Hi folks -
I'm really glad you're all here. I've been reading posts on this site for the past two months and finally decided to join today.
I have been taking 60mg of Cymbalta for a year for depression. In February I tried to come off of it following my doctor's tapering schedule and the side-effects were so bad that I had to go back up to 60mg. The zaps and physical side-effects were terrible, but the suicidal ideation was even worse. I'd never felt that depressed in my life. I went back up on it so that I wouldn't kill myself and, after doing some research online, decided I would follow the advice of others who have had a similar experience, and made my plan for a 10% reduction every two weeks.
I've been tapering off of Cymbalta for seven weeks now. I've been lower my dose by 10% (of the "current dose") every two weeks. I use a spreadsheet to keep all the numbers in order. I have a little scale that I use to weigh the beads and make my own pills. My current dose is 39.37mg (bead weight of 0.230g). The plan that I have now has 34 phases, each lasting two weeks. That is about one year and four months until my last dose.
(I do see a psychiatrist but she doesn't understand the effects of withdrawal or why I am making my own doses. I'm looking for a more supportive psychiatrist but it's difficult to find one that will accept my insurance.)
In the past seven weeks I have not had any physical side-effects. I have been VERY emotional though and feel incredibly sad many days. Luckily, I have not been suicidal. I do believe the extreme sadness is due to the withdrawal and try to remind myself of that, but it usually
I am wondering if I should speed up my tapering schedule. I would hate to have to live with this extreme sadness for the next 14 months of my tapering if I didn't have to.
Do you think it would be better to taper faster (but not TOO fast) and get the withdrawal side-effects over with quicker rather than having it drawn out longer?
I know the bead counting method is popular on this forum as the gradual decrease is beneficial in many ways. I worry about the beads being varying sizes though, with some beads twice as large as other smaller ones.
Any suggestions or advice would be most appreciated.
Thanks for all your help already. Reading the posts on this site has given me hope and strength when I've felt completely lost.
CM