27 replies to this topic

[Scoobydoo]

Hi everyone
I'm new here but am interested if anyone has had experience of withdrawal from 20mg Cymbalta.
I was started on this dose for peripheral neuropathy that I have developed over the last year after pelvic surgery which has resulted in chronic nerve pain to lower back and burning down both legs.
I was on Cymbalta for 4 weeks but the side effects were awful so stopped for 3 days but was persuaded by my neurologist to restart. The idea was to increase my dose to 120mg daily but after anther 2 weeks of 20mg I could not tolerate the side effects.
I have now been off it for 11 days but feel hellish. I am extremely hot all over my body but have frequent chilled to the bone feeling especially in my hands. Also have hot pulsating pounding feeling in my neck along with dizzy and crying spells. I feel generally unwell and very fatigued.
My doctor thinks it's menopausal flushing but if that's the case then I am the unluckiest woman alive because the flushing sensation is relentless with no let up at all.
Has anyone experienced withdrawal symptoms like these from stopping a low dose of Cymbalta and if so how long could this last?
Many thanks in advance.

[GreenMachine]

Those symptoms sound about right...it is awful, but I think since you're at day 11 off of it, just stay off it...any day now I believe you'll be noticing small improvements.  I'm 3 weeks free of it and feeling really good...probably at about 90% normal during the day.  Everybody's experience is different, i.e. sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, but just remember it's not forever, and probably not for much longer!

[Scoobydoo]

Thanks GreenMachine
I just thought my symptoms were quite severe for withdrawing from such a low dose but I hope you are correct and i will see improvement soon. I just don't feel normal whatever that is!
Thanks again for your reply and hope you get back to 100% soon.

[GreenMachine]

You're welcome.  But from what I've put together reading others' experiences with this, "cold turkey" from 20mg will be hell just like from 60mg...maybe not quite as horrific, but horrific nevertheless, as compared to one who does the bead counting to taper off.  No method of discontinuing Cymbalta seems to be pain-free, but, beadcounting is definitely the way to go over cold-turkey.  

[Scoobydoo]

That's good to know because I thought I was losing my mind!
I think I'm particularly sensitive to medications as I have been trialed on two different anti epileptic drugs used for nerve pain and SSRIs but couldn't tolerate the side effects of low doses of these either.
Cymbalta has been particularly bad for me and I am disappointed as I am running out of pain relief options.
I realise that many people benefit from this drug but it appears to me that there are many who unfortunately have had negative experiences.
I know we are all different but I don't think I will ever try another SNRI or SSRI again as the side effects for me have far outweighed the benefits.
Oh and naively going cold turkey wasn't a good plan!

[lady2882Nancy]

Oh wow, I know how you feel.

I was only on for 4 weeks and I had to come off due to side effects. I was put on for nerve pain from damage to my lower back. I got up to 60mg daily and became so depressed I wanted to end it all. But in my search to find out how much I needed to take for that to happen I found this site and all the wonderful people here and so am taking advantage of their experience and getting off the safe and sane way --- bead counting.

My pharmacist thinks this is a good way to do it.

 

11 days off - great for you, you should start feeling better soon so hang in there.

Oh and I went through menopause 8 years ago and yes the heat and chills with the withdrawals was way worse then menopause ever was.

 

I have had a burning pain in the right side of my neck since shortly after starting this drug which nothing helped. Glad you mentioned that because I figured there was something going on other than the osteoarthritis. I didn't realize that it was the drug so thanks for sharing that.

 

Take care of you.

[Scoobydoo]

Hi lady282
I'm sorry Cymbalta hasn't worked for you either. Nerve pain is horrendous and unfortunately mine has got progressively worse and more widespread over the last year and nothing has helped. I even got a Ketamine and Lignocaine infusion last week but it only helped a little for a couple of days.
I hope you have as smooth a withdrawal from Cymbalta as possible and find something to help your pain.
Best wishes.

[fishinghat]

Scoobydoo, I ahd a lot of those same symptoms too and considering I am a man I think we can rule out menapause in my case!! lol

[thismoment]

THERE IS HOPE

 

I was prescribed 30 mg of Cymbalta per day for depression. After two years on the drug I said to both my physician and my therapist that I wanted to come off the medication. I said I didn't feel I was actually alive. Both professionals strongly advised against it, and in fact my physician suggested I might be on Cymbalta for the rest of my life! The thought of taking this drug forever made me conclude I'd rather trade positions with the lobotomized McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest! 

