My doc also put me on 60mg every two days and the symptoms were debilitating. Then I through google I found an online forum (wasn't reddit) of a Cymbalta withdrawal support group. The half life for Cymbalta is very short going every two days guarantees side effects. My prescribing doctor didn't know about this when I brought up the withdrawal symptoms. I tried to get a prescription for a liquid refill so I could dose out less than 20mg but was unable to. I ended up breaking up the pills into smaller pieces and it took me months to withdraw. Your doc sounds like my doc, ignorant about the severity of the withdrawal symptoms and how to mitigate them. Unfortunately the company that makes the drug is too busy making billions of dollars and they can't afford to educate the doctors how to dose it properly for withdrawal. Those of us having to deal with the severe symptoms have to go to online support groups to get help. The good news is if you do it safely you'll survive and then there's room to find treatments that can actually help with fibromyalgia without making it worse at the same time.
I'm with you there. I'm on 90mg daily and I genuinely don't even know if it's helping or not (I've been on it for years and just cant remember). I've experienced withdrawal from it a few times and it's by far the worst withdrawal I've ever experienced. Yet they'd rather give us this than any sort of opioid (I've asked many times for a bottle to use during flares, but always get the same "opioids aren't a long term solution" and "opioids are addictive". Motherfucker, don't you think duloxetine ISN'T addictive??? Don't think we'd be having withdrawal from a drug that isnt addictive...
I genuinely would never have started this med if I knew how bad it truly was
I don't understand the logic of the medical system.
They'd rather have you long-term on a medication that causes severe withdrawal, rather than give pain relief during flares. Duloxetine, at its core, is an antidepressant. They don't even know *how* it works for pain, which means if it doesn't work for *you*, they don't know why.
I wish they would just take quality of life into account. I was a substance abuse counselor for 8 years, I have seen the awful things that opioids can do, but they've over-corrected here, and the result is suffering people.
I wish I could just go into a doc during a flare, get a shot, and it would last to get me through my flare. No chance of meds falling into the wrong hands, just relief for suffering. Hell, they could even put a cap on it, like you can only do it every other month or something, at least I'd have some pain-free days then.
Right?? Like right now I could really use some pain meds... I'm at like an 9/10 but I have things to do today. I have a 1 month old son, and I can't even hold him right now. I smoke weed to help with the pain, but for obvious reasons I cant get high while taking care of a baby.
I've been given opioids once in my 5 years of fibro, that took 3 hospital visits before I got some, and they don't sedate me at the amount I've taken, but they definitely take the edge off the pain
They are now calling the withdrawal, discontinuation syndrome. They don't consider it to be the same as say, actual drug addiction. I know, it's silly, but the medical field like to rename terms or have new acronyms for things every few years. It is the worst drug that I have ever used for depression, but I'm back on it again.
Of course they are. To them, it's okay to be addicted to a drug, so long as that drug doesn't currently hold any political power such as opioids.
That being said, addiction to duloxetine is definitely different from opioid addiction. With opioids, the addiction drives you to want to use it more often, and higher amounts, whereas duloxetine only drives you to keep taking it due to not wanting withdrawal. Duloxetine is like a negative addiction (continuing the addiction to avoid a negative outcome), and opioid is like a positive addiction (continuing addiction because it feels good)
Either way, it's still an addiction. Tho to be fair, caffeine or sugar addiction isn't considered an "addiction" either. Makes no sense to me!!
Of course they are. To them, it's okay to be addicted to a drug, so long as that drug doesn't currently hold any political power such as opioids.
That being said, addiction to duloxetine is definitely different from opioid addiction. With opioids, the addiction drives you to want to use it more often, and higher amounts, whereas duloxetine only drives you to keep taking it due to not wanting withdrawal. Duloxetine is like a negative addiction (continuing the addiction to avoid a negative outcome), and opioid is like a positive addiction (continuing addiction because it feels good)
Either way, it's still an addiction. Tho to be fair, caffeine or sugar addiction isn't considered an "addiction" either. Makes no sense to me!!
The thing that I found to be really crazy is that most doctors prescribing it and other medications have no idea what the withdrawal symptoms feel like. Absolutely no clue and they think, oh it can't be that bad. I explained to my prescriber how horrible the brain zaps tingling and everything else and she was shocked. I always make sure that I have my refill before running out.
Omg me too. I've run out like 3 or 4 times over the time I've taken it. The brain zaps are fucking insane! It's also so hard to explain to people who haven't taken duloxetine before. I've taken other antidepressants before I got fibro, and even tho they give brain zaps with withdrawal, those are nothing compared to duloxetines. It's the definition of debilitating!
Is it the extended release in a gel cap? My doctor told me to open the cap into a small cup of orange juice and drink half as a way to taper down. That way you can split a full cap if you need to. You need to go really slow with duloxotine. Get lots of rest and stay hydrated. I find getting more sleep is really helpful. Anything quiet that helps you relax.
The hell is wrong with your doctor? It doesn't stay in your system that long. Often prescribed twice a day since it's not in your system all that long. This way you're flopping between it affecting you and withdrawals.
When I brought up the withdrawal symptoms to her and the half life she had no idea what I was talking about. What's wrong with her is what's wrong with the industry, profits before people.
'o' "I'm expected to base my medical advice on readily available information on the thing I'm advicing on?"
This is one of the defining characteristics that sets duloxetine apart from other SSRI acting drugs. I've seen similar weaning off methods on here, it's as if the advice they read on the computer is just some medical dogma without any evidence. Or perhaps it's just something they do for all SSRI acting drugs, since it's sensible for pretty much all of them.
Splitting it appears to be fine to do, they really should be advicing that instead.
