Oh My Gosh, I am soooo glad to know that I am not alone in this withdrawal process. Pre-warning, I'm long winded; but will try (key word) not to be. I was in a car wreck with an 18 wheeler 4 years ago. Thus started my chronic back pain, which threw me into major depression (like I did not want to live, seriously thought my kids and family would be better off without me) and my 'medical journey' began. I started out on Lexapro 20mg a few months into my injury. Initially, it really helped, but then lost it's effectiveness within 6 months. My pain management physcian then put me on Cymbalta 30mg 1xday. This took alot of my pain away, for about a month, then it all returned. My dr then upped my dose to 30mg 2xday. I never really noticed much difference and still suffered alot of depression. A year and a half ago, my dr. upped my dose to 60 mg 2xday (120 mg total a day) He said that this was double the usual theraputic dose; but that since it does have a pain indicator it could be helpful with my pain. I had back surgery last year and my pain is subsiding. In January, I withdrew off of my Vicodin (which I was taking 4-5 10mg a day). In February, I withdrew off of the morphine (Kadian 20mcg 2xday). I thought "ok, the hard part is over with. Now just the Cymbalta and Lyrica to go" WRONG! I had been feeling really good after getting off of the Vicodin and Morphine, my mind was clear, my body didn't hurt and I felt really good. Then came the Cymbalta withdrawals. My whole body hurts, my legs are extremely achy.... I feel like I have the flu. I had no idea not to do the every other day thing and that is what I have been doing. I went from 120 to 60mg a day, down to 30mg a day, now to 30mg every other day.... although now I'm going to break those 30 mg pills in half. I am so glad this is not just me, my husband keeps saying he doesn't understand how this could make me hurt so bad. The crazy thing is, my mood is really good. I feel optimistic and happy... like I'm getting my old self back (prior to the injury, I had never been depressed and was sickeningly happy... LOL). Anyhow, so glad that I found you all and I can't wait to read all the information on here and get off this crap!
Kathy
Hi Kathy, your experience isn't uncommon. I've seen many post here who've been able to get down from high doses to lower doses without too much problem, but the minute they try to remove Cymbalta from their system altogether it hits the fan.
Keep in mind that as you get lower, you may need to make smaller adjustments, rather than halving it, although if that works for you, great. I tried 15mg when I'd been alternating 30mg for a week or so, and I had to increase to 20mg to completely alleviate the symptoms, then drop down slowly from there.
regards, Maureen.
