6 replies to this topic

[MaureenV]

Yes, I have this occuring now, as my insurance is in limbo for a month and I cannot afford a script for Cymbalta as there is no generic--though everyone here on this forum probably knows this.

Anyhow, my husband and I moved 2000 mi es so we both can work in our professions, I am a grad school degreed person unable to find steady work where we had moved for my husbands career so money has been tight. I tried to go off of it a month ago when we still had insurance and I could not do it because
of the side effects so I refilled another month and was not able to see a new doctor here in the new State. The shocks are, and were terrible enough that I called my Psychiatrist off hours wondering if it was an emergency. She simply told me I need to find a new doctor and to go back to 60 mg. Had I been in CT I likely would have been able to get a lot of samples from her, but since I am currently uninsured.... Now it has been two days and it is getting worse, I just puked, I feel the zaps through my whole body and my stomach feels terrible.

I suppose the good thing is being unemployed during this time, I'm taking as many herbal supplements as I can to try to help but the side effect mentioned above is terrible!

Hi Allie,


Can you afford to get a prescription for (say) 20mg? I don't know how the costs work in the US (in Aust we pay the same for a monthly supply - about $35 - regardless of the dose). If you (eg) took that dose it would reduce the withdrawal effects as your body slowly adjusted to the lower dose.

If, IF, you felt perfectly o.k. after a few weeks, you may be able to use the balance of the capsules (with the contents divided into even smaller doses) to reduce the symptoms to a manageable level.

Just know that whatever you're feeling, physically (easy to identify) but also emotionally are almost certainly due to withdrawal.

Keep posting here even if you just want to vent - we all know exactly what you mean in a way which no one else really can.

People can understand muscle pain, headaches, not sleeping etc etc, but regurgitation? brain zaps? You had to be there! And we have!


keep in touch,


Maureen.

[MaureenV]

Allie, I couldn't do it cold turkey. The symptoms were bad enough for me even doing 30mg every one and a half days. Admittedly I was gearing up for the busiest part of the year with my own business and just taking time of (without letting both suppliers and customers down badly) was just not an option.

A few times I tried to move a bit too fast with the tapering, and what pulled me back one time was the brain fog. On one particular day I made so many mistakes, lost so many pieces of paper, forgot so many things that I had to adjust the dose back up again. (I think that was the time I tried to stop completely at 10mg.) If I hadn't had to work, I would have been able to stay off at that stage.

Can't help you at all with the generic, perhaps someone else can, haven't heard of it though. Many find taking Prozac at the same time as they're withdrawing helps, but again, don't know the impact cost wise, or if there's a generic. Costs also seem to vary state by state in the US.


If you do feel you have to resort to $$$ for the drug to be able to function, keep in mind that each day of withdrawals reduces your body's need for the drug: e.g. If you were taking 60mg, and haven't had any for a week, it MAY only need (eg) 30mg per day to make you feel human again.

Just so you know, (and again, this is because I don't know how the pricing works there) the higher the dose, the larger the number of beads in a capsule - i.e. each bead is the same strength, and a 20mg capsule contains 180 of them approx, and a 60mg contains approx 540. If you can get the 60mg for LESS THAN three times the price of the 20mg, you'd be better of getting that dosage and also buying some empty gelatine capsules (about $15) and using them to split the 60mg into two 30s.

No one knows what dose you'll need to take to alleviate the symptoms, or how long you'll need to stay at each level before dropping again, but because taking it again works so quickly (you should feel better within a few hours) so it would be best to find the lowest dose you can manage with, rather that going straight back to 60mg.

Keep in touch, regards, Maureen.

[Junior]

Hi Chris

I don't know about a supplement but some people find taking Prozac during the withdrawal period helpful. It has a longer half life and is said to be easier to get off later.

Another option could be to 'updose' and taper more slowly.

Regards
Junior

[svaughn]

Help. I went from 28mg of Cymbalta by opening the capsule to 20 two days ago and today I am nauseaus, DIZZY and hot n cold. Is there a supplement I can take to ease these withdrawl symptoms?

Hi. I have been on cymb. for 2.5 years at 60mg. when i was pregnant i tried to wean off with help of psychiatrist..a quack might i add. i explained to him i was worried about the withdrawal effects as i had those when coming off effexor. he told me there was no such thing. He weaned me off, first going down to 30mg. I could not work or function. i had brain zaps, feelings of hopelessness and anger and times where i would just cry. Subsequently i felt i was doing more harm than good considering in was pregnant and the OB suggested i just get back on and try after the baby was due to get off. SO..i am in that process. This psychiatrist so far is good. he weaned me from 60 to 40-took 40 for 2 weeks. All i had at tht time was nauseous feeling. Then 20 for 2 weeks--had headaches. Then took 20 every other day for a week and I was done. When I began every other day the brain zaps began FULL FORCE. I then began to feel irritable. After friday being my last dose by sunday it was over...crying, pain, hopelessness!!! i called on call dr. and she RX me klonopin to ease these feelings. THese have helped but once they wear off the brain zaps begin and i feel sooo sad. My husband does not understand any of it. I hate this medicine. I see my dr tomm. He suggested I go back and take a 20...but what? just to prolong this. I dont know what i going to happen. coming off is like a horror story. The only thing that has helped has been the .5 klonopin to ease head zaps. It is sooo scary to think this medicine can do this. Now i have known people to open up the capsules...but my dr. highly says this is a no no. Any other time i have come off a med they go down my 30. I am happy this dr did is slow and my 20, but now there is no more and i feel like death. I hope you get some relief. And so happy to have found this site. To know I am not the only one.