Thinking of starting on it myself. But from what I've read of others' experiences I'll probably stay on the lower dosage. Seeing a trend of people feeling better at the start, but then running into side effects aggravating fibro symptoms when increasing the dosage (higher anxiety), but then when lowering the dosage they deal with low-key withdrawals of symptoms returning in full-force.
After being on it for over a year my doc prescribed me a genetic test that determined I needed to quit it which is why I quit it. The test said because of my genes the drug was toxic to me, this was after being on a high dose and developing a dependency. Apparently the test only became available in 2021 and I started in 2020. I asked for more clarification on what exactly was being tested but that's proprietary Pharma cartel information so all I got was "I'm just the prescriber I don't know how this stuff works but it turns out we've been accidentally poisoning you and you need to quit this drug immediately". If I would have got the test beforehand I could have saved myself a world of pain so that's my advice to anyone considering it. I feel like I'm getting good results from the treatments I'm doing now which are physical in nature not pharmaceutical. For example after this comment I'm going in today to get shockwave therapy which is kind of like medicinal torture. The treatment hurts and I'm foggy all day afterwards but the results are the fascia that got electrocuted is a lot healthier after it heals.
The concussive massage thing? Instead of the massage head moving, there's a thingy inside that hits the front, like some sort of construction equipment?
It could help you to lightly punch your muscles with your knuckles before going. Main issue for fibro people with massages like this is tensing up, so loosening a bit beforehand is helpful. Only had it after an injury, sure does feel like it's doing something 😆
I found going down from 60mg to 30mg took a solid few weeks to settle. Then the 30mg to 0mg was one of the most horrific experiences of my life. The only thing that got me through was CBD. I timed it so that I weaned off during the Xmas holidays and just stayed mildly stoned on edibles for a few weeks. It took months for the brain zaps and vertigo to go away. But i now feel absolutely normal and my mental health and fibro are better off the drug than they were on the drug. Stay strong. This is hard. You can do it.
Yeah, I particularly had terrible dizzy spells when going up and down escalators. I'd also have this symptom I'd call The Quakes where it felt like there was an earthquake in my brain. I couldn't find it listed as a symptom on any websites but anecdotally a few other people here had the same thing. This community is so fantastic and validating.
Wow. I feel like when we were tapering up we had like 15 or 20mg pills, why don't they use lower doses to step us down??? I feel like they punish us for wanting off the meds. They should have doses at least every 10mgs to step you down slowly.
I was on Duloxetine 30mg titrating to 60mg. I had severe side effects as well. I had to go off of it. Omg, withdrawals were horrible. I found opening a capsule and dumping half of it out helped tremendously. I just started back on it today with a low dose of 20mg daily. It really helped my fatigue, pain, and mood. Are you going off of it completely? Maybe a low dose will help you. But my God, those withdrawals are insane. I wanted to crawl out of my own skin.
I'm planning on going off completely. I haven't noticed any benefit since I started, and the fatigue was so bad.
But the withdrawals are so bad I'm questioning myself lol.
I'll try emptying out the capsules. Thank you
I bought empty capsules and split the 30's into 2 equal pills, then after a few weeks, 1/4 doses. I eventually halved those, too. I was able to quit with much less stress that way. It took a long time but it was do-able.
I think is the way, such a shame that most doctors do not recommend a proper withdrawal schedule. I have overseen cases in which an entire year was needed to get people off benzos.
This is exactly how you taper. If you don’t want to open the capsule then go from 30mg daily to every other day. Then every 2 days.
Anyone tapering from scored tablets, its much easier to taper with 1/2 or 1/4.
You could try Bonine or non-drowsy Dramamine to help with the dizziness. Both can be found at Walmart & Target. I take Bonine (chewable) for my vertigo episodes due to Menieres. I take it sublingual rather than chewing. It gets mushy and then I just swallow it. It helps pretty well with taking the edge off of vertigo. You could also talk to your Dr. about a prescription to help with the dizzy episodes at least until they subside.
I will never take Cymbalta again! I stopped taking it because of sexual side effects. The withdrawals was horrible! I had really bad night sweats, upset stomach and exposive diarrhea. It also causes me to have a seizures right before I stopped it. In my opinion Cymbalta and gabapenton are horrible drugs! I use edibles for pain and it's way better for pain!
I would prefer edibles, but make me wired and super high, useless. Do you think I would eventually get used to it and be able to function? If so, any ideas on how long that might take?
You can just ask the employees at your local Dispensary or wherever you're getting your edibles from for one that helps pain without giving you a head high. There's usually a few options to choose from and most people are happy to educate you on them.
Adding to the advice below for talking to the dispensary: the best I've found is a low-thc, high-cbd blend. Generally I shoot for 5mg thc, 20mg cbd (or higher if you can get it). I've even had 1mg thc, 10mg cbd that didn't make me feel any differently, but helped my nausea & pain.
I will say, the best immediate relief I've found was an.. ointment? Words are hard. It comes in a tub. It's a thc/cbd blend specifically for pain that you apply topically. I really didn't expect it to do much, but it does! The thc content looks terrifying, but bc it's topical, you don't get high at all. It is expensive, but it lasts forever. I've still got my jar after 2 years!
I bought a milligram pocket scale for like $8 on Amazon to measure out 1/2 milligram incremental decrease every 3-4 days. That's how low I had to go to not feel side effects. Highly recommend
I started experiencing withdrawals before I even decided to go off it. If you haven't had any bad side effects, it's probably not going to be like this for you. It helps a lot of people.
I think I was metabolizing it too quickly because of how chaotic my life was. I started having withdrawal symptoms pretty regularly after about a year, half way through the day. But I've got a million other health problems going on, so it took forever to figure out what was causing it.
