11 replies to this topic

[Voyager7429]

Hello everyone -- glad to find this forum...

I began taking Cymbalta back in the fall due to depression and GAD. I began with the 30 mg doses for 2 weeks and was increased to 60 mg per day thereafter. Honestly, while taking the drug, I felt that it really helped my symptoms of anxiety and depression. There were some initial side-effects which largely subsided within a week or two.

Well, I do not have health insurance, and at $137 for a 30 day supply, I decided last week that I needed to go off of the medication. Not because I wanted to, mind you, but because I felt I could not afford it. I kept two doses, but stopped taking the medication this past Sunday.

I didn't experience any side effects until beginning last night when I had frequently interrupted sleep (much like the initial side effect I experienced regarding my sleep) and very vivid dreams. I didn't really think much of this, but today -- WHOAH!!! I noticed that I was experiencing these slight "tremors" in my head followed by a short period of dizziness. These feelings seemed to be triggered randomly at times, though some sensory triggering has been occurring such as when the phone rings, or when I shift my eyes very quickly.

Having now read about some of the rather extreme withdrawal effects, I now know that I must taper rather than stop suddenly...I went ahead and took one of my 60 mg doses today, and called the pharmacy and refilled my prescription. My questions are as follows:

1. How long after resuming the 60 mg doses can I expect the withdrawal symptoms to subside given the half-life of the drug?
2. If my last dose was this past Saturday, have my levels of the drug dropped to zero by today? If so, why am I experiencing the side effects?

Thanks to anyone who might help!

[Sarah J]

I am no doctor, but the information I have found regarding Cymbalta half life is this:

12-14 hours half life - Multiply the half life times 3 and you get about 36 hours to total elimination.

So, if you go by that information - you have it out of your body. See your prescriber and talk to them. Some people do not fare well by going back on their original dose, and there are many less expensive alternatives to Cymbalta available. To help with withdrawal, the medicine they gave me was on the $4/month list at Sam's/WalMart/Target.

Are your withdrawal symptoms just a little uncomfortable or unbearable enough to try the Cymbalta again?

[Voyager7429]

I only started noticing them today, which is what is weird because based on the half-life I would have thought that the drug was eliminated from my body, but I suppose the chemical balance in my brain was still re-adjusting? I wouldn't say the symptoms were really "severe", but the dizziness and tremors in my head were disconcerting, and distracting, and certainly not something that I would want to deal with over a long term.

[Sarah J]

You might be one of the lucky ones that has the side effects go away quickly!

There is no magic number of days to tell you how long it will take for these things to go away.
A little bit uncomfortable is kind of to be expected with withdrawal from anything. Your prescriber should be able to walk you through what course of action to take, let us all know how you are doing and what you decided to do!

[jeff3298]

Several months back I went of Cymbalta cold turkey because of a prahmacy mix up, I was fine until day 4 & 5 and wow was I freaking, brain zaps, anger, rage, pain etc. I went back on them on day/night 5 and a day or two later I was ok again.
I posted on here that talked about it.
How long will they last, I am finding each person is different. Not the answer you wanted I know but honest I think. I am on a per my dr of 5 days at 60mg, 5 days at 30mg then off. She also wanted me to do lexapro 10mg for 5, the 20mg for 5 then steady at 30mg. I want off LExapor also so I stayed at 10mg. I will be starting vitamins and supplemtns tomorrow to see if that helps, some say it does.
READ others post in all the sections, success stories, feeling, ect
Keep posting here and try and get off the drug.

I will be praying for you
Jeff

[Voyager7429]

Thank you for the reply!

Well, I took a 60 mg dose yesterday, and again today, and I must say that the physical symptoms of stopping cold turkey have alleviated and my mood is better.

Here's the thing -- I started taking Cymbalta for a good reason...I was depressed, I was in a pattern of self-destruction, and I had unmanageable general anxiety most of the time. Honestly, the Cymbalta has helped me IMMENSELY with all of those problems. So, I am not here to trash the drug, because I do think it works FOR ME. So in essence, I guess the question for me is whether the potential side effects of withdrawal when I stop the drug combined with the expense for someone like me without insurance is worth the relief of the effects of withdrawal. In reading about the withdrawal, I have found that Cymbalta is not the only anti-depressant of its class that results in the withdrawal syndrome. For now, I've made the decision to go ahead and stay on the Cymbalta and if I choose again in the future to discontinue it, I will not stop cold turkey but will instead consult with my prescriber and ask that I be tapered off.

[Sarah J]

If Cymbalta is helping you and you are doing well - that's great. It did work well for me for about 9 months and then it leveled off. The last year I was on it, I noticed and so did my friends/family that I became very complacent about everything which was my major reason for coming off, plus I had dealt with the issues that I was on it for in the first place.

Effexor (same class as Cymbalta) is pretty much the same deal with withdrawal - I found out the other day that one of my cousins took that, came off of it a few years ago and had to be hospitalized for a week! So I consider myself pretty lucky.

I don't have prescription coverage either. In the county I live in, there is a program available to all income levels called Script Save and it was free to sign up and the card covers any member of my household. You get slight discounts, but hey anything is something. I think it might be a nationwide program, like I said, it was free, so I am putting their phone number here so you (or anybody else reading) can call and see if it is available to you for free where you live - 1.800.700.3957.

