Yitus: Cymbalta tapering

[Yitus]

Hi I wanted guidance on tapering from 80 Mg Cymbalta without bridging to anything or using Prozac as a bridge .  I don’t know where to put my question. I have been on this dose for about 3 mos. 

[Jane318]

Greetings @Yitus and welcome to SA.

 

So the moderators can best help you, please complete your drug signature by following these instructions. Adding a signature ensures your drug history appears at the bottom of every post, making it more efficient for those trying to assist. This link should go directly to your own signature: Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.  Be sure to list any other drugs you are currently taking.

 

You can learn about tapering off Cymbalta here:  

 

One study indicates that a third of people who have taken Cymbalta for 9 weeks experienced withdrawal upon stopping.  So we would not advise a cold turkey stop, even though you have been on it for only three months.

 

Here at SA, we recommend the hyperbolic taper method, which you can read about here:  Why taper by 10% of my dosage?  For those who have been on the drug for a long time, we recommend a cut of 10% every four weeks.  In your case, you should be able to tolerate going more quickly.  Ideally, you want to be off Cymbalta in three months or less so that the duration of the taper is no longer than the time you were on the drug. 

 

So you might try cutting by 10% (of previous dose) every other day. You would be down to 0.7 mg on Day 89 and could jump to zero.  In this case, your first few doses would be 72, 64.8, 58.3, 52.5 mg.   You will need to pay attention to your withdrawal symptoms and slow down if you need to however.  In the same way, you could try bigger cuts and/or  jump to zero sooner if your symptoms are mild or none.

 

This is your introduction topic.  Each member gets one intro topic- post updates and questions here, in this thread.  Please let us know what you decide and how you do.  This will help other members too!

 

Best wishes.

[Emonda]

Hi @Yitus

We've just been chatting about this offline. We acknowledge it would be frustrating to taper for longer than you've been on an AD.

 

Generally, after ~4 weeks, dependency has developed, and you will likely experience very unpleasant WD symptoms if you stop too quickly. How quickly? It's a guess.

 

You'd be safer sticking to the 10% rule, as Jane mentioned above.

 

13 hours ago, Jane318 said:

Here at SA, we recommend the hyperbolic taper method, which you can read about here:  Why taper by 10% of my dosage?  For those who have been on the drug for a long time, we recommend a cut of 10% every four weeks.

 

Some can get away with going a little faster. Unfortunately, there is no way to know if advance if you are one of the lucky ones. If you're like most of us and WD hits you hard, it can be very debilitating and drag on for months and years.

 

Personally, I go slow as I know how bad it can get. Whatever you choose to do, reflect on the WD checklist: Daily Checklist of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms (PDF). DON'T ignore the warning signs.

 

When people have WD symptoms and they push on with their taper, it can get ugly.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Emonda

[Jane318]

How are you doing @Yitus?  What did you decide about your Cymbalta taper?  Wishing you the best for the holidays.

[Yitus]

Hi I started tapering by going from 80 mg to 70 for three weeks and now in my first week of going down to 60 mgs. I know it’s linear but for now it’s what I can do. I know I’ll have to slow down as the dose goes lower

[Emonda]

Hi Yitus,

So the moderators can best help you, please complete your drug signature by following these instructions. Adding a signature ensures your drug history appears at the bottom of every post, making it more efficient for those trying to assist. This link should go directly to your own signature: Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

Once you do that, someone will try to assist.

 

It'd be worth reading this again: Why taper by 10% of my dosage? The reductions should get smaller and smaller each month, for example: 10mg, 9mg, 8.1mg, 7.3mg etc. This process involves a degree of trial and error, as there is no way of predicting how an individual will respond. Importantly, if you develop unpleasant side effects from tapering, halt the taper, give yourself time to settle, and once stable, taper more slowly and by smaller amounts moving forward. The experience of others suggests that the lower you go in dose, the slower you need to go with tapering.

 

Emonda