8 replies to this topic

[livingdeadgirl]

I have done some extensive research and also have talked to some pharmacists and even a compounding pharmacy. It is very important to note that even though Cymbalta is exclusively patented by Eli Lilly in the US, that does not mean that all Cymbalta capsules are all manufactured at the same site. There are 6 stated manufacturing sites in the US and several others globally. What this means for us is that the pellet/bead count does vary in size and content. Many of us have found the pellet/bead counts mentioned elsewhere in this site listed/offered as a standard we all should use. That is not true!! Depending on where you get your prescription, what part of the country you live in, etc... the bead/pellet count can vary quite a bit. For example, I get my Rx from Costco-the pharmacist told me the Cymbalta I get is manufactured at the plant closest to where I live. Therefore, the beads/pellets are bigger in size and there are (for me) an average of 195-218 pellets/beads per 60 mg. capsule. I have taken the time to count several as they did not match the charts/counts others have stated as the standard to use. Per Eli Lilly standards, there should be 67.3 mg of duloxetine HCI in each 60 mg. capsule. If you truly want to be accurate, I strongly recommend you purchase a digital scale that measures milligrams, and has a low margin of error(mine is to 0.01g). You can purchase on the internet or in stores a very accurate digital scale to weigh the pellets/beads to make very accurate tapering capsules. I bought empty gelatin capsules at Vitamin Cottage, but they are also available on the internet or at several other stores such as GNC and Walmart. To ensure your scale is operating at the highest possible accuracy at all times, it is highly recommended that you order the official calibration weight to recalibrate your scale regularly.

I am sharing this information as I think it will help others who are trying to taper down using this methodology. I myself have a BS in Biology and MS in Biochemistry, so I felt after reading several other posts here and elsewhere on the internet and counting beads/pellets in several capsules that I should research this and share this information with others. I wish you all good luck with your tapering and withdrawal and hope we all achieve good results and success!

[Junior]

Valuable info. Many thanks

[nursedeborah]

I have done some extensive research and also have talked to some pharmacists and even a compounding pharmacy. It is very important to note that even though Cymbalta is exclusively patented by Eli Lilly in the US, that does not mean that all Cymbalta capsules are all manufactured at the same site. There are 6 stated manufacturing sites in the US and several others globally. What this means for us is that the pellet/bead count does vary in size and content. Many of us have found the pellet/bead counts mentioned elsewhere in this site listed/offered as a standard we all should use. That is not true!! Depending on where you get your prescription, what part of the country you live in, etc... the bead/pellet count can vary quite a bit. For example, I get my Rx from Costco-the pharmacist told me the Cymbalta I get is manufactured at the plant closest to where I live. Therefore, the beads/pellets are bigger in size and there are (for me) an average of 195-218 pellets/beads per 60 mg. capsule. I have taken the time to count several as they did not match the charts/counts others have stated as the standard to use. Per Eli Lilly standards, there should be 67.3 mg of duloxetine HCI in each 60 mg. capsule. If you truly want to be accurate, I strongly recommend you purchase a digital scale that measures milligrams, and has a low margin of error(mine is to 0.01g). You can purchase on the internet or in stores a very accurate digital scale to weigh the pellets/beads to make very accurate tapering capsules. I bought empty gelatin capsules at Vitamin Cottage, but they are also available on the internet or at several other stores such as GNC and Walmart. To ensure your scale is operating at the highest possible accuracy at all times, it is highly recommended that you order the official calibration weight to recalibrate your scale regularly.

I am sharing this information as I think it will help others who are trying to taper down using this methodology. I myself have a BS in Biology and MS in Biochemistry, so I felt after reading several other posts here and elsewhere on the internet and counting beads/pellets in several capsules that I should research this and share this information with others. I wish you all good luck with your tapering and withdrawal and hope we all achieve good results and success!

This is interesting. I only know how many times I have in the past counted a 60 mg cap, and found them to be the
same number evertime. That is where the bead count here got started.

The other thing is a machine makes the beads, so the size would not ever be the same. That is frighting info that you
did give to think that all the places make them different!!!

Glad I am down to just 20 beads!!! It has taken me since last Aug!!! to get here.

Debbie

[MaureenV]

I have done some extensive research and also have talked to some pharmacists and even a compounding pharmacy. It is very important to note that even though Cymbalta is exclusively patented by Eli Lilly in the US, that does not mean that all Cymbalta capsules are all manufactured at the same site. There are 6 stated manufacturing sites in the US and several others globally. What this means for us is that the pellet/bead count does vary in size and content. Many of us have found the pellet/bead counts mentioned elsewhere in this site listed/offered as a standard we all should use. That is not true!! Depending on where you get your prescription, what part of the country you live in, etc... the bead/pellet count can vary quite a bit. For example, I get my Rx from Costco-the pharmacist told me the Cymbalta I get is manufactured at the plant closest to where I live. Therefore, the beads/pellets are bigger in size and there are (for me) an average of 195-218 pellets/beads per 60 mg. capsule. I have taken the time to count several as they did not match the charts/counts others have stated as the standard to use. Per Eli Lilly standards, there should be 67.3 mg of duloxetine HCI in each 60 mg. capsule. If you truly want to be accurate, I strongly recommend you purchase a digital scale that measures milligrams, and has a low margin of error(mine is to 0.01g). You can purchase on the internet or in stores a very accurate digital scale to weigh the pellets/beads to make very accurate tapering capsules. I bought empty gelatin capsules at Vitamin Cottage, but they are also available on the internet or at several other stores such as GNC and Walmart. To ensure your scale is operating at the highest possible accuracy at all times, it is highly recommended that you order the official calibration weight to recalibrate your scale regularly.

