120Mg To 60Mg To Zero In 2-3 Weeks, But Feels Like For Ever
#1
Posted 22 May 2014 - 01:46 AM
Brief summary first:
After a year and a half of my severe depression not improving, despite the fact that I'd been on Cymbalta for nearly 2 years, maybe more - starting at 60mg the moving up to 120mg fairly soon thereafter, my doctor suggested I try Latuda, then after 10 days or so reduce my Cymbalta from 120 to 60mg since it didn't seem to be helping anyway. I noticed a remarkable difference the day I started Latuda and was excited to reduce my Cymbalta. However I had not done any research nor did my doctor mention how much fun was in store for me. So 10 days or so after starting Latuda, I cut back the Cymbalta by half. A day and a half later I felt like I was dying. I started researching Cymbalta withdrawal online and was surprised to see how common these symptoms were. So common that there's a name for it: Cymbalta Discontinuation Syndrome. Not that naming what was happening to me made things better, but at least I wasn't he only one going through hell. I ended up having to take 4 days off from work after suffering for nearly a week. Headaches and concentration issues were the main problem at the time. I called my doctor when I realized that I'd have to take time off to get through he withdrawals and asked if it'd be ok to just stop taking it completely. After all taking the jump from 120 to 60 made me think that it couldn't be much worse to just go off it altogether. I had taken the time off already, I figured I might as well just get it over with. He said no. He felt I needed some stability for awhile... Since it'd literally years since I'd been stable. Which, looking back I realize I was actually never stable, just numb.
I decided to go against his recommendation and stopped Cymbalta completely after a week or so of my first drop.no had already put my family through enough. I didn't want to do it again in a few months.
I am almost to a week of being free of Cymbalta and while the withdrawal symptoms are still happening the are not as bad. But I kind of feel like they are at a standstill now. I can't concentrate on work, my head feels like it's going to explode - I've found that ibuprofen actually takes he bite off the headaches a bit, and Benadryl seems to do something at night that helps, I guess, although I can't pinpoint what it's helping...
I seem to have gone through pretty much what everyone else has posted on here. I even notice the timeline for certain symptoms seems to be similar from one story to another. I am at the crying stage now. Two days ago was the suicidal stage - I even tested it a little to see i it was something I could really do - I have a nice scratch up my left wrist now but realize the whole time during my test that I didn't really want to kill myself, I was simply not in my right mind. The day before that episode I had a good day of rage, I wanted to kick things, throw things, scream - all of which I only visualized in my head, I did't need to test anything there, I knew I'd cause damage to tangible things. All he while I was having horrible headaches, slightly sick to my stomach, didn't want to eat, was dizzy and couldn't focus or concentrate, etc... So today is be crying and the rage and suicidal thoughts seem to have faded, but the constant symptoms don't seem to be going away yet. So like many others have asked, when will these start to go away?? I know everyone is different, but so many of the symptoms and timelines seem to fall inline with one another that I am hopeful there's at least some sort of common timeline for complete recovery of this head fog I am in. I can't afford to take more sick time - although maybe taking the short term disability route could apply here.
I hate this and want to be done. As much as I'd like to say "I want to feel normal" I know that regardless of he havoc Cymbalta is causing, I won't ever feel what I imagine other get to feel: normal. I'll gladly settle for my Cymbalta Discontinuation Syndrome to resolve though.
I'd love to get insight from others on 'fast tapers' of this drug and how you think it's affected the duration of your withdrawal symptoms or not. Maybe regardless of the method of ridding our bodies of this drug, the course is somewhat similar in symptoms and duration of the symptoms?
My eyes are blurry now, even though my crying stopped when I started writing this and in addition to this, my head is hurting quite a lot on the right side, towards the back - the pain slowly, or sometimes not so slowly, seems to move to different, isolated, parts of my head, and then sometimes my entire brain feels like it's unavoidably going to fail to function correctly. But long story short, I guess hat was my long winded way of closing this post.
If you got this far, thanks for reading my post!
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#4
Posted 22 May 2014 - 03:15 AM
Some other people more experienced that I am will post soon and you will find the comfort you need at the beginning of this journey you've started.
You weaned off from a high dose completely cold turkey and that is HARD. Everything you may be feeling you can attribute to Cymbalta withdrawal. You may have a long way to go (or hopefully not), before get through this, but you will. You just found one of your best resources to do the feat, this forum and the kind, caring, concerned, loving, experienced and wise people you will find here.
Wait for others to advice you and stay as calm as you may able to
And be compassionate with yourself.
#5
Posted 22 May 2014 - 07:45 AM
Hi AOLEE
Welcome. I see you have stopped Cymbalta cold turkey, and the symptoms you are experiencing sound pretty standard.
After just a week off you feel that the symptoms have levelled off and aren't getting worse- that's great! The Latuda should be at full-strength in another 3 weeks, so hopefully your Cymbalta discontinuation will calm down even more at that point.
Typically when uploading another drug like Latuda, the Cymbalta is tapered off over a month or so while the other is uploaded simultaneously.
Regarding the 'fast taper' and withdrawal symptoms, cold turkey seems to yield the most difficult symptoms for the longest period. 8-12 weeks of struggling is not uncommon. Thereafter there is easing through the next couple of months and by 5-6 months you will know you can make it. I tapered off over 42 days and that was too fast! I think 90 days would be good, tapering off slowly with no steps- a constant reduction of 1 or 2 beads each day. See the posting on Bead Counting.
There are reports of people having few withdrawal symptoms at all, and they feel good after just a couple of weeks. Wouldn't that be nice!
The longer taper has less acute withdrawal symptoms, though the overall duration of the symptoms is perhaps about the same. (Others will comment on this).
