5 replies to this topic

[Eric]

Im 43, male, and live in Texas. My doctor had me start Cymbalta a year ago to stop the tingling that radiated from my butt cheek to my foot from a weighligting back injury. I found out after I left the doctor's office that Cymbalta was used for depression too. Okay, I didn't care. If it gets rid of the tingling, I'll do it. I'm not a pill taker and have only been taking lortab for the back injury. I have been into health and exercising for 30 years. I workout regularly, eat well, ride motocross. I'm in good shape. About a week ago I decided to stop taking Cymbalta because I had to start a cholesterol lowering med....I have that monster bad cholesterol gene....and I didnt want to be taking anymore meds if avoidable and so I decided to cut out Cymbalta. It never crossed my mind to wean off a Rx. I started feeling lousy a few days ago and was feeling things I have never felt before in my body. So I began scouring for information last night trying to figure out what was happening inside me. I would sweat, then be cold. I couldn't move my eyes without the feeling of a NASCAR whoosh flying through me. I couldn't walk without feeling dizzy. I have had a headache. Voices and noises are amplified and make me cringe to hear normal sounds. All of these symptoms are foreigners to me. I stayed up late reading about hundreds of other people who have been through what I now know to be Cymbalta withdrawal. If I had known about these side affects, I would have continued to live with the tingling and never paid the price I'm paying now to come off Cymbalta. I have a high pain threshhold and I consider myself pretty tough. But these withdrawal symptoms are nearly debilitating. I'm on vacation and have been pinned up in a hotel room for 2 days because of this. I left the Cymbalta at home last week. I had the pharmacy at home contact one where I'm staying out of town and I now have 4 capsules (60 mg). I took one of them about an hour ago. I need help to understand how long these symptoms will last now that I've put more Cymbalta back into my system. I would like to thank you all for taking time to ask and answer questions on this site. I was nearly giddy last night when I nailed down what was happening to me by reading what so many of you had to say about this nasty drug. You will find me in my doctor's office Thursday morning when I return home to discuss this mess I'm in. So when do the symptoms go away?

[MaureenV]

Im 43, male, and live in Texas. My doctor had me start Cymbalta a year ago to stop the tingling that radiated from my butt cheek to my foot from a weighligting back injury. I found out after I left the doctor's office that Cymbalta was used for depression too. Okay, I didn't care. If it gets rid of the tingling, I'll do it. I'm not a pill taker and have only been taking lortab for the back injury. I have been into health and exercising for 30 years. I workout regularly, eat well, ride motocross. I'm in good shape. About a week ago I decided to stop taking Cymbalta because I had to start a cholesterol lowering med....I have that monster bad cholesterol gene....and I didnt want to be taking anymore meds if avoidable and so I decided to cut out Cymbalta. It never crossed my mind to wean off a Rx. I started feeling lousy a few days ago and was feeling things I have never felt before in my body. So I began scouring for information last night trying to figure out what was happening inside me. I would sweat, then be cold. I couldn't move my eyes without the feeling of a NASCAR whoosh flying through me. I couldn't walk without feeling dizzy. I have had a headache. Voices and noises are amplified and make me cringe to hear normal sounds. All of these symptoms are foreigners to me. I stayed up late reading about hundreds of other people who have been through what I now know to be Cymbalta withdrawal. If I had known about these side affects, I would have continued to live with the tingling and never paid the price I'm paying now to come off Cymbalta. I have a high pain threshhold and I consider myself pretty tough. But these withdrawal symptoms are nearly debilitating. I'm on vacation and have been pinned up in a hotel room for 2 days because of this. I left the Cymbalta at home last week. I had the pharmacy at home contact one where I'm staying out of town and I now have 4 capsules (60 mg). I took one of them about an hour ago. I need help to understand how long these symptoms will last now that I've put more Cymbalta back into my system. I would like to thank you all for taking time to ask and answer questions on this site. I was nearly giddy last night when I nailed down what was happening to me by reading what so many of you had to say about this nasty drug. You will find me in my doctor's office Thursday morning when I return home to discuss this mess I'm in. So when do the symptoms go away?

How much longer are you on vacation for? i.e. will the three capsules you have left last you through?

If not, you could try taking 30mg per day until next Thursday. You can do this by opening the capsules (do this over a large plate or somesuch) and keeping half the little balls in each half of the capsule, then stuff a bit of bread or something into each end.

As you've been off for a week (apart from the one 60mg) 30mg may be enough to keep the symptoms at bay.

Be aware that although your doctor would probably have recommended 'weaning off' - i.e. dropping down to 30mg for a few weeks, then stopping, or doing alternate days, this method doesn't work for the group of people (and who knows what percentage they make up) who are going to have GREAT difficulty weaning off Cymbalta.

