14 replies to this topic

[dzatlien]

Hi Everyone,

I finally decided to come off of cymbalta after being on various antidepressants for 12 years or so. I started to help control my colitis symptoms. it didn't really work as i had my colon removed and resectioned anyway. I too had an ignorant GP (i'm an american living in london and haven't found a psychiatrist) take me off of cymbalta on the every other day method (60 to 30 to ever other day 2 weeks each step). It's been pretty bad but i'm now 10 days off and going through the withdrawal hell. After reading on here about the proper way to wean off i'm trying to decide how best to proceed. I read on "The Road Back" website that after you've stopped taking the medicine for a week that it won't help to go back on it. I'm keen on sticking it out through the cold turkey method.

Is anyone else sticking with the cold turkey method and have gone past 2 weeks on it? How long has it taken to get off of it? Reading these posts it sounds like it takes many people over a month to start feeling better. Is this the norm?? I'm doing pretty badly and many times a day am at wit's end. I'm going through the posts but i'd love to hear if anyone has made it out cold turkey.

Thanks,
D

[IamDanish]

Hi Everyone,

I finally decided to come off of cymbalta after being on various antidepressants for 12 years or so. I started to help control my colitis symptoms. it didn't really work as i had my colon removed and resectioned anyway. I too had an ignorant GP (i'm an american living in london and haven't found a psychiatrist) take me off of cymbalta on the every other day method (60 to 30 to ever other day 2 weeks each step). It's been pretty bad but i'm now 10 days off and going through the withdrawal hell. After reading on here about the proper way to wean off i'm trying to decide how best to proceed. I read on "The Road Back" website that after you've stopped taking the medicine for a week that it won't help to go back on it. I'm keen on sticking it out through the cold turkey method.

Is anyone else sticking with the cold turkey method and have gone past 2 weeks on it? How long has it taken to get off of it? Reading these posts it sounds like it takes many people over a month to start feeling better. Is this the norm?? I'm doing pretty badly and many times a day am at wit's end. I'm going through the posts but i'd love to hear if anyone has made it out cold turkey.

Thanks,
D

Hi D.

I quit kind of cold turkey, try and read my posts, one of them is in this forum, it is called "Cymbalta Withdrawal Foreign country".
In the forum called "What are you feeling" - "Kind of cold turkey day 6".
I was weaned off almost the same way as you. From 90 mg to 0 in 3 weeks. I was SICK, i have never ever felt so sick and lost as i did the first week and a half. But then it slowly turned, and this is my 13th day without cynbalta, and i am feeling so good. I still get nauseos and i tent to get irritatet when i am tired.
I can only tell you how i feel, if i where you, i would hang in and rough it out. If you havent been on it for 10 days, i think you are going to get much better very soon!

I am sorry if my gramma is bad, i am danish, so it is sometimes a little hard for me to write it correctly!

Tanja, Denmark

[dzatlien]

Thanks for your message, Tanja. Your English is great! Your words do help. I do feel so lost and terrified at the uncertainty of when this will end. I'm surprised that i haven't gotten fired yet because i've been very ineffectual, unreliable and irritable. I lose my temper very quickly and it does scare me. I get so blindly angry. Then i cry at the most banal things. I'm nauseous and dizzy and get very anxious and panicky. Terrible bowels. Sweaty.

Some moments are better than others and it feels like a roller coaster ride. I'll keep hanging in there as long as i can. Are you doing better today? Is it still mostly better every day? I've seen on some posts here that it takes a couple of months to really get the brain adapted. I'm scared of having to wait that long.

I'll let you know how it's going for me. Thanks again for your kind words,
Daniel

[IamDanish]

Thanks for your message, Tanja. Your English is great! Your words do help. I do feel so lost and terrified at the uncertainty of when this will end. I'm surprised that i haven't gotten fired yet because i've been very ineffectual, unreliable and irritable. I lose my temper very quickly and it does scare me. I get so blindly angry. Then i cry at the most banal things. I'm nauseous and dizzy and get very anxious and panicky. Terrible bowels. Sweaty.

Some moments are better than others and it feels like a roller coaster ride. I'll keep hanging in there as long as i can. Are you doing better today? Is it still mostly better every day? I've seen on some posts here that it takes a couple of months to really get the brain adapted. I'm scared of having to wait that long.

