therealmccoy: Introduction and Cymbalta Withdrawal

[therealmccoy]

Hi there,

 

I'm happy to have found this site today.  I've been on anti-depressants for 16 years now, starting with Paxil.  After years of psych meds and a varying degree of diagnosis as to what is really going on, I've finally decided to come completely off the five different meds I was on.  I am now only on Cymbalta and Lithium.  I have been fortunate enough to have been able to come off Latuda, Abilify, and Trileptal all within the last few months.  Fast, I know.  But I am working with a psychologist who helps tremendously and is super supportive.

 

Now that I am on a fairly low dose of Cymbalta (I started at 60 mg) and have been coming off so quickly with the help of my GP,  I am starting to have withdrawal effects.  Not extreme...just nausea and brain fog...most of it I am able to deal with.  This has been going on for two days and I am glad I found the advice of this site.  My doctor had planned on me taking the 20 mg for one week...then taking 20 mg every other day for 3 weeks...then 20 mg every third day for 3 weeks....then nothing.

 

After what I read today I realized that alternating days was not the way to go.  I was planning on starting the 10 mg tomorrow for 3 weeks (instead of alternating 20 mg) but am a little bit worried.  I don't want to have too many things go wrong.  I am just not sure how much to take really since after a week of going from 30 to 20 I am starting to feel yucky.  I was really good until day 7 of 20 mg though.  On the first day I was supposed to skip a dose (yesterday) I was horribly sick with vomiting.  So, this morning I took the 20 mg as planned again.  I still feel bad and am sure it is because I am not at a steady state.  What do I do now?  Try 10 mg?  Any advice is appreciated.

 

Just as a side note:  I have not had any mood problems at all since starting to cut down on these medications.  I only feel better each day when it comes to my emotional well being!  This is huge for me!  I knew there would be physical symptoms but I was really dreading the emotional ones.  I have yet to have any and am hoping that continues.

 

 

 

 

[Petunia]

Welcome therealmccoy,

It sounds to me like you have been tapering too fast. 

We suggest reducing by no more than 10% of the current dose every 4 weeks, this reduces the risk of withdrawal symptoms arising. Please read through this which will explain why:

  

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?  (The general philosophy of gradual tapering)

 

... and here are our tips for tapering off cymbalta specifically:

 

http://survivinganti...lta-duloxetine/

 

If I were you, I would hold where you are for several weeks, possibly a few months, until your nervous system has had a chance to settle down, before continuing with a slower taper.  Withdrawal symptoms don't always begin immediately.  Sometimes it takes a while before the body registers and reacts to the loss of the drugs which it had become dependent on.

 

Please would you put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature. Putting a short version of your drug and tapering history in your signature helps people understand your context, it appears below each of your posts. Here are instructions for how to do it:

 

http://survivinganti...your-signature/

 

Please feel free to write whenever you want, you will find a lot of friendly help and support here.

 

Petunia.

[Fresh]

Hi therealmccoy ,   so happy for you that you found this site before decreasing further.

 

Read , read and read some more.    I agree with Petunia - sit on 20mg a day and hope your symptoms don't get too much worse

before you stabilize.   Then go down slow enough that you don't get bad symptoms.

 

You've come off alot of meds in the last few months , and have been on ad's for a long time.   I would't be in a hurry here , slow

and steady always seems to win the race.

 

Good to have you on board ,  Fresh

[therealmccoy]

Thanks, Petunia, for the advice!  I think things have been going too fast as well.  I am willing to stay at the 20 mg for awhile as long as my dr. will keep prescribing it.  I'm due to see her again this Wednesday so I will let her know.  I wasn't sure about the signature.  For some reason I thought it would come up automatically from what I typed in on the registration.  I read the link you gave and am hoping that it appears on this post.

 

Silver star, thank you for advice as well.  I am also going to do as you suggest and stay put on the 20 mg for now.  Hopefully things will turn out ok if I slow things down enough.