It would be worthwhile getting a prescription for 30mg Cymbalta capsules - it makes it a bit easier to divide up smaller doses.

Keep in touch here, read the posts of others and you'll see what generally happens.

Unfortunately when it comes to Cymbalta, there IS no 'average'. Some who go cold turkey suffer for weeks and weeks, then have recurring symtpoms, which almost never happens to those who wean slowly.

regards, Maureen.

[Eric]

Im 43, male, and live in Texas. My doctor had me start Cymbalta a year ago to stop the tingling that radiated from my butt cheek to my foot from a weighligting back injury. I found out after I left the doctor's office that Cymbalta was used for depression too. Okay, I didn't care. If it gets rid of the tingling, I'll do it. I'm not a pill taker and have only been taking lortab for the back injury. I have been into health and exercising for 30 years. I workout regularly, eat well, ride motocross. I'm in good shape. About a week ago I decided to stop taking Cymbalta because I had to start a cholesterol lowering med....I have that monster bad cholesterol gene....and I didnt want to be taking anymore meds if avoidable and so I decided to cut out Cymbalta. It never crossed my mind to wean off a Rx. I started feeling lousy a few days ago and was feeling things I have never felt before in my body. So I began scouring for information last night trying to figure out what was happening inside me. I would sweat, then be cold. I couldn't move my eyes without the feeling of a NASCAR whoosh flying through me. I couldn't walk without feeling dizzy. I have had a headache. Voices and noises are amplified and make me cringe to hear normal sounds. All of these symptoms are foreigners to me. I stayed up late reading about hundreds of other people who have been through what I now know to be Cymbalta withdrawal. If I had known about these side affects, I would have continued to live with the tingling and never paid the price I'm paying now to come off Cymbalta. I have a high pain threshhold and I consider myself pretty tough. But these withdrawal symptoms are nearly debilitating. I'm on vacation and have been pinned up in a hotel room for 2 days because of this. I left the Cymbalta at home last week. I had the pharmacy at home contact one where I'm staying out of town and I now have 4 capsules (60 mg). I took one of them about an hour ago. I need help to understand how long these symptoms will last now that I've put more Cymbalta back into my system. I would like to thank you all for taking time to ask and answer questions on this site. I was nearly giddy last night when I nailed down what was happening to me by reading what so many of you had to say about this nasty drug. You will find me in my doctor's office Thursday morning when I return home to discuss this mess I'm in. So when do the symptoms go away?

I was experiencing all of the side affects of Cymbalta withdrawal without knowing that's what it was caused by. It was this website that caused the light bulb to turn on. I was at a loss trying to figure out what was going on and was very concerned....until I stumbled across this website. It's scary to feel that sick and so uncertain about the cause. My wife picked up the 4 capsules at a Walgreens nearby our hotel since it was impossible for me to be driving. I took one at 11am and then tried to stay asleep, or at least motionless. By 9pm that night, the withdrawal symptoms were gone. What a relief. I was wiped out and exhausted from the 3 days of withdrawal but at least I was functioning again. This is a nasty drug and we owe it to all others, who are either considering starting Cymbalta or who are looking for an exit strategy to it, to hand them the truth that goes along with the drug. I wanted to get home and begin the weaning process immediately and I was in no shape or mood to vacation so we cut our vacation short and headed home to begin the weaning process. It sounds like only time will tell me what's in my cards in the coming weeks. Finding the information on this site was better than most things imaginable. And so I have promised myself to share my experiences, regardless whether or not I'm experiencing withdrawal affects. I also intend to educate my doctor so maybe he will think before he ever prescribes Cymbalta to anyone ever again.

Eric

[MaureenV]

I was experiencing all of the side affects of Cymbalta withdrawal without knowing that's what it was caused by. It was this website that caused the light bulb to turn on. I was at a loss trying to figure out what was going on and was very concerned....until I stumbled across this website. It's scary to feel that sick and so uncertain about the cause. My wife picked up the 4 capsules at a Walgreens nearby our hotel since it was impossible for me to be driving. I took one at 11am and then tried to stay asleep, or at least motionless. By 9pm that night, the withdrawal symptoms were gone. What a relief. I was wiped out and exhausted from the 3 days of withdrawal but at least I was functioning again. This is a nasty drug and we owe it to all others, who are either considering starting Cymbalta or who are looking for an exit strategy to it, to hand them the truth that goes along with the drug. I wanted to get home and begin the weaning process immediately and I was in no shape or mood to vacation so we cut our vacation short and headed home to begin the weaning process. It sounds like only time will tell me what's in my cards in the coming weeks. Finding the information on this site was better than most things imaginable. And so I have promised myself to share my experiences, regardless whether or not I'm experiencing withdrawal affects. I also intend to educate my doctor so maybe he will think before he ever prescribes Cymbalta to anyone ever again.