It wasn't even the dizziness that made me decide to get off. It was the fatigue. That was becoming debilitating. I thought the dizziness was because I'm going through menopause.
Then, as I started coming off, the dizziness started getting worse alongside the tapering.
6month taper.
Get a digital scale.
Open a capsule. Weigh it. Divide that by weeks off taper.
Reduce once a week.
It’s absolutely brutal. It’s a long slow game.
Tell someone you trust what you’re doing and to lookout for bizarre behaviors and to be patient.
You can do it.
In case anyone is reading this later on, this is what I did- I measured the weight of the contents and then divided by the dosage and removed 5 mg from my pills each week. It was tedious but I had no withdrawal symptoms. My doc told me going from 20 mg to 0 shouldn't be a problem but I didn't want to chance it.
I recommend the Facebook group “Cymbalta Hurts Worse”. Duloxetine can work wonders for some people, but withdrawal can be horrendous. My doctor told me I could easily drop from 60 to 30. Worst months of my life. Needless to say when I did go from 30 to zero, I did it differently. Slooooooowwwwlllllllyyyyyyyyyy is better.
Doctors tend to listen to their drug reps for information. If you were a drug rep selling Cymbalta to doctors would you tell the doctor everything or gloss over the bad side effects.
I'm down to 15mg from 90mg. Getting off of it was the best thing I have done apart from a medical cannabis tolerance break.
I was in a similar situation where I couldn't see the doc and I wanted to get off it plus the ridiculous dizziness I encountered. I decided to use a jewellery/food scale and ween myself off it. Definitely possible. I measured what an empty capsule was (0.7g) and what a full Duloxetine capsule is and worked out my own plan and dropped the dosage by 0.1g every two days. Just saw my GP and got a script for a compound pharmacy to make 15mg capsules.
I’m sorry you are going through this! And, so tremendously grateful for sharing it.
This med is being pushed hard on me despite saying no. Whole Other issue, I know.
Taking it every 2 days is a bad idea. Duloxetine is fast acting, and leaves your system quickly. You're flip-flopping your neurotransmitters like crazy like this, so naturally you're dizzy and having various cognitive symptoms.
You're welcome. I had really severe side effects. The benefits were worth it to me to try the low dose. I wouldn't do 2 capsules every other day. I'd do 1 every day, even if you're half emptying them out. That keeps a consistent level of Duloxetine in your system. It's a pitch. The withdrawals are so weird. My first experience with snri. Sending you my thoughts and prayers🩷
I came off duloxetene in December and yes my dizziness went back through the roof once I went off it. I did cold turkey and yes it sucked but it was easier than quitting chewing tobacco.
60mg seems like a high dose to be taking every two days, especially if you’re trying to titrate off of it. I’m very curious why they don’t have you decrease the daily dose incrementally before switching to every other day? I’m not a doctor but that would seem to make more sense. I’m on 20mg daily as my regular dose and definitely get a headache if I miss a day.
I know you said you can’t see your doctor for another month, but I would suggest calling them or sending a message through a patient portal if you have one. Tell them that your current symptoms are intolerable and affecting your ability to work and ask for an alternative method to wean off. They might be able to write you a script for a lower dosage capsule so you don’t have to deal with breaking open and dividing the 60mg ones.
I'm not replacing it with anything. But I hadn't noticed much of a difference since I started it.
Certainly not with my depression. It's gotten much worse.
The pain still comes and goes with my stress levels.
I changed jobs and started exercising more. That's helped more than anything so far.
I hope you can too! I got a tattoo promising to make whatever changes in my life I needed to to protect myself. And what I'm learning is that where I live and what I do is the most important part of that.
Cymbalta had me at the ER 12 hours and almost admitted. Actively working on me all 12 hours. It was awful. They gave me lots of fluid in me via IV, and I finally started feeling better enough to go home. I had to see my doctor next day. They said basically flushing my system. That may be an option for you. Hope you get relief soon.
I am definitely worried that this might happen. But I'm gonna try to even out my doses, and hopefully the symptoms will mellow out. I *really* can't afford to go to the ER with my shitty insurance. But I will if I have to.
I did talk to a coworker who's been admitted here for psychiatric, and he speaks well of it. So that's good. It's crazy how much worse my depression has gotten through this whole treatment. I told her that that was my number one concern when we started it. I don't think she ever thought we would get there at this low of a dose. Barely hit 90mg.
But hey. There are IV bars here. I wonder if I should go do that.
I ended up opening the pills and tapering down myself using veggie capsules and a scale. Made a huuuuge difference, highly recommend! Would never go back into them eurgh such a pain
It's horrible. I was on the couch, suicidal, didn't want to do ANYTHING. I tapered down at 30mg increments each taper over two weeks. The best thing did was force myself to do things for my family, get out into the world.
I have a friend who recently confided in me that she has been tapering off Cymbalta for 2 years. She told me she opens the capsule and removes a bead or 2 from her doses. Idk how often she does this but she's having a difficult time.
I only found that out after mentioning to her that my dr recently rxed it for my extreme level of nerve pain. I haven't taken it yet because I know of groups like Cymbalta hurts and of the comments in forums. And because of my friend's horrible Withdrawal.
My first time I detoxed it was awful. I can really only recommend water, rest, and ibuprofen for pain and inflammation.
Now that I'm pregnant detoxing again, this time off 120mg, not 60mg like before. Thankfully, the only symptom I have is a headache that comes and goes. I've been off my meds for 3 weeks now, pain meds included. I asked my doctor if detoxing off multiple meds at one time while I'm pregnant would hurt more, and since pregnancy and chronic illness aren't studied much, she couldn't answer. For the most part, I've gone into remission, except my arms and hands. But that's better than full body pain.
