KimmyS: New here - I need reassurance please (Duloxetine adverse reaction)

[KimmyS]

Dear all,

 

I am currently on 5mg of duloxetine.  I have a generic brand that had/has the mini (5mg mini bead); so I am currently only taking one a day.  This past March 2022 I tried to cross over from this manufacturer (Lupin) to a different manufacturere with hundreds of little beads.  I did this so I could do a slow 5% taper off duloxetine.  I combined (mixed the two different manufacturers together).  At the time I was taking 10mg.  So, I used one 5mg bead and the other brand with hundreds of beads (5mg was roughly 30 little beads) - i put the two into a capsule and started taking them - total 10mg.  I did this for 2 months when all of a sudden in May I was hit with violent horrible withdrawals.  I suspect this was an adverse reaction but not sure.  I immediately stopped taking the capsule and went back to the regular 10mg of the two 5mg lupin brand.  My symptoms at first were so violently severe - this lasted for 2 weeks and then it eased somewhat but still horrible.  I had some okay days (not without symptoms) and still very bad days.  Cognitive issues, memory issues, terror, could not at all handle stress, dp/dr, panic, restelessness beyone, could not get calm, unable to eat, temperature issues, hair falling out; etc.  The symptoms became a little less intense but still bad, so in August I thought it was the duloxetine so dropped down from 10mg to 5mg.  The symptoms got bad again for weeks, but started to get some okay days again -  was noticing improvements.  I believe that food and chemicals are causing me to have setbacks.  I took a turn to very bad again in December and it has gone downhill from there. The symptoms are terrible.  I am 8 months from adverse reaction from the mix and 5 months from the 50% drop.  Also, when I started the taper in March I was 14 months off a one year benzo taper.   Please can someone tell me that I will heal / recover from this.  I am scared and think that I have done permanent brain damage. Any words of support or reassurance or if you have done something similar to help me recover, would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

Kimmy

 

Celexa 20mg 2005-2017

Duloxetine 20mg 2017 - 5mg 2023

1mg Xan 10 years

Edited February 1, 2023 by manymoretodays
word corrections, name to title only

[Altostrata]

Welcome, @KimmyS

 

Since you decreased to 5mg in August -- quite a big decrease, which caused withdrawal symptoms -- how has your symptom pattern changed?

 

As long as you've been taking duloxetine, have you skipped any doses or taken them off schedule? Have you had covid, antibiotic treatment, or alcohol?

 

What is "1mg Xan"?

 

To help us out, follow these instructions Please summarize your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

[KimmyS]

Hello Altostrata,

 

Thank you for getting back to me.  I have been suffering since May (adverse reaction to the combined two different brands).  I was having very bad symptoms throughout when I then decided to do the 5mg drop.  I am in major distress as I write this.  My CNS is sadly suffering tremendously.  My symptoms are getting worse every day.  I cannot get calm, my body temperature cannot regulate, I am losing all of my hair, I am very tired (fatigue), I am not back to nauseousness, severe shaking, destabilzed CNS, my brain hurts, everything is so bad.  I have not skipped any doses - I take 5mg every morning at 7:30am, I have not had Covid, no antibiotics, and I do not drink alcohol or take any drugs.  I have been taking vitamin D3, biotin, and one cinnamon vitamin per day and have been taking that for over 5 years now.  I am almost 27 months off 1mg Xanax.  I did a one year taper off  1mg xanax from Dec. 2019-December 2020.  I appreciate your help and suggestions.  I am very scared and don't know what to do.  I think everything I eat and everything I use on my body is causing the symptoms.  I hope I can heal.  Thank you very much.

[Altostrata]

On 2/1/2023 at 12:00 PM, KimmyS said:

I did this for 2 months when all of a sudden in May I was hit with violent horrible withdrawals.  I suspect this was an adverse reaction but not sure.

 

What were your symptoms when this happened?

 

Are you still taking the same brand of duloxetine? Do you have any of the beads left?

[KimmyS]

The symptoms were violent: shaking and could not stop, terror, everything was 100000 times heightened and caused me to have terror, I was unable to get calm at all, very hard to relax, nausea, no appetite, flu symptoms, tired but could not rest, cannot think about future, no confidence, paranoid, cold not watch tv, panic, can’t focus, intrusive thoughts, OCD, fidgety, nervous, cognitive issues, Akathisia, no hope, gloom and doom, and so many other symptoms.  
 

Once these symptoms started like that I continued for a couple more days and went back to my two 5mg mini tabs (Lupin manufacturer).  I still have the little tiny beads.  Since August 23 I’ve been taking one of the 5mg mini tab.  I am getting worse. I am not improving.  Thank you. 

[Altostrata]

You felt better when you went back to 10mg of the Lupin brand, why is it that you're taking 5mg now?

 

On 2/1/2023 at 12:00 PM, KimmyS said:

so in August I thought it was the duloxetine so dropped down from 10mg to 5mg.  The symptoms got bad again for weeks, but started to get some okay days again -  was noticing improvements. 

 

On 2/3/2023 at 9:08 AM, KimmyS said:

My symptoms are getting worse every day.  I cannot get calm, my body temperature cannot regulate, I am losing all of my hair, I am very tired (fatigue), I am not back to nauseousness, severe shaking, destabilzed CNS, my brain hurts, everything is so bad.  I have not skipped any doses - I take 5mg every morning at 7:30am,

 

It sounds to me like you have withdrawal from cutting your 10mg dose in half. "The symptoms got bad again for weeks" was withdrawal. Something happened to make withdrawal syndrome worse. It doesn't take much.

 

If I were you, I'd try taking the 5mg tablet with 10 beads from the capsule. Are your capsules within their expiration date?

 

Please let us know how you're doing.