Eric

Hi eric,


Sorry to hear your holiday didn't happen, but I can well imagine you weren't in the mood. The fact that taking Cymbalta again works so quickly is about the only good thing about this withdrawal process.

Many people don't have too many problems getting off Cymbalta, and the drug companies don't inform doctors about those who do, so they're left in the dark. If they've had several people get off without any problems, then 'we' turn up in a mess, they tend to assume it's because we need the drug so badly, doctors understandably being more concerned about a severely depressed person being left without medication, than withdrawal symptoms.

You may find that you can get to 30mg without too many problems, some can, some can't.

If you want to minimize the cost, you could try that, and if the symptoms return, just take the rest of the dose.

Don't let your doctor tell you things like taking 30mg 'for two weeks, then every second day for a week then just stop'. That can work for those who probably could have stopped cold turkey without too many problems, but it's not going to work for someone like you.

My point with doctors and this drug, is that even if it's only one in fifty people who have this much difficulty getting off it, doctors wouldn't prescribe that if they knew that risk.

regards, Maureen.

[Eric]

Hi eric,


Sorry to hear your holiday didn't happen, but I can well imagine you weren't in the mood. The fact that taking Cymbalta again works so quickly is about the only good thing about this withdrawal process.

Many people don't have too many problems getting off Cymbalta, and the drug companies don't inform doctors about those who do, so they're left in the dark. If they've had several people get off without any problems, then 'we' turn up in a mess, they tend to assume it's because we need the drug so badly, doctors understandably being more concerned about a severely depressed person being left without medication, than withdrawal symptoms.

You may find that you can get to 30mg without too many problems, some can, some can't.

If you want to minimize the cost, you could try that, and if the symptoms return, just take the rest of the dose.

Don't let your doctor tell you things like taking 30mg 'for two weeks, then every second day for a week then just stop'. That can work for those who probably could have stopped cold turkey without too many problems, but it's not going to work for someone like you.

My point with doctors and this drug, is that even if it's only one in fifty people who have this much difficulty getting off it, doctors wouldn't prescribe that if they knew that risk.

regards, Maureen.

Hey Maureen, I was at the doctor today to discuss the withdrawal problems I had a few days ago. Guess what? He prescribed 30mg on the schedule you described above. I knew by reading your comments the night the withdrawal spins occured, that you had knowledge of cymbalta withdrawal. I took a 30mg poison pill today and intend to follow the schedule he laid out. God, I hope I don't have those symptoms again. I don't suffer from depression, but this is depressing .....Again, thank you for playing an active part on this site. I laughed out loud when I found this site, though I was strangly sick from the C word.
Eric

[MaureenV]

Hey Maureen, I was at the doctor today to discuss the withdrawal problems I had a few days ago. Guess what? He prescribed 30mg on the schedule you described above. I knew by reading your comments the night the withdrawal spins occured, that you had knowledge of cymbalta withdrawal. I took a 30mg poison pill today and intend to follow the schedule he laid out. God, I hope I don't have those symptoms again. I don't suffer from depression, but this is depressing .....Again, thank you for playing an active part on this site. I laughed out loud when I found this site, though I was strangly sick from the C word.
Eric

Hi Eric,


If he's suggesting every second day for Cymbalta, I'd be pretty happy to have a large bet on the fact that you're going to have problems with that. Cymbalta has a short half life, you just cant 'stretch' it out the way you can other drugs like Prozac.

I HAVE seen about two people here not have too many difficulties with that regime, BUT they were people who hadn't tried going cold turkey or previously tried getting off Cymbalta. Some people can drop 120mg cold turkey without too many problems, so it stands to reason that people like that aren't going to have a problem with alternate days.

I have NEVER, in my 9 months on this site, seen anyone who'd suffered any degree of withdrawal symptoms have success with this - in fact all it does is leave them in limbo: take drug one day, cold turkey the next, and on and on.

You could still follow his basic regime, but instead of taking the 30mg every second day, open the capsule and put half the beads in each half of the capsule and stuff a bit of bread in each end. You may still feel bad from withdrawing too quickly, but at least you'll be getting a consistent dose, and your body will slowly be adjusting to the 15mg, rather than having to deal with 30/zero/30/zero.

I was trying to take 30mg every second day, and from the information on here, changed to 15mg every day. What a difference!!!! Then again, we're all different, just stay tuned here, even just to vent if you wish.

Good Luck,

Maureen.