13 replies to this topic

[Lorelei67]

Hi there.

I am new here, and so glad I found this site. I was on Cymbalta for about 8 years. I started taking it on top of the Wellbutrin I had already been taking, because I was going through a difficult period in life. Fast forward to now, where life has evened out some, and I decided I no longer needed the extra med. I went from 60 mg to 30 mg about 3 months ago, without any issues. So, I called my doctor about 3 weeks ago, and told him I wanted to go off, or down another dosage. He told me to take the 30 mg every other day for a week, and then I could quit. Holy moly! Life has been hell ever since. After about 6 days of misery, I started researching withdrawing from Cymbalta, and realized I went off of it too quickly. But, I was already off almost a week, and was not about to go backwards. So, now it has been almost two weeks without it, and still feeling miserable. Dizziness, nausea, extreme mood swings, irritability, muscle pain, brain buzzing, (or, vibrating? Feels like my brain is vibrating in my skull), and at night I can't sleep because of the muscle jumpiness, and most fun, feeling like I have creepy crawlies on my skin. The biggest issue for me is the moodiness. I have a son who is 11 years old, and he and I are both off school/work during summer. He seriously is ready to be rid of me, and I don't blame him. I hate that I am being so moody. I know I am hurting his feelings terribly, but can't seem to get a grip. Do any of you have any advice that could help me with this? Any input at all is appreciated. And, mostly, I just need to know that I am not alone, and not crazy. Because, I really feel batshit crazy most of the time. (sorry if I offend with the swear words, but that is part of who I am - I like to call swear words sentence enhancers. Lol). Thanks in advance for help.

[fishinghat]

The every other day thing is dumb. Even the manufacturer doesn't recommend it. The reason is the half life of Cymbalta is about 12 hours. So you take a capsule in the AM by the next AM you are at 25% By the next AM you are at 6% and take another capsule putting your levels back up again. You are repeating the same withdrawal over and over again.

 

The best method is bead counting. Go back up to 30 mg until stable. This could take a few weeks to a couple months. Once comfortable open a capsule and count the little beads inside. There are usually around 200 or 300 but it varies a lot. The idea is to remove enough beads to drop about 1% a day. A nice slow withdrawal. If during that time it gets to bad just level off at that dose until stable or go back up a few beads until stable. Once you feel better you can begin tapering again but perhaps slower.

[Raven72]

Welcome Lorelei,

 

I agree that the every other day thing is not a good method. I don't know why doctors even suggest this method. But then after finding out all I know about this sinful drug, I don't understand why they still prescribe it.  Bead counting is one of the best tapering methods but doesn't work for everyone.  It may work for you and you may want to try it but for me it was not a workable method.  As of April 1st 2016 I have been completely off of it. I was tapering down and every time I dropped my symptoms got worse.  My husband and I decided it was best that I just cold turkey the whole process. It has been a rough ride and still is sometimes but it is working better for me than tapering ever did.

 

In the end it is up to you and what you feel is better for our body.  There are plenty of others like FH that are far more wiser in their knowledge of all this than I am. So, please don't hesitate to ask any of us questions.

 

Raven

[startled]

I was on Cymbalta for about 5 months. I was feeling so lousy,off and on, that I felt I had to get away from it to see if it helped. I went to this web site,because of extreme increase in appetite,and rapid weight gain,since starting withdrawal. I was extremely relieved to hear people say they have had that experience and many others I've been going through. I forget what they call it,"brain buzz I think!), but I have too experienced that,and it started after I only had dropped 30mg from a 90mg schedule. Normal functioning is almost impossible when it happens. I didn't know what it was,blood pressure?,blood sugar problems from my Diabetes?, who knew. Sometimes it felt like a buzzing insect was flashing around in my head,but the electric jolt type feeling was
So weird! A definite increase in Tinnitus. I was even hearing the "electric beep" sounds, which I was really glad to find out we're not exclusively my experience. My hearing suddenly magnified,and everything got louder,which I am dealing with now,and because of that,I can't wear my hearing aids,which are designed to help me hear,but also distract my mind from the sounds.

"Hoping for support",if you think you are crazy, listen to this. I have also been having insomnia,since I started Cymbalta,which is a lot better since being off a while. I woke up at 3 A.M. One morning,and was sure I saw the family across the street in their garage. I saw the wife standing there in her robe. I thought the husband was doing something to the car. My husband asked the next day. Nope,they weren't even home! I still seem to have a bit of "sleep paralysis,as just as I am waking up I will think I am listening to family conversations,and I Am sure I hear it,and I step out and look,nobody! I even hear arguing that is not happening,and sometimes it's people across the street or in the yard,and nothing! So, I can honestly say you are not alone.

My short term memory has been faulty,my motivation gets very low,and I'm working on all that. Only the last few days my patience has gotten weaker. I am a very non-irritable person,but I'm different. Maybe your son could understand,if you emphasize that you do not want to be this way,and that it is a medical problem you are working very hard on.

Anyway "hope", let's all stick together on here and help each other through it.

I can tell you that brain buzz and Lots of other symptoms are taming down more,the longer I get away from the med. I am so glad I found this forum. I have also had the heavy overheating and off balance problems,and I think stomach problems. The overheating thing has also improved. Balance I'm working on

Sorry this is so long. I know having been on Cymbalta for years has to be a whole other catagory of rough,but I can and do sympathize with everyone on this forum. Don't give up hope. People can work through anything if they keep looking for answers. I want to go back and look through this whole forum,as forums can give you very good Ideas.

[fishinghat]

welcome Startled.

 

Why such a huge drop? Do you know about bead counting?  Way to fast a drop. We normally recommend about 1% a day. Stopping when symptoms get too bad.

