Jump to content



Photo

In Information Overload..help!


  • Please log in to reply
6 replies to this topic

#1 dev00

dev00

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 3 posts

Posted 24 November 2014 - 02:08 AM

Please help...I'm devastated right now and I don't know where to begin. My 14 yr old daughter was started on Cymbalta 30mins for severe depression and a suicide attempt. They increased her to 60 MG daily along with weekly therapy. She has been on this for 5 months. She has complain ed on feeling her heart pound, dizziness, and shortness of breath. After talking to her I asked her if she had taken her medication. She told me she had not. With a little more questioning she told me "I didn't bring it with me so tonight would be my 3rd dose to miss" we went out of town for thanksgiving. I immediately felt sick. I knew it was withdraw. I told her I packed her medicine in her bag and to go take one immediately. I then started researching cymbalta and found so much information. Why were we not warned of the addiction risk. Why did nobody tell us how hard it would be to come off of this. The plan was to stop the medicine after 1 yr. I was all for that until now. If is this bad at 5 months what will it be like in 12. Please help. I want her off now! She sees her doctor for a medication evaluation in dec. I want to change her but no I feel like they won't be as honest as I feel like. Not to mention I feel like a horrible mother for not knowing what I was giving her. I opened her medication and it is the generic but they do not have beads. It's all different sizes of white clumps. Like tiny dirt clots of different sizes. There's no way to even bead count. Oh and let me add it's a 90 day supply so it's not like I can change brands. Our insurance requires 90 day supplies and we can only fill at CVS. I feel hopeless and I don't want to see my baby suffer like the stories I'm reading....

#2 ZappAlta

ZappAlta

    Great Friend

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 212 posts

Posted 24 November 2014 - 03:47 AM

I would advise staying on the percribed dose till you return home and discuss your concerns at her next appointment - The Dr may decide (or you discuss maybe a cross taper with another SSRI while she gradually reduces the Cymb. 


#3 Clara

Clara

    Like a Family Member

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 542 posts
  • LocationSouth Carolina
  • why_joining:
    Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms others have and support for myself and help others

Posted 24 November 2014 - 08:19 AM

deb, I agree 100% with zappalta! At the age of your daughter and her history, Id def' go slow and easy and with doctor and therapy on board! You are in my prayers. It's easier to suffer ourselves than to see our children suffer! God bless and keep us posted!


#4 dev00

dev00

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 3 posts

Posted 24 November 2014 - 08:41 AM

Thank you for the replys...I am defiantly keeping her on the 60mg until seen. I guess my main concern was now not trusting. I'm so afraid they are going to go from 60mg to 30 MG then nothing, then what? Do I watch her suffer or decrease very slowly my self. I'm an RN and not heard of this, that only adds salt to the wounds. I had no idea this stuff happened until finding this board. The more I read the more concerned I get. There are thousands of heartbreaking stories on the Internet concerning WD from cymb. Please pray for my sweet baby. I'll update after we see her psychiatrist next week. The safest part is this medicine really did help her. She's a different kid. Awesome grades in school and is now a functional part of the family. I'm sure that can continue with a new medication or possibly her weekly therapy visits alone. I don't want her depending on drugs the rest of her life.

#5 dev00

dev00

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 3 posts

Posted 24 November 2014 - 08:43 AM

Thank you for the replys...I am defiantly keeping her on the 60mg until seen. I guess my main concern was now not trusting. I'm so afraid they are going to go from 60mg to 30 MG then nothing, then what? Do I watch her suffer or decrease very slowly my self. I'm an RN and not heard of this, that only adds salt to the wounds. I had no idea this stuff happened until finding this board. The more I read the more concerned I get. There are thousands of heartbreaking stories on the Internet concerning WD from cymb. Please pray for my sweet baby. I'll update after we see her psychiatrist next week. The safest part is this medicine really did help her. She's a different kid. Awesome grades in school and is now a functional part of the family. I'm sure that can continue with a new medication or possibly her weekly therapy visits alone. I don't want her depending on drugs the rest of her life.

#6 TryinginFL

TryinginFL

    Site Partners

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 6,274 posts
  • LocationFlorida
  • why_joining:
    Now that I have been off this poison for over 6 years, I hope to help others as they join us

Posted 24 November 2014 - 09:51 AM

dev,

 

Welcome!  We're happy that you have found this forum!  We will try to help in any way possible!

 

First, let me say that most Dr.s are clueless when it comes to the withdrawal from this crap.  They only know what the drug reps have told them and that is to give out the Rx's, not how to get off of it!  After reading the many posts on this forum, you most likely know more now than the majority of Dr.s.  I know, sad, but true.

