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Reducing From 150Mg And In Need Of Hope And Advice Please


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#1 ZaraB

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 04:45 AM

Hello and thank you for your site and this wonderful community of cymbalta survivors and recoverees!

I've been on 150mg of cymbalta for approx 3 years which was prescribed by my Psychiatrist for major depression, anxiety and PTSD (I'm on 2 other meds as well but am not sure if that's relevant?). I've been seeing a brilliant Psychologist and have been working through my issues so wanted to start to reduce my dose. My Psychiatrist said and I quote "you can just drop to 120mg and you shouldn't notice anything". I live in Australia and we only have 30 and 60 mg capsuals here.

It will be no surprise to you guys that I DID notice the reduction. I genuinely thought I was losing my mind until I found your site and realised that I was in withdrawals and that I've been taking a dose that hasn't even been approved by our version of the FDA. It's been 4 weeks and 2 days and I'm having a hard time. I've read many of the posts and responses and wanted to ask for some advice.

My current symptoms are: dizziness/ vertigo, nausea, black 'floaters' in my vision, very fatigued, random muscle spasms, but worse than that is my ever changing moods and feeling very detached, teary, sad and anxious.

My question is essentially should I keep persisting with the 30mg reduction and try and ride the waves and see if the symptoms improve more OR should I start bead counting and increase my dose again??? My Psychiatrist is on holiday and I doubt he'd believe me that I'm having withdrawals anyway :(

The first week was mentally and physically exhausting and hellish and I don't want to undo all of that by increasing my dose again BUT I need to keep working and studying and having a life and am scared that this is how I will be feeling for a long time.

Please give me any advice that could help or give me some hope and I'm so grateful to you all!

#2 Solauerbach

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 05:28 AM

i think its best that you go back to 150 a day for about 2 weeks then go down 5mg every two weeks by opening up one of the capsules and taking out 5mg worth of beads. @gail and @fishinghat are good with stuff and they usually have the best details on how exactly to pull this off.


#3 ZaraB

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 05:31 AM

Thank you very much @Solauerbach. I appreciate your advice.

#4 equuswoman

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 07:31 AM

I had to do the bead counting method. Went thru 4 months of hell. But thx to fishing hat and the others here I made it! Glad you found this wonderful site. You can do this. God bless.💙

#5 fishinghat

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 09:36 AM

Welcome Zara

 

Several choices.

 

First, like Solauerbach said, get back on 150, stabilize and then drop by about 1% or less each day.

 

Second, stay on your current dosage AND add about 1% of your beads to it before taking it. Lets say your capsule has 300 beads. Take a 300 bead capsule like normal PLUS about 3 to 5 beads more. This should be enough to take some of the edge off while waiting to recover. Take the extra beads only when needed. With time that will be less and less often.

 

Third, go back to your dr and ask for clonidine and/or hydroxyzine. Either can help with the symptoms and are non-addictive with no withdrawal. Please try and avoid the benzos (valium, Xanax, lorazepam, etc) although they are effective they are highly addictive with a bad withdrawal of their own.

 

Another thing you can try is diphenhydramine. It is the active ingredient in Benadryl as well as some over the counter sleep aides. It will help with the emotional swings but may make you a little drowsy. It can not be used on a constant basis because the body gets use to it and it loses its effectiveness. It can not be taken with hydroxyzine as both are antihistamines.

 

Also, I just posted a research article where it was shown that taking 3 mg of melatonin under the tongue (sublingual) helps with anxiety. Place it under the tongue until dissolved and gone. In case you are not familiar with melatonin it is the chemical your body produces in the evening to make you sleepy and ready for bed. As of this point I don't know of anyone here who has tried this but it should not pose risks.

 

Since you have already suffered through a month I would hate to see you go back to a full dose and wean back down but that certainly is an option. By the way your dr is right in that most people have little to no problem with the first dosage drop. This indicates you may have to go very, and I mean very, slow during your withdrawal.

 

I know this is a lot to absorb so please feel free and come back and ask questions and just to keep us posted.


#6 DrugOrPOISON

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 11:44 AM

You have to be careful when counting beads.  Somewhere I read that different manufacturers use different size beads and therefore the actual number of beads in the capsule would be different if your pharmacy changes manufacturers.  Don't know if this is true, but certainly watch out for this.


#7 DrugOrPOISON

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 11:46 AM

I tried reducing my 120 mgs. of Cymbalta a day and got to the point of taking 10 beads out per day.  It did not work for me since I was breaking down and crying all the time and my mind was full of suicidal thoughts.  I HATE CYMBALTA!


#8 gail

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 04:28 PM

i think its best that you go back to 150 a day for about 2 weeks then go down 5mg every two weeks by opening up one of the capsules and taking out 5mg worth of beads. @gail and @fishinghat are good with stuff and they usually have the best details on how exactly to pull this off.


Since you are having so many symptoms, I would do what Sol has suggested. Reinstate fully, stabilize then bead count. You must be real sensitive to meds, as Fishinghat mentioned, many do the first 30mg drop with no problems.

Yes, it will take some time, but you will at least be able to function normally by bead counting.

Fishinghat has often says, time and patience. No hurry really!

#9 ZaraB

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Posted 03 January 2017 - 05:13 AM

Thank you all for your advice and I genuinely appreciate it.

I saw my GP today and she wrote a script for a compounding chemist to make a 15mg dose. I'm thinking of doing what some of you suggested and go back to 150 and reduce from there. If the chemist is too expensive then I'll re read your posts on bead counting and do that instead.

I feel silly that I've had such a strong reaction to a 30mg reduction but it's comforting to know I'm not the only one!

Thank you for not judging me and for being so welcoming and helpful. I hope to return the favour and be on the other side of this soon, but I'm not is as much of a hurry as before.

#10 gail

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Posted 03 January 2017 - 03:30 PM

Hi Zara,

Good move! Why the 15mg? I don't understand here.

#11 ZaraB

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Posted 04 January 2017 - 06:32 AM

Hi Gail,

That's a good question and the Dr said that 15mg may be less of a jump than going 30mg per reduction since we don't have smaller doses here in Aus. I called the compounding pharmacist today and she said that they can put it in a liquid form (she called it a suspension) and I can play around with smaller doses and it tastes like butterscotch!

I'm going to try it that way and see how it goes. I'm not feeling in such a hurry now thanks to you guys and the withdrawals. I was first on meds at 16 for depression and can't help but wonder if my brain/body has become dependent on these chemicals because it literally grew up on them but who knows? :/ I'm looking forward to hopefully stabilising ASAP and to eventually living life with a bit less medication and spending the money I save on nice things instead. I think Eli Lilly has taken enough of my cash! ;)

#12 gail

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Posted 04 January 2017 - 01:06 PM

Hi Zara, I understand. You will drop for a while by 15mg at a time, stabilize then go down again.

Butterscotch! Should be good on vanilla ice cream!Lol!

Update us when you can.



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