I'll let you know how it's going for me. Thanks again for your kind words,
Daniel

Dear Daniel.

I am so sorry that you are feeling this way, it was exactly the same for me, i am very lucky i dont have a job to take care of, especially the first 10 days ca
I promise you, things are going to get better very soon, i was going through all the same things, both physical and phsycic. And i already feel so much better. And no matter what, you just have to think about how good you are going to feel when you get off this shit! You can be very proud of yourself when you make it to the other side, because it takes a lot of strength to stand through this withdrawal!
I believe that it can take a couple of months for your brain to adjust an get back to "normal", but i dont think that you are going to feel so bad all the time!
I have had a very nice day, i get a bit nauseus and irritable when i get stressed and when i am very tired, but compared to how bad i felt for the first 10 days, this is piece of cake! The good days are getting better, and the bad days... Well even the bad days seems to be getting better

Keep me updated, i will keep an eye on your posts.

Tanja, Denmark, checking out for today

[dzatlien]

Hi Tanja and anyone else reading,

Now it's day 13 i think. I'm feeling better enough to go to work. Still emotional and nauseus and i get very easily stressed out an panicky - worse than before i ever got on the meds. I know i'm only at the start of my journey clean but i am feeling better. i wonder if this is how i will feel for the next couple of months - some symptoms but not as severe as the living hell of the first two weeks. I am worried about a relapse later too. But i'm sticking with cold turkey. I don't think weaning off is an option anymore anyway. I still am super tired and can actually sleep easier than normal when sometimes I'd have to take a sleeping pill.

All i know is that i have to start doing some work trips and i hope that i can keep it together through a heavy week here and there of conferences and meetings, etc.

I hope everyone else out there is doing well enough. Let's keep pushing through!
D

[perL]

Six days. I thought it would hit like a rock then taper off, but each day has been worse. My husband advised me on some new nutritional supplements in hope of speeding and easing my process, and I believed THOSE were causing my nausea and these awful hot flashes that seem to coincide with mood swings. Then I considered the mood swings + hot flashes and realized what was going on. I have trouble seeing, too, sometimes, and I'm afraid to leave home to visit friends. I suppose I should be glad I'm unemployed right now. I'm so glad to have found this forum. I am grateful for all the information and support I seem to see among the members.

[Elaine]

Check out www.pointofreturn.com. I am using their program and supplement regime to taper my cymbalta and it has been very smooth so far. Even if you can't get their supplements they do say what they are and maybe you can find the same thing there. They also had me add D3, magnesium, B complex in addition to their supplements. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Elaine

[perL]

Thanks, Elaine. I'll check them out.

Ooh. I like these people. Thank you

[Elaine]

The staff at www.pointofreturn.com are wonderful too. They are so helpful and will talk with you without you signing on to their plan. They even told me I might consider a more local plan for me but I felt it was not as supportive as their plan and their staff. Imagine calling and a real person always answering and always one of the founders or the executive director has answered mine and I am never rushed. One day my call was one hour long. This plan is so worth checking out.
Best wishes to all,
Elaine

[perL]

This was Day 7.
I slept a little more usefully last night but still woke frequently. The dreams remain intense, but no fear-of-death scenarios.

Felt reasonably good upon arising but became nauseated as soon as I was vertical. Many hot flashes with instant sweat-soaks and burst into tears. A short walk to the end of my property (half a city block) meant I was too worn out to stay up, so I went to bed for an hour.

[Yesterday I added Flax Oil with lignans to my supplements (a strong natural multivite, D3, CoQ10, and a memory blend and resveratrol) and am taking at least 4grams of Omega3 by using the Flax Oil.]

Today I increased the flax oil. This evening I went out to dinner with a friend and ate an entire meal. I walked a block to the natural foods store to find other Omega 3, 6, 9 sources. Drove home, inflated my bike tyres and took a 6 block ride. Came home and did not collapse as I'd have done in the previous week! I still am not nauseated since eating my first full meal in days.

I believe the omega fatty acids and exercise have helped me immensely.

I am also one of the lucky people who have not had (yet) any of the brain zaps everyone seems to describe. I lose my balance, have fallen once, and get buzzy, but none of those awful zapping incidents.

I also feel more like me than I have since beginning to take SSRI meds in 1998.

