2 replies to this topic

[McToady]

Hi everyone. I was looking for information about the withdrawal symptoms when coming off Cymbalta because I have started weaning myself off of it, and am experiencing some evilness. I've not been on it long, but long enough to know I HATE it and it's not working for the purpose I was prescribed the medication. I suffer from anxiety, so I was taking Celexa for that, and loved it. However, I have been having some pretty bad nerve pain starting from my neck and shooting down my arm due to an injury, and my doctor thought that Cymbalta would help with that pain, so I stopped taking Celexa and am now taking Cymbalta. It's been a month now, and I HAVE to get off this!!!  I was taking two capsules a day (started at one, and the anxiety and pain was still bad, so was increased to two) and in the past week in an attempt to wean myself off it, I have gone down to one. 

 

My side effects have been dizziness, nausea, anxiety and this really hard to explain feeling in my teeth which feels like a irritating aching jittery buzzing feeling. I can't explain it really because it's so weird. But I HATE it!!! I almost feel like I'm going a little crazy. Thankfully I am off work due to the injury in my neck which will require surgery, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this issue because I feel useless!  I have to lie down all the time and that alone is making me feel horrible. 

 

Ugh.  

 

Anyone else feel the same?  

 

Thanks. 

[thismoment]

Hi McT

Welcome!

It takes about 6 weeks to fully upload Duloxetine, so you are approaching that. It should be (hopefully) easier to withdraw now, but I don't know of any data on that.

You could consider going back on the SSRI Celexa now and tapering off the Cymbalta over a month or so. The Celexa has 3 times the half-life of Cymbalta (36 hrs vs 12 hrs), so you should be able to piggyback on it to get off the Cymbalta. See what the physician says, as it may be helpful.

If the Celexa was working for you- great. Add something appropriate for the pain, like an opiate and say goodbye to Cymbalta.

Best wishes.

[fishinghat]

Hi McToady, welcome. Those symptoms are very common to Cymbalta withdrawal. I hate to say tis but your decrease was way too fast. Side effects are usually way to severe. So, like Thismoment said the half life is 12 hours. Missing one pill can significantly affect the amount in yoour blood and cause one to feel very loosey.

 

Thre are three ways to stop. Cold Turkey, swapping meds and bead counting.

I don’t recommend cold turkey unless there is no choice. The cold turkey withdrawal can be quite severe and usually lasts longer. The second choice is swapping meds which is where you lower your dose of cymbalta over a 2 or 3 week level to zero and at the same time go on a different ssri with a lot less severe withdrawal, say zoloft, lexapro or prozac (or Celexa in yoour case). Once you make the switch you slowly come off the new ssri (very slowly). which is easier because it has a longer half life. The third choice, bead counting, is where you open the cymbalta capsule each day and remove a few beads, usually 2 or 3. So the first day you remove 3 beads, the next day 6 beads, the next 9 beads etc. This provides for a slow steady withdrawal. If symptoms get to bad you just hold at that dosage for a while until you stabilize. Then start dropping again. Be aware that for most the last few beads give the worse withdrawal. Be prepared to slow down when you get to the very end. Now this is just an example. Some can only remove 1 bead a day and others 7 or 8 beads a day. You will have to play with it a little bit to find what works for you. This doesn't mean you won't have withdrawal but it will be lighter and you will have some control over it.

 

The first 3 or 4 weeks of withdrawal are the worse with some slow, and I mean slow improvements. By the 8th to 12th week usually see signs of good days followed by bad days but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel. Now that is the average. I have known people who actually quit cold turkey without a symptom. And others where the withdrawal last 6 months to over a year but these are rare. Research says between 30 to 80% of people do not experience withdrawal while other research shows that around 7% experience withdrawal of 6 months or more.