yr old nephew died in a 4-wheeler accident 2 years ago. If I had known then what I know now I never would have started the stuff. This drug was hand-made by the devil himself. Previously, I tried to go off this medication but lowered my dosage too quickly and I thought I was going to die. I have been on 30mg, down from 60mg, for one week now. I've had some headaches and my concentration is hindered. I am prepared to take this very slowly because I want to minimize the withdrawal symptoms as much as possible. I did notice that on my 5th day of the lowered dose, my appetite increased a lot so I am worried about gaining a bunch of weight.

Keep posting and keep up the good fight.

Yes, you (the generic you) need to listen to your body; if your body says that the last drop was too big then bump part of the way back up to where you were before the big drop.

The "take it one day at a time" plan has worked for me. As you can see I would drop a little bit more as long as the symptoms were tolerable. I will never tell anyone "you should do what I did"; I fully believe what works for one person, works for one person, but not necessarily anyone else. However, we can learn from others and apply that to ourselves.

Keep going; you'll get it done!
=TimC

[TimC97124]

Hallelujah! I'm done, I'm done, I am so done!!!!!!!!!!! My last dose was 4 1/2 days ago and there is no way I'll take any more.

My head has still been a little zappy, but not bad at all.

Just FYI, going at it the way I did, I used 12 30mg capsules in going from 30 mg to 0 mg. Again, I don't expect that my method will work perfectly for anyone else. For that matter, I really don't think that you can say that my method worked perfectly for me either. I mean, I've had headaches and the zzapps, (oh yeah, there's a zzapp for that) but still, the bottom line is that I got to zero without major symptoms.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to many of you that I will never be able to pay back. Cookie, Maureen, Doobs, and many others, you all helped me thru it. How about if I pay it forward to those who are coming?

Rejoicing with those who rejoice, and weeping with those who weep. Keep looking up and Fight On! Day by day, Fight on!

=TimC

I'm doooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TimC97124]

I found it. A quote that really gave me hope when I was getting started. I lost it, went searching and found it. Bon Bon's words are a definite "must read".
http://www.cymbaltaw...umps-and-tears/

Thank you BonBon!

[cookie]

TimC97124, on 21 September 2010 - 11:54 PM, said:

Hallelujah! I'm done, I'm done, I am so done!!!!!!!!!!! My last dose was 4 1/2 days ago and there is no way I'll take any more.

My head has still been a little zappy, but not bad at all.

Just FYI, going at it the way I did, I used 12 30mg capsules in going from 30 mg to 0 mg. Again, I don't expect that my method will work perfectly for anyone else. For that matter, I really don't think that you can say that my method worked perfectly for me either. I mean, I've had headaches and the zzapps, (oh yeah, there's a zzapp for that) but still, the bottom line is that I got to zero without major symptoms.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to many of you that I will never be able to pay back. Cookie, Maureen, Doobs, and many others, you all helped me thru it. How about if I pay it forward to those who are coming?

Rejoicing with those who rejoice, and weeping with those who weep. Keep looking up and Fight On! Day by day, Fight on!

=TimC

I'm doooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Tim:
I read that you were down to zero around september 17th. So it is been a while since you quit. How are you feeling???????

[TimC97124]

Hi Cookie:
Thanks for asking. My apologies for not hanging out here with you all but I'm still not feeling very well. My troubles with leg weakness/wobbling, shaking, quivering, the dizziness, the zzapps, & tinnitus have all been continuing. I've been to 3 doctors, and had MRIs done of my entire spine looking for a physical cause for the leg weakness, like a nerve pinched somewhere. The radiologist saw something on one of my kidneys out in the edge of the MRI of my lumbar area that they wanted to get a better look at, so I had a CT of my kidneys today. I also met with a second neurologist today (the first being last winter during my first attack of leg weakness.) This neurologist wants to see an MRI of my head, so I should get that scheduled in the next few days. It seems strangely coincidental that all of this trouble showed up while I was taking, and then getting off of Cymbalta. Maybe it was just a coincidence but ... I don't know.

I'll let you know if I get any answers.

