17 replies to this topic

[sardonica]

I'm a 50-year old woman, on C for 3 years mostly at 60 mg, prescribed for depression and grief after losing my husband.  For two months I took 60 mg every other day. The last 3 I've been taking at 30 mg/day.  I've haven't really had anything i'd say is withdrawal yet.

 

I'm in Canada so can't get 20 mg capsules or generic duloxetine so will be counting the beads.

 

I've read some of the topics here and will keep reading them to get ideas. Any insider info about going to 0 mg?  If you're willing to post here please let me know four things:

Did you drop the dose daily, weekly, monthly?

How much did you drop each time?

What were your symptoms.

How bad were the symptoms?

 

Thanks so much.

[gail]

Hello Sardonica,

Welcome to the forum, some got off cold turkey, some counted beads, others did every other day.

The cold turkey members do not recommend this at all unless you are willing to get a taste of pure hell.

The method recommended by all of us is bead counting. You may start removing about 3 beads a day, then 6 then 9 and so on. If all is tolerable, you may try a 4_8_12. If too rough, 2_4_6_8etc. We have a member that could do only one bead a day.

Your body will tell you if it's too much, don't you worry!

Symptoms are nausea, anxiety, insomnia and others that I forget. This does not mean you will have them. You had none while doing every other day, and most go into withdrawal that way. We never recommend this, but as you can see, we are all different.

Will see you later, hugs from a Canadian member.

[fishinghat]

Gail nailed it on the head.

[sardonica]

Thanks for taking time to reply.  I guess I was looking for individual experiences rather than an aggregate summary.  I'll continue my research and reading threads to get more of a sense of it.

[sandinafh]

Hi Sardonica, please be sure to read my posts about my experience. I wanted to get off of Cymbalta for years. I have no children and have been told that you cannot be on Cymbalta and be pregnant. I regret that I am now 43 and I have just weaned off of it, but I fear I might be too late for the baby thing. Either way, I am so happy to be free of Cymbalta. One of my greatest fears was having to come off of it, and with the help of this forum, a psychiatrist, and God, I did it. I was only taking 20mgs of it for the last few years, and the psychiatrist helped me by prescribing a low dose of Zoloft to help with the withdrawal symptoms. I am now on the Zoloft at a higher dose, but I haven't taken the Cymbalta since May 26th. 

 

You can do this and there are great people here to help! Keep us posted.

[fishinghat]

Glad to hear you are doing better Sandi. May I ask what dose of Zoloft you wound up on?

[sardonica]

Thought I'd come back and post what has been working for me.

 

I read posts on this site and another one about tapering Cymbalta. I also read a book by a Harvard psychiatrist called The Antidepressant Solution. What folks around here do seemed too fast for me. 

 

Someone on the other site posted this paper on the relationship between Cymbalta dose and serotonin receptor cell occupancy. http://www.academia....orter_occupancy

The chart Figure 1on the 3rd page shows a curved relationship between dose and cell occupancy. Above 20 mg, the decrease in occupancy is very gentle with dose decreases and below 20 mg the decrease in occupancy is very sharp. 

 

I reduced fairly quickly to below 20 mg from 30 mg (278 beads). June 11 cut 48 beads to 230 beads or 23.8 mg, July 2 cut 45 beads to 185 beads or approx. 20 mg.  From there I cut beads so that my cut was always 10% or so. It's a little complicated the # of beads cut each time changed: 185 - 18= 167, 167 - 16 =151, 151 - 15 = 136, 136 - 14 = 122, 122 - 12 = 110, 110 - 11 = 99, 99 - 10 = 89, where I am now. I cut every three weeks. I'll probably go back to larger cuts when I get below 40 beads because that's about 1/4 of the minimum dose of 20 mg.

 

Its slower than other people do but Ive had almost no symptoms since I started only occasional lightheaded for a few seconds - no zaps, no insomnia. Maybe ? this way will work for someone like me who's scared of the symptoms.

