55 replies to this topic

[FiveNotions]

Mich, I was on one of my "old fart bladder" bathroom runs, and thought I'd check in here on the way back to bed to see if you'd posted recently....

Bravo, it sounds like you've not only got a solid plan of action in mind, but also the discontinuation/withdrawal effects are seeming manageable!

Let us know how it goes with the doc appointment tomorrow.

Also, you might want to read the "nutritional support forum" to get some ideas for supps to take, etc. For example, a number of us took/take omega 3, multi vitamin, b-complex and chelated magnesium....

There are also lots of different "remedies" and "comfort care" things that can be used to ease various of the different effects you may have...just name an effect, and we'll have lots of suggestions ;-)

[Flossy]

Hi there, brand new to forum, have been on 180mg/day of cymbalta, down to 150 for 4 weeks and first day on 120, after reading some of these posts I am a little scared of the withdrawl as I go down! Today I've had really sharp pin type headaches, has anyone else had these? Also the electic zaps have started! I have gone off and onto new antidepressants before but fast and furiously in hospital, dosed up on benzos, this time I'm going it alone as I'm following a new treatment in mental health called bio balance and have been diagnosed with copper overload and pyrrole disorder which cause problems in the brain for dopamine and serotonin! I started the high dose supplements 21 days ago and am astounded at how brilliant I feel, I'm clear headed and have no anxiety except for withdrawl from meds! I have suffered from unmanageable panic for 9 years, so debilitating I've been unable to even work. I so badly want to lower cymbalta fast, but it's clear it's going to be a loooong process! I also take 5mg of Valium per day and .25mg of xanax, these too are going to be a massive challenge to go off! I don't regret taking these meds as I couldn't have functioned without them, but my brain chemistry is changing and I really want to be me again on the lowest dosages possible! I'm also on another anti depressant called valdoxan and apparently it is a lot easier to taper off, if anyone is looking for an alternative to the (difficult to go off) meds. I actually highly recommend googling bio balance dr William J Walsh! I live in Australia and there are only 33 doctors who have done the training for this and I am very lucky that my psychiatrist is one of them. There's a list of doctors on the web page who have done the training world wide! Honestly life changing for me. I was so skeptical and was at the point where I couldn't even be bothered trying anything new as I'd lost hope, I eventually was talked into giving it a go, super glad I did! Just got to get through these withdrawl now! Any suggestions on how to do so with minimum side effects, I would appreciate muchly! I know I can do this as nothing can be worse than the past 9 years, tbh it's been a living hell a lot of the time. Very grateful to be seeking help from withdrawl, never thought I'd be doing so....ever!

[Flossy]

Hi there, brand new to forum, have been on 180mg/day of cymbalta, down to 150 for 4 weeks and first day on 120, after reading some of these posts I am a little scared of the withdrawl as I go down! Today I've had really sharp pin type headaches, has anyone else had these? Also the electic zaps have started! I have gone off and onto new antidepressants before but fast and furiously in hospital, dosed up on benzos, this time I'm going it alone as I'm following a new treatment in mental health called bio balance and have been diagnosed with copper overload and pyrrole disorder which cause problems in the brain for dopamine and serotonin! I started the high dose supplements 21 days ago and am astounded at how brilliant I feel, I'm clear headed and have no anxiety except for withdrawl from meds! I have suffered from unmanageable panic for 9 years, so debilitating I've been unable to even work. I so badly want to lower cymbalta fast, but it's clear it's going to be a loooong process! I also take 5mg of Valium per day and .25mg of xanax, these too are going to be a massive challenge to go off! I don't regret taking these meds as I couldn't have functioned without them, but my brain chemistry is changing and I really want to be me again on the lowest dosages possible! I'm also on another anti depressant called valdoxan and apparently it is a lot easier to taper off, if anyone is looking for an alternative to the (difficult to go off) meds. I actually highly recommend googling bio balance dr William J Walsh! I live in Australia and there are only 33 doctors who have done the training for this and I am very lucky that my psychiatrist is one of them. There's a list of doctors on the web page who have done the training world wide! Honestly life changing for me. I was so skeptical and was at the point where I couldn't even be bothered trying anything new as I'd lost hope, I eventually was talked into giving it a go, super glad I did! Just got to get through these withdrawl now! Any suggestions on how to do so with minimum side effects, I would appreciate muchly! I know I can do this as nothing can be worse than the past 9 years, tbh it's been a living hell a lot of the time. Very grateful to be seeking help from withdrawl, never thought I'd be doing so....ever!

[Flossy]

Also I was wondering if anyone could help with info on how long withdrawl symptoms continue? I have had diarrhea for the past week or so, could that still be from going down from 180mg to 150mg 3 weeks prior? Surely not!!!

