Song: cold turkey, paws, reinstatement

[Song]

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 December 13, 2019 by manymoretodays
added name to title, moved from S and S, duplicate to junk posts

[Gridley]

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.