 

I decided to escape my living asylum. On Cymbalta it's easy to drink alcohol until you're dangerously stupid drunk- a behaviour I had never known.  The drug made me walk  around in a slow-motion insulated funk-  dull-thinking, dim-witted, off-balance and empathy-free (I didn't care about myself, or anybody else). I went on long walks each day, and very often I had a solitary thought that just re-played hour after hour. I couldn't feel the forest or hear the river; it was like I was walking through an off-world zoo, peering with cupped hands through thick glass. But rather, it was I who was in the cage. This evokes an alien image of a man stumbling along in a cage-suit through a wood, kind of like Scout Finch in her ham costume in To Kill a Mockingbird.

 

At home there was no affection. No sex. I didn't shave.  My wife could have been having an affair for all I know- and that would have been only fair- and I wouldn't have cared; she deserved better than I could give her. But she remained steadfast and calm but outside of my ability to touch her; she would leave a palpable breadth of extra room when we passed, as one would when encountering a large strange dog.

 

I resolved to be free of Cymbalta addiction. I'd rather be depressed any day; I'd rather be dead. And this was the pact I made with myself; one way or another I would be free of this psycho pharmaceutical crack! I felt I would be far better off self-medicating with street cocaine and Irish Whiskey!

 

There's about 300 beads in a 30 mg capsule: 10 beads per mg. I had read about reducing the dosage by 7 beads per day, and this is what I chose to do. 300 divide 7 is 43 days.

 

Day 1- June 15, 2012. In the first two and a half weeks I was feeling pretty good, almost giddy at times.

 

Day 19- I got the first brain stab! What the hell was that? Of course I'd read about it, but having this ice-pick pierce the inside of your skull is really unsettling! It threw me; it scared me and destabilized my outlook.

 

Day 20 thru 22- I received up to 5 brain spikes per day. Oh my god, maybe I've made a mistake; I've got to get back on the drug!  But wait.

 

Here's where I need to introduce some backstory: I found I needed a strategy to get past this point, otherwise I would have just swallowed a capsule. I had been introduced to Mindfulness & Acceptance (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) by my therapist, and this helped me a great deal as I encountered the withdrawal and the threat of returning depression symptoms. Mindfulness Meditation is part of this, and it helped some, while waves of withdrawal came and went; it wasn't perfect, and a coach would have been much better.  It was barely enough- barely, and I just made it through the brain spikes. 

 

Don't fight it.  Strategies like acceptance, diffusion, non-judgement and non-engagement are coping mechanisms or distractors. It's a way of looking at your relentless and automatic mental dialogue. You can't make thoughts 'go away', and to try to is counter-productive, for it makes the worst thoughts come in earnest: If you don't want it, you will have it!  But since these thoughts are there anyway, just accept them and watch what they do. Meditation can be helpful if you aren't too agitated to sit down for a few minutes. It is a method of creating some spaces in that unending flow of verbal automaticity that lives in your head.

 

At this point, one might seriously consider attending a proper drug recovery program: Cymbalta is a heavy drug, and someone who is more cynical than I might suggest that it was designed to prevent the addict from escaping. On Cymbalta resistance is futile, keep sending money. Aaaaa! I was seriously challenged at this point, and while my wife and adult daughter were in the loop and cheering for me, they felt helpless, and could only stand by and watch me struggle in the quicksand. I kept saying I'm alright. I can do this.

 

Day 23- 2 brain spikes.

Day 24- 0 brain spikes!!

 

But now I had flu-like symptoms; I felt achy and disoriented. Deeper in the cloak of insulation.

 

Day 25- Equilibrium problems: if I turned my head quickly I could fall over. And I felt nauseous at the same time, like recovering from a concussion. I couldn't stand on one foot to put on a sock, I had to sit down as a child would.

 

Up to this point, my emotions remained flat except for the alarm bells over the brain zaps. 

 

Day 26- I felt my first emotional swell. It was a melancholy orchestral push, rising slowly in my chest and welling up through my brain; I grasped the railing and wept in uncontrollable waves there and then, alone on the balcony. This is 'human' I whispered to myself. It was coming back! I knew this was what I wanted and needed, what I longed for. This emotion was what I had surrendered- it's the juice of life- and it's what I would die for.

 

Day 27- Today I noticed that my wife really looks good in her yoga outfit.  

 

Day 28- I didn't dream on Cymbalta. I had no bad dreams and no good dreams, just flatline nights. But today I started to dream again. They were negative, with admonishing content and they felt guilt-driven. Even the most trivial past transgressions were resurrected and presented to me as heinous crimes. Dreams are de-stabilizing: While the content- the storyline- isn't real, the emotion is, and your brain can't tell the difference. So dreams hurt. I tried to employ defusing strategies, but the emotion from the dreams seemed to occupy all the bandwidth in my head, and I found it profoundly counter-intuitive to mindfully 'accept' this onslaught. This was a hard day.