I am sharing this information as I think it will help others who are trying to taper down using this methodology. I myself have a BS in Biology and MS in Biochemistry, so I felt after reading several other posts here and elsewhere on the internet and counting beads/pellets in several capsules that I should research this and share this information with others. I wish you all good luck with your tapering and withdrawal and hope we all achieve good results and success!

This is really valuable info - thanks. Most of us who've checked the bead count have found it to be consistent with the figures on here, but it's important to know it's not universal. The other way to avoid problems is to divide up the doses visually, using the empty gelatine capsules, which is what I did until I got to a very low level, rather than reducing by bead count. I double checked a few times and it was an extremely accurate method.


regards, Maureen.

[Sapphires13]

This is really valuable info - thanks. Most of us who've checked the bead count have found it to be consistent with the figures on here, but it's important to know it's not universal. The other way to avoid problems is to divide up the doses visually, using the empty gelatine capsules, which is what I did until I got to a very low level, rather than reducing by bead count. I double checked a few times and it was an extremely accurate method.


regards, Maureen.

This is what I'm doing. Rather than counting the beads individually, I pour them out on a coloured plate, and roughly divide them into fractions, and simply use math to figure out the dosage. Example: taking one quarter of the beads away from 60mg gives you 45mg, taking half away gives you 30mg, and so on. And then I can measure out that amount in a clear capsule and use that as a comparison for filling other capsules. I just make sure they're filled up to the same level.

[QueenTimely]

Thanks for this -- really important stuff!

I have done some extensive research and also have talked to some pharmacists and even a compounding pharmacy. It is very important to note that even though Cymbalta is exclusively patented by Eli Lilly in the US, that does not mean that all Cymbalta capsules are all manufactured at the same site. There are 6 stated manufacturing sites in the US and several others globally. What this means for us is that the pellet/bead count does vary in size and content. Many of us have found the pellet/bead counts mentioned elsewhere in this site listed/offered as a standard we all should use. That is not true!! Depending on where you get your prescription, what part of the country you live in, etc... the bead/pellet count can vary quite a bit. For example, I get my Rx from Costco-the pharmacist told me the Cymbalta I get is manufactured at the plant closest to where I live. Therefore, the beads/pellets are bigger in size and there are (for me) an average of 195-218 pellets/beads per 60 mg. capsule. I have taken the time to count several as they did not match the charts/counts others have stated as the standard to use. Per Eli Lilly standards, there should be 67.3 mg of duloxetine HCI in each 60 mg. capsule. If you truly want to be accurate, I strongly recommend you purchase a digital scale that measures milligrams, and has a low margin of error(mine is to 0.01g). You can purchase on the internet or in stores a very accurate digital scale to weigh the pellets/beads to make very accurate tapering capsules. I bought empty gelatin capsules at Vitamin Cottage, but they are also available on the internet or at several other stores such as GNC and Walmart. To ensure your scale is operating at the highest possible accuracy at all times, it is highly recommended that you order the official calibration weight to recalibrate your scale regularly.

I am sharing this information as I think it will help others who are trying to taper down using this methodology. I myself have a BS in Biology and MS in Biochemistry, so I felt after reading several other posts here and elsewhere on the internet and counting beads/pellets in several capsules that I should research this and share this information with others. I wish you all good luck with your tapering and withdrawal and hope we all achieve good results and success!

[Sapphires13]

After getting below 10mg, I decided to start counting individual beads to determine a lower dosage rather than just dividing the contents of a pill by sight. I counted out 75 beads, approximating that to be roughly 8mg. I counted them out into a clear gel capsule, then held it up to compare it to a capsule I already had with approximately 10mg of beads in it... and they both filled up the capsule the same amount. The beads in the new one were larger. In curiosity, I opened up the older one with the smaller beads and counted them, there were between 90 and 100 beads, though they took the same amount of space as the 75 of the larger beads.

Here are two shots of the two pills side by side. You can hopefully see the slight difference in the bead size.



My current bottle of just a few 60mg Cymbalta left to get me through the rest of the weaning process is a mix from different manufacturer samples which contain 7 pills each, which would explain the different bead sizes. This is going to complicate my bead-counting, since the 1mg = 9 beads count comes from the smaller beads. I found another pill in the bottle with the smaller beads, so I guess I'll count my 75 out again from that, and see how many of the larger beads make the same approximate volume.

EDIT: Just finished doing that. 75 small beads = 38 large beads. That's how big the size difference is.

EDIT #2: There are 217 large beads in 1 60mg capsule, compared to 540 small beads in 1 60mg capsule. By my math, that's 3.61 mg per bead. Gonna re-evaluate and say 8 mg = 29 large beads.

[QueenTimely]

Great work, Sapphires!

[vh1]

After reading much about how to do the count down, I'm several weeks into the process and glad to report it's working well. I'd like to stress that you need to put the pellets/beads back into the capsule before taking that day's dosage, because you need the capsule for the slow-release effect. I also read that skipping days (taking the capsule every other day, etc) is not recommended. What I do is pour the pellets into a small bowl everyday and count off that week's number of pellets: I take out 10 pellets per week, which is about 1 gram/week (I counted 10 pellets off the first week, 20 the second, 30 the third etc). This method takes over 5 months to get off the 20 mg dosage, but doing it any faster would be too fast, I think, given the awful withdrawal symptoms that led me into this site. Next I'll try SAM-e, the natural supplement which many say helps with depression. Let's stay away from the drug companies!