5 replies to this topic

[Junior]

In short... NO!

[Junior]

Nice researching there Tracy.

I think it's got something to do with the beads being time release. Plus they need to hit the stomach (I think) before that release starts.

Junior

[MaureenV]

Um, if I could just add my two cents worth, now that I'm back from holidays, I'd like to say that I don't believe it IS dangerous to take the beads with water.

I'd quickly clarify that by saying it IS dangerous to 'alter their state' in any way before they reach your stomach, which would include crushing, dissolving in water etc, putting them in food, etc etc.

I also read on another site that it was dangerous to take the beads on their own, repeated on this site, but no one could ever tell me why, just that 'you were getting the whole dose at once'. Didn't make sense to me, as I've been on slow release drugs before today and they were sure not in gel caps. They were tablets which either had a very tough outer shell with a pinhole sized space for the contents to leach out over time, or a very tough tablet which itself dissolved only slowly.

So, I experimented. I put the gel cap (both a real cymbalta one and a purchased one - this was because someone had questioned the validity of using replacement gel caps, saying it had to be in the original Cymbalta one) in a cup of warm water and bingo, the beads were out floating around in less than 30 seconds. Which established that when people get told Cymbalta is a time release capsule, it's a twisting of the words 'time release drug'.

Given the beads are out floating in your stomach so soon, I wouldn't now hesitate to take them on their own with water if I had to, but I would rinse my mouth out carefully to make sure there weren't any beads trapped in my teeth (given that one bead is 1/9th of one gram, I wouldn't even be too worried about the odd one being caught).

The only purpose of the caps is to get the (time release) beads to your stomach in the best possible condition. If you've got some, why not use them? If I'd run out as I was getting to the lower doses, I wouldn't have hesitated to wash them down with water.

regards, Maureen.

[Junior]

Hey Maureen *waves*

Nice to "see" you. How was the holiday? Where did you go?
You'll be pleased to know that I'm now down from 40 to 25mg of my Aropax and doing well.

Cheers
Junior

[MaureenV]

Hey Maureen *waves*

Nice to "see" you. How was the holiday? Where did you go?
You'll be pleased to know that I'm now down from 40 to 25mg of my Aropax and doing well.

Cheers
Junior

Hi Junior,


i actually logged back in to ask how you were doing with the Aropax reduction - that's a great drop in that time. No problems at all?


I went to New Zealand's South Island. The two hour day hike on the Franz Josef Glacier (what they call a heli-hike),was the highlight (even including having to scramble through ice caves on my knees), but there's no shortage of action-packed stuff to do there. You can console yourself too with the fact that it won't look quite so painful converted to Aust dollars.


cheers, Maureen.

[Junior]

Hi Maureen,

You went to NZ???? The south island??????? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... I LOVE it there. Went there 3 years ago on a bus tour. Hmmph. Thanks for inviting me

With regards to my Aropax taper.. a couple of mild symptoms - some mild anxiety and mild sleep difficulty. Other than that, nothing really. Oh.. one other thing.... on the (few) days I do solid exercise - like karate - I find I have disrupted sleep for the next 2 nights. Others have found this as well. Meh.. I manage

My plan now is to drop to 20mg in about two weeks' time then stay there until I know what is happening with my job / employment situation. If /when I wean off altogether, I want to do it when my life situation is stable, as much as possible anyway.

Regards
Junior