After 2 years on Cymbalta I am trying to get off it and have started an alternating program at the suggestion of my current MD. I have tried twice to go cold turkey from 60mg and know the pure hell that brings on.
But the alternating doesn't look to promising for me so far.
The cycle has been 60mg one day to 30mg the next, back to 60mg then 30mg, etc.
The 30mg days have been almost as bad as cold turkey for me. Increased daytime sleep to start and then heavy night sweats. Now, a week into the cycle, I'm having constant headaches, general tiredness and chestpains on the 30mg days and it takes almost a full day on the 60mg days to return to feeling "normal".
I plan to contact my MD and advise of the progress and see what they suggest.
I truly wish that I had never been put on this med. I was at a very bad point and stressed and depressed, but the med shouldn't have to nearly kill you to get off it!
Just my first post and will chek back here for further information and advice.
Dear Guest:
I am not a doctor. Just someone who has taken cymbalta for many years (5 years). Through this site I learned a lot of things which are valuable because they come from real stories of people that have quit cymbalta.
One of the things I learned is that the -every other day approach- is not that smart. You say that when you alternated one day 60mg and the other day 30mg, the 30mg days were as bad as cold turkey. The reason is, cymbalta´s life within your body/brain. Cymbalta lives 12 hours. So it´s better to take the same dosage everyday.
I was very lucky to come into this site before reducing dosage. I took cymbalta 60mg for 5 years. And read on this site the importance to wean slowly. So I dropped from 60mg to 52mg one week, then 45mg the next week, then 37mg following week, and plan to drop to 30mg this friday. As you see, I have dropped 7 mg each time. and symptoms have been bearable and manageable. I haven´t felt that bad physically or emotionally. To aid my weaning process I am trying to eat very healthy, take vitamins and minerals and do yoga.
Hope this helped
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