[MaureenV]

Hi. I have been on cymb. for 2.5 years at 60mg. when i was pregnant i tried to wean off with help of psychiatrist..a quack might i add. i explained to him i was worried about the withdrawal effects as i had those when coming off effexor. he told me there was no such thing. He weaned me off, first going down to 30mg. I could not work or function. i had brain zaps, feelings of hopelessness and anger and times where i would just cry. Subsequently i felt i was doing more harm than good considering in was pregnant and the OB suggested i just get back on and try after the baby was due to get off. SO..i am in that process. This psychiatrist so far is good. he weaned me from 60 to 40-took 40 for 2 weeks. All i had at tht time was nauseous feeling. Then 20 for 2 weeks--had headaches. Then took 20 every other day for a week and I was done. When I began every other day the brain zaps began FULL FORCE. I then began to feel irritable. After friday being my last dose by sunday it was over...crying, pain, hopelessness!!! i called on call dr. and she RX me klonopin to ease these feelings. THese have helped but once they wear off the brain zaps begin and i feel sooo sad. My husband does not understand any of it. I hate this medicine. I see my dr tomm. He suggested I go back and take a 20...but what? just to prolong this. I dont know what i going to happen. coming off is like a horror story. The only thing that has helped has been the .5 klonopin to ease head zaps. It is sooo scary to think this medicine can do this. Now i have known people to open up the capsules...but my dr. highly says this is a no no. Any other time i have come off a med they go down my 30. I am happy this dr did is slow and my 20, but now there is no more and i feel like death. I hope you get some relief. And so happy to have found this site. To know I am not the only one.

Hi, I've answered your other post, but there are a few different points here, so I'll give this on a go, too.

Professionals are rightly concerned about people opening capsules, because it IS very important that they are treated with respect.

Doctors have to keep up with a squillion drugs - just have a look at the size of the prescription handbook. They know that Cymbalta is a slow release drug, and they are often not completely familiar with the physical characteristics of each one - how can they?

The drug company says: do not open the capsules, but they don't say why. When i first posted here I saw comments which said that if you took the internal beads on their own you were 'getting the whole dose at once' which didn't make sense to me. The outer capsule is made of gelatine - it dissolves in warm water in a few seconds, so if taking the beads on their own was getting the whole dose at once, then so was taking them in the capsule.

It's the BEADS inside which are slow release and it's important they get to your stomach in good condition. Crunch them up with your teeth or dissolve them in something beforehand and you're looking for trouble. It's easier for the drug companies to just say 'don't do it' than assume some of us actually have some intelligence and would follow any advice given.

You can buy clear gelatine capsules and easily divide 60 into 3, or 30 into two etc etc.

I did that right down to 5mg: at that stage I divided a 30mg into two, then each of those into three. With the clear capsules it's easy to measure just visually. I did a random check from time to time and was quite accurate.

If I were you, and knowing what I do now, I wouldn't hesitate to take the 20mg. The next few months will pass either way - you might as well feel relatively civilized rather than the way you do, especially if you have a baby to look after.

Everyone here knows how frustrating it is to be on this drug rather than off, but if you try to see it as training your brain to be without it rather than still taking crap, it helps. Most of us doing the slow taper have become impatient and suffered the consequences. I tried to stop completely at 10mg, without success, ending up dropping eventually at 1mg!

Don't be disheartened by that - just remember that slow tapering allows your brain to recover at its own pace.

regards, Maureen.

[cmonk]

Hello,

Well I just wanted to say Maureen is right. I tried to do get off this junk like you and I thought I was going to die or go crazy at best.I started at 60mg since the end of Aug and am now at 5mg. 5mg is 45 beads and just last night I stared taking 1 bead out and will do this every day for the next 45 days. I had some gelatin pill at the house and was not able to drive so I just opened those up and dumped the gelatin out and started counting beads. It cost me about $5.00. I have had the brain zaps and other side effects but a whole lot milder the when I just stopped at 30mg.I wish you the best of luck and remember to be kind to your body this is not a race.

Candy

OOOPPPSS, I for got to sign in!!!

[nursedeborah]

Yes, I have this occuring now, as my insurance is in limbo for a month and I cannot afford a script for Cymbalta as there is no generic--though everyone here on this forum probably knows this.

Anyhow, my husband and I moved 2000 mi es so we both can work in our professions, I am a grad school degreed person unable to find steady work where we had moved for my husbands career so money has been tight. I tried to go off of it a month ago when we still had insurance and I could not do it because
of the side effects so I refilled another month and was not able to see a new doctor here in the new State. The shocks are, and were terrible enough that I called my Psychiatrist off hours wondering if it was an emergency. She simply told me I need to find a new doctor and to go back to 60 mg. Had I been in CT I likely would have been able to get a lot of samples from her, but since I am currently uninsured.... Now it has been two days and it is getting worse, I just puked, I feel the zaps through my whole body and my stomach feels terrible.

I suppose the good thing is being unemployed during this time, I'm taking as many herbal supplements as I can to try to help but the side effect mentioned above is terrible!

Allie,
Please know that you can cal the stupid co that makes this drug, and they
will give it to you for free, but you do need to have a doctor. Also Montel
Williams TV Host has a web site, and has a drug program for people who can't
pay for their meds!

Debbie