2 replies to this topic

[chimera]

Hi all-

I've been looking through these forums for the last couple of days, and wonder if anyone could help me please?

in return, I will share my experience in the hope this might possibly help someone else, as it might just give the necessary 

clue to a perplexing rash puzzle!

I was put on Cymbalta 30mg in early January of this year, and then upped to 60mg a few weeks later. all seemed to be going

well (I have been on Prozac, Mirtazapine and Paxil before so am no stranger to antidepressants!)

I felt more like talking to people and stopped crying all the time. great! until the relentless diarrhoea began in Feb. side effect

I thought at first, but it was hardcore:( not just a few extra visits, I mean proper 'we think you may have c difficle' type stuff.

this went on for 3 weeks, culminating in stomach cramps.

the next day, the cramps subsided, and the hives (uticaria) began. now I am not an 'allergic' type of person. I have M.E.

(chronic fatigue syndrome) but allergies of this sort I had never experienced.

this was on March1st, and is still going now!! 

initially I suspected the antibiotic I had been put on, but when it continued the dr put it down to a post viral hives thing.

it still could be, I had blood taken yesterday- but when I spoke to another dr at the practice this week, he strongly

suspects the Cymbalta. I could hear him tapping away on the keyboard as we were on the phone, and then he says

'right, I advise you get off this now'.- I know itching was a side effect, but this is more than itching, it is burning terrible

pain too.

I cannot wear proper clothes, the rash comes up everytime I even slightly heat up. hot baths are out of the question.

I cannot wear shoes, and everything tingles and burns, and I have scratched myself raw:(

I have antihistamines but I think they are not working as well now- am assuming if it is the Cymbalta to blame, it's because

the antihistamine cannot mask it so well the longer the allergy goes on.

anyway I have dropped from 60 to 30mg on Thursday, tonight is Saturday. I feel pretty rubbish but that is to be expected

I know, specially having read all your posts.

what is concerning me is the next drop from 30mg to 0. I have to come off this quickly, as this could be dangerous with the

allergy carrying on like this. however I am scared as I know ideally this taper should be done slowly.

will I be ok to make this drop say on next Thursday?

at the moment I am having the classic zaps, dizziness, slurring, numbness, etc etc.

many thanks

[lady2882Nancy]

Hello and welcome chimera

I went from 60mg to 30mg like you. After 6 days on the 30mg I was stable so started the bead counting. As I went along, I found that the Crapalta was still causing me major problems so stopped completely. Some of the withdrawals were bad those first few days but I made it through.

Now depending on how bad your withdrawals are I would advise getting the basic supplements of omega3 (fish or plant based) and taking mega doses, get a good B complex vitamin that covers the whole B spectrum, vitamin D and C or a prenatal vitamin, if your doctor will give your a Rx for Hydroxyzine (it is an antihistamine that also helps with anxiety) that will cover both the rash you have now and the itching and anxiety that you will probably experience from withdrawals. You can also try some L-Theanine (make sure it is suntheanine) for the headaches.

Now the capsules do come apart and there are little beads inside. You could set up about 4 or 5 capsules with say 1/2 of the beads out so if your withdrawals are bad that you could go from the 30mg to 15mg for a few days then off. Going off from 10 mg isn't too bad (which is what I did) so going from 15mg should be doable (is that a word?   lol).

Whatever you decide to do, if you need any help or just need to vent that's what this site is for and it really helps cause you know that we understand.

Take care of you

Day 10 Crapalta Free

Nancy

[chimera]

Thank you Nancy for the very helpful answer- I feel a lot less anxious about doing this now, and will set up some half bead capsules. doing it with half the beads out will be a lot easier than counting them out, am too shaky to do this accurately so half should be a lot more manageable! 

I have some supplements like vitamin c, zinc and a multivitamin I take everyday, so will get some omega 3 on top. the L-Theanine will be handy to have in reserve also if the head gets too bad.

Many thanks:) x