With that card, at Sams a months supply of Cymbalta was $104/month instead of $140/month. You could always ask your prescriber for samples they get them free and most doctors are pretty happy to work with those of us who have no prescription coverage.

[slant]

Hello everyone -- glad to find this forum...

I began taking Cymbalta back in the fall due to depression and GAD. I began with the 30 mg doses for 2 weeks and was increased to 60 mg per day thereafter. Honestly, while taking the drug, I felt that it really helped my symptoms of anxiety and depression. There were some initial side-effects which largely subsided within a week or two.

Well, I do not have health insurance, and at $137 for a 30 day supply, I decided last week that I needed to go off of the medication. Not because I wanted to, mind you, but because I felt I could not afford it. I kept two doses, but stopped taking the medication this past Sunday.

I didn't experience any side effects until beginning last night when I had frequently interrupted sleep (much like the initial side effect I experienced regarding my sleep) and very vivid dreams. I didn't really think much of this, but today -- WHOAH!!! I noticed that I was experiencing these slight "tremors" in my head followed by a short period of dizziness. These feelings seemed to be triggered randomly at times, though some sensory triggering has been occurring such as when the phone rings, or when I shift my eyes very quickly.

Having now read about some of the rather extreme withdrawal effects, I now know that I must taper rather than stop suddenly...I went ahead and took one of my 60 mg doses today, and called the pharmacy and refilled my prescription. My questions are as follows:

1. How long after resuming the 60 mg doses can I expect the withdrawal symptoms to subside given the half-life of the drug?
2. If my last dose was this past Saturday, have my levels of the drug dropped to zero by today? If so, why am I experiencing the side effects?

Thanks to anyone who might help!

I broke down after one week on 30 mg from 60 mg and went back on 60mg. I felt so much better but by the next day realized that I still felt very altered. I'm weening by the modified (Open the capsule and pour a little out daily) 60mg. I still feel screwy a good bit of the time but have much less interruption from my daily life. For me the 60 to 30 drop seems to have a long lasting effect. I really don't understand it all. I do understand that it is hard and sometimes down right horrible.

[schmb01]

My thought is, if you start weaning very, very slowly, the effects both short and long term seem not to be as severe, at least from what I am reading. I too did a rapid drop for a week; 90 to zero. I did take 60 again, and did a 2 week slower taper, but it feels like that rapid decrease may have already annoyed my brain. I'm 40+ days out, and while feeling emotionally ok, the zaps are frequent again as are the body aches.

Just take it slow, even if you are only taking out 5 granules for a few days, then 5 more, etc. Find what works for you with the least discomfort.

Good Luck!

[jess0876]

Hi everyone! I just found this site yesterday and boy am I glad! I have been on 60mg for about 2.5-3 years and decided it was time to go off after gaining about 30lbs while on. My dr suggested taking the 30mg for a week and them 30mg every other day for a week and then stop. I haven't made it to the every other day yet and already have had to miss work do to the headache and body aches all over. My husband and I have a good marriage and today I was ready to leave over a little disagreement. I instead sat in my closet and cried for an hour. I guess that was to make up for not being able to cry for the last couple of years. Is this "normal" for quitting this med? Any suggestions on how to control the symptoms?

[Sarah J]

jess0876 - Please talk to your doctor. Every other day doses are not recommended with this particular drug. It has a short half life of about 12-14 hours with about 36 hours to total elimination. Every other day doses will put you into withdrawal every other day. There are 20 mg capsules of cymbalta, you might want to talk to your doc about dropping down doses. I can't say for sure if weaning slower makes things easier, my old doc took me off cold turkey from 30.

Switching to Prozac for a couple of days has helped many people. Prozac has a half life of 7 days, with 21 to total elimination which makes some of the ugly stuff of withdrawal more bearable for some.

Check out the below link of a forum member who is currently weaning with the Prozac and doing really well with the transition:
https://www.cymbalta....php?f=15&t=223

And the crying thing - yep, that is part of the withdrawal. When it was appropriate to cry on Cymbalta, I maybe cried for about 2-3 minutes. Off of Cymbalta, 3.5 years of crying came to visit and was a very bad houseguest!

Seriously, please go over all the stories here and please, talk to your doctor about the every other day dose thing - it does not work with Cymbalta, every other day doses would work with other antidepressants that are older, they have really long half lives. Why don't the docs know this? Wish I knew! And realize that some people don't have trouble coming off this drug at all, they don't post here because they are doing well!

Let us know how you are doing, what your doctor said and how you are going to get off of Cymbalta! Good luck

[jess0876]

Thanks for the advice, Sarah. Yesterday made one week on the 30's. It wasn't too bad except I felt like I was about to jump out of my skin and had only a slight headache. I think I will call my doc today and see if she will cut me down to 20 instead of every other day and try the Prozac. She is normally easy to talk to so hopefully she will help me out. I saw a commercial for this junk yesterday and thought man, if people only new what was in store when they tried to stop. A phychologist started me on this but I am now only seeing my family doc to go off so maybe I will let her know about this site for any other patients she has on it. I think if docs were a little more aware maybe they would think twice about starting patients on this junk. Thanks again for the advice and I will keep you updated. Hope you have/had a good day