Posted by bleauberry on November 20, 2007, at 18:32:35 [reposted on November 21, 2007, at 10:33:57 | original URL]
In reply to cymbalta withdrawal, posted by granny9 on November 19, 2007, at 13:06:38
Most doctors are seriously flawed in their knowledge of just how torturous antidepressant withdrawals are. The worst ones for withdrawals are Effexor, Paxil, and Cymbalta. They are all bad, but those three more so.
A good rule of thumb is to reduce dose by 10% every week or two weeks. You may need to go slower, or in smaller increments than 10%, or you may find it tolerable and be more aggressive. It varies from person to person.
A capsule of Cymbalta is filled with tiny beads which are enteric coated so each bead dissoves in your intestines and not your stomach. Stomach acid destroys them. For custom size dosing, approximately 9 to 11 beads equals 1mg. Take your custom sized dose put back in the capsule, or mix it in something soft that doesn't require chewing, such as applesauce, pudding or ice cream.
You can try to reduce dose from 60mg to 30mg and see what happens. You will likely feel something major is going on. That is the fastest way to get off if you can bear it. But for a smoother journey, though still not completely smooth, create your own custom sized doses and go down in small steps over a stretched out period of time. Those brain neurons need lots of time to adjust. The smaller the steps, the less shock, and the less discomfort you will feel.
As you get closer to zero, tiny steps down become large steps. For example, going from a 10mg dose to a 5mg dose is a 50% decrease in dose. That's a big step. As you get closer to zero you can start eliminating 1mg every few days or so.
If at any time after you have completely stopped you are having totally intolerable reactions, go ahead and take some more. Maybe a couple milligrams or whatever. Just enough. You might even feel like a junkie needing a fix. Then resume your journey getting off. Don't let a temporary stall frustrate you. Keep your eye on the goal but don't be in a major hurry to get there.
Basically, low and slow. Small steps. Or do it the doctor's way and see if you are ok with that. If not, you are now armed with the knowledge you need.
Withdrawal reactions are especially exaggerated when withdrawing from a drug that works on norepinephrine, like cymbalta. People experience a whole scattered wide array of symptoms. Some annoying, some downright scary. No one will get the same symptoms. Some of the more common ones are insomnia, nervousness/anxiety, brain shocks or brain zaps (hard to describe, feels like someone plugged your brain in the wall socket for a second), nausea, flu-like symptoms to where you can't be sure if you caught the flu or you are feeling withdrawals (it is withdrawals), feeling dizzy or unsteady, confused or foggy headed, headache, bodily aches and pains.
Some people withdraw with not much problem at all. I hope that is you! You've been on the med a couple months which is a whole lot better than a couple years. But a couple months is still plenty long enough to have caused many brain and bodily changes that will have to be undone as you get off the med.
poster:bleauberry
thread:796329
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20070929/msgs/796332.html