Posted 01 September 2014 - 12:05 PM
Hi Anestestiarte, welcome!
Great screen name -- am I correct that it's the Spanish for "anesthetizing"? If so, as far as I'm concerned, that's a synonym for Cymbalta!
I think we need a bit more information .... As FH asked, do you need to be on an antidepressant at all? Why did you start the Lexapro? Were you on something else before that?
Also, as TM alluded to .. do you have something to take for anxiety? It would be very helpful, perhaps essential, to have something on hand to use while getting off the Cymbalta...
I quit cold turkey, from 60 mg after 7-8 years on it ... so I can't speak from experience about bead counting, but I do have some thoughts ... factors to be considered in the approach you use to get off the stuff (an excellent decision, by the way!) ...
1) you're in school, and want / need to maintain your academic performance at the same time you're quitting Cymbalta
2) you're having some strong side effects while on cymbalta, after a bit less than 4 weeks
3) you had even worse effects while on Lexapro, which you stayed on for 4 weeks, then quit cold turkey, with a week of withdrawal and ruined grades academically
4) given that you had worse side effects on the Lexapro, but just a week of withdrawal after a cold turkey quit, perhaps you'll have an easier withdrawal with a Cymbalta cold turkey quit
5) it's early in the semester, and a better time to do this than later on, when graded activities start to intensify
So, building on what TM and FH said, here are some options for approaches that occur to me (TM and FH, weigh in here, please)
First option: you could first try to quit cold turkey from the 60 mg, and see what effects you have as a result ... if they're sufficiently "low intensity" and don't make it impossible for you to maintain your schoolwork, stick with that approach ... it's early in the semester, and (hopefully) you'll be able to get off the stuff and stable before graded work becomes a factor ...
If it becomes apparent that it's going to be too much for you to handle withdrawal and school, just get back on the stuff and slowly bead count your way down, over a longer period of time ... you might find you can reduce beads relatively rapidly, or, if you bump into problems, go slower ...maybe even a whole semester if necessary...
Option two: Rather than quit cold turkey, try going back down to 30 mg from the 60, and see if you have any effects from cutting the dose in half (you've only been at 60 for a brief time) ... then, if you make that drop easily, try dropping the rest of the way cold turkey ... and, if you then have strong withdrawal effects, hop back on the Cymbalta at the 30 mg and bead count down from there ...
Option three: Use the bead counting method from the get-go, from the full 60 mg, over time ... if need be, the whole semester ...
Option four: If you feel you need to be on an antidepressant of some sort, such as Zoloft or Prozac, start taking that and let it ramp up in your system at the same time you're bead counting down and off the Cymbalta...
You can definitely do this, and we'll help you any way we can. Please keep posting!
-
fishinghat
and
thismoment
like this