[notdefeated]

I, thought it would be righteous, on my part to let others know what to expect coming off Cymbalta and for how long. I longed to see a post as I'm about to post to help others that are just coming off or about to stop taking this "should be banned" drug.
To start with I would say go cold turkey, tapering off only extends the agony. I went cold turkey because I ran out, and i didn't want to buy another bottle. (I do not have insurance so I pay full price, $170 for 30-60mg pills) I went online looking for help, relief, knowledge or anything else that would help me when the symptoms started, about day 2-3.
I was put on this drug for neurological pain in my neck due to two bulging disc's, and my doctor at the time thought I was to young (37) for pain med's. I was on this drug for 7 yrs. After still having unbearable pain at times I went to a pain management doc., at that time I was 41. He tried pain block shots and nerve block shots but those really didn't help either so they started treating me the old fashion way, narcotic's. After I was on them for a little while I decided to cut one of my expenses, that choice was Cymbalta. I tried several times until now to stop Cymbalta but the withdrawals keep me going back to the pill, I couldn't handle the symptoms. I stopped taking ms contin (morphine) in 2009 for two weeks and the withdrawals from that narcotic didn't compare to Cymbalta.
FINALLY I put my mind to it and said I'm done. It's been two weeks now and I can say the worst is behind me. I wake up each day feeling better. I still get the brain zaps, although they are not even comparable to my first week, (my first week was full of suicidal thoughts, crazy dreams and sleepless nights) and my body hurt all over, it made my bones and muscle feel really weak and weird. The brain zaps would throw off my equalllibreum, and give me a paranoid feeling of insecurity, that I hated, because there are few thing that I'm scared of.
I read other's posts about taking fish oil caps and benadryl (25 mg) to ease the symptoms, I did take them, and it did seem to help. I ask my pdoc to put me on Adderall, which he did and it helped me to focus and gave me the energy to get up and do something.
ABOVE ALL ELSE, just remember that it won't last forever. Maybe I was blessed, I prayed to my heavenly Father Jehovah for support and my worst symptoms lasted about 9 days. I get the brain zaps every now and again but they don't bother me now, I just know that it's happening and that's it.
So hang in there, just let everyone know what your going through, send them to one these sights so that they know what is going on with you, or print it out and hand it to them.

[Persistent]

Hi there,

I just finished my 3 week being of this drug, I guess there is a hope for me. First 2 weeks were " nightmare" for me, I still get brain zaps,but the worst thing for me is sleeping problem. Can't function like that, so little sleep avery night. How much longer will it last?

[Judy98]

Dear "notdefeated," thank you for your post in Dec 2011. Many of the posts in here are 2 or 3 years old, so hopefully some of the folks who survived withdrawals will come back to encourage those of us in the early stages of quitting this drug. I find myself in this position because the mail order pharmacy at the hospital forgot to mail a refill of Cymbalta and I've been without for probably 10 days.

What you described as "my first week was full of suicidal thoughts, crazy dreams and sleepless nights" hit home. Well, except for the suicidal thoughts part. Instead of suicidal thoughts, I felt like I was dieing and now I have an "out-of-body" feeling. I'm so grateful that I stumbled onto this website a couple of days ago. Well, I probably didn't "stumble," but was more than likely led the Holy Spirit.

Back to what you said about "crazy dreams and sleepless nights," which by the way sounds like the title of a country western song. I've had insomnia for years, but this past week I couldn't sleep at all for 3 nights and even now, when I do manage to sleep, I have the weirdest dreams and nightmares. Apparently, Cymbalta was keeping me from dreaming much at all. I've awakened terrified for the last few nights. Like you, I turn to my Heavenly Father for help to get me through this stuff. I'm just so grateful that I realize why this is happening to me at the moment, so when it gets rough I just say a little prayer, aknowledging that "this too shall pass" and asking for God's help to get through it one minute, hour, day or month at a time. I hope you come back to give us an update on what you are going through.

[cymbaltavictim1010]

Persistent, on 05 December 2011 - 10:02 AM, said:

Hi there,

I just finished my 3 week being of this drug, I guess there is a hope for me. First 2 weeks were " nightmare" for me, I still get brain zaps,but the worst thing for me is sleeping problem. Can't function like that, so little sleep avery night. How much longer will it last?