[Lorelei67]

Thank you everyone for your input and support. I am in the "toughing it out" crowd. There is no going back on, and then trying the bead counting for me. It just doesn't make sense for me to go backwards after being off if it for now over two weeks. I am definitely seeing small improvements everyday. I am lucky to have a sister who not only owns a health food store, but she is also very knowledgeable on various natural products to help detox my body, and also restore things that my body has been missing, which is helping me get some balance back in my life. My dizziness is way better than it was a week ago at this time. Which helps a lot to decrease the nausea. My brain still buzzes off and on, but it doesn't seem as loud? If that makes any sense? Lol. Irritability is SLOWLY getting better. Not quite as jittery/jumpy as I was. Now, if I could just get the creepy-crawlies to go away, maybe I could get a whole night of sleep. But, even that has improved some. One day at a time, right? On the plus side, I am noticing that good, bad, or indifferent........I am feeling emotions again that I haven't felt in a long time. They are a bit extreme right now, but, dang it! I am OK with crying over a TV commercial, or laughing at sometimes inappropriate times. It's okay with me because I hadn't realized quite how gray my world was on cymbalta, until now. I am enjoying hearing music again, and laughing at my son's silly antics and jokes. (Well, he's an 11 year old boy, so I still don't laugh at the fart jokes, but, hey----not sure any women get that boy stuff!). Anyway, I am glad to have this site, and all of the people on it, to help me throughout this crazy journey. It's good to know I am not alone.

[Carleeta]

Lor,

 

It's good to hear you are doing better each day.  It is always this easy for many of us.  It appears you are one of the lucky ones.  Your story is amazing and thank you for sharing as it will help many others in the future who come here to visit to just read.  You take care of yourself and please do keep us posted.   

[MattP]

Lorelei, best of luck to you. I'm down to about 7 microbeads a day and am terrified to go any further. I'm dizzy off and on much of the day and feel spaced out. I think I went too aggressively into the bead counting and didn't allow myself time to acclimate. Part of me wants to just say screw it and stop but if I'm struggling now I can only imagine what going cold turkey would do. Please keep us posted because I'm trying like hell to get off this stuff and it's great to hear how others approach the challenge.

 

Thanks!

[Carleeta]

Lor,

 

It's good to hear you are doing better each day.  It is always this easy for many of us.  It appears you are one of the lucky ones.  Your story is amazing and thank you for sharing as it will help many others in the future who come here to visit to just read.  You take care of yourself and please do keep us posted.   

Lor, what I meant to say is : it isn't always easy for many of us!

[Lorelei67]

Hi everyone- hope everyone has a good day today. I just wanted to share that I experienced one of those "setback" days Wednesday afternoon. Had been doing really quite well, then got the nausea, (and vomiting, 😛), brain buzz, back. Just kind of came out of the blue. Had a miserable afternoon, and night that night. But, on the plus side, was way better yesterday. Even managed to do a house cleaning job for someone, and then helped a friend reorganize her kitchen cupboards. I guess maybe it might be a little of "3 steps forward, 2 steps back", for awhile. But, I will hang on to the forward ones. They represent progress for me. So, hang in there everyone. We can all do this!👍

[fishinghat]

You are doing great Lorelei. I think you hit the nail on the head. Keep your chin up.

[Carleeta]

Lorelie,

 

Sounds like you have a good grip in things.  You know your body well.

[Lorelei67]

Lorelei, best of luck to you. I'm down to about 7 microbeads a day and am terrified to go any further. I'm dizzy off and on much of the day and feel spaced out. I think I went too aggressively into the bead counting and didn't allow myself time to acclimate. Part of me wants to just say screw it and stop but if I'm struggling now I can only imagine what going cold turkey would do. Please keep us posted because I'm trying like hell to get off this stuff and it's great to hear how others approach the challenge.
 
Thanks!

Lorelei, best of luck to you. I'm down to about 7 microbeads a day and am terrified to go any further. I'm dizzy off and on much of the day and feel spaced out. I think I went too aggressively into the bead counting and didn't allow myself time to acclimate. Part of me wants to just say screw it and stop but if I'm struggling now I can only imagine what going cold turkey would do. Please keep us posted because I'm trying like hell to get off this stuff and it's great to hear how others approach the challenge.
 
Thanks!

Hi Matt-
Welcome to this site. All I can say is hang in there. I didn't do the bead counting, because I didn't know about it until after I had already been off for awhile. I too, still struggle with the dizziness, off and on. I do think it has helped me to have a sister in the health food/ supplement business. She and I haven't always seen eye to eye on everything, (she doesn't believe in meds at all, I feel they are sometimes a necessary evil), but she has totally been there for me in this struggle. She has me taking natural things to try to help me detox my body quicker, and to restore nutrients I have been lacking. She and I have taught each other some new things. She couldn't imagine it taking this long for any medication to get out of my system, but now she has done further research on it because of me, and has realized that this isn't like a lot of other drugs, and that it can take a long time. If any of you have a friendly, neighborhood health food store in your area, and want to see if there are things you can do to help ease your withdrawals, it might be beneficial to stop in and talk to someone. Just make sure they know their stuff, and really want to help. And, Jeff, we are all different. Don't be in too big of a rush to take that next step, if your body is telling you it isn't ready yet. Try to be patient. I am a damn the consequences, cold turkey kind of gal, so don't know if I would have done the bead counting, even if I had known about it. But, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't have! Lol. Just don't give up. You can make it through, with the help and prayers of all of us here. We feel your pain, and are rooting for you.

[Carleeta]

Loreli,

 

Your a wonderful and loving individual to help others during your withdrawal progress.   It's encourage to some to hear of your story and to offer the help and guidance which could further help others.  Thank your for your advice on the health food store/supplements and the support for members and future members.  Keep your positive outlook and keep sharing.