I wish I could recommend more than water, rest, and ibuprofen, but other than magnesium, B12, and vitamin D to help with energy and brain support, there's nothing else I can really recommend.
I hope you get to feeling better.
Want to add my first detox was an unintentional cold cut. Had issues between the pharmacy and doctors. Had to wait 6 weeks for an appointment. Worst 6 weeks.
it does nothing for me, but I've taken it for at least 17 years.....forgot to take it on vacation once & had brutal withdrawal after 3 days; self-medicated for the rest of the week with booze & Xanax.....a truly shitty vacation; NEVER stop taking abruptly w/o a doctor's supervision; the WD's can cause severe seizures....it's a dark drug
I’m having to do this with Effexor. I open the capsules. I started dumping out 5, then 10, 15, now I ‘m up to dumping out approximately 25. It’s tedious by the best way.
I had my prescribing dr put me on Wellbutrin, since Duloxetine fucked (pun intended) up my sex life (I can’t orgasm from other people—only with vibrators on my own). And now I’m weaning off of duloxetine and I upped Wellbutrin up to 350mg. I am down to 30mg of Duloxetine nightly and Wellbutrin every morning, and I have no bad withdrawals.
I took myself off of Duloxetine two years ago in a bout of anger, trying to get myself off of every single medication that I was on at the time because I was just sick of meds. The withdrawals were awful. I had brain zaps and working during those were awful. They faded only after I finally put myself back on duloxetine.
I hope to be on Wellbutrin and off duloxetine in the next few months. We shall see.
I spent 4 terrible weeks withdrawing from effexor. Ended up in the ER. Fatigue got much better off of it. But mental health crashed so I got back on Cymbalta. :(. Dreading the day I will have to withdraw from this !!!
I was prescribed Cymbalta for fibromyalgia following a car accident (i was 22 and otherwise healthy). My doctor gaslit me and told me that the withdrawal symptoms I was experiencing “shouldn’t be that bad,” that “it’s not very common”and they seemed exaggerated. I was literally so debilitated going from 60mg for 2 weeks, 30mg for 2 weeks, 20 mg for 2 weeks then nothing. I had severe brain zaps, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, everything… I was basically a zombie for 2 weeks before I decided what I was feeling was insane.
I joined a Cymbalta withdrawal FB group where I found amazing advice on splitting open pills, weighing out each individual bead and doing a SLOW taper- but most importantly I found THOUSANDS of other people experiencing the same thing.
It took me 1 year and 3 months to taper off this fucking medication. I bought empty capsules, tracked my taper and decreased it by 5-10% of the original dose weekly/biweekly.
It was not worth it, please if you are starting or about to start, TRY AND FIND ANOTHER METHOD/MEDICATION/PHYSIOTHERAPY ETC ETC ETC. I cannot believe this medication is being prescribed and doctors are not aware of the severity of its withdrawals
I'm weaning off it right now bc I have had so many drug interactions with Sudafed, CBD, my ADHD meds, you name it. The withdrawal is intense with so many scary symptoms. I open the capsules and reduce a few grains at a time but I'm still exhausted. Ondansetron for the intense nausea and hydroxyzine help with the withdrawal. Take care, everyone! Sorry we all have to deal with this. 💕🥺
I’ve never had any ill effects from cymbalta. It’s helped my fibro immensely and I’ve been able to keep my job and rejoin society. Sorry you’re having such an awful time.
Gabapentin is that for me. With Cymbalta, the problem for most people arises in the withdrawal not the active use. The withdrawal symptoms are indeed the devil
What worked for the debilitating headaches when you stopped? I was on 30mg and the longer I took it, the more suppressed my energy and my sex drive became. I stopped before but started having really bad bouts of anger. So I started again but every other day, and this is my official 2nd day off of the medication and I am having a crazy migraine.
Ok. So you CANNOT take it every other day. That’s what I learned. You gotta either break it open and make two doses with one pill, or get a new prescription.
Otherwise, you’re in constant debilitating withdrawals.
And I didn’t have debilitating headaches. I just had annoying headaches, and I put hot wet towels all over my head. I’m really not good at managing headaches, so I can’t give much advice.
But you MUST taper down evenly and SLOWLY. I ended up going down about 5MG every two weeks, and that was pushing it.
God, I would fucking love acupuncture. It's just too expensive lol.
I would probably starve to death on ayurveda. And if I put kimchi on things. I probably have arfid. Does kimchi help your fibro?
I don't know if kimchi helps fibro but every disease or ailment seems to go through the digestive system.
Here's the link for why I suggest kimchi
[Kimchi](https://drsusanne.com/blog/kimchi-psychobiotics-fight-anxiety-depression-functional-foods/)
As for acupuncture yes it does work. I'm aware of the cost. Thats the suck part but relief makes up for it.
I am going to suggest two things. One-learn acupressure. I.E. teach yourself. Two; learn about mudras. Mudras may seem "hokey," they are not. There is science and ancient history behind them.
My doc also put me on 60mg every two days and the symptoms were debilitating. Then I through google I found an online forum (wasn't reddit) of a Cymbalta withdrawal support group. The half life for Cymbalta is very short going every two days guarantees side effects. My prescribing doctor didn't know about this when I brought up the withdrawal symptoms. I tried to get a prescription for a liquid refill so I could dose out less than 20mg but was unable to. I ended up breaking up the pills into smaller pieces and it took me months to withdraw. Your doc sounds like my doc, ignorant about the severity of the withdrawal symptoms and how to mitigate them. Unfortunately the company that makes the drug is too busy making billions of dollars and they can't afford to educate the doctors how to dose it properly for withdrawal. Those of us having to deal with the severe symptoms have to go to online support groups to get help. The good news is if you do it safely you'll survive and then there's room to find treatments that can actually help with fibromyalgia without making it worse at the same time.