[dzatlien]

Good luck, PerL! I'm 15 days in and feeling good enough to venture out and work. I still get tired and dizzy and feel like i'm drunk sometimes but it's getting manageable. hopefully each day is better. i'm taking omega 3, vit b, mulitvitamin, vit c, vit d and 5htp.

Keep on keeping on truckin'!

[perL]

Good luck, PerL! I'm 15 days in and feeling good enough to venture out and work. I still get tired and dizzy and feel like i'm drunk sometimes but it's getting manageable. hopefully each day is better. i'm taking omega 3, vit b, mulitvitamin, vit c, vit d and 5htp.

Keep on keeping on truckin'!

dzatlien, thanks for the encouragement! Yesterday, day 8, I begain feeling a light form of what are probably "brain zaps." But they aren't as bad as most folks seem to have. (thank goodness!) A faint dizziness and sort of a sound/shiver upside my head. I still get terrible sweats at any time, and sudden intense dizziness (decided to bike away from the busy roads and WEAR MY HELMET AGAIN). And I'm still teary a lot. I'm still more functional daily, though.

[kathyl]

Hi Everyone,

I finally decided to come off of cymbalta after being on various antidepressants for 12 years or so. I started to help control my colitis symptoms. it didn't really work as i had my colon removed and resectioned anyway. I too had an ignorant GP (i'm an american living in london and haven't found a psychiatrist) take me off of cymbalta on the every other day method (60 to 30 to ever other day 2 weeks each step). It's been pretty bad but i'm now 10 days off and going through the withdrawal hell. After reading on here about the proper way to wean off i'm trying to decide how best to proceed. I read on "The Road Back" website that after you've stopped taking the medicine for a week that it won't help to go back on it. I'm keen on sticking it out through the cold turkey method.

Is anyone else sticking with the cold turkey method and have gone past 2 weeks on it? How long has it taken to get off of it? Reading these posts it sounds like it takes many people over a month to start feeling better. Is this the norm?? I'm doing pretty badly and many times a day am at wit's end. I'm going through the posts but i'd love to hear if anyone has made it out cold turkey.

Thanks,
D

Hello, I am on day 7 of "Cold Turkey" I was on 60mg and weaned to 30 every other day for about 3 weeks, then cold turkey. I have good minutes and bad minutes. That is how my life runs now on these withdrawals by the minute.

I am with you every minute. I will never go back on Cymbalta no matter what I feel like. This poison is wreacking havoc on my brain.
I talked with a friend who is into vitamans and also meditation. He has also been in the medical field for 40 years. He said that our "brain Zaps"
are actually split second seziures and very dangerous. Our brain is craving the cymbalta and really mad that we are not feeding it what it wants.
Until it is completely void of this poison, the withdrawals will sneak back and the zaps will continue. This process takes a while, even months sometimes. I have been doing breathing exercises now and when I am having contiuous zaps, I try to consentrate and breath through them. I am also taking fishoil (omega3) and vitamin E, benadryl for nausea. Sometimes, I am strong and sometimes, I just can't take it anymore.
I do believe that I will be healthy again and will never give up trying.
I wish you well, keep up the fight.

[kathyl]

Six days. I thought it would hit like a rock then taper off, but each day has been worse. My husband advised me on some new nutritional supplements in hope of speeding and easing my process, and I believed THOSE were causing my nausea and these awful hot flashes that seem to coincide with mood swings. Then I considered the mood swings + hot flashes and realized what was going on. I have trouble seeing, too, sometimes, and I'm afraid to leave home to visit friends. I suppose I should be glad I'm unemployed right now. I'm so glad to have found this forum. I am grateful for all the information and support I seem to see among the members.

Hello, I really hate the hot flashes. And I never had mood swings or lost my temper like I am now. I am ashamed of myself but I realize its the detoxing. hang in there as I will also, We will get through this! Kathy

[dzatlien]

Hi everyone, i'm now 21 days free cold turkey. I'm doing well with dealing with things but i'm still having problems. It's crazy that it's still making me feel gross 3 weeks later. I'm still super fatigued and i get irritable very easily. I'm able to concentrate more even though it's bad every now and again. today is a bad day for me on that front. I now have an eye twitch even. I'm taking a bunch of vitamins and omega 3 and 5htp and even some "avena sativa tincture" drops to ward off anxiety and help the body organs stop from going crazy. some sweats.

So some days are better some are worse. I wonder when this will all end.

D