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Duloxetine (Cymbalta) Withdrawal Bad News!

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flyntheointment
flyntheointment

Wow, this is really really hard to get off of. I have taken 60mg for 2 years for nerve damage to my left leg. It worked fairly well up till recently when the pain started creeping back and my Doctor prescribed Lyrica, which worked great for the pain. He never said to stop the Duloxetine but I did not want to take it anymore since it seemed to me that Lyrica was all I needed. I began to taper off...1st I went to 30mg and was just fine, a month later I decided to go down to 20mg. Than after 2 days it started. Felt like the Flu was coming on, cold sweats, nausea, diarrhea, and the worse insomnia in my life, when I did get some sleep it was terrible and filled with nightmares...really bad ones! I went on like this for 26 days...finally I decided to see if it was a sickness or if it was the lower dosage. I went back up to the 30 mg and within a day I was back to normal. I am afraid to go back to the 20 and they do not have a lower dose and you can't open the capsule. What can I do...just keep on taking the 30 forever or is there some way I could decrease it by 5 mg instead of the 10? Do I need to go to compound pharmacy and spend a fortune or can I just cut open capsule and weigh the powder on scale?

0 likes, 21 replies

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  • lucy1969
    lucy1969 flyntheointment

    Posted

    You can weigh the powder inside the capsule and cut down in smaller increments.

    Another thing to try is high strength omega-3 oil to help with withdrawal. I used this when I was coming off of venlafaxine which is also an SNRI. I bought 1200mg capsules and took four in the morning and three late afternoon - really helped with brain zaps, dizziness and nausea.

    St John's Wort is also supposed to help with withdrawal side effects.

    • harriet67221
      harriet67221 lucy1969

      Posted

      Titration is the recommended method because the contents of a capsule include binders and fillers so therefore impossible to tell just how muh of the drug is being taken. There are videos online on water titration of drugs . Take care j
    • flyntheointment
      flyntheointment harriet67221

      Posted

      I am not a chemist so that's not going to happen, but why would it matter if the binders and fillers are in there if it is all measured out evenly?

    • harriet67221
      harriet67221 jeff51793

      Posted

      Jeff The chemist said splitting the contents of a capsule or any tablet is not recommended as the dose cannot be guaranteed. I accepted his expert advice.
    • jeff51793
      jeff51793 harriet67221

      Posted

      I always ask my doctor, but as you know, they don’t know much, if anything, about Cymbalta.  Some pills come with a line through them.  I was told these are ok to split.
  • kathleen36610
    kathleen36610 flyntheointment

    Posted

    During an Op to remove a tumour in my Abdomen and Spine a Nerve was damaged which works my left leg, I was firstly prescribed Gabapentien then Pregabilin and also Duloxetine. I have experienced the withdrawl symptoms of weaning myself off Pregabilin and Duloxetine which both have the same kind of withdrawl symptoms. The most worrying thing is that GP's prescribing these meds do not have a clue as to what patients are likely to go through if wishing to come off these drugs. I have also suffered from Tinnitus since taking these meds. I went cold turkey and have come off both Pregabilin and Duloxetine, and spent at least a week, with all the symptoms you have mentioned, the nightmares, dreadful dreams and lack of sleep are awful. I could not bear the Nerve Damage pain without the Pregabalin and I started to get anxiety attacks without the Duloxetine so I am back on both of them again. I hate the thought that I am unable to live without them, I also have Fibromyalgia which is getting worse year on year, I am trying out Low Dose Naltrexone via a private prescription, I am only 2 weeks in and started on really low dose less than 1ml as I was getting palpatations when I tried to go to sleep although this might be because I am taking Levothyroxine for an underactive thyroid and apparently LDN can raise your Thyroid Level. LDN is has been used to help anyone with pain so I am hoping that this helps and it is not supposed to be addictive which is what I want.

     

    • harriet67221
      harriet67221 kathleen36610

      Posted

      I was on Lyrica for epilepsy but it was discontinued as it caused cortical myoclonus and Long qt syndrome.

       

    • kathleen36610
      kathleen36610 harriet67221

      Posted

      That is not good Harriet, I thought that Pregabilin was prescribed for your condition, and Lyrica was more for pain and depression? Hope you have managed to find a GP that can offer the correct meds for you
    • harriet67221
      harriet67221 kathleen36610

      Posted

      Thanks Kathleen. I am under a neurologist. Lyrica is the same drug as pregabelin and was licensed as an  anti epileptic drug but is now being pushed by drs who are unaware that the research was fabricated . . It has now got very bad press and despite the fact that is has not got a licence for fibromyalgia is being pushed by a Charity connected with fibro. Lyrica and Neurontin were both unresearched and they have made billions of $$$ for Pfizer.

      ?Lyrica and Neurontin were not researched and the dr who fabricated the research was jailed.

      Lyrica causes suicidal ideation as does Neurontin and a lot of deaths have been associated with both drugs. That's why drs are very wary now about prescribing them. Both are hard to wean off but it is achievable. My neurologist discontinued the Lyrica as it caused a movement disorder cortical myoclonus and Long qt syndrome, it also causes muscle, joint pain, spasms, plus a long list of other nasty side effects.

      ,

    • harriet67221
      harriet67221 flyntheointment

      Posted

      To flyntheointment It may have been because I gave the name of the dr in the US who fabricated research findings on several drugs including lyrica/pregabelin. Pziser underwrote the research and earned over 2 billion dollars in one year.

      Neurontin/gabapentin. BTW titration of the several drugs u are taking can be found on U tube. Hope u don't mind my pointing out that the chemist does not recommend dividing the contents up as you have done as the dose of each split dose cannot be guaranteed due to the binders and fillers. 

  • jeff51793
    jeff51793 flyntheointment

    Posted

    You can always divide the little capsuls within the capsul to the desired strength you desire.
    • flyntheointment
      flyntheointment jeff51793

      Posted

      Hi Jeff, they say do not open or crush? I don't know why as the capsule seems to be just a regular gelatin capsule.  I am going to try that anyways as I really don't need this anymore. Thank you! 

    • jeff51793
      jeff51793 flyntheointment

      Posted

      So they can sell you more.  First time i tried to leave i did open, very easy, and emptied the capsul on a paper plate (the little capsuals didn’t slide around ad much) and divided them.  It’s a bit of a pain to count them exactly.  I ended up just eyeballing the separation process.  I didn’t feel i was getting anywhere fast, so stopped and went back to 60mg.  I’ve tead most of the blogs about withdrawal and I feel each person is being totally honest about their experience.  One of the reasons this time i decided to quit cold turkey.  30 days ago I quit cymbalta and all the other pain pills i was taking.  Not saying this is a good idea, and it’s not for everyone.  But it did work for me. Is my pain back? Yes, but i can honestly say that it’s not much worse than when i was taking my dish full of pills.  I have no experience with fybromylaga (sp).  A friend has it and the pain she suffers is so many times worse than mine.  I would probably reach out for any medicine that broke relief no matter how slight.  Not a tough guy by any sense of the imagination, just tired of being tired.
    • flyntheointment
      flyntheointment jeff51793

      Posted

      I got off all my opiod pain pills years ago..cold turkey. It was not as bad as these Cymbaltas which I can say did nothing for my foot. No pain killers have, just the lyrica which I did not think was going to work and I have no side effects. I feel like the fog is lifting on me, now that I went from 60 mg to 30. Tomorrow will start on 25mg and we will see what happens. 
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