[thismoment]

Hi Flossy

 

Welcome! The first rule of discontinuation is don't try to figure out what's causing what and why and how come and maybe it's this or that- there is no way to know. You could be using that valuable time to embroider orchids and butterflies on your jeans.

 

You have several drugs on the go, so that enriches the colourful mosaic of side-effects.

 

The least acute side effects are felt from the longest weaning-off regimen. One person reported virtually no side effects from a withdrawal program of 15 months. I did 42 days- way too fast! Consider 100 days for withdrawal (the drug weaning part), and another 3-4 months of discontinuation.

 

The long-term discontinuation events vary a great deal in strength and the length of time they persist. Discontinuation can last for months or years. It's all unknown, because we are all part of this ongoing brain-chemistry experiment. There is no scientific data available from the manufacturers because there's no incentive to generate data that could affect sales.

 

But you are going to be alright. You just have to go slow, and live your life as you go. 

 

Put your expectations on the shelf and take it as it comes. It's like the airplane is delayed for 7 hours, and your quality of life depends on how you engage that delay. It's a waiting game.

 

Best wishes.

[fishinghat]

Also I was wondering if anyone could help with info on how long withdrawl symptoms continue? I have had diarrhea for the past week or so, could that still be from going down from 180mg to 150mg 3 weeks prior? Surely not!!!

Oh yea. The diarrhea express. FN is dead on with the time frame too.

[Flossy]

Hi Flossy

Welcome! The first rule of discontinuation is don't try to figure out what's causing what and why and how come and maybe it's this or that- there is no way to know. You could be using that valuable time to embroider orchids and butterflies on your jeans.

You have several drugs on the go, so that enriches the colourful mosaic of side-effects.

The least acute side effects are felt from the longest weaning-off regimen. One person reported virtually no side effects from a withdrawal program of 15 months. I did 42 days- way too fast! Consider 100 days for withdrawal (the drug weaning part), and another 3-4 months of discontinuation.

The long-term discontinuation events vary a great deal in strength and the length of time they persist. Discontinuation can last for months or years. It's all unknown, because we are all part of this ongoing brain-chemistry experiment. There is no scientific data available from the manufacturers because there's no incentive to generate data that could affect sales.

But you are going to be alright. You just have to go slow, and live your life as you go.

Put your expectations on the shelf and take it as it comes. It's like the airplane is delayed for 7 hours, and your quality of life depends on how you engage that delay. It's a waiting game.

Best wishes.

[Flossy]

Thanks thismoment, I will try to not think too far ahead, although the nature of panic and anxiety is to want to know if what's happening is normal, otherwise I feel like something else is seriously wrong and it makes me panicky! I really need to know if the "pin in head type headache is one of the withdrawal effects others have experienced, again I'm catastrohising and thinking it is something more sinister! Haha gotta love the super sensitive mind!!!

[thismoment]

Flossy

 

You've made my day! I love how you turned that noun into a verb: catastrophe = catastrophising!! Sourcing nouns pressed into service as verbs is an avocation of mine; maybe we can dialogue it sometime! lol

 

The stiletto-thru-the-brain, knitting needle, brain-spike type headaches have been reported. It's sort of like a brain-zap that stays for lunch. The Phantom Diseases Show is one of the themes of Cymbalta Discontinuation; it sends many of us to the doc, to specialists, and to the ER thinking we are dying. You will be okay. The MS, lupus, fibromyalgia, hernia, GI pain, diarrhea, hypertension, celiac, brain tumour, glaucoma, vertigo, muscle spasm. arthritis, and gout will all go away.

 

What medication do you have to deal with anxiety? Anxiety is the wild-card in withdrawal, and if unchecked it will spook you and destabilize the process. And often anxiety may be seen in the park walking hand-in-hand with depression.

 

Take care.

[MichB]

FN,

Well I didn't get to see the doc today. She's on vacation this whole week. Yikes! I contacted the supervisor at the clinic to see if she would approve a refill. Or at least a weeks worth til the doc comes back. Had to leave her a voicemail. Didn't hear back from her. She's always so busy but she's just wonderful to me so hopefully I'll talk to her tomorrow.

Here's my question for you guys:
Should I get a refill on the 60's and reduce beads from there or go down to 40?

I had another wonderful (by our standards) day today!! No nausea until 7:30pm. So exciting. My body knew I needed that dose so I took my capsule and within an hour I felt good again.
And....I was able to catch my migraine in time to stop it.
Had the day off today so my son and I went out to lunch then went to bid on a job referral and gained a new client. (I clean houses) Cha Ching! Mo money! So my book is full.
I have to be very vigilant and oh so careful to keep this withdrawal slow and steady. I know it's going to be a long process. I'm very happy that I may have made it past the worst of the switch from 120 to 60. Like you said, I'd never advise anyone to do that my gosh!
I have been taking a multi vitamin, B-12, vitamin D and vitamin C for over a month. Feels like they do help. I think I read somewhere on here to only take vitamin C 100 instead of 500 due to it being harsh on the liver. If so, I'll switch to 100.