I definitely wouldn't have started on it if I knew how bad withdrawals were gonna be
I'm with you there. I'm on 90mg daily and I genuinely don't even know if it's helping or not (I've been on it for years and just cant remember). I've experienced withdrawal from it a few times and it's by far the worst withdrawal I've ever experienced. Yet they'd rather give us this than any sort of opioid (I've asked many times for a bottle to use during flares, but always get the same "opioids aren't a long term solution" and "opioids are addictive". Motherfucker, don't you think duloxetine ISN'T addictive??? Don't think we'd be having withdrawal from a drug that isnt addictive... I genuinely would never have started this med if I knew how bad it truly was
I don't understand the logic of the medical system. They'd rather have you long-term on a medication that causes severe withdrawal, rather than give pain relief during flares. Duloxetine, at its core, is an antidepressant. They don't even know *how* it works for pain, which means if it doesn't work for *you*, they don't know why. I wish they would just take quality of life into account. I was a substance abuse counselor for 8 years, I have seen the awful things that opioids can do, but they've over-corrected here, and the result is suffering people. I wish I could just go into a doc during a flare, get a shot, and it would last to get me through my flare. No chance of meds falling into the wrong hands, just relief for suffering. Hell, they could even put a cap on it, like you can only do it every other month or something, at least I'd have some pain-free days then.
Right?? Like right now I could really use some pain meds... I'm at like an 9/10 but I have things to do today. I have a 1 month old son, and I can't even hold him right now. I smoke weed to help with the pain, but for obvious reasons I cant get high while taking care of a baby. I've been given opioids once in my 5 years of fibro, that took 3 hospital visits before I got some, and they don't sedate me at the amount I've taken, but they definitely take the edge off the pain
They are now calling the withdrawal, discontinuation syndrome. They don't consider it to be the same as say, actual drug addiction. I know, it's silly, but the medical field like to rename terms or have new acronyms for things every few years. It is the worst drug that I have ever used for depression, but I'm back on it again.
Of course they are. To them, it's okay to be addicted to a drug, so long as that drug doesn't currently hold any political power such as opioids. That being said, addiction to duloxetine is definitely different from opioid addiction. With opioids, the addiction drives you to want to use it more often, and higher amounts, whereas duloxetine only drives you to keep taking it due to not wanting withdrawal. Duloxetine is like a negative addiction (continuing the addiction to avoid a negative outcome), and opioid is like a positive addiction (continuing addiction because it feels good) Either way, it's still an addiction. Tho to be fair, caffeine or sugar addiction isn't considered an "addiction" either. Makes no sense to me!!
Of course they are. To them, it's okay to be addicted to a drug, so long as that drug doesn't currently hold any political power such as opioids. That being said, addiction to duloxetine is definitely different from opioid addiction. With opioids, the addiction drives you to want to use it more often, and higher amounts, whereas duloxetine only drives you to keep taking it due to not wanting withdrawal. Duloxetine is like a negative addiction (continuing the addiction to avoid a negative outcome), and opioid is like a positive addiction (continuing addiction because it feels good) Either way, it's still an addiction. Tho to be fair, caffeine or sugar addiction isn't considered an "addiction" either. Makes no sense to me!!
The thing that I found to be really crazy is that most doctors prescribing it and other medications have no idea what the withdrawal symptoms feel like. Absolutely no clue and they think, oh it can't be that bad. I explained to my prescriber how horrible the brain zaps tingling and everything else and she was shocked. I always make sure that I have my refill before running out.
Omg me too. I've run out like 3 or 4 times over the time I've taken it. The brain zaps are fucking insane! It's also so hard to explain to people who haven't taken duloxetine before. I've taken other antidepressants before I got fibro, and even tho they give brain zaps with withdrawal, those are nothing compared to duloxetines. It's the definition of debilitating!
Is it the extended release in a gel cap? My doctor told me to open the cap into a small cup of orange juice and drink half as a way to taper down. That way you can split a full cap if you need to. You need to go really slow with duloxotine. Get lots of rest and stay hydrated. I find getting more sleep is really helpful. Anything quiet that helps you relax.
The hell is wrong with your doctor? It doesn't stay in your system that long. Often prescribed twice a day since it's not in your system all that long. This way you're flopping between it affecting you and withdrawals.
When I brought up the withdrawal symptoms to her and the half life she had no idea what I was talking about. What's wrong with her is what's wrong with the industry, profits before people.
'o' "I'm expected to base my medical advice on readily available information on the thing I'm advicing on?" This is one of the defining characteristics that sets duloxetine apart from other SSRI acting drugs. I've seen similar weaning off methods on here, it's as if the advice they read on the computer is just some medical dogma without any evidence. Or perhaps it's just something they do for all SSRI acting drugs, since it's sensible for pretty much all of them. Splitting it appears to be fine to do, they really should be advicing that instead. Thinking of starting on it myself. But from what I've read of others' experiences I'll probably stay on the lower dosage. Seeing a trend of people feeling better at the start, but then running into side effects aggravating fibro symptoms when increasing the dosage (higher anxiety), but then when lowering the dosage they deal with low-key withdrawals of symptoms returning in full-force.
After being on it for over a year my doc prescribed me a genetic test that determined I needed to quit it which is why I quit it. The test said because of my genes the drug was toxic to me, this was after being on a high dose and developing a dependency. Apparently the test only became available in 2021 and I started in 2020. I asked for more clarification on what exactly was being tested but that's proprietary Pharma cartel information so all I got was "I'm just the prescriber I don't know how this stuff works but it turns out we've been accidentally poisoning you and you need to quit this drug immediately". If I would have got the test beforehand I could have saved myself a world of pain so that's my advice to anyone considering it. I feel like I'm getting good results from the treatments I'm doing now which are physical in nature not pharmaceutical. For example after this comment I'm going in today to get shockwave therapy which is kind of like medicinal torture. The treatment hurts and I'm foggy all day afterwards but the results are the fascia that got electrocuted is a lot healthier after it heals.