I trust given that you gave up last year you are fine now. Or "fine(ish)". Otherwise, drop me a line. I am here to help

[cymbaltavictim1010]

I do not believe that I have led a perfect life. Far from it. However, I also do not believe that I deserved to go through the agony of being on Cymbalta nor the terrifying experience of withdrawing from this "medicine".

I should start by saying that Cymbalta destroyed my marriage and came very close to destroying my career. When you are on Cymbalta, you feel NOTHING (apart from feeling as if you have influenza all the time and that you need a glass of wine at six o'clock in the morning). Withdrawing from Cymbalta is much, much worse. There is something in this drug that is very clearly meant to make you so frightened of withdrawal that most people don't succeed. I could bore you for hours describing the various symptoms but if you are in this position you know exactly what I am talking about. The brain zaps, the nausea, the arrhythmia, the vertigo, the mood swings, the violent rage.

I have managed to withdraw successfully from Cymbalta. I do still feel after-effects even now but they are nothing like the sheer horror of the withdrawal process. Let me tell you how I achieved this. I was on 120 mg a day for five years. That is about as bad as it gets. However, once I worked out that Cymbalta was destroying my life, I knew I had to give up. I cut my dosage to 60 mg a day for one week. Following that, I did what Eli Lilly tells you absolutely not to do (they wouldn't they) and I split open the capsules. You will find contained therein a large number of what I call globules. Not powder. Eli Lilly refuses to issue Cymbalta in doses below 20 mg or in liquid form so rationing the globules is the only thing you can do.
Do not go cold turkey; you might give yourself a seizure (I am not a medical doctor but, believe me, the mental effects are too powerful to ignore). When you feel the zaps starting, moisten your fingertip and dip it into the globules and swallow. When, after a few days, the zaps start receding stop taking Cymbalta altogether.

Then the party starts and it is not a party that you would attend willingly. You will have two to three months of sheer agony and horror. Whatever your general practitioner or other medical adviser will tell you, there is no palliative to help the symptoms from here.

All I would advise is take no other medication whatsoever (which is against the advice that is always given by the medical profession but their advice is wrong - they have never had to live through this so what do they know), take no physical exercise at all (I know that that sounds weird but, believe me, I know whereof I speak), keep your head down and have as little to do with other people as you possibly can. Do take Omega 3 (essentially fish oil) as this will help you in part to deal with brain zaps. Eat as little as you possibly can and restrict your diet to fish, vegetables and fruit. Oddly, especially given the fact that Cymbalta has one very obvious side-effect, that is to say increasing one's craving for alcohol, a couple of glasses of red wine in the evening really helps. As does lots of sleep (if you can sleep at all because the brain zaps make it very difficult to do so).

Although it sounds astonishing (unbelievable to those who are undergoing the first stages of withdrawal) you will find that after about eight weeks all of the symptoms recede and you will stop feeling the urge to punch people in the face. Indeed, one evening you will feel absolute bliss. You will still feel terrible but you will be suddenly aware that the worst is over and you can look forward.

I hope to God that you will succeed. My heart goes out to you. For God's sake, keep the faith. I am trying to find members of the medical profession who will sanction this course of treatment. So far, I have received nothing but support from NHS doctors with whom I have spoken. God bless you all

[lizzie62]

cymbaltavictim1010, on 02 May 2012 - 01:19 PM, said:

I do not believe that I have led a perfect life. Far from it. However, I also do not believe that I deserved to go through the agony of being on Cymbalta nor the terrifying experience of withdrawing from this "medicine".

I should start by saying that Cymbalta destroyed my marriage and came very close to destroying my career. When you are on Cymbalta, you feel NOTHING (apart from feeling as if you have influenza all the time and that you need a glass of wine at six o'clock in the morning). Withdrawing from Cymbalta is much, much worse. There is something in this drug that is very clearly meant to make you so frightened of withdrawal that most people don't succeed. I could bore you for hours describing the various symptoms but if you are in this position you know exactly what I am talking about. The brain zaps, the nausea, the arrhythmia, the vertigo, the mood swings, the violent rage.

