8 replies to this topic

[Sapphires13]

Quick backstory: I'm 24, and began having problems with anxiety and depression when I was about 12. I was on a few different medications as a teenager, off and on (Zoloft, Prozac, Welbutrin), but never found one that seemed to help. Eventually I quit everything altogether, and after a few rough years, finally went back into the mental health care center, hoping to try something new.
My psychiatrist prescribed me Cymbalta, starting at 60mg. I took this dose for a month, but found it to make me jittery, fidgety, and unable to concentrate. When I went back to the psychiatrist and told her how the drug was making me feel, she seemed to think it was a good thing... but I managed to convince her to lower me to 30mg, which I stayed on for a year and a half. At that time, I'd begun having insomnia and more anxiety, so she raised my dose back to 60mg. Six months later, Buspar was added to help with my anxiety.

Because I have no insurance and limited funds, rather than pay a private therapist and/or psychiatrist, I see both through the local state-run mental health center. The setting is okay, though sometimes, especially with the psychiatrist, I've felt that my concerns have had a blind eye turned on them. At the beginning of this year though, I did have a session with a private psychologist, as part of the process for obtaining social security disability benefits. The psychologist was very caring. I told him that recently I'd told my therapist about how jittery and fidgety I'd felt and wanted to have me tested for ADD. The psychologist went ahead and tested me, and determined that I didn't have ADD, but that I may have bipolar II, which would explain why the Cymbalta was making me feel worse, and said I shouldn't be on it, and should probably be on a mood stabilizer instead. Unfortunately, this was a one-time session with him, so there wasn't anything he could do for me.
I finally got to go back to my therapist last week, and she agreed with him. My next appointment with the psychiatrist though isn't for another two weeks. Instead of waiting to see what she has to say (my therapist told me not to let the psychiatrist pressure me into staying on Cymbalta) I decided to go ahead and start the weaning-off process myself.

This week, I've been opening up my Cymbalta capsules and roughly dividing the contents into fourths, and only putting 3/4ths back in the capsules. This gives me roughly a 45mg dose, which so far hasn't led to any withdrawal symptoms. I went to the local health food store and bought some empty gel capsules so I don't waste any of the medication.

This is my plan:

Prior dosage: 60mg
Week one: 45mg
Week two: 30mg
Week three: 20mg
Week four: 15mg
Week five: 10mg
Week six: 5mg
Week seven: Cymbalta free!

My only concern is that the drop from 30mg to 20mg might be too steep. Any experience with this? I suppose if I feel crappy the first couple days, I'll go to 25mg and just extend my plan by a week. I just don't want to spend months and months and months weaning off at a snail's pace. I'm impatient and want to be done with this junk for good.

I'll keep this thread updated on my progress, and any withdrawal symptoms I have. Also, I'll let you guys know about my psychiatrist's reaction to what I'm doing. I've heard some people on here say that their doctors have told them not to open the pills up and divide the contents, which is silly, because that's exactly what compounding pharmacies do every day. Also psychiatrist does not equal pharmacologist. I'm pretty sure my psychiatrist doesn't even know what the Cymbalta pills look like.

By the way, thanks so much for everyone on this site. I would've had no idea how hard getting off Cymbalta would be if I hadn't found this place, nor would I have known to gradually decrease the dose. Between deciding to quit, and figuring out the right way how, I thought taking one pill every other day, then every two days and so on would work. Eek.

[Sapphires13]

Today will be my third day on 30mg. I felt fine yesterday and was sewing and feeling very productive, but today I feel completely out of it. I'm in a fog, I'm having brain zaps even though I've taken my medicine on time, and I was so out of it that I bumped my head on the wall while taking a shower.

I'm supposed to go on a trip the last week of this month, and am thinking about moving my withdrawal schedule around so I'm not feeling crummy when I'm supposed to be on a fun vacation. I may just stay on 30mg until after I get back home.

[MaureenV]

Today will be my third day on 30mg. I felt fine yesterday and was sewing and feeling very productive, but today I feel completely out of it. I'm in a fog, I'm having brain zaps even though I've taken my medicine on time, and I was so out of it that I bumped my head on the wall while taking a shower.

I'm supposed to go on a trip the last week of this month, and am thinking about moving my withdrawal schedule around so I'm not feeling crummy when I'm supposed to be on a fun vacation. I may just stay on 30mg until after I get back home.

That sounds like a good move.

The crucial thing to remember with cymbalta withdrawal is that there's no timetable that suits everybody. Each drop should only happen once you feel o.k. on the previous dose.

Trust me, we ALL feel impatient to be off. I don't think there are too many of us who haven't felt, or given in to the urge to go a bit faster. I certainly had to back track once or twice.

60mg to zero in seven weeks is very optimistic, unless you're one of the lucky ones who has few problems.


regards, Maureen.

[Sapphires13]

Well, the uncomfortableness when I started 30mg only lasted for a day or two. My original schedule has me set to start 20mg this Sunday. If I find after a couple of days that I can't handle that, I'll go back up to 30mg until after my trip (which is from the 25th to the 1st). If I can handle 20, I'll stay on it until after the 1st.

It's possible that either the Buspar I'm already on, or whichever new medication (most likely a mood stabilizer) I'm going to be put on on the 23rd will help my withdrawal from Cymbalta go more smoothly. I can only hope. But I must say I'd much rather NOT end up having to take Prozac as a "stepping stone" for getting off Cymbalta, since previous experience on Prozac was very, very bad for me.