 

Day 31- Melancholy waves rise and subside. There are more of them, and they vary more in amplitude; somebody might use the word  manic. But its more in the middle- a steady moderate sea- and I am able to do other things amid the ebb and flow of this nautical background. The toast pops and I cry. I don't think about a strategy to cope with the waves now, and I just let them flow. It seems to be getting better.

 

Day 32-35- More emotional wave action, but now its amplitude is broadening, and it is more like a roller-coaster. Manic comes to mind even more. I felt anger today. I had a terrible argument with my wife. Anger will stomp on your toolbox of coping strategies! Anger is Tyrant Red on your palette of emotion. And it echoes on and on in feelings of remorse.

 

Day 36-37- I'm down near the bottom. I don't want to be here, but it is familiar and I can ride it a while. It's flat black and bleak, with no dimension forward or back. People move, but only in the background of my shadow world. Sounds seem thick, as through gelatin.

 

Day 38- The horizon opens a little, not a clearing up like a silver lining, but the atmosphere grows a little brighter.  I sense a rising.

 

Day 39- Today I listened to Sam Harris's "It's Always Now" on YouTube. It lifted me up!  I listened to Harris's "Free Will" talk as well. I also listened to his Ted Talk on "Science and Morality". It lifted me further. The material seemed to fill in some missing tiles in the mosaic of my psyche. No magic here, just new knowledge and crystal-clear thinking;  but maybe that's as magic as we humans can get; I don't know, but I'll take it.

 

Day 41- I'm learning to surf the sea of the human condition. I'm better at it than I was before Cymbalta. Technically, I'm probably still a little depressed, but it feels 'normal', and it is far more desirable than being on Cymbalta. But it's heaven compared to the hell of Cymbalta withdrawal.

 

Day 43- The last day! No more Cymbalta! Not perfect, but the anguish is all mine, as is the promise of brighter days!

 

Day 44- The MIndfulness strategies are actually able to be effectively utilized at this point. The practice was hit and miss while I was still getting off the drug unguided. The level of agitation during withdrawal was just too great to implement the strategies by myself.

 

 

Day 50-100- Palpable upward trend. Broader spectrum of emotions. I've read that prisoners who are released after long years of incarceration initially live with the contradictory emotions of elation and trepidation. It's like that. I could either win big or lose big!  My world continues to brighten. I am convinced I did the right thing. My mind flashes to the final scene of Midnight Express where Billy Hayes finally escapes the horror of the prison and dashes off down the street.

 

Day 100-200- I am aware of a new personal world view: things are different; I'm somebody else.  This feels a little odd, but I think I understand it.  Perhaps anybody who has been asleep for two years would wake up as somebody else. The symptoms of my former depression are vastly diminished, and certainly modified somehow to feel less debilitating. It's probably because I have learned some coping strategies in the meantime. I think if I had been on a more benign drug regimen while learning coping strategies (you can't learn this stuff if you're terrorized by anxiety or buried in depression), then taken off the drug and assigned a coach to assist with the strategies, things would have been different. But this didn't occur to me until I could think again.

 

A Cymbalta Withdrawal Coach would have been nice!

 

Sex is normal- you know, it's mostly funny. And empathy has flooded back.  Now I shave more often and change my clothes regularly. I can look at my wife and actually see her. And thank her. She didn't have an affair; she said it didn't cross her mind. I don't deserve her. I'm the luckiest son-of-a-bitch on the planet!

 

Day 244- (201 days off Cymbalta). I can feel the trees, hear the river. I have a new world view; I feel resurrected and fortunate, but in many ways I'm somebody else. 

 

Some of the head thickness feeling is still there, but it is diminishing. The thought occurs to me that I'm not depressed, and that is a precarious thought, with an element of unreality to it. I really do feel like I have a new beginning after that nightmare with Cymbalta!

 

Good luck to all of you in your struggle to kick the horror that is this drug! There is hope!

[Scoobydoo]

Thanks guys!
Fishinghat unless you've grown a pair of ovaries then I agree you couldn't put it down to menopause!

Thismoment I'm glad you have weathered the storm and feel human again.

At the moment I certainly don't feel normal and feel as if some alien has taken over my body. Looking forward to a life with normal emotions, body temperature and without extreme fatigue,dizziness and anxiety. Just want to be able to do things that a girl enjoys in life - shopping, socialising and more shopping! ( might contemplate fitting work into the schedule as well) x

[lady2882Nancy]

Hang in there Scoobydoo - day 12 for you, it will get better.

