Hi Fishinghat, Hi Gail, Hi everyone!
Quick update for you.
Last time I posted I was preparing for the taper of Lithium. If you remember, my Mom ""WAS"" on 600 mg per day (300 mg morning, 300 mg evening) and the side effects were horrible and were interfering with getting her off the Cymbalta...so I discontinued the taper of Cymbalta (at 30 mg currently) and took on the challenge of Lithium.
First off..and if you don't already know, those Lithium pills you can NOT separate..so I got her Doctor to prescribe the lowest dosage which 150 mg. Then I worked in 7-10 day intervals to reduce my Mom's intake a Lithium to zero..with pretty good results in that the withdrawal side effects were very limited..but where still present even after only her short term use of 4 months. (FYI..like clock work, the same side effects **nauseous, headaches, sleep interruptions** always reared their ugly head right at day 3-4 of each taper.)
Here is what it looked like using the 600 mg as total daily intake.
Day one..Took away 150 mg from the evening dose.
Day 10....Took away 150 mg from the morning dose..
Day 17....Took away the last 150 mg from the evening.
Day 27....Took away the last 150 mg from the morning.
Gave an additional 10 days to allow her mind to rest.
The good news is, other than we're done with that drug, is that her sleep has returned to normal, her hair has stopped falling out, her body shakes and tremors have ALL completely stopped and last but now least, her memory is back and starting to fire on all cylinders...Thanks Be To God..!!!
Last week we started to reduce her Seroquel because this to has become an issue, like I've state before. Started at 150 mg per day and have been dropping by 25 mg every 10 days. Currently we're at 100 mg daily..(25 mg day, 75 mg night). So far so good..
When I get the Seroquel down to only 25 or 50 mg, then I'm going to start the Cymbalta taper again..I'm thinking that keeping the Seroquel at a lowered dose just might help her get through the last 30 mg of Cymbalta...Any thoughts on this???
I'm still in the fight here and think of and pray for you all daily. Hope you're doing as well as can be expected.
Thanks again for "being there".
Your friend,
Colin