Keep the anxiety down with your benzo as necessary.
The Cymbalta is 99.9% out of your system in a week, but like a tornado after it's gone- the repairs are often long and painful. Good luck with this and keep us posted. You can do this!
#8
Posted 22 May 2014 - 11:43 PM
#9
Posted 23 May 2014 - 12:59 AM
I found ibuprofen didn't help my headaches much, and it did bother my sensitive stomach some. Some of my headaches came from staring at media screens all day- computers, iPad, iPhone. Better to go walk by the river.
You might keep the nausea down by creating a lite diet for a while, like the BRAT diet. Eat less, and don't eat after the evening meal as that can cause nausea and reflux when you lay sown. The dizzy/foggy feelings slowly fade away. And some sleep aids can keep you staggering around in the foghouse until well into the afternoon. Easy on the lights-out drugs.
By all means eat, but go easy and don't spice it up too much, and don't eat in the evening.
#10
Posted 04 June 2014 - 02:15 PM
So last Sunday I emptied 3 week's worth of pills half way down so I am guessing I went to 30 Mg and I did that for a week with no symptoms at all except a little eye blurriness and head aches and irritability. I am on 25 Mg of Topomax for migraines and I follow a strict Herbalife lifestyle so I a very healthy eater and vitamin intaker. This Monday I emptied the rest of the halfway pills by 14 lil white dots or so and so far I have been crying a lot more this week and a little more irritable but that it it. I am hoping to be off completely in the next two or three weeks. No zaps yet. Am I just really lucky or do I have something really waiting for me???
#11
Posted 04 June 2014 - 02:40 PM
It could be either way Lildebbie. Usually the worse symptoms do occur at the end of discontinuing the drug. There is really no way to tell until you get there. Sorry I couldn't give you a concrete answer. Either way you can make it through this. We are here to help.
- Lildebbietx likes this
#12
Posted 04 June 2014 - 02:49 PM
Depression is one of the side effects of this drug, as are suicidal thoughts and rage.
You are stepping down pretty quick 60 to 30 and that alone will produce withdrawal symptoms. That step-down combined with stopping in the next 2 or 3 weeks is pretty much cold turkey- you may as well stop today. Cymbalta has a half-life of just 12 hours, so any steep reductions in dosage or missed days will bring on withdrawal.
The bead-counting slow taper is generally done over a period of 12 weeks or so. The withdrawal symptoms are still there, but are reduced a lot compared to cold turkey.
Are you just lucky? Perhaps. Hopefully your withdrawal will continue to be light. No zaps is good!!
There are bead-counting strategies elsewhere on the forum- see Bead Counting Revisited.
Keep us posted. You can do this!
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#13
Posted 04 June 2014 - 03:36 PM
#14
Posted 04 June 2014 - 04:46 PM
Lildebbietx
Just to be clear, the course you are on now (finishing in two weeks) is nearly the same as cold turkey. Here's my advice: If your symptoms remain light- great! If they come on gangbusters and are really rough, go back on the 30 mg until you are stable (maybe a week of 10 days) and then wean off slowly over 10 or 12 weeks.
I have a few questions if that's okay.
- How many total beads in your 30 mg capsule? (In other words, how much of a drop in dosage is 14 beads- either in mg or percentage?)
- Are you taking out 14 today, 28 tomorrow, and 42 the next day?
- Are you taking the brand name Cymbalta by Eli Lilly?
14 beads from 30 mg sounds like a lot- typically people remove 2 or 3 beads; some folks can only reduce by 1 extra per day.
Regarding your 14 extra beads per day, if you get rough withdrawal, stay at the current level until you stabilize (might take a few days), or go back up a few beads. Once you are stable, continue, but remove fewer beads.
#15
Posted 04 June 2014 - 05:12 PM
To be honest, I have no idea how many beads are in my pills right now before I took the 14 out I just dumped each one half out and when I put the blue part back on I see the beads do not go over the half way line on any of them. I didn't count all the white beads in there. I guesstimated.
#17
Posted 05 June 2014 - 01:18 AM
I am not to advice about the withdrawal, other here who know better are already taken care of it, but after the withdrawal is over or even when on it this I want to tell you: your ex husband is a selfish, uncaring, ruthless asshole.
You will recover and be content all by yourself or with some else that will truly love you.
The other side of the story is that this process you are going through has unmasked the real person you were married to, a man that does not deserves you, before he had the opportunity of doing you more harm.
Take much care
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#19
Posted 05 June 2014 - 05:20 PM
Lildebbietex, Hang in there! Hopefully, you will be lucky with no brain zaps! As a marine, you probably are "prepared for anything"! Big C w/ds..... we can never be prepared for all the crap it throws our way!!!!!!!!! fat, frumpy, no way, just the negative crap Cymbalta slings at you! You can do this!!!! Keep us posted! we understand and care! Hugs and prayers!!! clara
- Lildebbietx likes this
#20
Posted 11 June 2014 - 06:55 PM
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#21
Posted 11 June 2014 - 07:13 PM
Lildebbietx - Congratulations on your excellent withdrawal! Most of us wish that we could have had your quick and not so terrible experience. What you describe is very little compared to the usual miserable condition of the majority.
I understand about the not fitting into the underwear - it has to be the most degrading part of the weight gain I experienced this myself but I have managed to lose some of the weight so I can wear underwear again
Your exercise plan is great, but please go slowly to start - exerting a great effort from the beginning can give you a day or few of wishing you hadn't! Good luck with that and please keep us posted - you're doing a great job!
#22
Posted 11 June 2014 - 07:34 PM
#23
Posted 15 June 2014 - 10:03 PM
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