110 replies to this topic

[cookie]

Hello JRDN:

Thank you for your response. In my case I do have mood swings.

Reading your answer, I realized I also felt better when I decreased to 20mg, than when I was taking 60mg. I felt more energized, and my mind was clear. When I was taking 60mg all I did was sleep and didn´t care for anything and nobody. I also lost weight.

I have also experienced flu like symptoms. It´s usually when I wake up. I read somewhere that flu like symptoms can be associated with liver function.

Please keep me posted on your progress and symptoms. I want to know what to expect once I quit completely.

[Imdone]

I take 10 beads out each day. I started on 90mg. I am hoping to do this in 90 days, plus or minus whatever my body tells me elsewise. It should take you 60 days. to get off 60 mg if you go down 1 mg per day like JRDN did.

I don't know anything about 5-HTP.

[Imdone]

Cookie, I really relate to what you said about not caring about anyone or anything. That definitely happened to me on Cymbalta. I hope it goes away.....nasty personality change where I really don't deeply care about anyone and nothing bothers me! Terrible! That is really an evil change. I'm surprised more people don't talk about that "unfeeling" change that happens on Cymbalta! It really is descpicable thing to happen to anyone. I thought I had just hardened over the years, but I bet it is the Cymbalta. I don't want to be so hard!!!!!

[JRDN]

So, did you take 10 beads out per day? Or 10 out per day for like a week, then started taking more out? I am thinking I need to back off taking 30 beads out right now. I took 25 beads out the last 2 - 3 days and I haven't felt as bad. I just don't want it to take me 3 or 4 months to get off of 60 mg. Has anyone tried the 5-HTP?

Some people do it different ways. If you were to take 10 beads out every day for a week, you brain has a chance to stabilize at that level. If you take out 1 bead every single day until your completely off, I don't see how that would be productive in avoiding withdrawal effects.

When you drop down weekly, (lets say you drop down on fridays) you experience 1-2 days of withdrawal effects, and then the rest of the week your brain is getting prepared and adjusted for the next drop down on the next friday.

I can see how it'd be tempting to just make progress every single day and keep weaning like that. I wouldn't though, I guess if you have limited time, you might.

Sorry, I don't know much about 5-HTP. I wouldn't mess around with anything that's going to alter serotonin levels. That's what your trying to have your brain do on it's own through weaning off. Do some google searching, see if people have used it with taking cymbalta


HERE: I did some searching...
http://www.drugs.com...7-949-2273.html
http://www.drugs-for...ad.php?t=112509

maybe you should wait until your done with cymbalta?

[goonch]

Hey folks.

I have been off of Cymbalta for over a month now and I did almost the same as JRDN. I explained my process, as well as what supplements I took, in another post on this board. You can find it HERE.

(Or here: https://www.cymbalta...d-off-cymbalta/)

Good luck, everyone. It can be done. Just go slow and listen to your body.

[PeterHunt]

Hi Everybody -

I started taking 30 mg Cymbalta 2 months ago for anxiety and depression. Can't say it really helped.... Now, I want to stop.

Does anybody ever have success stopping cold turkey for 30 mg without withdrawal symptoms?

I started my taper strategy a few weeks ago, and have not read anyone trying to taper this way: First I began taking it with a big meal to reduce the amount absorbed - I believe I read 20%. After a few days I began taking it about every 30 hours instead of every 24 hours by rotating which meal I would take it with. Start taking with breakfast, then next day with lunch, then next day with dinner; then start over and repeat. Then take it every 36 hours, by taking with breakfast one day and dinner the next and repeat. So far so good for me. Now, I going for taking it every 48 hours - we'll see how that goes.....

Thanks,

[Imdone]

PeterHunt, I think you will get symptoms. The best way to get off is the slow way. Fast = pain. There's no rushing this thing. Your brain needs time to re-wire all those receptors.

[Mstar]

I've been at 0 for 3 days now and today was the worst. Irritable, teary eyed, moody...I just keep asking for support from my family because I know I'm doing the right thing. I'm hoping I stabilize soon, but I believe I will, I have at every step I've taken and have done it slowly. Thanks JDRN for sharing your 'plan' with all of us.
Mel

[Imdone]

Yes, thanks JDRN for your great plan. It's still working very well for me on my 22nd day.