Then you can come back and give encouragement to those of us still working on getting off.

[Scoobydoo]

Thanks Lady 2882
I will keep you posted. X

[Scoobydoo]

Well folks, 18 days off and I feel like hell.
I felt slightly better on days 15 and 16 and thought I was through the worst but the last two days have been a nightmare with burning skin,constant flushing, severe chills, dizzy spells, tingling throughout body, red blotches on face and chest and bouts of uncontrollable crying. It feels as is if an electric current is running through my body.
Seriously, can this be real for coming off 20mg?
How long can this go on for?
I feel as though I'm on a different planet.

[fishinghat]

Unluckily it is real for so many of us. I am 4 and 1/2 weeks off cymbalta and the emotions are still bad. The physical symptoms like dizziness, hot and cold, nausea and diarrhea started letting up for me around 21 days and by the 28 days was pretty much gone. I still face constant fear and dispair but I think the intensity is a little less but I have a long way to go I guess. Any medicine that . can do this do your head has to be gotten out of your system!!! Hang in there. It is not easy but it does get better. You are in some of he worse part now but there will be hints of sunshine pretty soon.

[GreenMachine]

Scoobydoo, you're almost there!  But I know what you're feeling, kind of like a withdrawal "relapse" or something at right around 3 weeks off I would describe it as.  I'm just a few days behind fishinghat, and now all I have are mild mood swings.  So, I'm back to feeling good 90% of the day...I just seem to be extra sensitive to everything at this point...something that would normally (what is that? lol) aggravate me now infuriates me, and something that may make me a little sad, hurts a little more than normal.  But, no uncontrollable welling up with tears anymore.  As far as the electric current goes, I remember as a little greenmachine playing with electrified horse fences (friends and I would line up with 1 end guy with his finger in the horse's water trough and the guy at the other end touch the fence so we all would get zapped), and the electrical volt feels just like Cymbalta's zaps...very strange...but normal...just don't give up!

[Scoobydoo]

Thanks guys
Was just sounding off.
Hoping that it all ends soon so that I can get on with life.
My husband has just commented on how red my face is and when I looked in the mirror it wasn't a pretty sight!
It's the weird buzzing and tingling throughout my body that is freaking me out and the horrible chills. Yuck!
Thanks again for your support. X

[lady2882Nancy]

Well this is the place to sound off and vent Scoobydoo, we understand how you feel and we don't take it personally.

Much better to dump here than to family and friends.

I have found that if I vent here then it is much better for hubbie as he doesn't get worried and stressed about me.

Buzzing and tingling are definitely side effects of getting off the crapalta.

I get to be too hot and sweaty today - had chills most of the time yesterday.

Hang in there and take care of you

[Scoobydoo]

Crapalta. Love it !
Thanks for making me smile. X

[Tinydancer047]

Having quit cold turkey after six years of 120mg a day, I can tell you that your symptoms aren't different than the ones that I'm going through. Your doctor can take a blood test to determine if you are going through menopause, peri-menopause,a and even post-menopause. The flushing that I go through is exactly like intense, unrelenting hot flashes. The difference is that menopausal hot flashes at least give you a break from themselves from time to time.
I'm finally starting to feel hope, and want to keep myself positive to help endure the symptoms of the withdrawals. From what I've been reading on this site, it seems that the withdrawal is severe regardless of the dosage and length of usage of CRAPBALTA. I have wonderful family support, friend support, and now support from people that know EXACTLY what I'm going through. It is a blessing that there are people that have experiences such as we have because it somehow makes us feel validated instead of crazy. Keep your hopes up to get this out of your system, and believe that there is an end in sight for the withdrawal that you will have.

[fishinghat]

Good to hear that you are hanging in there Tinydancer047. I agree with your comments. I have nearly the same symptoms (did not have the flushing) and being a 60 year old man I think I can rule out menapause!! lol You have a ways to go but I really hope you can hang in there and tough things out. Cymbalta stays in the system quite a while (especially if overweight) so be patient. I am 5 weeks post crapalta. There is improvement with time. Lean on us if you need help.

[CymbaltaCrap]

thismoment wow you should write a book!! What an amazing journey you've had! I'm going to keep a journal after reading your post! So I can come back on here and help others once I'm off.

