16 replies to this topic

[thismoment]

As we know, some generic Cymbalta dosages have a different number of beads in them, so your bead count will need to be adapted.

Don't worry, count by percentage. If you reduce by 1% per day you will finish the taper in 100 days (1% today, 2% tomorrow, 3% the next day).

If I did it again that's what I would do. (If your capsule contains 200 beads, reduce by 2 today, 4 tomorrow and 6 the next day, and so on). Or you might consider reducing by 1.5% each day over 75 days.

FYI, I reduced by 2.3% over 42 days and that was WAY too fast for me.

Perfect percentages may be difficult to work out because of a weird number of beads in a particular capsule. Don't be tempted to alter the number of beads from one day to the next in order to get the perfect overall percentage. That will create a taper that is stepped, and you want a linear slope. When in doubt, err on the low side and take a little longer to wean off.

[Timbo]

Sounds like you took almost the exact route I did...literally (almost) to the day.   Another reason I trust your advice.  

[equuswoman]

As we know, some generic Cymbalta dosages have a different number of beads in them, so your bead count will need to be adapted.

Don't worry, count by percentage. If you reduce by 1% per day you will finish the taper in 100 days (1% today, 2% tomorrow, 3% the next day).

If I did it again that's what I would do. (If your capsule contains 200 beads, reduce by 2 today, 4 tomorrow and 6 the next day, and so on). Or you might consider reducing by 1.5% each day over 75 days.

FYI, I reduced by 2.3% over 42 days and that was WAY too fast for me.

Perfect percentages may be difficult to work out because of a weird number of beads in a particular capsule. Don't be tempted to alter the number of beads from one day to the next in order to get the perfect overall percentage. That will create a taper that is stepped, and you want a linear slope. When in doubt, err on the low side and take a little longer to wean off.

 

thismoment, a slow taper of the linear fashion is the ONLY way that I'll ever be able to get OFF this nasty drug. Tried the cold turkey (by accident) it sucked. Did the physician way (step fasion) of 60 down to 30 and day 10 was hell. So I'm doing the drop of "1" nasty little bead at a time. This is what works for me. I'd love to drop 5 per day but tried that it didn't work. Thanks so much thismoment for all your help and encouragement.  TheEquusWoman

[thismoment]

Good morning Equuswoman! Have a great day!

[Timbo]

Ditto...tried 5 beads/day after I got down to about 60 beads or so...by the time I was down to 25 beads, I was MISERABLE!   So...back to 30 beads/day and only ONE bead reduction per day.   I'm through with the experimental methods.   I should have listened before.  I know when to accept the wisdom of those who have gone before me.  :-) 

[Akk]

Timbo,  I did one bead a day for the final 2-3 weeks because I wanted to be sure and the percentages of removing more than one at a time seemed to be too high of a percentage (2/21 would be 10%!)Fishinghat and Onemoment are right on with the calculations.  I just did not want to risk anything.  Keep listening to your body. There is no rush.  We are all learning.  It's when we stop listening and considering that we get ourselves in over our heads.  You and Equuswomen have all the time in the world to do this in a way that works for you!

[grandmax2]

Ok everyone, I think that I am missing something, you are counting beads??? How is this possible??? After SUFFERING for 8 days going cold turkey, I decided it was best for everyone involved(even the dog) for me to go back on Cymbalta and Lyrica and then follow wise advise and do the taper/bead counting process. So there I sat with a blistering headache and cloudy vision and opened a capsule, what I found was an impossible task of counting those itty bitty, energized  specks. How do you do it? Can these little $&^$#^&*'s be taken without being corralled back into the capsule, like just licking my finger and sticking it into the desired pile?

[thismoment]

Hi grandmax2.

 

Haha! I know what you mean- they are electrically charged little demons that zap all over the place! Maybe that's why they give us brain zaps! lol

 

Advise your physician.

 

After you re-instate on Cymbalta and get feeling stable, you can go on to bead counting.

 

You're going to have to count the beads in ONE of your capsules. After you know the number of beads in a capsule, decide on a tapering rate- let's say 2% per day over 50 days. If there's 200 beads in a capsule, pull it apart and on Day One and remove 4 beads. On Day Two pull a capsule apart and remove 8 beads, on Day Three remove 12 beads and so on to 50 days.

 

For this regimen you will need 25 full capsules and 25 empty ones (get empty gel caps at the pharmacy or the health food store). You may wish to taper over a longer period like 100 days, at 1% per day.

