Hello. I'm new here and am both relieved and terrified at finding this website. I have been trying to come off Cymbalta and on my doctor's recommendation have been doing this with the aid of Prozac, but I worry that I may have incorporated too much Prozac too early in the process, which will make coming off the whole thing harder.
A brief history for you:
December '18: 30mg Cymbalta
February '19: 60mg Cymbalta
March '19: 90mg Cymbalta
June '19: from 90mg to 60mg Cymbalta + 20mg Prozac for two weeks
July '19: From 60mg to 30mg Cymbalta plus 40mg Prozac for two weeks
July '19: From 30mg to 20mg Cymbalta plus 40mg Prozac for two weeks
The drop from 30mg to 20mg was awful and after that two week stint I was told to alternate 20mg every other day (while taking 40mg Prozac) for two weeks and then go to zero. Obviously reading your stories I now know that this is not the way. I alternated three days and felt awful so I went back to 20mg every day. I've now been on 20mg Cymbalta and 40mg Prozac for about three weeks and I'm scared to make any kind of jump down, but at the same time am desperate to get off Cymbalta. I feel like every day I take the 20mg is making it harder for me to reach my end goal of zero. Should I lower the Prozac dose and increase it again when I get to zero cymbalta?
Initially prescribed for fybromyalgia, depression and anxiety, it did nothing to help the pain and only made my depression worse and gave me wonderful new types of anxiety I didn't think were possible.
I've only slept through two whole nights since February. At least the nightmares have stopped since I dropped to 30mg but I've been exhausted and foggy for the last three weeks. Both of my last drops have been accompanied by a few days of severe vertigo and nausea.
The thought of taking out a single ball a day and tapering that way is so depressing I can't bear it. I'd like to taper as fast as humanly possible without feeling on the verge of death.
My question to you lovely people is, does anyone have any advice for a rapid taper plan and also strategies to deal with tiredness, headaches, nausea, dizziness and vertigo? I wanted to be off in two weeks but I'm starting to think this is unrealistic. Any advice would be appreciated.
Also, any recommendations for empty capsules would be great. I found some vegan coated ones on Amazon (advertised as such) but a couple of the reviews said that they didn't work as advertised and wouldn't make it to the gut. How am I supposed to know if this is the case? How terrible is it if the cymbalta starts dissolving in my stomach? Oof, so many factors to consider.
I just want to be able to sleep again and stop ballooning like a.. well.. balloon. Not peeing every hour would also be nice and I wouldn't say no to clear skin again.
As an aside: I have been experimenting with Kratom for anxiety and it has been a godsend, otherwise anxiety would be in that list also. It's also been amazing for my fibro pain, and not something I would have considered in a million years but out of desperation and coincidence. I've had no luck with CBD oil and melatonin for sleep, anxiety or pain. Cannabis has helped for pain but I wake up the next day feeling like I've been hit by a truck, and can't function on it. I'm trying to move away from painkillers but turn to codeine for severe migraines and the worst fibro pain.
I am so sorry to ramble, this was supposed to be a short, coherent intro and it's turned into the opposite. I hope you're all doing well with your own Cymbalta journeys and I'm sorry that we're all here in the first place.