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Song: cold turkey, paws, reinstatement


Song

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Posted (edited)

I cold turkeyed Cymbalta one year ago and reinstated it passing reinstate window, now i have to reduce the medicine counting beads with the old syndroms from old turkey, 5% reduction every 3 weekes seemed fine for me until i tried 10% reduction,I'm totally disabled now. Does anyone have the experience if 10% reduction will take the same amount of time to recover as cold turkey?

Edited by manymoretodays
added name to title, moved from S and S, duplicate to junk posts
  • manymoretodays changed the title to Song: cold turkey, paws, reinstatement
  • Moderator Emeritus
Posted

Welcome to SA, Song.

 

To give members the best information, we ask them to summarize their medication history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly.  Please include the date you CT'd Cymbalta and the dosage, the date you reinstated, when you started the 5% reduction, when you started the 10% reduction and your current dosage.  Please use the following link: 

 

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

 

You are experiencing withdrawal symptoms from your cold turkey, which resulted in destabilization of your nervous system.  Tapering while destabilized also is contributing to your current state.  

 

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list.

 

When we take medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur.  

 

These explain it really well.

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

   On 8/30/2011 at 2:28 PM,  Rhiannon said: 
When we stop taking the drug, we have a brain that has designed itself so that it works in the presence of the drug; now it can't work properly without the drug because it's designed itself so that the drug is part of its chemistry and structure. It's like a plant that has grown on a trellis; you can't just yank out the trellis and expect the plant to be okay. When the drug is removed, the remodeling process has to take place in reverse. SO--it's not a matter of just getting the drug out of your system and moving on. If it were that simple, none of us would be here. It's a matter of, as I describe it, having to grow a new brain. I believe this growing-a-new-brain happens throughout the taper process if the taper is slow enough. (If it's too fast, then there's not a lot of time for actually rebalancing things, and basically the brain is just pedaling fast trying to keep us alive.) It also continues to happen, probably for longer than the symptoms actually last, throughout the time of recovery after we are completely off the drug, which is why recovery takes so long.

There is a faster recovery when tapering at the rate of 10% every four weeks than cold turkey.  We recommend tapering no faster

 than 10% of current dose every four weeks.  Some people have to so more slowly.

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

This link is specifically about tapering Cymbalta.

 

Tips for tapering off Cymbalta (duloxetine)

 

However, you are not ready to taper.  You need to stabilize after the cold turkey and the further reductions at 5% and 10%.  I recommend you hold at your current dose for at least 4 to 6 months to along your system to stabilize.  Once you've stabilized, you can begin a slow 10% taper as described in the link above.

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker  

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

Please research all supplements first and only add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems.

 

This is your Introduction topic, where you can post your drug signature, ask questions and connect with other members.  We're glad you found your way here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Dec 7: 2.4mg

Taper is 97% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotic, zinc, melatonin .3mg, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase, L-Glutamine, milk thistle, choline


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice. It is information based on my own experience as well as that of other members who have survived these drugs.

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