Hang in there Mstar!! You made it!! It will get much better soon.

[Allison]

Some people do it different ways. If you were to take 10 beads out every day for a week, you brain has a chance to stabilize at that level. If you take out 1 bead every single day until your completely off, I don't see how that would be productive in avoiding withdrawal effects.

When you drop down weekly, (lets say you drop down on fridays) you experience 1-2 days of withdrawal effects, and then the rest of the week your brain is getting prepared and adjusted for the next drop down on the next friday.

I can see how it'd be tempting to just make progress every single day and keep weaning like that. I wouldn't though, I guess if you have limited time, you might.

Sorry, I don't know much about 5-HTP. I wouldn't mess around with anything that's going to alter serotonin levels. That's what your trying to have your brain do on it's own through weaning off. Do some google searching, see if people have used it with taking cymbalta


HERE: I did some searching...
http://www.drugs.com...7-949-2273.html
http://www.drugs-for...ad.php?t=112509

maybe you should wait until your done with cymbalta?

I have been taking 10 beads out per day per every 10 days. It will take me at least about 3 months I think at this rate but I want to minimize the withdrawal symptoms. Do you think it is ok to take out the 10 beads every 7 days to speed up the process. How many beads make up 1 mg.? I thought I had seen it but couldn't find it. I will not start the 5-HTP till I am almost completely off the Cymbalta. I have plenty of 60 mg. pills left and also 30 mg. too for the second phase of the taper. I counted my 60 mg. beads and came up with a different count than everyone else, so a friend works in a lab and is going to weigh some of them (full capsules) to see if there is a variance in weight. I have to figure out when I get down to the 30 mg. capsules how to do the taper to completion. Thanks for your input! Allison

[Imdone]

I take 10 less beads every day and am doing great except once/week I get tired for 6 hrs and then it goes away. I have started sleeping alot to help with this process and I am feeling better since I have started sleeping 8-10 hrs instead of 7. I started at 90m and am now on 67mg. I am perfectly satisfied with this rate since I am having very little symptoms and am able to live pretty much normally, with a tad more fatigue than usual.

I found 300 beads in a 30 mg pill, but I do think you should count your own capsule as there appear to be differences. In a way it doesn't matter how many are in there if you just take 10 more out each day. Like today I took out 230 beads. Tommorow I will take out 240. When there are no more beads I'll be at 60 mg and start taking 10 out of it each day until there are no more.

[Allison]

I take 10 less beads every day and am doing great except once/week I get tired for 6 hrs and then it goes away. I have started sleeping alot to help with this process and I am feeling better since I have started sleeping 8-10 hrs instead of 7. I started at 90m and am now on 67mg. I am perfectly satisfied with this rate since I am having very little symptoms and am able to live pretty much normally, with a tad more fatigue than usual.

I found 300 beads in a 30 mg pill, but I do think you should count your own capsule as there appear to be differences. In a way it doesn't matter how many are in there if you just take 10 more out each day. Like today I took out 230 beads. Tommorow I will take out 240. When there are no more beads I'll be at 60 mg and start taking 10 out of it each day until there are no more.

Thanks for the info "ImDone" I really appreciate it. I am torn as I see others say that about 3 - 4 beads = 1 mg and one person did minus 1 mg. per day so it would take me less that 60 days since I already started a taper. Today (day 19 of my taper) I took out 35 beads, which should equal about minus 10 mg. now?

[Imdone]

By my count, 35 beads 3.5 mg because when I counted my capsule 300 beads = 30 mg, so 1 mg = 10 beads. I'm really not sure that all capsules are the same.

But it doesn't matter really. Take out as many beads each day as you still feel well on. For me, that is 10 beads.

[Imdone]

Well today I reached 60 mg, down from 90 mg, using this method. It went very smoothly. I was taking 10 beads out of a 30 mg pill per day.

