philippon: Want to taper Cymbalta

[philippon]

Hello,

I'm on benzodiazepine since I'm 15 years old, I decided to stop it 1 year ago (I was 35 years old). I succeed this withdrawal, it has been hard but I succeeded.

I started to take cymbalta 5 years ago to counter the effect of lysanxia and it worked very well, all the symptoms of the benzo disappeared,... then I tried to stop cold turkey, I felt into horror, I took it again,... when I did my benzo withrawal, I decided to stop totally cymbalta just after and I almost attempted a suicide (I wanted to hang me with a rope in the forest, I was totally crazy)

... then I took it back and everything went fine again. 2 month ago, I reduced from 60mg to 30mg and after 20 days, I became again very aggressive pananoid, scared etc.. I understood that it was because of cymbalta that I had these feelings and discovered the withdrawal symptoms,... I have recently done different researchs and I finally discovered this forum,... 
now I want to start a progressive withdrawal and that's why I register here:)

My plan is to reduce from 60mg by removing some beads of the pill, but there's so many !! I will join a picture to show you (I'm french, I have the french version of cymbalta,.. )

I need to find a small / micro spoon or something similar.
Then, I will follow your advices : reduce of 10mg and want to wait th 20th day to ensure that i'm stabilizing and that it's not too much

so within 2 months, I will be at 50mg

such a nightmare 

Philippe

 

ps : How can I put a picture ?

Edited October 23, 2016 by scallywag
white space added

[philippon]

Hello,

I'm on benzodiazepine since I'm 15 years old, I decided to stop it 1 year ago (I was 35 years old). I succeed this withdrawal, it has been hard but I succeeded.

I started to take cymbalta 5 years ago to counter the effect of lysanxia and it worked very well, all the symptoms of the benzo disappeared,... then I tried to stop cold turkey, I felt into horror, I took it again,... when I did my benzo withrawal, I decided to stop totally cymbalta just after and I almost attempted a suicide (I wanted to hang me with a rope in the forest, I was totally crazy)

... then I took it back and everything went fine again. 2 month ago, I reduced from 60mg to 30mg and after 20 days, I became again very aggressive pananoid, scared etc.. I understood that it was because of cymbalta that I had these feelings and discovered the withdrawal symptoms,... I have recently done different researchs and I finally discovered this forum,... 
now I want to start a progressive withdrawal and that's why I register here:)

My plan is to reduce from 60mg by removing some beads of the pill, but there's so many !! I will join a picture to show you (I'm french, I have the french version of cymbalta,.. )

I need to find a small / micro spoon or something similar.
Then, I will follow your advices : reduce of 10mg and want to wait th 20th day to ensure that i'm stabilizing and that it's not too much

so within 2 months, I will be at 50mg

such a nightmare  

Philippe

Edited October 23, 2016 by scallywag
white space added

[scallywag]

Philippe -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)
 
I'm sorry you've had a difficult time because of bad advice or no advice about discontinuing Cymbalta. My doctor suggested that I skip doses to come off it and after a month or so I started to have problems. After I went back to taking a regular daily dose for a month, I started to taper. I have had very few problems or withdrawal symptoms. I hope that your experience will be the same.
 
A request: Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-18 months particularly?

• Any drugs prior to that can just be listed with start and stop years.
• You don't need to include symptoms or diagnoses other than the initial condition that led to prescribing the first drug.
• We ask for this information in your signature so that we can see it at a glance. A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs.
• You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature

Please read this topic:
Before you begin tapering -- what you need to know

 

It sounds as if you've read several discussion topics in the SA forum.  For ease of reference, here are links to a few topics relevant to your current situation.
Why taper by 10% of my dosage?
What is withdrawal syndrome

Here is information relevant to tapering Cymbalta.
Tips for tapering off Cymbalta (duloxetine)
Counting beads in a capsule versus weighing

I have been counting beads to reduce my Cymbalta dosage. When I counted eight(8) 60 mg capsules distributed/manufactured by Eli Lilly in Canada I had on average 550 beads per capsule. It would be best to calculate an average for 3 capsules for each foil package. Then you can use that # beads/mg for the rest of that foil pack.

 

I've been using a seed dispenser to shake the beads out for counting and have posted about that with a photo of it in both my intro thread and in the bead counting thread.

 

I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.

[Oneday77]

Bonjour Philippon,

 

Using the bead-counting method is painful, but it works! It will make you feel in control as you are physically removing the beads. Don't give up! There are good advice on this site as to how you can find a scale an weigh the beads. On week-ends, when I have more time, I prepare my capsules for 7 days. 

 

Bonne chance!