Keep fighting on!
TimC

[cookie]

Dear Tim:
I hope everything goes well with your kidneys test and the MRI of your head.

hugs
Cookie

[TimC97124]

The 'something' on my kidney turned out the be a benign cyst. The MRI of my head has yet to be scheduled. I was also referred to a rheumatologist; perhaps they can see what might be going on. Lots of symptoms of MS, but they're trying to rule that out.

Fight on,
TimC

[cookie]

How is the treatment for a benign cyst?

[TimC97124]

The doctor said that there is no reason to do anything about the cyst at this time. It's not in the way of anything or blocking anything; no harm, no foul.

Cheers,
TimC

[trixie]

I have enjoyed reading your journey!

I'm curious too, you metioned you are STILL having some symptoms of withdrawl, ears ringing, dizziness? Seriously? please tell me it's going to stop............

[TimC97124]

Trixie: I'm not sure if the reason I'm still not feeling great is because of Cymbalta or something else. Cause and effect are hard to figure out; there's no way to know which is the cause and which is the effect. Is it Cymbalta that made me feel lousy or did I go on Cymbalta because I was feeling lousy? If I find out, I'll post it here.

At any rate, I'm sure I'm better off with not putting some weird chemical in my body.

TimC

[tracy]

TimC97124, on 27 August 2010 - 11:02 PM, said:

I am soooo glad this website is here and that I found it. I've been reading and reading and have met so many great people. Thank you all for your advice -- in this case your freely given advice is of immeasurable worth. And I'm working on it.

At this point, I'm a 59 year old male and have been addicted to 60mg of the damn Cymbalta for 4 years or so. I tried to get off of it 3 years ago or so, but quickly learned about the withdrawal symptoms and started taking it again after just a few days. I got started taking it because my wife was depressed and during a counseling session she convinced our counselor that I was depressed. (OK, maybe I was just a bit -- things had not been going well for several years.) So, I went to the Dr. and since I'm mildly ADD and I've had chronic pain in my neck and back for several years due to degenerative disk disease (which can be depressing), he thought Cymbalta would be a good idea. D'oh!

Recently my insurance got screwed up and I can't really afford to pay full price, so I received a month of samples from my PCP, and I figured it's time to get off of it.

I took my last 60mg dose on 15 Aug 2010 at 9pm ! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!!!!!!!!
16 Aug 9pm 30mg. (I had a few samples stashed away.)
17 Aug 9pm 30mg. Still feeling fine, with no withdrawal symptoms.
18 Aug 9pm 30mg.
19 Aug 9pm 30mg. That was my last one. But I found this website and started reading. I got concerned that I might be in for some trouble, so the next morning I called my PCP and got some more 30mg samples.
20 Aug None. I had to find out if I would have withdrawal symptoms or not.
21 Aug 8AM 30mg. I was feeling just a tad dizzy and had a slight headache so I figured maybe I control the symptoms. By 2 pm I was getting a pretty nasty headache (7 out of 10) so I took 800mg ibuprofen and took a nap - which helped. And I kept reading this website.
22 Aug 1pm 27mg. Headache = 4 out of 10, slightly dizzy, minor brain zaps, and my legs felt kind of weak and wobbly. I waited until 1pm to take the dose because I wanted to find out how long I could hold out before the symptoms got too bad. But still I wanted to start a 10% decrease, so I opened a capsule and removed 30 beads (about 10%.)

The leg weakness is really disconcerting because the last time that happened -- starting last September -- it lasted for about 5 months and got bad. Last Fall and Winter I went thru every muscle disease test there is and they didn't find any problem. Eventually, the wobbliness cleared up, but not before my wife divorced me and sent me packing. It sort of seems that Cymbalta's side effects were the last straw for her: I had no sex drive or ability, no emotions, and muscle weakness which left me nearly unable to walk. And my income has been lousy so she dumped me. So much for "richer or poorer, in sickness and health", but I digress.)

23 Aug 9am 24mg. Slept OK (not great), legs a bit weak, slight headache 2/10.
24 Aug 8am 24mg. Slept OK, legs a bit weak in the AM but better in the PM.

GTG, more to come.

I found your post to be helpful! I have stopped taking the drug under my Dr's supervision. it is interesting that most people's most common complaint is dizziness! I cant wait to not feel nausea and not to feel dizzy!

[TimC97124]

Good. Glad it helps. Fight on, you can do it!
TimC