I will go look in the nutritional support forum before bed and see what else I can do to make this process more manageable.

Thanks again for being here to support me.
Much appreciated!!

Mich

[Flossy]

Flossy

You've made my day! I love how you turned that noun into a verb: catastrophe = catastrophising!! Sourcing nouns pressed into service as verbs is an avocation of mine; maybe we can dialogue it sometime! lol

The stiletto-thru-the-brain, knitting needle, brain-spike type headaches have been reported. It's sort of like a brain-zap that stays for lunch. The Phantom Diseases Show is one of the themes of Cymbalta Discontinuation; it sends many of us to the doc, to specialists, and to the ER thinking we are dying. You will be okay. The MS, lupus, fibromyalgia, hernia, GI pain, diarrhea, hypertension, celiac, brain tumour, glaucoma, vertigo, muscle spasm. arthritis, and gout will all go away.

What medication do you have to deal with anxiety? Anxiety is the wild-card in withdrawal, and if unchecked it will spook you and destabilize the process. And often anxiety may be seen in the park walking hand-in-hand with depression.

Take care.

[Flossy]

Glad I could make somebody's day, not feeling so chirpy at the end of day 2! Is pretty awful, I'm hoping I feel better soon! Hard to function in this state counting my blessings though, have incredible family support and don't have to work at the moment as my husband is working hard for the both of us

[FiveNotions]

Way to go, Mich!

I'd say get to 60 mg, and hang at that dose for a week or so...get as stable as you can at 60....then, start the bead counting ... I can't give you definitives for how many beads to remove at a time, or how often...others here have done the bead counting, so I'll let them weigh in on that ...

The key thing is this....go slow and easy, especially since you are running your business and working hard throughout this....the goal is to get off the poison, yes...but this isn't a race or a competition...you want to do this in a way that allows your brain and body to readjust as gradually as possible...the real goal is to be healthy and happy!

Also, don't overdo...you had a big day yesterday, new client (yay!), more work, lots of activity...and so you may feel a bit of a relapse today or tomorrow....all part of the pattern....try to stretch out the good days, minimize the relapse or hard days...

I'm so sorry you didn't get to see the doc yesterday....as a fellow "clinic user" I know how this goes... my pharmacy is very good at contacting my clinic/docs for refills...they seem to respond to the pharmacy much more promptly than to me about refills...so maybe try to have your pharmacist call on your behalf...

Getting the refill is important! We do not want you to have to go into real cold turkey withdrawal at this point...120 down to 60 is a huge enuf drop, you don't need any more shocks to your system!

[gail]

Hi Flossy

 

Welcome! The first rule of discontinuation is don't try to figure out what's causing what and why and how come and maybe it's this or that- there is no way to know. You could be using that valuable time to embroider orchids and butterflies on your jeans.

 

 

Simply love this TM, and I really can relate to this.

 

At 4months and a half, I have those episodes of tension and anxiety maybe 2 days a week.

 

And the mind goes like this, What's wrong, will I ever be normal again, am I going nuts?what is causing this, discontinuation? hormones? Stress maybe? no, no stress at the moment. Unconscious trauma? Stressed out for no good reason.

 

As those weeks go by, I have not the tiniest answer to that.

It passes. Then comes back.

 

But I sure would like an answer to that, it would reassure me. Discontinuation would be a great answer.

Who knows what's going on in that body of mine. As you say, there is no sure way to know. I just hate not knowing.

 

C'est la vie!

[Jones]

Catastrohising
Had to google this one. Love it.
Stay on this site and see how normal this is.

[thismoment]

Gail

"And the mind goes like this, What's wrong, will I ever be normal again, am I going nuts?what is causing this, discontinuation? hormones? Stress maybe? no, no stress at the moment. Unconscious trauma?"

I HAVE THE ANSWER!!

It's elves! It's the same little demons that have been stealing my socks! Ever wonder where socks go? Why do you end up with one red, one green, and one blue? It's elves! And what about gloves?

[FiveNotions]

And, I'll add this.... my best friend is totally freaked out with me, at me... he keeps asking "where's the person I know gone to" .... says he wants the "real me" back ... he actually said in an email just now that he liked the old "drugged up" me better than the new "undrugged" me.... he really and truly thinks that this me, the person no longer on crapalta, is a "false" me ... I've said this elsewhere here before, I know...but it erupted again just now in an email exchange... I feel like I'm in a "twilight zone" episode...

