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Took My Last Dose Of Cymbalta 6 Days Ago, Is This Dizziness Normal?


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#1 buntbean2

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    Help with going off Cymbalta

Posted 15 August 2014 - 07:46 PM

I took my last dose 6 days ago.  My head feels like it's swimming and the dizziness is insane.  My emotions have been up and down.  From happy, to sad and crying, to angry and irritable.  I lose my patience easily.  My thoughts are all over the place.  Please advise on what to expect and how long it will take to have my old "normal" back.  Supplements to help...any advice welcomed and thank you!!

 

Also for those doing bead counting.  I tapered my 20mg with a generic Cymbalta manufactured by Teva which had approx. 100 TINY beads in it.  A miserable chore!!!  Then I was getting rid of pills and saw that I had 20mg from a different manufacturer.  I decided to open it up and there were 4 pills inside!!  How easy that would have been!!  Just take 1 pill out per week for a nice slow taper.  It's the generic Cymbalta (Duloxetine Hcl) 20 mg tabs manufactured by Lupin.  Not sure if you can look for a pharmacy that offers that specific generic.  If you can get it...yay for you!!!

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#2 thismoment

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Posted 15 August 2014 - 08:49 PM

buntbean2

 

Refresh my memory. How long on the drug; what dosage reductions (90-60-30-20 etc) in your taper; how long tapering? Do you have anxiety, and if so, do you have a benzo or similar for it?

 

How long until you have your "old normal back" is the 64 million-dollar Class Action question! But there's a bit of struggling to go through before it picks up, but it WILL pick up and get better. 

 

On your 4-bead capsule-- taking out one bead per week is virtually cold turkey (that's only 28 days). A slow taper from 20 or 30 mg would be a minimum of 6 months.

 

Use the symptoms as a direct indicator of whether you're going too fast: if you have symptoms (especially strong symptoms), you're going too fast. Regulate the symptoms by the pace at which you taper off.


#3 buntbean2

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    Help with going off Cymbalta

Posted 16 August 2014 - 07:15 AM

I was put on Cymbalta 9 years ago for nerve related pain and the depression/anxiety that went along with it.  I've been taking a 60 mg capsule at bedtime for that amount of time.  After reading your reply I have obviously gone too fast.  I started tapering May 19th going from 60 to 50mg (my new doctor prx 30 and 20mg tablets).  One week later I went down to 40mg.  At that point I wrote in my "pain journal" that I was tired and the days were blurs with dizziness, sleeping like the dead at night and having vivid dreams.  The following week (I didn't cut back)  but I suddenly had boundless energy with the dizziness and some anxiety.  I decided to keep it at 40mg until June 16th, then I decreased to 30.  I have had hives on my left arm since then but I don't know if it's related to the Cymbalta, I've never had hives before though.  Unfortunately, I also had an assortment of regular Cymbalta mixed with 2 generic versions whist doing all this as well.  June 30th I decreased to 20mg.  The dizziness continued but I was also hyper, sweating, unable to fall asleep at night, trouble concentrating and finding the right words to say.  Emotional roller coaster.  On July 25th I opened a 20mg capsule (generic brand manufactured by Teva) and found 100 TINY beads.  It was such a pain to deal with them that I counted out 50 beads for each capsule for a 7 day period (10mg), then count out 25 beads (5mg) for each capsule for an additional 7 days, started Aug 1st.  IF I had had the other generic I had mentioned I would have removed 1 "bead" per week.  My last dose was exactly 1 week ago now.  My main issues are the dizziness, sleeplessness, emotional roller coaster, brain fog.  I have also been on lorazepam and clonazepam as needed for 9 years as well (for anxiety and pain relief). I hate relying on medications unless I really need it, but I have had to take clonazepam about 5-10 times since I started tapering in May.  I'm usually in bed and right out by 10:30 pm but last night, I was still up at 2 in the morning so I took a lorazepam.  

I should add that for the past month I have been deep in the Maine woods (near Canada).  No electricity, internet, medical facilities, etc. I have had no way to check into this site.  No turning back now.

 

Back in May I was checking this site and saw that certain supplements can help us bounce back from this.  ???


#4 FiveNotions

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Posted 16 August 2014 - 10:48 AM

Buntbean, your month in the backwoods of Maine sounds wonderful ... except that you were dealing with the Cymbalta withdrawal ... I'd love to disappear back into the Adirondacks, near where I grew up ... sigh ...

 

Anyway, yes, there are some basic nutrients that quite a few of us took/take ... check the "nutritional support" forum for lots of info ...