Now I'm down to my 60 mg pill. I counted the beads in a 60 mg pill. It is 200 rather than 300 in a 30 mg pill. The difference is the beads are bigger. So I have decided to take 3 beads out of the 60 mg pill per day. At that rate, I should be off Cymbalta in 67 days. Here goes!

[Allison]

Well today I reached 60 mg, down from 90 mg, using this method. It went very smoothly. I was taking 10 beads out of a 30 mg pill per day.

Now I'm down to my 60 mg pill. I counted the beads in a 60 mg pill. It is 200 rather than 300 in a 30 mg pill. The difference is the beads are bigger. So I have decided to take 3 beads out of the 60 mg pill per day. At that rate, I should be off Cymbalta in 67 days. Here goes!

Hi I'm done! Good for you. Yes, I counted a 60 mg. pill twice and got 205 beads so there is a small variance. I am taking about 4 beads out per day as that equals a mg. and I started weaning on 7/29 (taking 10 beads per day but felt too sick so switched to 4 beads a day after about 2 weeks). I am now down to 36 mg. today and tomorrow will be 35 mg, and so on. I feel better than I did since taking less beads out. My only concern is what Jordan said about giving the brain time to adjust. I did see my doc. & she argued with me, but I told her I am NOT staying on this med. Gave her a very interesting study by the FDA even. I will next week add 10 mg. of Lexapro, which has a longer half life to my 30 mg. of Cymbalta that I will be down to. Then I stop Cymbalta when I get to 10 mg and then taper off the Lexapro. I should be all done by 10/12. Lots of luck and blessings to everyone!!

[Imdone]

Hi Allison!

Great to hear from another person using this brilliant method! Yes, when I counted the 60 mg I think I got something like 205 too, but I rounded it off for calculating. Going down by 3 beads a day is working great for me....I hardly feel anything most days, but I must be sure to get plenty of sleep, I'm finding. I am now down to 50mg.

Good luck to you, and good for you sticking to your guns and doing it your way.

[CR44]

Hi!! I'm new here...
I have read all the posts and would appreciate your comments:

I have been on it for 7 months and gained a lot of weight, I want to get off it! I take 60mg daily.

I am on a plan that I read somwere in some forum and it's also by taking out beeds: 1st day - 7 beeds, 2nd day - 14 beeds, 3rd day -21 beeds, etc.. basically 7 beeds per day (I dont know how many mg are 7 beeds!!??). I am on my second week and so far no withdrawal symptoms. I have no idea how many beeds my pills have... I purchase packs of 28 pills, what I can tell is that after I have worked pulling out the pills on the first 28 pack the last pill if up to it's half content which may indicate that it will take me around a total of two months to get to zero beeds.

Any thoughts??? comments???

[Imdone]

Yes, that sounds right CR44. Sounds like that will work good for you. 10 beads out of a 30mg pill is 1mg. 3 beads out of a 60mg pill is a little less than 1 mg. So it depends on how many mg are in your pill. The beads in the 60 mg pill are bigger than the beads in the 30 mg pill.

Good luck and congrats on doing it the sane way. Your family, job and friends will thank you for doing it the sane way!

[Danwall]

I am new to this forum. I had no idea that it was so much trouble getting off Cymbalta and that it took so long.
I reduced from 30 mg to one every 2 days, then half tablets and then zero in about 3 weeks. The reason I looked at your comments is because I have headaches and dizziness and thought that I had some other problem, but I now know why.
The side effects are not severe so I must have been lucky. I started on them 2 year ago for SADs, I am hoping that the daylight lamp will work this year or i am back to Cymbalta

[Imdone]

Hi Danwall, I'm suspecting that the side effects weren't that bad for you because you were only on 30mg, which isn't a huge dose. Welcome to this site!

[ExCymbaltaUser]

there are many other ADs on he market that don't have near the problems as cymbalta and can be used as effective alternatives.

[Allison]

Thanks again "I'm Done." I am so happy to hear that you are down to 50 mg!!!! I am now on 30 mg. and will go down 1 mg per day till done. Hang in there everyone! This stuff is tough to beat, like alcohol, maybe even worse, but we can do it!!! Allison

[Imdone]

Hi Allison, Thanks for the support....glad you're still doing it the "sane" way!