 

You can lick your finger and tip the capsule against it and count the beads there and put them in a jar for later use. But at some time you are going to have to deal with loose beads and count them into a capsule. You can also drop them in apple sauce and swallow that WITHOUT chewing- not ideal; a capsule is better!

 

If your symptoms become too difficult, stop the reduction and stay at the current dosage until you get feeling stable enough to continue reducing. You may wish to add  back a bead or two as necessary. Listen to your body. 

 

Best wishes! Keep us posted.

[Carleeta]

Ok everyone, I think that I am missing something, you are counting beads??? How is this possible??? After SUFFERING for 8 days going cold turkey, I decided it was best for everyone involved(even the dog) for me to go back on Cymbalta and Lyrica and then follow wise advise and do the taper/bead counting process. So there I sat with a blistering headache and cloudy vision and opened a capsule, what I found was an impossible task of counting those itty bitty, energized  specks. How do you do it? Can these little $&^$#^&*'s be taken without being corralled back into the capsule, like just licking my finger and sticking it into the desired pile?

From what I have read here it may not be advisable to take these beads and place them in your mouth directly. I did read somewhere here they could be taken with applesauce! Although the best advice would come from Thismoment or Fishinghat, among others which have more knowledge in this area. Please search through the forums and read what other members have posted concerning bead counting and which method is best for you. I would love to help you answer your question, although I do not have the knowledge in this area. What I do know is to NOT take the beads alone and swallowing them. We are here to help in anyway we can, even if offering to have others, more knowledgeable in the area for you to assist you..Like stated previously I DO know Thismoment and Fishinghat will assist you in this area..Good luck and hold on...

[equuswoman]

Hi grandmax2.

 

Haha! I know what you mean- they are electrically charged little demons that zap all over the place! Maybe that's why they give us brain zaps! lol

 

Advise your physician.

 

After you re-instate on Cymbalta and get feeling stable, you can go on to bead counting.

 

You're going to have to count the beads in ONE of your capsules. After you know the number of beads in a capsule, decide on a tapering rate- let's say 2% per day over 50 days. If there's 200 beads in a capsule, pull it apart and on Day One and remove 4 beads. On Day Two pull a capsule apart and remove 8 beads, on Day Three remove 12 beads and so on to 50 days.

 

For this regimen you will need 25 full capsules and 25 empty ones (get empty gel caps at the pharmacy or the health food store). You may wish to taper over a longer period like 100 days, at 1% per day.

 

You can lick your finger and tip the capsule against it and count the beads there and put them in a jar for later use. But at some time you are going to have to deal with loose beads and count them into a capsule. You can also drop them in apple sauce and swallow that WITHOUT chewing- not ideal; a capsule is better!

 

If your symptoms become too difficult, stop the reduction and stay at the current dosage until you get feeling stable enough to continue reducing. You may wish to add  back a bead or two as necessary. Listen to your body. 

 

Best wishes! Keep us posted.

Great post. Like the idea of licking my fingertip to get the little stinking, evil, vile, nasty beads to stick...lol

[grandmax2]

Went cold turkey for 8 days, due to terrible w/d, reinstated at half dose(60mg),started tapering 1/15/14.Feeling good.

 

Why is it necessary to count the beads in the capsule? I counted my 60mg(generic) capsule and there were 300 beads inside, my question is, wouldn't there be the same number of beads in every 60mg capsule? Some posts say things like "maybe 205" and "around 200". Since this is medicine, I would assume(probably wrong), that it is metered/measured to be uniform per dosage. If this is not the case then do I have to count every capsule before I remove my desired amount? Please excuse my inability to understand this, I have read the above posts over and over again and each time I get more confused.

[equuswoman]

Went cold turkey for 8 days, due to terrible w/d, reinstated at half dose(60mg),started tapering 1/15/14.Feeling good.

 

Why is it necessary to count the beads in the capsule? I counted my 60mg(generic) capsule and there were 300 beads inside, my question is, wouldn't there be the same number of beads in every 60mg capsule? Some posts say things like "maybe 205" and "around 200". Since this is medicine, I would assume(probably wrong), that it is metered/measured to be uniform per dosage. If this is not the case then do I have to count every capsule before I remove my desired amount? Please excuse my inability to understand this, I have read the above posts over and over again and each time I get more confusedgrandmax2

grandmax2, yes it can be very confusing. I know this for a fact. However my brain is hopefully in the process of healing. Thus the reason for some of my confusion....