 

The ones I took and still take are: chelated magnesium (helps with muscle pain/spasms), omega 3, multi-vitamin, and b-complex. (I also take choline and glycine, but those are just my own personal "add-ons.") 

 

(Just be careful that you're not allergic/sensitive to any of the supps you decide to use ... for example, Fishinghat can't take Omega 3, it makes him sick.

 

Also, I'd be reluctant / concerned about mixing the brand Cymbalta with generics from various companies ... even if they're "bio-equivalent" in terms of the drug itself (and I have some doubts about that), the caps/coatings they come in are not made identically ... and can cause adverse reactions in some people. (For example, I had a horrid reaction to the generic made by Teva.)

 

Also, because there are a different number of beads in each different version of a particular dose, those beads all contain different amounts of the drug ...


#5 buntbean2

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Posted 16 August 2014 - 05:46 PM

I'm suddenly unable to sleep.  My mind won't stop racing.  I almost feel like I'm hyperthyroid or something.  I'm not even tired.  I just had a major emotional breakdown.  The tears wouldn't stop.  I'm overwhelmed with getting the kids ready to go back to school, putting away a months worth of tenting and hiking equipment.  I can rationalize that this is normal household events but my emotions are overwhelming me making everything seem so much worse than it is.  Strangely, this morning I was fine (aside from the dizziness).  Happy, excited to see my friends.  This afternoon I hit a wall and tonight I'm feeling like I've completely lost my mind.  I thought I was doing so good.


#6 fishinghat

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Posted 16 August 2014 - 06:09 PM

Those good times will get closer together and the bad times shorter but it will take a while. Hang in there.


#7 FiveNotions

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Posted 16 August 2014 - 09:01 PM

Buntbean, the fact of the matter is that you are doing good ... what you're describing is right on track with what I experienced ... I could go from cruising along, doing great to "oh my God I'm going insane" in seconds ... then it expanded to minutes ... then hours ... then days ... etc. in between the "cycling" ... blame it on serotonin ... hitting walls is a "normal activity" for the post-Cymbalta healing phase ... and FH is exactly right ...the good times get closer together, and last longer ...

 

And, let's face it, you've been really engaged and active for a few weeks ... and now you've got to put away the stuff you took out for vacation, which (at least for me) always makes me wonder why I bothered to go on vacay in the first place ...and, add in the fact that getting kids ready for school ain't exactly a trip to the spa ... that's crash-test dummy level "hitting a wall"  :P


#8 FiveNotions

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Posted 16 August 2014 - 09:05 PM

WTH ... second time tonight I lost a post ... and this time the box just went blank, but still "posted" ... I give up ...

 

Buntbean, I was trying to tell you that FH is right ... this is typical ... and the good times will last longer, the bad times fade ...

 

Plus, putting away vacay stuff is a pain in the you-know-what ... combined with getting kids ready to go back to school ... heck, that's melt-down city for every mom on the planet! :P


#9 buntbean2

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Posted 16 August 2014 - 09:33 PM

So appreciated FH and 5Notions!  Feeling better now but I'll be taking a clonazapam to help me sleep tonight (hopefully).  Luckily my husband was very supportive and just let me cry.  He told me he was proud of how quickly I've accomplished my goal and he's been pretty patient with me the past few days.  He even did some laundry!!  God's dishing out some miracles for me right there!!  It drives me crazy that I can rationalize the mood swings and yet when they happen it's as though I've lost control of my emotions completely.  It's a very helpless feeling.  I know it's one day at a time but somewhere in my mind I figure that I'm no longer taking the medication so I shouldn't be having anymore problems.  After 9 years on Cymbalta I'm not sure who I really am anymore.  Will I be a "different" person without it?  See...crazy thoughts!!  Tomorrow is a new day.  I so appreciate the help.  Thank you.


#10 FiveNotions

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Posted 16 August 2014 - 09:44 PM

Bunt, you have lost control of your emotions ... it's proof that you aren't your emotions ... it's the serotonin ... it's your brain doing it's very best to rewire itself and get back to regulating itself without the imposed "reality" (hahaha) of Cymbalta controlling it ... just let the emotions do their thing ... your brain knows what it needs to do, so just let it heal ... let the emotions happen, and sit back and watch ... like at the 4th of July fireworks ... great show, but you aren't responsible for it .... and it ends ... July 5th arrives ... and no more fireworks :D


#11 buntbean2

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Posted 22 August 2014 - 07:09 PM

Thank you FiveNotions :)





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