 

tinydancer047 you're right about it doesn't matter how long you've been taking Cymbalta or on what dose... I started at 30 then went up to 60mg about 2.5 years ago but went down to 30 almost 2 years ago and have been on that since. I started stretching out my dose 24 hours, 36 hours, 40 hours then decided to just stop. Big mistake!! 3 days down and the symptoms were severe!! Horrible nausea, exhausting brain zaps and suicidal throughts!! That's what really got me, the thoughts of ending my life, because that is just so not me! Then thankfully that same night I found this website! I wish you all the best, we are all going through the same thing. Take care.

[lady2882Nancy]

I can certainly relate to all the horrible side effects coming off the crapalta causes. I took 30 mg for 5 days and then 60 mg for 4 weeks. It took me a week at 30mg before I leveled off and have been going down 1 mg per day for 15 days now. The time it is taking to get off it is going to be almost as long as I was on it.

I had the worst day ever yesterday and just starting to feel like I'm coming out of the black dark hole now in the last couple of hours. My last 4 days on 60mg were something like yesterday so the biggest problem for me is that I don't know if it is the crapalta doing it, the withdrawals, or both. My guess would be both.

Another day like yesterday and I'm afraid that mu hubbie may call the people with the white jackets that tie behind you.

 

Oh and I've been through menopause  , this is far, far, far worse. Hot flashes come and go and are annoying, but you don't sweat all day 24 to 36 hours straight. And you don't get chills so bad that you can't get yourself warm no matter what you do  .

Down with Crapalta

[Zipper]

I, too, have been on a low dose, 25mg for 5 years after the death of my parents, a daughter with an eating disorder and a history of depression in my family.
I am feeling much stronger these days and I do have a wonderful psychiatrist who has helped me tremendously to wean off the drug.
The mg was reduced to 20mg for one month then half that for another month.
I am feeling tired, crying a lot and a little dizzy. I wonder, even with such a low dose, and fairly seamless weaning if this is a withdrawal?
I'm just not sure. Any advice?

[lady2882Nancy]

Hello Zipper and welcome

Yes what you are feeling is withdrawals. Anything under about 12 to 15mg seems to start the symptoms.

Start taking omega 3 1000 to 3000mg a day and get yourself a high potency vitamin as they will help with your symptoms.

You can also take L-theanine (suntheanine) for the mood swings. Can get it at a Health Food/Supplement store. It doesn't interact with many drugs but depending on what you are taking you may want to talk to your psychiatrist about it.

I hope you can get stable again, but you are at the point where I quit tapering and went cold turkey as I had all the symptoms anyway.

 

This is a great site for support and we are all in various stages of tapering or off so if you have any questions just ask.

Let us know how you are doing and if you or your psychiatrist has any suggestions we will happy to hear them.

 

Again welcome and good luck to you

 

Take care of you

Nancy

[chimera]

yep exactly same symptoms, I'm 38 so I don't think it's the menopause just yet! horrible burning heat, chilled hands and feet, and

sweat pumping out that smells 'chemical'. I am feeling obviously very sexy right now lol.

[lady2882Nancy]

Oh yes the sweat is just so attractive.

I've already been thru menopause and trust me this is way worse.

Hot flashes with menopause pass fairly quickly, hot flashes from withdrawal can last for hours.

[brookevale]

Hi everyone
I'm new here but am interested if anyone has had experience of withdrawal from 20mg Cymbalta.
I was started on this dose for peripheral neuropathy that I have developed over the last year after pelvic surgery which has resulted in chronic nerve pain to lower back and burning down both legs.
I was on Cymbalta for 4 weeks but the side effects were awful so stopped for 3 days but was persuaded by my neurologist to restart. The idea was to increase my dose to 120mg daily but after anther 2 weeks of 20mg I could not tolerate the side effects.
I have now been off it for 11 days but feel hellish. I am extremely hot all over my body but have frequent chilled to the bone feeling especially in my hands. Also have hot pulsating pounding feeling in my neck along with dizzy and crying spells. I feel generally unwell and very fatigued.
My doctor thinks it's menopausal flushing but if that's the case then I am the unluckiest woman alive because the flushing sensation is relentless with no let up at all.
Has anyone experienced withdrawal symptoms like these from stopping a low dose of Cymbalta and if so how long could this last?
Many thanks in advance.

Hi,

 

How are you doing now? I quit Cymbalta and have terrible burning. Did your burning sensation get better? How long did it take? Thanks!

[Madison1]

Hi,

 

How are you doing now? I quit Cymbalta and have terrible burning. Did your burning sensation get better? How long did it take? Thanks!

 

I had burning sensations so bad that I had two MRI's done to rule out anything else. It has been three weeks and I just now feel some relief. It was pretty much all day long at its worse. Try to hang in there! I am taking 20mg of Prozac to help with the withdrawal too.