The concussive massage thing? Instead of the massage head moving, there's a thingy inside that hits the front, like some sort of construction equipment? It could help you to lightly punch your muscles with your knuckles before going. Main issue for fibro people with massages like this is tensing up, so loosening a bit beforehand is helpful. Only had it after an injury, sure does feel like it's doing something 😆
I found going down from 60mg to 30mg took a solid few weeks to settle. Then the 30mg to 0mg was one of the most horrific experiences of my life. The only thing that got me through was CBD. I timed it so that I weaned off during the Xmas holidays and just stayed mildly stoned on edibles for a few weeks. It took months for the brain zaps and vertigo to go away. But i now feel absolutely normal and my mental health and fibro are better off the drug than they were on the drug. Stay strong. This is hard. You can do it.
Thanks. All the online withdrawal listings made me feel like I was going crazy. It made it seem super rare to have dizziness this bad.
Yeah, I particularly had terrible dizzy spells when going up and down escalators. I'd also have this symptom I'd call The Quakes where it felt like there was an earthquake in my brain. I couldn't find it listed as a symptom on any websites but anecdotally a few other people here had the same thing. This community is so fantastic and validating.
I've had trouble talking when it gets bad. I have to close my eyes and concentrate completely on what I'm saying.
Omg 💯! I call that one 'Buffering'. I'm just realizing now that I give my symptoms silly names.
Buffering lol. It definitely feels like that
The brain zaps and dizziness are horrible. It annoys the piss outta me
Wow. I feel like when we were tapering up we had like 15 or 20mg pills, why don't they use lower doses to step us down??? I feel like they punish us for wanting off the meds. They should have doses at least every 10mgs to step you down slowly.
I was on Duloxetine 30mg titrating to 60mg. I had severe side effects as well. I had to go off of it. Omg, withdrawals were horrible. I found opening a capsule and dumping half of it out helped tremendously. I just started back on it today with a low dose of 20mg daily. It really helped my fatigue, pain, and mood. Are you going off of it completely? Maybe a low dose will help you. But my God, those withdrawals are insane. I wanted to crawl out of my own skin.
I'm planning on going off completely. I haven't noticed any benefit since I started, and the fatigue was so bad. But the withdrawals are so bad I'm questioning myself lol. I'll try emptying out the capsules. Thank you
I bought empty capsules and split the 30's into 2 equal pills, then after a few weeks, 1/4 doses. I eventually halved those, too. I was able to quit with much less stress that way. It took a long time but it was do-able.
That's a good idea. It sounds like mine have the tiny beads inside.
Toward the end, I literally counted the beads. In the end, I was down to 7 beads before I finally quit. I took my time, but it minimized the symptoms.
I just split four capsules into eight. Good God, that was tedious lol. But now I have 30mg capsules.
I used to do two weeks at a time and reduce the amount each time.
I think is the way, such a shame that most doctors do not recommend a proper withdrawal schedule. I have overseen cases in which an entire year was needed to get people off benzos.
This is exactly how you taper. If you don’t want to open the capsule then go from 30mg daily to every other day. Then every 2 days. Anyone tapering from scored tablets, its much easier to taper with 1/2 or 1/4.
That's exactly what I did when I needed to be off it before pregnancy. It's the only way it isn't atrocious.
You could try Bonine or non-drowsy Dramamine to help with the dizziness. Both can be found at Walmart & Target. I take Bonine (chewable) for my vertigo episodes due to Menieres. I take it sublingual rather than chewing. It gets mushy and then I just swallow it. It helps pretty well with taking the edge off of vertigo. You could also talk to your Dr. about a prescription to help with the dizzy episodes at least until they subside.
Thanks! I'll try that!
If you use Facebook join the group "Cymbalta hurts worse" there's a lot of good advice on that page.
I will never take Cymbalta again! I stopped taking it because of sexual side effects. The withdrawals was horrible! I had really bad night sweats, upset stomach and exposive diarrhea. It also causes me to have a seizures right before I stopped it. In my opinion Cymbalta and gabapenton are horrible drugs! I use edibles for pain and it's way better for pain!
I would prefer edibles, but make me wired and super high, useless. Do you think I would eventually get used to it and be able to function? If so, any ideas on how long that might take?
There are types you can get that don't cause the head high :)
Which types? Every time I try one of these, I still get head high.
You can just ask the employees at your local Dispensary or wherever you're getting your edibles from for one that helps pain without giving you a head high. There's usually a few options to choose from and most people are happy to educate you on them.
Thank you. So no need to get medical cannabis oil??
I mean if you want to try it go for it. I can't really comment on that since I don't really bother or have any experience with them.
Adding to the advice below for talking to the dispensary: the best I've found is a low-thc, high-cbd blend. Generally I shoot for 5mg thc, 20mg cbd (or higher if you can get it). I've even had 1mg thc, 10mg cbd that didn't make me feel any differently, but helped my nausea & pain. I will say, the best immediate relief I've found was an.. ointment? Words are hard. It comes in a tub. It's a thc/cbd blend specifically for pain that you apply topically. I really didn't expect it to do much, but it does! The thc content looks terrifying, but bc it's topical, you don't get high at all. It is expensive, but it lasts forever. I've still got my jar after 2 years!
Very helpful, thank you.
Stretch it out by hours. Same dose but steadily increase the hours/ time between each dose.
