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Getting Off This Horrid Drug!


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#1 Skittles

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Posted 10 October 2016 - 09:10 PM

Hello:

 

I was on Prozac for about 8 months at 20 mg then was upped to 40 mg. After about a year it seemed to stop working. So at the end of August my doctor changed me over to Cymbalta thinking the SNRI might help better. Started at 30 mg and then was to go up to 60 mg after 1 week. All was fine but after on 60mg for one week was sweating and hot flashes all the time, couldn't stand it. The 30 mg seemed to be okay. So after consulting with Dr. moved back down to 30 mg.  

 

After being on it for a number of weeks I had gained another 10 pounds, my face was breaking out and I was developing some additional anxiety symptoms. I skipped a couple of days and started to feel better. I figured since with the short half life of this drug if I was going to have any problems coming off it would happen right away. I was fine until about 7 days after and then it hit me.  

Severe migraine, almost took a trip to the ER which is not like me at all. It took three doses of my migraine meds, vomiting and sick to tame it down. It came on sudden and didn't really feel completely well until the next day when I finally took a Cymbalta pill that night as my head was still threatening a migraine. It took 2 hours and I started to feel better.  Also, I realized I was hearing a metronome like sound in my head for a number of days prior but was gone the morning after I took the Cymbalta.

 

After I got sick I did some research and found all the horrible stories of withdrawal from this.  I am kicking myself as when I went on the first drug I told my doctor I didn't want anything like Paxil as I had heard horror stories of people trying to get off.  But when this was suggested it seemed like a good idea and I didn't check it out before starting it.

 

I am calling my doctor to ask for a protocol to get off of this.  Have I been on it long enough to need to do the bead counting method or will I have other options? My capsules have different size pieces of medicine they are not perfect, round, same size pieces - does this matter?

 

Also, does it help to go onto something else while going off, such as Lexapro or back to the Prozac with a longer half life, get off the Cymbalta and then get off the other.  At this point I don't want to be on anything and see what I can do on my own.  Finally, since being on these drugs I have had many more migraine headaches, requiring their own medicine to get me through.  Has anyone had migraines as a side effect of these meds?

 

Thank you. 

 

 


#2 gail

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    5 months on cymbalta, scary side effects, to get help and to return the favor if I can.

Posted 11 October 2016 - 08:14 AM

Hi Skittles,

Welcome to the forum.
After 6 weeks on the drug, it had time to build up.

So, it's bead counting or cold turkey. Or take a 20 mg here and there when it's too hard. No one has tried this method here yet.

Some take a low dose of Prozac or Zoloft to help with the withdrawal.

Have to leave, others will chime in.

#3 fishinghat

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 08:43 AM

Gail pretty much hit it on the head. Considering that your medicine has inconsistent bead size bead counting might not be the way. I would go the route of just taking a small dose here and there to take the edge off. Considering you were on 30 most of the time I would start with an estimated 5 mg dose. If this is to little you can always increase the dose until you get some relief. Don't try to feel good, just try to feel tolerable. Once you decide on what dosage gives you some relief then take that dose whenever you get over whelmed. You should find that taking this dose gets farther and farther apart. Occasionally lower the dose a little and see if you can get by with less. You could be more exact with your dosages if you get on Amazon and order a small mg weight scale. That way you could weight out your dose and be more precise.

 

By the way, don't worry about the weight. There will be time enough later to deal with that. After coming off the C I lost 54lbs and many others lost weight as well. One problem at a time.


#4 Skittles

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 12:34 PM

So got a call back from the Dr.'s office.  My Dr wasn't in so they asked someone else how they recommend a taper from 30mg.  The response was take one EOD for one week and then stop.  I said of the 30 mg what about going down to the 20 mg pills, no you can just use the 30 mg. SMH.  Will call later this week when my Dr. is in. 


#5 fishinghat

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 01:11 PM

The every other day is a bad choice. One the day you take the pill your blood levels spike. By the next morning you are down 75% on your blood levels (12 hour half life). On the second morning you are down 6.5% and you take another pill on that second morning which spikes your blood levels again. This causes you to repeat the 30 mg withdrawal over and over again. Bad idea.





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