I've been counting beads and tapering since the beginning of February. At the very bottom of this post is a chart showing how many beads I've removed from a 60mg pill. The one time I counted all the beads in a pill I got a count of 624. I've lately been at a peak of minus 220 pills. I had been taking Cymbalta for Fibromyalgia and specifically for pain. In the beginning it felt like it was helping a little but even on Cymbalta my pain has been significant. If I knew then what I know now about Cymbalta I would have asked for another SNRI. If I had found out within the first couple of months of taking Cymbalta I would have been far more critical of whether it really was making a significant positive effect. Honestly I probably would have quit because the "reward" wasn't worth the "risk" of being on Cymbalta.
Lately I've dealt with increased pain, though I honestly think that was from a back injury on top of Fibromyalgia. I've experienced increased back pain especially when standing or moving. Decreased mobility as my back has been so tight I haven't been able to fully straighten. At the worst I thought my left leg would give out on me while walking. It could have been a fairly minor injury that my dysfunctional body super amplified the pain of.
The thing I'm struggling with the most is anxiety. I've found myself growing more irritable and more panicked the past few weeks. A lot of this might be my reaction to what is going on in the world. My husband and I are high risk and have been physically distancing ourselves from everyone else. My husband has been working from home for the past 8 weeks. Before all of this I've been used to isolating myself from mainstream news because sensationalised negative news has historically amped up depression. It is really bad enough that this medical crisis is going on and myself and my husband are high risk for more extreme side effects, but I also don't trust the leadership at the state level and not at all at the federal level.
Since I am feeling as if I've staving off a panic attack today I wanted to reevaluate tapering. Are these anxiety feelings caused by or exacerbated by my tapering Cymbalta? Honestly there is part of me that just wants to keep taking the full dose again and taper at another time. But then the thought of losing three months of tapering is very depressing in and of itself. But looking at my own data critically I realize for one that I need to be more consistent and careful with tapering. I was so exhausted the other day when I had forgotten to take the modified Duloxetine pill that I took a full pill. ( I know not my best decision.) I also made a jump up of 10+ more beads removed a couple of days later. Last night was another situation of forgetting and I approximated about 200 beads. I'm really good at doing that now but it isn't a replacement for counting them. So I think my first step is to be more consistent about dosage and timing for at least a week. Also halt removing more beads at -220 until I feel more secure about what is going on.
I do need to decide what I'm going to do at a doctors appointment in a week. I'm trying to change doctors at the same practice. I haven't told my present doctor I'm bead counting and tapering because when I discussed it with her she completely discounted the fact that people have a harder time tapering from Cymbalta than other SNRIs. I'm probably about 80 beads away from being at 30 mg and it would be really nice and more convenient to switch over to a lower dose pill. But honestly an appointment where I'm asking for a change in doctors might not be the best time to discuss it. Plus I might be 60 days away from the 30 mg dose. But maybe this is also an opportunity to get another SNRI prescribed. But I'm honestly not sure if he would be willing to do a split dose... 30 mg of Duloxetine with another low dose SNRI with a longer half life like Prozac at the same time... The wisest course of action would be to wait until my appointments with the sleep specialist and Integrative health. Because if the things go poorly with the new doctor I'm going to want to change practices entirely. Best to take the wise course of action and just wait.
So I guess I've talked myself out of taking a full dose of Duloxetine again or talking to my new doctor about Duloxetine tapering just now. Honestly writing it all out helped bring clarity. But I would absolutely love any advice and I do need to find alternative ways to deal with increased anxiety possibly due to Cymbalta withdrawals. I'm planning on going on a news vacation soon to help. Also try to focus on fun activities and light hearted media as I'm able. Thanks for being a sounding board! Good luck and health to everyone going through tapering!!
Day Dose
2/3/20 -46
2/4/20 0
2/5/20 -48
2/6/20 -49
2/7/20 -16
2/8/20 -49
2/9/20 0
2/10/20 -55
2/11/20 0
2/12/20 -62
2/13/20 -62
2/14/20 -65
2/15/20 -68
2/16/20 -72
2/17/20 -72
2/18/20 -74
2/19/20 -77
2/20/20 -80
2/21/20 -82
2/22/20 -82
2/23/20 -80
2/24/20 -80
2/25/20 -80
2/26/20 -80
2/27/20 -82
2/28/20 -85
2/29/20 -87
3/1/20 -89
3/2/20 -89
3/3/20 -90
3/4/20 -92
3/5/20 -94
3/6/20 -96
3/7/20 -98
3/8/20 -98
3/9/20 -100
3/10/20 -100
3/11/20 -102
3/12/20 -100
3/13/20 -100
3/14/20 -105
3/15/20 -108
3/16/20 -110
3/17/20 -112
3/18/20 -114
3/19/20 -116
3/20/20 -116
3/21/20 -118
3/22/20 -114
3/23/20 -120
3/24/20 -122
3/25/20 -124
3/26/20 -126
3/27/20 0
3/28/20 -128
3/29/20 -130
3/30/20 -130
3/31/20 -132
4/1/20 -134
4/2/20 -137
4/3/20 -140
4/4/20 -136
4/5/20 -142
4/6/20 -148
4/7/20 -148
4/8/20 -150
4/9/20 -154
4/10/20 -160
4/11/20 0
4/12/20 -163
4/13/20 -168
4/14/20 -170
4/15/20 -172
4/16/20 -178
4/17/20 -190
4/18/20 -194
4/19/20 -198
4/20/20 -200
4/21/20 -202
4/22/20 -204
4/23/20 -206
4/24/20 0
4/25/20 -200
4/26/20 -220
4/27/20 -200?
