5 replies to this topic

[LpurpleGurl]

I was on 60mg, then took 50mg, then 40mg, etc, etc..2 weeks on each dose I did fine tI'll I got to 20mg, then the depression and irritability started. I get so frustrated with everything. My counselor wants me to just quit this drug. I just hate feeling like such a biotch, cause that's not me. I'm weaning off due to severe constipation. No real difference yet. I just want to be done with this.
My counselor said if I can't get through this, we may try Brintelix.

Positive stories???

[fishinghat]

The last part of weaning can be extremely difficult and take several weeks to begin to see the light. If you just cold turkey off the 20 mg I can guarantee you it will get much worse fast. Slow is the name of the game with Cymbalta. For many of us it takes 8 weeks off just to begin to improve and 4 to 8 months to feel decent. Patience at 20 mg is recommended. When you get feeling better then drop slowly down.

[Oncebit47]

Hello!

I was taking 60mg for chronic pain for about a year and a half. Put on 30 lbs and craved sweets like crazy! Decided it wasn't helping like my pain med does and the additional weight is just aggravating my pain. So, I dropped myself to 30 mg once a day for about 10 months. Took 30 mg for so long because trying to taper more produced unpleasant side effects. I tried going every other day, but got brain zaps really bad. Because I am a teacher, I decided to wait until school let out to reduce my dosage more.

At the beginning of June I asked my doctor to lower my dose to 20 mg ( lowest available ). He did so without any argument. I started taking the 20 mg each day and only had real minor withdrawal symptoms. For the past 2 1/2 weeks I have been taking one every other day and am feeling it! I have to say the first week was worse than it is now, so I am going to continue the every other day for a while longer before I try to go to every two days. My goal is to be completely off before I go back to work middle of August. Other than being slightly agitated and hypersensitive to noises, the brain zaps are the absolute worst part.

I wish you luck, let me know how you do!

[Oncebit47]

Update:

Friday will mark four weeks on 20 mg every other day. I plan on skipping two days starting Saturday. The reason I feel it is time is because a lot of the irritability and head zaps have disappeared. At first I didn't think I would be able to do it, but it did get easier. I will let future readers know how it goes once I start the every two days. Hope the info helps someone!

[thismoment]

Oncebit47

As I mentioned in an earlier post, skipping days is an unorthodox withdrawal strategy, and it is sure to bring on withdrawal symptoms. A proper tapering strategy will NOT bring on withdrawal symptoms, and this is achieved by slowly reducing the dosage without skipping days. Should symptoms arise, dosage reduction is halted and you stay at the current dosage until symptoms abate.

The short half-life of duloxetine (12 hours) will bring on withdrawal symptoms fairly quickly when you stop. Some patients taking Cymbalta will split the daily dosage into two parts to preclude the onset of withdrawal within a standard 24 hour period.

The skipping of days is often erroneously prescribed by physicians, but the manufacturer Eli Lilly cautions against skipping days when tapering the dosage to withdraw from the medication. We caution against skipping days as well.

If you are happy with your strategy, however, continue with it and let us know how it goes.

Take care.

[FiveNotions]

Oncebit, your experience with doing it this way is unusual, and lucky for you!

 

(My bet is that you're young, and in good general physical condition / health ... that's always a big plus for withdrawal!)

 

For most people, the skipping day approach simply keeps them going in and out of hard, cold turkey withdrawal for a protracted period of time.... very, very bad for the brain ... very tough on the body, in terms of symptoms ...but, as TM says, it it's working for you, stay with it.

 

However, if, at any point, you feel like the withdrawal symptoms are more than you can handle, stop the alternate days. Stay on it at the lowest dose (20 mg?) until the symptoms stop ... then, start using the bead counting method to come down the rest of the way.

 

Let us know how it goes for you ... I don't recall anyone else here ever reporting success with the alternate days method, so any info you can share with us will definitely be helpful to others !