[valleygirl]

Hi I'm new to this forum I was wondering if anyone had to go back on their Cymbalta while trying to wean off because their depression returned. I am on 60mg and have been for probably 5yrs or so. I am now trying to wean off by removing beads. I counted the beads in my capsule and I counted 190 of course I could have been off a few. I made up a schedule of taking 1 bead out the first 2 days and then 2 beads out the next 2 days and so forth at that rate I can be off in a total of 6 weeks. I really don't think the Cymbalta is helping me anymore anyway, but I guess I'll know for sure if my depression returns. If at some point I begin to have withdrawal symptoms I was thinking I would just back it up to the previous 2 day dose and stay there until I stabilized. I also take 200mg Lamictal, 100mg Topamax, 0.5mg Klonpin as needed, mostly to help me to sleep. Would really appreciate some feedback on this method I'm using and also if anyone has had their depression return.

Thanks Valleygirl

[devildog]

Hi im new here but would like to put some input in with the demon drug.

Simply its horrible and iv only been on three months .. so decided to come off.
I was on 60mg a day and came off last Thursday.. I stopped it without weaning the dosage i just took 20mg of prozac a day and all the sides iv had is the odd shocks to the brain..Nothing major , Its nice to be able to taste and enjoy food again as it zapped my appetite and taste buds while on it,

And i will stop the prozac at the weekend as i know the sides of that are a walk in the park.

[JRDN]

Hi im new here but would like to put some input in with the demon drug.

Simply its horrible and iv only been on three months .. so decided to come off.
I was on 60mg a day and came off last Thursday.. I stopped it without weaning the dosage i just took 20mg of prozac a day and all the sides iv had is the odd shocks to the brain..Nothing major , Its nice to be able to taste and enjoy food again as it zapped my appetite and taste buds while on it,

And i will stop the prozac at the weekend as i know the sides of that are a walk in the park.

Maybe you should stay on Prozac a few more weeks so you know 100% that when you stop, you'll only have to worry about Prozac withdrawals, and not cymbalta's withdrawal effects too.

Anyways, good work. And tell all your friends and family about these horrible effect-producing SSRI/SNRI medications

[valleygirl]

My brother was on Effexor and had a hard time coming off of it so he went on Prozac and then he came off the Prozac with no problems so that seems like a good way to go. I'm weaning right now but if it doesn't go well that's the next thing I'm going to do. Glad you're doing well

[valleygirl]

I am also on 60mg I counted the beads in one capsule and there were 190 beads, so I started day 1 and day 2 only taking one bead out, day 3and 4 2 beads and so forth this really starts adding up after a while, I wanted to go slow I was so afraid of the side affects. I'm half way after about 2 weeks and no side affects yet at this rate I can finish by the end of the month so it would have taken me a total of 6 wks to get off, hope I don't run into any side affects and can finish this and get off this, I already feel a little better now. Wish you luck at your method.

[Caresy]

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new here too and have my own thread with my progress that I started. I've noticed how we all seem to have the same reactions to the withdrawl but how it still all affects us at different times and doses. I dropped to 30mg from 60mg no problem - not a single side effect. But when I used the bead counting method to drop to 27mg I had plenty of symptoms. You wouldn't think dropping 50% without a side effect that then you would have some pretty big ones dropping 10% more. Maybe it is because I decided to go cold turkey the first time I tried to get off the 30mg and now my brain is more sensitive to the drop?

Anyway, good luck to everyone here still battling and thanks for sharing, it has helped me immensely! One thing to share myself is that I found a an ice cold wet cloth on my forehead for about an hour or so really helped lessen the brain zaps intensity. Has anyone else tried this?

C.

[Niema]

So, did you take 10 beads out per day? Or 10 out per day for like a week, then started taking more out? I am thinking I need to back off taking 30 beads out right now. I took 25 beads out the last 2 - 3 days and I haven't felt as bad. I just don't want it to take me 3 or 4 months to get off of 60 mg. Has anyone tried the 5-HTP?

i've tried 5-htp but was very sick to stomach & dizzy, but did feel kinda normal, still titrating

horrid medicine, crazy making