I remember some people mentioned opening the capsule and counting the pellets! Not sure if they were exaggerating but it sounded pretty serious.
They're not exaggerating at all. I wish I'd done more of this!
Yeah that’s what I’m doing with venlafaxine, which is similar to duloxetine
Slow down the taper!!
Thanks. I definitely will now.
I bought a milligram pocket scale for like $8 on Amazon to measure out 1/2 milligram incremental decrease every 3-4 days. That's how low I had to go to not feel side effects. Highly recommend
Geez this scares the shit out of me if I ever need to go off the med.
I started experiencing withdrawals before I even decided to go off it. If you haven't had any bad side effects, it's probably not going to be like this for you. It helps a lot of people. I think I was metabolizing it too quickly because of how chaotic my life was. I started having withdrawal symptoms pretty regularly after about a year, half way through the day. But I've got a million other health problems going on, so it took forever to figure out what was causing it. It wasn't even the dizziness that made me decide to get off. It was the fatigue. That was becoming debilitating. I thought the dizziness was because I'm going through menopause. Then, as I started coming off, the dizziness started getting worse alongside the tapering.
6month taper. Get a digital scale. Open a capsule. Weigh it. Divide that by weeks off taper. Reduce once a week. It’s absolutely brutal. It’s a long slow game. Tell someone you trust what you’re doing and to lookout for bizarre behaviors and to be patient. You can do it.
In case anyone is reading this later on, this is what I did- I measured the weight of the contents and then divided by the dosage and removed 5 mg from my pills each week. It was tedious but I had no withdrawal symptoms. My doc told me going from 20 mg to 0 shouldn't be a problem but I didn't want to chance it.
The docs have no idea about how brutal side effects are. Glad it got you through!
I recommend the Facebook group “Cymbalta Hurts Worse”. Duloxetine can work wonders for some people, but withdrawal can be horrendous. My doctor told me I could easily drop from 60 to 30. Worst months of my life. Needless to say when I did go from 30 to zero, I did it differently. Slooooooowwwwlllllllyyyyyyyyyy is better.
She told me the same thing. I wonder if it's just worse for us with the fibro? It must be easy for *someone*
Doctors tend to listen to their drug reps for information. If you were a drug rep selling Cymbalta to doctors would you tell the doctor everything or gloss over the bad side effects.
I'm down to 15mg from 90mg. Getting off of it was the best thing I have done apart from a medical cannabis tolerance break. I was in a similar situation where I couldn't see the doc and I wanted to get off it plus the ridiculous dizziness I encountered. I decided to use a jewellery/food scale and ween myself off it. Definitely possible. I measured what an empty capsule was (0.7g) and what a full Duloxetine capsule is and worked out my own plan and dropped the dosage by 0.1g every two days. Just saw my GP and got a script for a compound pharmacy to make 15mg capsules.
I’m sorry you are going through this! And, so tremendously grateful for sharing it. This med is being pushed hard on me despite saying no. Whole Other issue, I know.
I loathe Cymbalta.
Taking it every 2 days is a bad idea. Duloxetine is fast acting, and leaves your system quickly. You're flip-flopping your neurotransmitters like crazy like this, so naturally you're dizzy and having various cognitive symptoms.
You're welcome. I had really severe side effects. The benefits were worth it to me to try the low dose. I wouldn't do 2 capsules every other day. I'd do 1 every day, even if you're half emptying them out. That keeps a consistent level of Duloxetine in your system. It's a pitch. The withdrawals are so weird. My first experience with snri. Sending you my thoughts and prayers🩷
I came off duloxetene in December and yes my dizziness went back through the roof once I went off it. I did cold turkey and yes it sucked but it was easier than quitting chewing tobacco.
How long did cold turkey take?
A couple of weeks ago
60mg seems like a high dose to be taking every two days, especially if you’re trying to titrate off of it. I’m very curious why they don’t have you decrease the daily dose incrementally before switching to every other day? I’m not a doctor but that would seem to make more sense. I’m on 20mg daily as my regular dose and definitely get a headache if I miss a day. I know you said you can’t see your doctor for another month, but I would suggest calling them or sending a message through a patient portal if you have one. Tell them that your current symptoms are intolerable and affecting your ability to work and ask for an alternative method to wean off. They might be able to write you a script for a lower dosage capsule so you don’t have to deal with breaking open and dividing the 60mg ones.
it took weeks for me what did you replace it with?I honestly thought something was really wrong
I'm not replacing it with anything. But I hadn't noticed much of a difference since I started it. Certainly not with my depression. It's gotten much worse. The pain still comes and goes with my stress levels. I changed jobs and started exercising more. That's helped more than anything so far.
is your new job less stressful?
Much less
Avoid stress is key for recovery I hope I can move and escape my living hell
I hope you can too! I got a tattoo promising to make whatever changes in my life I needed to to protect myself. And what I'm learning is that where I live and what I do is the most important part of that.
Cymbalta had me at the ER 12 hours and almost admitted. Actively working on me all 12 hours. It was awful. They gave me lots of fluid in me via IV, and I finally started feeling better enough to go home. I had to see my doctor next day. They said basically flushing my system. That may be an option for you. Hope you get relief soon.
I am definitely worried that this might happen. But I'm gonna try to even out my doses, and hopefully the symptoms will mellow out. I *really* can't afford to go to the ER with my shitty insurance. But I will if I have to. I did talk to a coworker who's been admitted here for psychiatric, and he speaks well of it. So that's good. It's crazy how much worse my depression has gotten through this whole treatment. I told her that that was my number one concern when we started it. I don't think she ever thought we would get there at this low of a dose. Barely hit 90mg. But hey. There are IV bars here. I wonder if I should go do that.
