8 replies to this topic

[ming]

Hi, folks.

I chanced across this forum and felt compelled to pass on my withdrawal method.

I was briefly on cymbalta and switched to effexor for about a year. When I realized that the Effexor (a similar drug to cymbalta) was turning me into a zombie, I decided to quit cold turkey.

Whoa! What a ride! Not for this kid, so I took the doc's orders (as many of you did) and just skipped a pill every other day.

Whoa! another wild ride that seemed an every-other-day event of endless brain zaps and strange noises and muscle twitches and aches until I realized that by skipping a day of meds I was really going through withdrawal every other day and it would not get better doing it this way. So...

I took the logical, engineer's approach and bought a gram scale and removed 10% of the bead-capsules from the gel capsule each week until I got down to 5mg of effexor (from 300)and I stopped.

Little, or no, negative effects!

Yes, it took 2-1/2 months to quit, but I felt sane and intact through the whole ride.

It is not necessary to buy a gram scale, just count out the beads and remove 10% of them each week. Wonder Laboratories sell empty gel caps that you can spend an afternoon or evening and load your weeks, or months worth of reduced meds.

I know what you're all going through and my heart goes out to you.

I think if you give my method a try, you won't be going through withdrawn every other day and, even though the process is lengthly, it is (almost) painless.

I wish you all good luck!

[waddy]

Good to hear this. Do you think this method could be applied to Cymbalta without switching to another SSRI first?

[zazzed]

absolutly I'm doing this now!
open the capsules ,a blogger JRDN figured it out aprox 3 balls equal 1mg so on a weekly basis week 1 remove 1-2 balls, week 2 remove 5 balls week 3 remove 10 balls or 33balls =10mg
Today I took 37mg tomorrow 36mg I might get brave and reduce it more on monday because I'm not working but so far this is just great I"m down from 60mg
The first week I tried to go from 60mg to 30mg after 5 days I was in bed with all the withdrawal symptoms the slower the better with what I just told you you can figure out your own schedule to fit your needs I make up a weeks worth of pills Good luck remember go slow until you find out how you will react to this change
zazed

[ivorytower]

Do you have to have the gel cap for meds to be absorbed? (I think I read that somewhere??) Could I just count out the balls to take?

[kzap]

Hi Ivorytower

Welcome to the Fotum. First to answer your question, I did not have any gel caps . I also did not have the patience to count the balls. I just licked my finger, stuck it in the balls and put them in my mouth. Everyday, I would try to take less of them . It worked for me. If you have the patience and the ability to get the empty gel caps. Others have prepared their dosages in advance. Probably a lot more therapuetic and accurate than what I did. That way you can actually calculate your decreasing dosages.

Good luck with your cymbalta adventure. Please keep is posted. We CARE! May God bless you and keep you safe.

[TxBlueMomof2]

Hi guys! i just joined and am finding out alot of info. it is slightly overwhelming but it is helping me to decide to try to start weaning off Cymbalta to see if I actually might feel better after the tapering is through. I have been on 90mg. for a year and was on 60mg.for a year before that. Does anyone have any ideas on how much to remove from each capsule. I take 3 90mg capsules every morning.

[ming]

Glad you're all getting on-track with this method of withdrawal, but, reading the last post, I had an idea.

I bought the empty gel caps and counted the beads and reduced them 10% a week.

But what if you had a sticky, but edible strip, like gelatin and evenly poured the beads onto this strip then cut smaller and smaller pieces of it to take each week. It wouldn't be as accurate as counting the capsules, but I don't think it really needs to be.

The main idea is to get your body used to a smaller and smaller dose of the drug, and not too quickly, that way you avoid the awful withdrawal symptoms. I picked a week to cut 10%. You might try three (3) days to cut the same amount. If you get the brain zaps and other withdrawal effects, you're doing it too quickly or reducing it too much. Experiment a little.

By reducing the correct amount over the correct time period (for your body), you will not have any withdrawal issues.

[freeme2]

Ming,
I am all for the lesser evil symptoms. I went from 90mg to 60mg with horrible effects that put me in bed for 4 days. Thank goodness my hub helped me out. I am trying to balance the body before entering the next phase.
I am going to take your advice to take 7 balls out at a time.
I went to the vitamin shoppe.. and loaded up on supplements.
I have been reading that your adrenal glands get very overloaded from the C withdrawl.
and taking Whey protein helps to make glutathione
""The bad news is that poor diet, pollution, toxins, medications, stress, trauma, aging, infections and radiation all deplete your glutathione.

This leaves you susceptible to unrestrained cell disintegration from oxidative stress, free radicals, infections and cancer. And your liver gets overloaded and damaged, making it unable to do its job of detoxification."" It seems to have alot benefits to help someone out during detox from cymbalta. I am willing to try anything.

Omega 3, Stress vitamins B, Herbs to calm me down, passionflower.

[romeoman]

I've been following my doctors advice on reducing the dosage by skipping a capsule on alternate days. Like others here I've found the withdrawal symptoms can be unpleasant. I'm at the stage now of taking 30mg every other day, but reading how some of you had been measuring out smaller doses I thought it made sense to try. I simply held the capsule upright and removed the smaller half (dark blue in my case). My fingers aren't the best at holding small objects but I managed to tip about half the beads into the empty half of the capsule. Holding the two halves side by side I used a lit candle to drip a small amount of melted wax into each one. After a few seconds the wax was set and the capsule was sealed over. it's a quick and easy way to get approximately half a dose to take each day. If it makes the weaning process easier to manage I'll report back in a week or two.

Once I'm completely off Cymbalta I intend to start using a dietary supplement called 5HTP which is thought to be beneficial as a natural serotonin stimulator. If you take both together there is a risk of a dangerous condition called, I think, serotonin syndrome. I'll give it a few months then let you know the outcome.

Best of luck