I have managed to withdraw successfully from Cymbalta. I do still feel after-effects even now but they are nothing like the sheer horror of the withdrawal process. Let me tell you how I achieved this. I was on 120 mg a day for five years. That is about as bad as it gets. However, once I worked out that Cymbalta was destroying my life, I knew I had to give up. I cut my dosage to 60 mg a day for one week. Following that, I did what Eli Lilly tells you absolutely not to do (they wouldn't they) and I split open the capsules. You will find contained therein a large number of what I call globules. Not powder. Eli Lilly refuses to issue Cymbalta in doses below 20 mg or in liquid form so rationing the globules is the only thing you can do.
Do not go cold turkey; you might give yourself a seizure (I am not a medical doctor but, believe me, the mental effects are too powerful to ignore). When you feel the zaps starting, moisten your fingertip and dip it into the globules and swallow. When, after a few days, the zaps start receding stop taking Cymbalta altogether.

Then the party starts and it is not a party that you would attend willingly. You will have two to three months of sheer agony and horror. Whatever your general practitioner or other medical adviser will tell you, there is no palliative to help the symptoms from here.

All I would advise is take no other medication whatsoever (which is against the advice that is always given by the medical profession but their advice is wrong - they have never had to live through this so what do they know), take no physical exercise at all (I know that that sounds weird but, believe me, I know whereof I speak), keep your head down and have as little to do with other people as you possibly can. Do take Omega 3 (essentially fish oil) as this will help you in part to deal with brain zaps. Eat as little as you possibly can and restrict your diet to fish, vegetables and fruit. Oddly, especially given the fact that Cymbalta has one very obvious side-effect, that is to say increasing one's craving for alcohol, a couple of glasses of red wine in the evening really helps. As does lots of sleep (if you can sleep at all because the brain zaps make it very difficult to do so).

Although it sounds astonishing (unbelievable to those who are undergoing the first stages of withdrawal) you will find that after about eight weeks all of the symptoms recede and you will stop feeling the urge to punch people in the face. Indeed, one evening you will feel absolute bliss. You will still feel terrible but you will be suddenly aware that the worst is over and you can look forward.

I hope to God that you will succeed. My heart goes out to you. For God's sake, keep the faith. I am trying to find members of the medical profession who will sanction this course of treatment. So far, I have received nothing but support from NHS doctors with whom I have spoken. God bless you all

[lizzie62]

It's only been a week or so........I can't go cold turkey, it made me too ill. I've been on it for five years now and want off. It was not a planned discontinuation of the med, but with the help of an incompetent medical office staff, non caring insurance companies and my pharmacist who did all she could, it has now become planned. My PCP thinks I'm depressed/crazy b/c I want to stop poisnoning myself - that's all Cymbalta does. I'm actually glad this is happening, and don't think I'm a nut case here, but what if there is some kind of world wide disaster in December? At least I won't be suffering the DT's then! Wish I had a Voodoo doll that I could use on the insurance company. What right do they have to say what medicine I can & can't have?

[happyzapynot]

lizzie62, on 03 May 2012 - 10:18 AM, said:

It's only been a week or so........I can't go cold turkey, it made me too ill. I've been on it for five years now and want off. It was not a planned discontinuation of the med, but with the help of an incompetent medical office staff, non caring insurance companies and my pharmacist who did all she could, it has now become planned. My PCP thinks I'm depressed/crazy b/c I want to stop poisnoning myself - that's all Cymbalta does. I'm actually glad this is happening, and don't think I'm a nut case here, but what if there is some kind of world wide disaster in December? At least I won't be suffering the DT's then! Wish I had a Voodoo doll that I could use on the insurance company. What right do they have to say what medicine I can & can't have?

Find a new PCP and fire the bozo who refuses to listen to the evidence against $ymbalta.
Print out some info about the dangers of $ymbalta and mail it your current PCP, along with a detailed list of your concerns, symptoms and your frustration with the doctor's attitude toward you for wanting to get off the poison. Get her/his attention by mailing it certified. Keep a copy for yourself.
Here's a good link for honest info:
http://www.fda.gov/d...dvisoryCommitte[/b]
If you haven't already reported your adverse expeiences to the FDA please do so. We need to do everythin possible to get this crap off the market. It almost killed me, literally. Here's the link for reporting adverse drug experiences to the FDA:
www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088

Two more interesting articles are posted below:
http://www.opednews....090216-416.html
http://www.slate.com...ug_secrets.html

This stuff kills people. You are WISE for getting off it. Arm youself with info. Educate yourself. The doc is not happy about loosing the perks s/he gets from prescribing it and the insurance company is not happy about loosing an opportunity to share the profits but YOU can be the WINNER and let the loosers loose!
Godspeed to you!