I'm going to start telling him that the "elves"...the "gremlins" ... stole that "old me" ... and left "this me" in her place....

This friendship likely isn't going to survive me getting off the poison ... sad, ironic, and man...my anxiety level is through the roof right now ...

aaaaargh .....

[gail]

Thismoment, elves? I mentionned once having a perfectly shaped head, not mind.

 

I am also french speaking, but here, I do not understand what you are saying.

I may sound stupid here, but would you care to explain what you mean by this? Elves?

 

Let me guess here, inspirated by FN's post, Cymbalta's after effect.

 

FN, speaking of this friend, I must confess that my ex boyfriend liked me much better while I was a bit wild, drinking, and not asking questions. We are no longer together, not meant for each other either. And I like myself much more than during those times.

 

And I bet that you do also.

[FiveNotions]

Thank you for sharing that, Gail... it's comforting to know that this is yet another "Cymbalta effect" ;-)

As for TM's reference to "elves" ... maybe it a US-thing ... let's see if I can explain... you know how when you do laundry, somehow one sock out of a pair somehow manages to get lost, disappear? Likewise, in your sock drawer, pairs of socks somehow get separated, and again, one of them disappears? Same thing with anything that goes in pairs... gloves, nylon stockings, etc...

Well, a sort of joke we make is that the "sock elves"...or "sock gremlins" get into the laundry or the sock drawer and steal just one sock from a pair .... and that somewhere in "elf-land" or "gremlin-land" there's a huge cave full of all our missing socks...and mittens, gloves, stockings...

TM was applying the "elf" / "gremlin" theory to our post-Cymbalta doubts about whether we're sane or not... what happened to my sanity? .... must have been stolen by the "elves" ....

eh, humor doesn't translate/explain well, does it :-(

[gail]

Ah Ah! I was on the right track FN. You are right, humor does not translate very well.

 

Here to translate, we would say that the washing machine must have eaten it.

 

I was so happy when TM said she knew the answer and scrolling down, I saw elves. What is this? so disappointed I was.

 

Let's just hope that the elves can leave us alone. I prefer seeing them in a prairie and hot having them shacked up in my mind.

 

I wish you a peaceful evening, anxiety free FN. Thank you.

[thismoment]

Gail

 

Je m'excuse; c'est les elfes, ou peut être des fées!

[MichB]

I've been at 60 for 6 weeks. I feel somewhat stable here but shouldn't I attempt the bead counting at some point? I won't know til I try right? I am for sure not trying to race through this! I will go as slow as my body tells me to!! I really don't care how long it takes as long as I come out of this feeling semi normal.

And yes I will need help from the others when I do start if they don't mind because sometimes my brain doesn't understand things so easily anymore. I try to be a good sport about it and I was attributing it to old age but now I see it's probably the poison contributing to my brain fog!

Weird day today. Woke up feeling like I just went to bed. Had to reschedule my client. Slept til 7pm!!! Luckily my son kept checking on me though I don't remember talking to him lol. Sleeping all day must be a little bit of a relapse as you said.

Still haven't heard from the supervisor at the clinic. I will have to call again in the morning. I get my meds from the pharmacy at the clinic so I have to have approval from the supervisor or doc for refills. So my clinic does the opposite of yours. They are all so wonderful to me but I know it's all my responsibility to stay on top of my own needs.

[MichB]

Flossy,
I so relate to you!!

Gail,
I relate to your post as well! The unanswered questions are so unsettling!

This moment,
Great advice!! The elves? Lol. Like that better than gremlins. Gremlins are freaky looking to me!!

[MichB]

FN,

Strange that your friend prefers the old you. I certainly don't know that person. But in reading many of your posts you appear to me as a very loving, compassionate and helpful person. You are so kind to help people through this wicked journey.
I hope you and your friend can figure things out!
I appreciate all of your advice and support!

Mich

[Clara]

Ah so  it's the elves that get into my head! Now I know where all the crap comes from! lol! Now to figure out how to evict them! Id rather have good fairies! Not going into a bunch of negatives but prayers, good vibes are appreciated! Wishing all on the forum a great day!

[MichB]

Tried the clinic again today. Supervisor out for the day. Ugh.
They're open tomorrow til 7pm. I may just drive into town and
show up. If I can catch her, certainly she'll get me a refill until
my doc comes back from vacation.

Had another good day today. The nausea has been hitting me
in the evenings which is great. Don't want that while working. I didn't
feel my migraine until this evening as well. Managed to somewhat
knock it out. The constant sweating is driving me nuts though and
I had some freaky brain zaps off and on.

I think I'm ready to try the bead counting now.
Hoping to get some advice on that in the bead counting forum...