[volksvagn]

Like most of the people on this site, I have been battling with being on or off cymbalta for a couple years. It started out great, 30mg/day was helping me cope with anxiety/depression and even helped me lose a few pounds. After a while I needed to go up to 60mg/day. Then that stopped working and I could no longer afford the copay. So I got off it! Here is how.

1. I tapered down to 30mg/day for a month.
2. My doctor gave me a prescription for 20mg/day capsules. I took those for a month.
3. Then I started taking out half the balls in the 20mg capsules and taking that daily (about 10mg). I did this for a month.
4. Then I stopped all of it.

The withdrawals were still awful but better than cold turkey. I had the brain zaps, dizziness, just about everything. And then I read about a supplement called rhodiola. It is an herb. You can look it up.

5. I started to take 240mg of rhodiola daily two days after I discontinued the cymbalta and within one day I was feeling myself again!!!! The withdrawals had subsided (for the most part) and I no longer felt depressed!

Rhodiola acts as a MAO inhibitor in the brain. MAOI's are the oldest prescribed antidepressants that are also the most dangerous and effective. They slop the breakdown of serotonin in the brain by MAO giving you increased levels. This supplement does the same thing but not dangerously.

6. In addition to the rhodiola, I increased intake of foods containing tryptophan. Tryptophan converts to 5-HTP which converts into serotonin. Thereby increasing my intake of tryptophan, increased my serotonin levels.

Foods that help:
oatmeal
peanut butter
eggs
chicken
dark cherries
dark chocolate
yogurt
turkey
and many others if you search the web you can find them.

This is my story of how I got off cymbalta, beat the withdrawals and started feeling good again. I hope it helps !