[MaureenV]

Well, the uncomfortableness when I started 30mg only lasted for a day or two. My original schedule has me set to start 20mg this Sunday. If I find after a couple of days that I can't handle that, I'll go back up to 30mg until after my trip (which is from the 25th to the 1st). If I can handle 20, I'll stay on it until after the 1st.

It's possible that either the Buspar I'm already on, or whichever new medication (most likely a mood stabilizer) I'm going to be put on on the 23rd will help my withdrawal from Cymbalta go more smoothly. I can only hope. But I must say I'd much rather NOT end up having to take Prozac as a "stepping stone" for getting off Cymbalta, since previous experience on Prozac was very, very bad for me.

30 down to 20 in one go is a big drop. If you're someone who's going to have difficulty withdrawing, you're going to have problems doing this.

Why not try (eg) 28mg instead. At least that way you're making progress; you're minimizing the likelihood of severe withdrawal effects, and will find out how soon any effects cut in for you for future drops.

Each mg is 9 beads, so by removing those from each capsule you can make your own dose, keeping the beads for later on when you're on very small doses.


regards, Maureen.

[Sapphires13]

Yeah, 30 to 20 was too strong. Today was my second day on 20mg, but within an hour of taking my pill, I started having frequent brain zaps, so I went ahead and put some more beads in a gel cap and took them, to get my dose up closer to 30mg again.

I'm gonna start counting beads again and go for a more gradual taper.

[Sapphires13]

Just an update. I did see my psychiatrist (who I don't particularly like) and when I mentioned I was dividing the dosage, she said "You're not supposed to do that.", but I shot back that it's exactly what a compounding pharmacy would do, and she shut up about it. At that point I was down to 25mg, and she agreed I should come off of it and didn't write me a new prescription. I still have enough pills left that I can continue weaning myself off, though I think she may have expected me to stop then and there.

This is what I've done so far:

Week 1: 45 mg
Week 2: 30 mg
Week 3: 25 mg
Week 4: 25 mg
Week 5: 20 mg
Week 6: 15 mg
Week 7: 10 mg

I'm in the middle of week 7 now, and haven't had too many bad side effects. My appetite has increased, and I've experienced some extra anxiety and more trouble sleeping. My doctor increased my Buspar though (which is for anxiety and isn't an anti-depressant), and prescribed me Ambien to help me sleep. The brain zaps haven't been too bad, and I only really felt crappy when initially trying to go down from 30mg to 20mg in one big jump. I seem to find that the brain zaps get intense about 2-3 hours after I take my pill, and then subside. I'm going to begin slowing my weaning off, beginning by continuing 10 mg for Week 8, then counting the beads to lower by individual milligrams per week after that (8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1?)

[MaureenV]

Just an update. I did see my psychiatrist (who I don't particularly like) and when I mentioned I was dividing the dosage, she said "You're not supposed to do that.", but I shot back that it's exactly what a compounding pharmacy would do, and she shut up about it. At that point I was down to 25mg, and she agreed I should come off of it and didn't write me a new prescription. I still have enough pills left that I can continue weaning myself off, though I think she may have expected me to stop then and there.

This is what I've done so far:

Week 1: 45 mg
Week 2: 30 mg
Week 3: 25 mg
Week 4: 25 mg
Week 5: 20 mg
Week 6: 15 mg
Week 7: 10 mg

I'm in the middle of week 7 now, and haven't had too many bad side effects. My appetite has increased, and I've experienced some extra anxiety and more trouble sleeping. My doctor increased my Buspar though (which is for anxiety and isn't an anti-depressant), and prescribed me Ambien to help me sleep. The brain zaps haven't been too bad, and I only really felt crappy when initially trying to go down from 30mg to 20mg in one big jump. I seem to find that the brain zaps get intense about 2-3 hours after I take my pill, and then subside. I'm going to begin slowing my weaning off, beginning by continuing 10 mg for Week 8, then counting the beads to lower by individual milligrams per week after that (8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1?)

Sounds good, and keep us posted.

cheers, Maureen.

[Sapphires13]

Update!

I've hit a stone in my path. This is where I am so far:

Week 1: 45 mg
Week 2: 30 mg
Week 3: 25 mg
Week 4: 25 mg
Week 5: 20 mg
Week 6: 15 mg
Week 7: 10 mg
Week 8: 10 mg
Week 9: 8 mg
Week 10: 8 mg
Week 11: 6 mg
Week 12: ...almost cold turkey.

Symptoms first started to get worse around week 8. I began having a lot of anxiety and depression. I've also had a severe lack of energy, almost surely a result of the depression. I haven't felt like doing anything or going anywhere, I've just felt so tired I've wanted to stay in bed.

Before I ever started weaning down, I'd only get brain zaps if I was several hours late taking my Cymbalta. In the last several weeks of weaning though, I'd noticed that I wouldn't get brain zaps even if I was late... but as soon as I took the pill, I'd start getting bad brain zaps within the hour. It got so frustrating that I decided to try NOT taking anything on week 12 and see how I'd do.

Well, week 12 went like this:

Sunday: No pill
Monday: No pill
Tuesday: Began getting bad brain zaps in the evening, took 6 mg
Wednesday: No pill
Thursday: No pill
Friday: No pill
Saturday: Began getting bad brain zaps in the evening, took 6 mg

Saturday was today. Taking the pill stopped the brain zaps within an hour. I'm gonna attempt to keep doing this, waiting until the zaps start before taking anything. If that works out for a couple of weeks, I'll continue it but only take 4 mg when I need it, and so on. I really want to get down to not having to take anything.