4 replies to this topic

[samedaynurse]

My husband fell off a roof in 2001 with many orthopedic injuries and was put on an antidepressant , we were told its usual course of treatment, the most recent med used was Cymbalta which he was on for just a little over a year, he began having problems that seemed to be related to Cymbalta, feelings of jitteriness and nightmares with hallucinations etc so he and the Dr decided to wean off of Cymbalta. We did 60mg every other day for 2 weeks then 30mg for a week and then every other day for 2 weeks and he is now off of Cymbalta for approx 3 weeks. Some things are better but some things are still very distressing. He gets very severe bouts of sweating, he feels extremely hot, and all this is followed by chills and fatigue some days are worse than others and recently it has been pretty bad. He says he just generally dosent feel good and alternates drastically between hot and cold, he is a man who almost never complains about anything. Have any of you had symptoms like these ? DO you have any idea how long we should expect this to last ? Are there any suggestions to make this symptom easier ? and finally does this indeed sound like withdrawal from Cymbalta problems ? I am very anxious to get some ideas from those of you who have been there...done that. Thank you so much in advance.

[Joh]

Hello samedaynurse,

Sorry your husband has had such a difficult time. Everyone is differnt in how they react to Cymbalta and the tapering off. I have been tapering for a little over 4 months starting at 50 mgs, I am down to 2 mgs and will not be off it completely, until maybe ten days from now. Alot of doctors suggest doing the every other day situation, for most people that is not a a good way to do it.

It sounds like he may have gone off the Cymabalta too fast. Somep people despite tapering off slowly still have problems after they are completly done tapering off. He could try going back on a low dose of Cymbalta like 20mgs or more, and then try slowly tapering off, by counting beads in the capsule. He might want to increase until he was at a dose he felt better at, and then start tapering when he felt ready.

I would suggest reading the website a litle more, to learn about experiences people have had in going through the withdrawl process.

Best wishes to you and your husband and feeling better.

[samedaynurse]

Hello samedaynurse,

Sorry your husband has had such a difficult time. Everyone is differnt in how they react to Cymbalta and the tapering off. I have been tapering for a little over 4 months starting at 50 mgs, I am down to 2 mgs and will not be off it completely, until maybe ten days from now. Alot of doctors suggest doing the every other day situation, for most people that is not a a good way to do it.

It sounds like he may have gone off the Cymabalta too fast. Somep people despite tapering off slowly still have problems after they are completly done tapering off. He could try going back on a low dose of Cymbalta like 20mgs or more, and then try slowly tapering off, by counting beads in the capsule. He might want to increase until he was at a dose he felt better at, and then start tapering when he felt ready.

I would suggest reading the website a litle more, to learn about experiences people have had in going through the withdrawl process.

Best wishes to you and your husband and feeling better.

[samedaynurse]

Thank you so much for replying, I am hoping to get several ideas and some help as the days go by. We did the weaning the way the Dr suggested, although I am learning that even as a health professional we arent educated on this aspect of drug use and discontinuing. We completed the weaning a full 2 weeks ago and so I think it might be counter productive to restart the Cymbalta now he has been a full two weeks without it in his system....a lot of the side effects and mental fogginess have faded but the sweats and the chills esp at night have been somewhat debilitating. I guess one thing I would love to know is approximately how much longer would we expect this to go on ? A week ? 2 weeks ? A month ? At least if we knew there was an end in sight. I am reading as much as I can on this site and learning as much as I can, and am so sad for all of the individuals , like my husband and I who had no idea what we were getting into when we accepted this help. I will use all that I learn to be a better Patient Advocate for the people I come in contact with.....

[Joh]

I'm sorry I couldn't tell you when the withdrawl symptoms will disappear. Someone named "Cookie" used to post alot and had read alot of the old posts......she might know more, but I haven't seen her around here recently. My only suggestion earlier was to take a small dose and go off slower, but as you pointed out that felt like going backwards.

It is difficult to predict much with Cymbalta, hopefully your husband's misery will be drawing to the end shortly.