2 replies to this topic

[Matthew4432k]

I can give you a bit of personal experience but more importantly, a recommendation that I would like to ask all of you to follow. It takes maybe 20 minutes but it will help all of us, and everyone else who ever gets on Cymbalta in the future.
I have been on 60 mg of Cymbalta once a day twice now (two different events) for nine months at a time for the pain from a ruptured disk, technically severe stenosis in L4/L5, which is the lower back (lumbar). The Cymbalta was a miracle drug for the pain, which even 8-12 Vicodin per day would barely address. This is I think an off-label use of Cymbalta.
To taper off, my physician prescribed two weeks at 40 mg, two weeks at 20 mg, and then stop. I did one week at 40 mg, two weeks at 30 mg, two weeks at 20 mg, then stop. My physician would not give me any Prozac. I had no withdrawal symptoms or side-effects during this period. For me, tapering is not the problem – stopping is the problem.
I will not go into the side effects since everyone else does, but they are horrific. After being completely off Cymbalta for six days I was helping one of my sons move, carrying things up outside steps to the second floor. I felt so unsafe I went back on the Cymbalta, 5 micro-spheres per day, which I guess to be one milligram per day. I just dumped a capsule into a zip-lock bag and would get five spheres out on a damp finger-tip. After three days I moved this up to 2 mg or 10 microspheres a day since the prior dosage was not sufficient. After a little over a week at this dosage I was stabilized again. I continued for another week at this dosage, then went to 1 mg (five microspheres) a day for a week, and then stopped completely, with no side effects or difficulties that prevented me from doing anything or not feeling "OK". The were still vestigial remnants of the electronic noise side effect that would appear every morning just after I awoke and would last about 15 minutes - this went on for about thirty days after I was completely off the Cymbalta. Then for the next thirty days, the noises would come at the same time, last for only a few minutes (not 15), but only come every few days, not every day. After that, they would come maybe every 10 days for so, just as I awoke, and I would get only four noises, and then they would stop. After another thirty days, they were completely gone. However, these noises were not a problem in the sense of interfering with anything, it was just something that was observable.
For those discontinuing Cymbalta for the first time, I would recommend the following taper subsequent to what your physician prescribes: after the last two weeks at 20 mg per day (assuming that is the last dosage prescribed by your doctor), follow it with two weeks at 10 mg per day (carefully slide the capsules apart vertically, larger end down, pour the microspheres into the smaller end until they are split evenly, then plug both capsule ends with simple sugar frosting {powdered sugar and a little water}. It will not harm the Cymbalta). Follow this with two weeks at about 4 mg per day (dump a capsule into a zip-lock bag. With a damp finger tip, collect twenty small microspheres from the bag and put them in your mouth and swallow them with water or juice.) Note you can collect just four or five of the spheres at a time to make it easier. It is critical that you do not chew or damage the microspheres – they are enteric-coated and must pass through the stomach undamaged. Follow this with two weeks at 2 mg (10 microspheres) per day, then two weeks at 1mg (5 microspheres) per day, and then hopefully you can completely drop the medication. I was able to drop it completely after one week at the 1 mg per day step (5 microspheres per day) with basically no side effects. So hopefully it will work for everyone without Prozac and without side effects.
I personally would not put them in applesauce - you might chew into a microsphere. And do not dissolve them in liquid before taking them - the active chemicals will be destroyed by the acid in your stomach. Better to make small drops of frosting (powdered sugar and water), drop the microspheres onto them, press gently to make them stick, then let them dry, and in effect make little sugar pills.
If you find that you are asymptomatic after a week, then you could skip the second week go to the next lower dosage level if you choose to do so. If symptoms show up, then you should stay at that dosage level for the full two weeks.
Now here is my recommendation for those of you who have not already utilized it. Eli Lilly has a Contact Us phone number on their website (I am in the U.S. so this is the U.S. number):
“If you have additional questions about Cymbalta, you can call the Lilly Answers Center at 1-800-LILLY-RX (1-800-545-5979). This toll-free number will connect you with a healthcare professional who can provide additional information. This is an information service provided by Lilly USA, LLC. It is not meant to replace your physician's advice.” By statute, if you call Lilly and complain that you cannot get off Cymbalta with the taper schedule provided by your physician, they must report this to the FDA; in other words, they have to self-report that they have a problem. If all of you call, then they will be buried in reports, and they will have to do something. Now you will have to tell them your real name, address, other medicines you are taking, etc, but if you really want to make something happen you should be willing to do this. You will speak to a nurse who knows medicine and is courteous, professional, and concerned.
Secondly, you should tell Lilly, as I did, that they need to come up a much lower dosage of Cymbalta – I guessed at one (1) mg - to help people taper better. You can also tell them that they need to help doctors come up with a taper schedule for Cymbalta that works, but that is redundant if you request the former.
The result will be a discontinuation schedule for Cymbalta with a taper that really works and can be given to every physician – no more agony, no more personal experiments, and no more need for weblogs on this subject. But his won't happen unless enough of us pressure the FDA directly or indirectly though Lilly.
You can also fill out an adverse drug report on-line directly with the FDA at:
https://www.accessda... ... online.htm
which I have also done, along the belt and supenders concept. It is not anonymous as with Lilly but you can type in what you want in the spaces provided.
Cymbalta worked great for my back, and I would take it again, but the withdrawal problem, which is conceptually trivial to fix with the correct taper profile, must get fixed.

[Llhg71]

Has anyone sucessfully weaned off cymbalta by taking it every other day and such? I currently take 20 mg and would like to come off this medication.

[cmw128]

Well....it is at least good to hear that Cymbalta worked for someone's pain. It didn't have much affect on mine, which lead to them adding gabapentin and skelaxin to my regimine. I didn't find any of them helpful for my upper back C5, C6 cervical spine, right shoulder and neck pain. The combination of the three made me tired all the time. And the pain was like a constant ache that never left me. I stopped taking the skelaxin about a month ago, with the consent of my physician, in the hopes that my energy level would perk up. I did that without any ill effects. The gabapentin I decided to wean myself off of a couple weeks ago. I was not able to sleep well for two days but I noticed that the constant ache gradually subsided and has not returned since. The cymbalta I didn't mean to quit cold turkey. I went on vacation, stayed out too late and forgot to take my pill! It was a stupid thing to do....and not the brightest idea to decide that since I had already made it three days, and my intention was to wean myself off soon anyway, that I should just stop taking it all together. The first two days went by without any side effects....


I am sure that had I weaned myself off of it and not gone cold turkey it would've been better...and I think you are right that people should attempt to bring this to the FDA's attention, and that smaller doses should be made available for people to come off of it the easy way...

But for having done this the hard way...and this being the end of only day 7 for me....compared with the other accounts I have read about people's experiences...I have had it easy. And I believe that it is due to the pro-biotics, fish oil, and other suppliments. The ONLY symptom I am still battling is the brain buzzing. And even though what I am doing has been a sort of "guided experimentation" I fully intend to continue, and continue to search for somthing that will work on the "brain buzz" thing.

It may not be the easy way...but it is where I'm at. I am grateful to be fighting this! And there is no way in HELL I am EVER going to put that drug back into MY body.

Good Luck