 

I hope that your Dr. will help your daughter by prescribing another med while she withdraws from this poison.  I know that several members have used (or are using) Prozac while doing this, but it does take time to upload in the system.

 

I am a cold turkey survivor, so cannot help with this approach, but there are others here that can...   I hope that someone will hop on here to help you out.  Of course you don't want your daughter to suffer and this is the only way I have heard to keep the withdrawals to a minimum.  Some stay on the Prozac for a time but I have heard that getting off of it is nothing compared to this hell.

 

I wish you both luck and I'm happy that the therapy has been so helpful - good grades and all - wonderful!!

 

Please keep posting and let us know how things are going.

 

Liz

 

PS  You might also like to check out the bead counting - again, a safer and more gentle way to get off this crap!


#7 brzghoff

brzghoff

    Like a Family Member

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 859 posts
  • Locationjust south of sanity

Posted 24 November 2014 - 03:32 PM

Please help...I'm devastated right now and I don't know where to begin. My 14 yr old daughter was started on Cymbalta 30mins for severe depression and a suicide attempt. They increased her to 60 MG daily along with weekly therapy. She has been on this for 5 months. She has complain ed on feeling her heart pound, dizziness, and shortness of breath. After talking to her I asked her if she had taken her medication. She told me she had not. With a little more questioning she told me "I didn't bring it with me so tonight would be my 3rd dose to miss" we went out of town for thanksgiving. I immediately felt sick. I knew it was withdraw. I told her I packed her medicine in her bag and to go take one immediately. I then started researching cymbalta and found so much information. Why were we not warned of the addiction risk. Why did nobody tell us how hard it would be to come off of this. The plan was to stop the medicine after 1 yr. I was all for that until now. If is this bad at 5 months what will it be like in 12. Please help. I want her off now! She sees her doctor for a medication evaluation in dec. I want to change her but no I feel like they won't be as honest as I feel like. Not to mention I feel like a horrible mother for not knowing what I was giving her. I opened her medication and it is the generic but they do not have beads. It's all different sizes of white clumps. Like tiny dirt clots of different sizes. There's no way to even bead count. Oh and let me add it's a 90 day supply so it's not like I can change brands. Our insurance requires 90 day supplies and we can only fill at CVS. I feel hopeless and I don't want to see my baby suffer like the stories I'm reading....

 

 

you are NOT a horrible mother. the medical establishment and big pharma are to blame - you were only doing what good mothers do, trying to get help for your daughter.

 

DISCLAIMER: i am offering options to think about and areas around which you can ask questions. i am no expert on generic cymbalta or teenagers on anti depressants. !

 

 

i came off cold turkey, not bead counting and i was on the C for 10 years - ant-d's a total of 18, between the ages of 36-54. so my situation is 180° from your daughter's. typically youth is in the favor of someone trying to get off, as well as length of time on the drug. less than a year speaks well for the length of time your daughter will struggle with withdrawal. however, at the age of 14, i would suggest taking it very slow and steady. she is still developing. it seems those who suffer the least impact during withdrawal are those over 20 and under 40. we have had forum members who weaned from the generic forms of cymbalta, duloxetine, that had the caps filled with the larger yet fewer pellets rather than the beads. some felt it was an advantage because you'd drop one at a time in intervals of several weeks apart. they are larger and have less propensity to get lost once loose from their cap. HOWEVER, i defer to someone with experience with that form before trying to taper from that "design" of capsule

 

can you get her doctor to provide varying combinations that might help her wean more slowly? such as a 30 and one 20 (50 mg)to step her down by 10 mg, then 2 20's (40) for another 10 mg drop, then one 30mg and then one 20 mg. then at that point counting out beads/pellets. is there the possibility that her doctor could write a 'scrip for a pharmacy to compound a tincture in liquid form, or in capsule form but at a more gradual decrease in potency in each pill than what the manufactures make? compounding pharmacies are not as prevalent as your corner CVS, but her doc might be able to appeal to the insurance company given the unique needs of your daughter. we have one visitor to this board from the UK who did this, and another from the US - san francisco i think. another option is for her to continue at 60 mg until the 90 day 'scrip is up and then try to get a generic from a different mfg. you said you are only allowed to fill at CVS - is that a mail order service from CVS or from your local store? i was curious if your insurance has a different provider via mail order. also, many pharmacies are always switching around which manufacturer supplies their generics . sometimes its from one that makes the caps with the beads and other times its the pellet design. i've had this happen with other generics i have taken, seemed every 90 days it was from a different manufacturer.

 

 

it would be great if other forum members who have used the pellet style duloxetine to weigh in on this discussion.





0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users