 

You won't have to count all the beads in every capsule only the ones that you are removing from it.

 

I have always been on the brand name Cymbalta 60mg made by Eli Lilly. My capsules had 200 beads in them. At first I counted a few of them maybe 4. The total I got was approx. 200 give or take one or two I might have missed or dropped as they are so freaking tiny and do seem to have a life of their own. IMHO they remind me of possessed packing peanuts of the most tiny size...

 

I began on Thursday Nov 7th and removed 5 beads but had w/d of diarrhea, stomach cramps, severe nausea and headache. So I began to only remove or drop 3 beads per dose. I did this for several days but again this was more beads than I could handle. Long story short I am now removing/dropping "1" nasty evil little Cymbalta bead per dose at nite time.

 

I hope this helps you to understand a bit better but remember that it may be difficult to focus when in the process of weaning off this drug/poison.

 

Don't give up and know that it's also easy to become frustrated as well...

 

HTH

Much love & support & many  for you dear forum friend!

[thismoment]

Hi Grandmax2

 

It's necessary to count the beads in the first (just ONE) capsule so you know how many beads are in a 60 mg capsule of your brand of Cymbalta (it varies between brands). Yes there are the same number of beads in each of your capsules. 

 

The 300 is a nice number to work with. If you want to reduce by 2% per day over 50 days- day one take out 6; day two take out 12; day three take out 18 and so on to day 50 when you're done. You could also consider reducing by 1% per day: day one take out 3; day two take out 6; day three take out 9 and so on to 100 days.

 

If you do it over 50 days, you'll need 25 capsule of medicine and 25 empty capsules.  Keep the beads you remove because you will use them past half way through.

 

To start with, just count out the beads you need to remove. 

[grandmax2]

Hi Grandmax2

 

It's necessary to count the beads in the first (just ONE) capsule so you know how many beads are in a 60 mg capsule of your brand of Cymbalta (it varies between brands). Yes there are the same number of beads in each of your capsules. 

 

The 300 is a nice number to work with. If you want to reduce by 2% per day over 50 days- day one take out 6; day two take out 12; day three take out 18 and so on to day 50 when you're done. You could also consider reducing by 1% per day: day one take out 3; day two take out 6; day three take out 9 and so on to 100 days.

 

If you do it over 50 days, you'll need 25 capsule of medicine and 25 empty capsules.  Keep the beads you remove because you will use them past half way through.

 

To start with, just count out the beads you need to remove.

Thank you for spelling it out for me, I can't seem to wrap my brain around anything lately.

[Tales]

I have been on Cymbalta for years. I was on 60mg two years ago, but asked my Dr to reduce it to 30mg.

I am eighty years old. I have taken this drug for fibromyalgia pain. It has worked quite well for me; however I lost a lot of hair after starting this drug;

and kept loosing hair each year. Hair is not growing back. No Dr or Dermatologist would help me with that.

Lately hair has been coming out by the handfuls.

At this point, this might just be my age; but I have also read that other people have had hair loss on this drug.

I don't know if I will ever get any hair back, or keep what little I have; but I have to try.

I am taking 30mg generic. I will count the beads tomorrow and start.

Thank you for allowing me to be here.

I will take it slow.

[equuswoman]

I have been on Cymbalta for years. I was on 60mg two years ago, but asked my Dr to reduce it to 30mg.

I am eighty years old. I have taken this drug for fibromyalgia pain. It has worked quite well for me; however I lost a lot of hair after starting this drug;

and kept loosing hair each year. Hair is not growing back. No Dr or Dermatologist would help me with that.

Lately hair has been coming out by the handfuls.

At this point, this might just be my age; but I have also read that other people have had hair loss on this drug.

I don't know if I will ever get any hair back, or keep what little I have; but I have to try.

I am taking 30mg generic. I will count the beads tomorrow and start.

Thank you for allowing me to be here.

I will take it slow.

 

Hi glad that you are here with us. I am weaning off Cymbalta using the bead counting method. The w/d is rough but slow and easy is the way to go. Is for me anyhow. Please let us know how your doing. Much love and support from TheEquusWoman

[FiveNotions]

Welcome Tales! What you are doing is brave and wonderful and well worth the effort! I'ts late, and I must put myself to bed, but will come back tomorrow to respond more fully to your post .... You've come to a great place, all of us here are rooting for you!