4 replies to this topic

[Gene]

I am taking 90 mg daily. 60mg in the morning and 30mg at night. I want to get off of this drug and I'm looking for some suggestions.

[MaureenV]

I am taking 90 mg daily. 60mg in the morning and 30mg at night. I want to get off of this drug and I'm looking for some suggestions.

It's different for everyone, and others may make different suggestions from me, but many find that they can do the first drops without too much difficulty, then struggle with the last 30mg. It seems that those for whom and increase in the drug (e.g if 60mg doesn't seem to be helping much, some people have their dose increased and it makes no difference; for those people, dropping that increase doesn't seem to cause problems).

You'll know yourself what happens if you ever miss a dose. If you have problems even skipping one dose you'll need to wean slowly, certainly from 30mg to zero.

The great thing (yes, there IS one!) about this drug is that if you've dropped too much too quickly, re-instating the previous dose works very quickly - you only have to wait a day or two to feel better again.

My suggestion: Try 60mg per day and see how you feel after a week. Please DON'T assume that because you're o.k. after a few days it's o.k. to drop again. Many find the worst of the side effects can take nearly a week to be felt.

Whether that's 30mg twice a day, or 60mg once a day only you can judge. If you want to 'preserve' the number of capsules you have, you can divide a 60 into two 30s by opening and dividing the contents into the two halves of the capsule, then stuffing a piece of bread in the ends.

Keep in touch, either way, there's no same path for everyone, and whatever you issues, someone will be able to give you some feedback.


regards, Maureen.

[Tami]

I am new to this site and would like to wean off cymbalta. Today, a had a major adrenaline rush which made me realize that this drug is really fooling around with my brain and I want out. The third week of November 2009 I began weaning myself off Paxil and by Christmas I was totally off and boy did I pay for that with the worst holidays ever. This time around, I know I need to go extra slowly and I need advice about how to proceed. I am in Canada so my choice is 60mg and 30mg time-released capsules. Right now I am on 60mg and tomorrow morning I would like to begin by counting the granules as suggested on this site. Do I take this with water or juice and how do I store the remaining granules? Because I had such a difficult time with paxil, how much should I go down tomorrow - I am prepared to go as slow as need be - even if it takes me a year. Does anyone have any advice for me? My concern is that I am taking a trip Thursday in which I will be driving a fair distance. Will I be ok to do so? I plan on seeing my doctor asap but she doesn't not know anything about this or any antidepressant and I am afraid of her advice. I know that prozac really, really helped me with the withdrawal effects of paxil so I will probably ask her for a prescription. My question is when should I start the prozac and end the prozac because I really don't want to be on anything. Thanks

[anne]

I am going to try to get off of Cymbalta - and I have been on 90 mg for 1.3 years. I was on Celexa before that but switched becuase I too had major neck pain from a douible fusion, and I do admit that the drug helped with the neck pain, but I am now getting headaches, constipation and other horrid side effects. I am going to reduce the 30 mg tablet to every other day for a week or two, and then try to drop to 60 for another two weeks before goin down to 30. I am the ony breadwinner in my family, and am supporting a kid in college, so I really can't have such severe withdrawal that I can't work. Any suggestions woul dbe very welcome. I have ordered a book on withdrawal, and started taking Omega 3 fatty acids about 1 month ago, which I understand helps. I also have Lunesta for when I can't sleep, but I want to be very judicious about the usage of that drug, so I don't become addicted to that as well.
More in the future.
Anne

[MaureenV]

I am going to try to get off of Cymbalta - and I have been on 90 mg for 1.3 years. I was on Celexa before that but switched becuase I too had major neck pain from a douible fusion, and I do admit that the drug helped with the neck pain, but I am now getting headaches, constipation and other horrid side effects. I am going to reduce the 30 mg tablet to every other day for a week or two, and then try to drop to 60 for another two weeks before goin down to 30. I am the ony breadwinner in my family, and am supporting a kid in college, so I really can't have such severe withdrawal that I can't work. Any suggestions woul dbe very welcome. I have ordered a book on withdrawal, and started taking Omega 3 fatty acids about 1 month ago, which I understand helps. I also have Lunesta for when I can't sleep, but I want to be very judicious about the usage of that drug, so I don't become addicted to that as well.
More in the future.
Anne

Hi Anne,

For anyone who's going to have problems withdrawing, the every other day method does not work with Cymbalta because it has a very short half life.

You may be one of the lucky ones and not have too many problems. Some can get down to 30mg without too much problem, then have difficulty from there.

If you're going to start reducing your dose to an average of 75mg per day, then that's just what you do. You can achieve this by opening the 30mg capsules, leaving half the beads in each half of the capsule and stuff a bit of bread or somesuch in the end.

It's important that you don't attempt any further withdrawals for at least a week, because some people find it's not for about six days that the worst of the withdrawals kick in.

One thing bothers me: if you've had success taking it for pain, be aware that one of the withdrawal effects is not just returning pain, but worse pain for a while, along with pain in areas of your body which were never a problem. So hope you have your pain control sorted beforehand.


regards, Maureen.