[fishinghat]

Sardonica, great article and information. I fully agree. You can't wean too slow. The slower the better with less symptoms and better long-term success. When I started with this site the suggestions I received were a 4 to 8 week wean and hold on to your hat. I did a 3 month wean and it was still rough. Since then I have seen others who had to do 6 month to 1 year weans. That's slow. I still recommend the 1% a day rate (which is roughly a 3 month wean) but I also suggest stopping the wean and stabilizing when the symptoms get too bad. When you start back up again just wean a little slower. My 3 month wean usually turns out to be closer to 5 pr 6 months because of the stabilization and slower rate with time.  lol  I think a lot of people are way too impatient and push themselves too hard to get through it until the withdrawal is severe. Then they want to know what to do. Its easy!!!  Like you said, go slow. Slow from the beginning to the end. A much surer process.

 

By the way, your taper rate is a fast one. Many have had to take over a year to wean off. And one last note. I wouldn't drop faster toward the end. The last 10 mg or so are the toughest. A real challenge.

[sardonica]

Fishinghat thanks for your message. Interesting about going slower below 10 mg.

 

The idea that our bodies like stability makes sense to me so making daily cuts even small ones doesn't (make sense to me). My way is working for me now but with your warning 'll keep an eye on things and will definitely slow down if I get a whiff of symptms.

[sardonica]

fishinghat I've been thinking about your comment that my taper rate is a fast one.  I don't understand how making one 10% decrease every three or four weeks is faster than 1% per day which equals 30% per month. It's taken me 6 months to go from 20 mg about 180 beads to half of that, 89 beads under 10 mg.

 

Isn't 1% per day the same as 30% per month?

 

Did I misunderstand what you wrote or did you not see that I decrease then stay at that # of beads for 3 - 4 weeks?

[fishinghat]

My apologies Sardonica. My eyes saw a "10% drop every week". Now that I reread your post I see that I need to get my eyes checked. lol 

[sardonica]

Just dropping in to say, I've had two symptom free months. My next dose is 90% or more of the beads of my current dose.

 

January 20 I dropped from 89 beads to 80, Feb. 10 to 72, March 3 to 65. I'll cut to 59 beads. I'm travelling more slowly to the destination than some people but it's been a comfortable ride.

[fishinghat]

Wise person.

[sardonica]

Thanks fishinghat.^

 

In the last year of counting beads and slowly decreasing, I haven't had any symptoms.  No zaps, no mood swings, no insomnia. On Friday I went down to 48 beads. Slow and steady I guess

[sardonica]

Sure hoping some people will consider going more slowly because although slow and steady makes the weaning take longer but no symptoms can make it a lot easier to live one's life. That's how it's going for me.

 

An update, now down to 19 beads yesterday. It's been "smooth sailing" through these decreases

June 23:   42
July 7:    37
August 4:   33, August  18 - 29 beads
September 1   26 beads; September  15 -  23
October  13  21 beads
 

I may go slower now that the days are shorter and the daylight is weaker in the northern hemisphere.  I have had times with strong SAD (seasonal affective disorder) symptoms and don't want to risk problems that might affect my job.

[fishinghat]

Doing great Sardonica!!! The slow down sounds like a good idea too. Hang in there.

[torontoguy]

I am fairly new here and have posted my own hellish experience in another forum. I have read numerous threads regarding counting beads of which I have no experience. I tapered off Cymbalta from 60 mg to 0 in 10 mg increments over a period of over 4 months. I had tried tapering twice before but was unsuccessful as the depression and anxiety were worsening. I live in Canada and so I thought I only had access to 30 and 60 mg capsules. I then found a pharmacy that can compound almost any drug in almost any amounts. They were able to provide me with 10 mg capsules which probably helped the taper process, although I have been off the drug for almost 3 weeks and living with extreme dizziness and other symptoms. I haven't read many posts discussing compounding pharmacies, but I hope this idea may prove helpful for someone trying to taper. I have no idea if tapering in lower dose capsules is any better or easier than counting beads, but I just thought I would put the suggestion out there as many people may not be aware that these types of pharmacies exist.

[fishinghat]

Some (including myself) looked into compounding pharmacies as an option. Unluckily most insurance companies here will not cover it. In my case I was told $1,200/mth. Ouch!!! If you can do it with a reasonable cost it is an excellent approach. Good suggestion.