UPDATE: the suggested taper method suggested in my original post is super super slow ... i have consulted a web site that comes highly recommended for their taper methods for a wide variety of psychoactive drugs: http://survivinganti...lta-duloxetine/
by the way, the web site "surviving antidepressants" is not affiliated with cymbaltawithdrawal.com
hello katrand!
glad to see you want to get everything in order prior to starting a weaning process. not all of us knew it mattered or had the choice.
i do not know anything about thyroid conditions but i know there are many who have posted over a number of years that have hypothyroid issues - and some specifically related to hashimoto's. a forum member, equuswoman, comes to mind. she is not on as often these days but she successfully weaned off cymbalta which she had been taking for pain. if i recall correctly, it took her nearly a year as she was very sensitive to the med. i have no idea if that was related to her thyroid issues or independent of that. i hope she sees your thread - i know if she does she will absolutely respond. she is a very sweet, supportive and caring woman and well loved on this site.
one thing that is important - since you are on generic - you need to count the number of beads inside your caps. i understand that the size and therefore the number of beads can vary from brand to brand. also, i am not sure how to handle dropping on 60's and then moving over to 30's. based on the supply you describe - you will need to stock up more. forum member fishinghat can give you better guidance in that regard - when combining 30's and 60's the math makes my head explode ;-)
the standard strategy for generics involves reducing by a % of beads rather than a given number. if you have a scale that measures milligrams you can measure by weight as well. i also understand that it is important not to mix different brands of generics or generic with the name brand cymbalta. the recommended percent drop is around 5% a month, depending on tolerance. many start at 5% and when they get down to a dosage of around 15 mg or so slow down the drop rate to between 3% and 1%. how many beads that is a day will vary depending on the "design" of your pills - since the number of beads vary from brand to brand..
it will be more difficult if you have the generic type that only has between 4-12 large beads. in that case it is recommended to take out one bead and let yourself stabilize for at least a couple weeks before removing the next one. no doubt in that case you will feel stronger withdrawal symptoms.
most important everyone is different some can tolerate a quicker drop than others. if at anytime you feel you've dropped too fast and symptoms come on strong - you can wait several days/weeks until you feel "normalized/stabilized" again before you take another drop. all this being said... you will not be symptom free - but its way better than cold turkey! even small reductions yeild a certain level of symptoms. listen to your body, some folks tolerate symptoms better than others. also, it takes patience. many have felt that they are only prolonging the withdrawal experience and want to "rip the band aid off" and end up in cold turkey withdrawal. avoid that temptation
yes, there is math involved! ;-)
all the best and have a happy thanksgiving!
Edited by brzghoff, 26 November 2015 - 01:29 PM.
I switched from synthcrap (my term for synthroid) after 25 years to an NDT (naturally dessicated thyroid) after doing a lot of research, reading, and discovering an equally supportive thyroid patient group on Facebook. I first started on antidepressants in 1990 (prozac) - it was never supposed to be a long-term treatment. 25 years later, I'm still taking them and feeling increasingly less happy about it.
