2 replies to this topic

[MaureenV]

I recently decided to stop taking Cymbalta and decided to talk to my doctor for the best course of action. He plotted me on the course of slowly weaning myself down 10mg every 10 days (bear in mind I started at 60mg). I reached the 0 dosage on February 6th and the withdrawals still continue. The emotional rollercoaster and the feeling that my head is stuffed with cotton is not helping matters at all. The nausea sometimes is overwhelming.

I have read a number of other posts on here suggesting a super slow taper to finally get off this legalized poison. I am looking for some assistance in this regard. I have quite a number of the 20mg pills left over and hoping someone could give me a correct schedule on how to end this madness.

I will check back here frequently and also accept e-mails at cvandijk07@*nospamprz*yahoo.com (just remove the nospamprz, hoping to avoid robot spammers getting my e-mail address)

The letter I am going to write after this is all over is going to be an eyeopener. I really appreciate any support anyone on here can give me. This is truly a nightmare I can't wait to wake up from.

--Chris

Hi Chris, great to hear that your doctor at least understood that withdrawal from this needs to be slower than the drug company themselves recommend, however it actually needs to be even slower than that for many, as you've discovered.



Nobody can tell you what sort of dose will completely alleviate your symptoms, but personally, knowing what I do now and reading lots of stories, you might be wise to start back on 20mg, or even 10mg might be enough. How did you do the 10mg?

There are two different ways of slow tapering. One is to remove 'x' number of beads from the capsule ever day. Some people do a few more every day, others reduce by a larger amount and stay on that dose until they feel stabilized again.

The MOST important thing is: If you don't feel o.k., don't attempt to drop any further, in fact you can take your dose back up again with this method.

Given you are likely to feel well again fairly quickly after taking Cymbalta again (within a few days, sometimes within a few hours), the lower you start back, the less you have to withdraw from.


regards, Maureen.

[MaureenV]

Thanks Maureen for your advice. I never actually got to the 10mg point. I was instructed to stay on 20mg for 10 days then begin with nothing. I am going to heed your advice and start back on the 20mg to improve my mental stability then begin to slowly remove the "beads" as you say. 20mg for a few days then begin taking out 2 beads and continue until I finally reach 0?

Thanks much

--Chris

Thanks o.k. Chris, by now you may not actually need the full 20mg, as your body has started to adjust to the lack of Cymbalta.

I actually preferred to to a little drop then stay there for a bit. I was one for whom the withdrawal effects kicked in quickly (others find the wort doesn't hit for up to a week), but then would feel better after about a week. Once all the symptoms disappeared, I did another little drop. I really depends on how you, personally, respond to drop.


regards, Maureen.

[Junior]

From what I have seen and heard, it seems to be better to stay on a dose until withdrawal effects subside. What that does is to give the brain /body time to get used to the lower dose and to begin to return to its normal way of functioning before reducing further. If you decrease daily, you are not giving it that chance.

Just my opinion
Junior