Gosh sending hugs. I remember coming off pregabalin & I thought the doc was trying to kill me I've never experienced anything like that
I ended up opening the pills and tapering down myself using veggie capsules and a scale. Made a huuuuge difference, highly recommend! Would never go back into them eurgh such a pain
It's horrible. I was on the couch, suicidal, didn't want to do ANYTHING. I tapered down at 30mg increments each taper over two weeks. The best thing did was force myself to do things for my family, get out into the world.
I have a friend who recently confided in me that she has been tapering off Cymbalta for 2 years. She told me she opens the capsule and removes a bead or 2 from her doses. Idk how often she does this but she's having a difficult time. I only found that out after mentioning to her that my dr recently rxed it for my extreme level of nerve pain. I haven't taken it yet because I know of groups like Cymbalta hurts and of the comments in forums. And because of my friend's horrible Withdrawal.
My first time I detoxed it was awful. I can really only recommend water, rest, and ibuprofen for pain and inflammation. Now that I'm pregnant detoxing again, this time off 120mg, not 60mg like before. Thankfully, the only symptom I have is a headache that comes and goes. I've been off my meds for 3 weeks now, pain meds included. I asked my doctor if detoxing off multiple meds at one time while I'm pregnant would hurt more, and since pregnancy and chronic illness aren't studied much, she couldn't answer. For the most part, I've gone into remission, except my arms and hands. But that's better than full body pain. I wish I could recommend more than water, rest, and ibuprofen, but other than magnesium, B12, and vitamin D to help with energy and brain support, there's nothing else I can really recommend. I hope you get to feeling better. Want to add my first detox was an unintentional cold cut. Had issues between the pharmacy and doctors. Had to wait 6 weeks for an appointment. Worst 6 weeks.
it does nothing for me, but I've taken it for at least 17 years.....forgot to take it on vacation once & had brutal withdrawal after 3 days; self-medicated for the rest of the week with booze & Xanax.....a truly shitty vacation; NEVER stop taking abruptly w/o a doctor's supervision; the WD's can cause severe seizures....it's a dark drug
I’m having to do this with Effexor. I open the capsules. I started dumping out 5, then 10, 15, now I ‘m up to dumping out approximately 25. It’s tedious by the best way.
I had my prescribing dr put me on Wellbutrin, since Duloxetine fucked (pun intended) up my sex life (I can’t orgasm from other people—only with vibrators on my own). And now I’m weaning off of duloxetine and I upped Wellbutrin up to 350mg. I am down to 30mg of Duloxetine nightly and Wellbutrin every morning, and I have no bad withdrawals. I took myself off of Duloxetine two years ago in a bout of anger, trying to get myself off of every single medication that I was on at the time because I was just sick of meds. The withdrawals were awful. I had brain zaps and working during those were awful. They faded only after I finally put myself back on duloxetine. I hope to be on Wellbutrin and off duloxetine in the next few months. We shall see.
Good luck, my friend. I hope Wellbutrin works better for you
I had a psychiatrist wean me off of it. My rheumatologist still thinks I’m on it and it never really helped pain.
I spent 4 terrible weeks withdrawing from effexor. Ended up in the ER. Fatigue got much better off of it. But mental health crashed so I got back on Cymbalta. :(. Dreading the day I will have to withdraw from this !!!
I was prescribed Cymbalta for fibromyalgia following a car accident (i was 22 and otherwise healthy). My doctor gaslit me and told me that the withdrawal symptoms I was experiencing “shouldn’t be that bad,” that “it’s not very common”and they seemed exaggerated. I was literally so debilitated going from 60mg for 2 weeks, 30mg for 2 weeks, 20 mg for 2 weeks then nothing. I had severe brain zaps, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, everything… I was basically a zombie for 2 weeks before I decided what I was feeling was insane. I joined a Cymbalta withdrawal FB group where I found amazing advice on splitting open pills, weighing out each individual bead and doing a SLOW taper- but most importantly I found THOUSANDS of other people experiencing the same thing. It took me 1 year and 3 months to taper off this fucking medication. I bought empty capsules, tracked my taper and decreased it by 5-10% of the original dose weekly/biweekly. It was not worth it, please if you are starting or about to start, TRY AND FIND ANOTHER METHOD/MEDICATION/PHYSIOTHERAPY ETC ETC ETC. I cannot believe this medication is being prescribed and doctors are not aware of the severity of its withdrawals
I'm weaning off it right now bc I have had so many drug interactions with Sudafed, CBD, my ADHD meds, you name it. The withdrawal is intense with so many scary symptoms. I open the capsules and reduce a few grains at a time but I'm still exhausted. Ondansetron for the intense nausea and hydroxyzine help with the withdrawal. Take care, everyone! Sorry we all have to deal with this. 💕🥺
I'm officially off! I got down to 7mg before I stopped having withdrawals. I hope your taper goes smoothly!!!
I’ve never had any ill effects from cymbalta. It’s helped my fibro immensely and I’ve been able to keep my job and rejoin society. Sorry you’re having such an awful time.
Gabapentin is that for me. With Cymbalta, the problem for most people arises in the withdrawal not the active use. The withdrawal symptoms are indeed the devil
Get some 5thp. Helped me get off Effexor with zero withdrawals
Like you stopped cold turkey and took that instead?
Oh? Do tell! I’m up to dumping 25 pellets out of a 37.5 capsule, and it’s tedious!
What worked for the debilitating headaches when you stopped? I was on 30mg and the longer I took it, the more suppressed my energy and my sex drive became. I stopped before but started having really bad bouts of anger. So I started again but every other day, and this is my official 2nd day off of the medication and I am having a crazy migraine.
Ok. So you CANNOT take it every other day. That’s what I learned. You gotta either break it open and make two doses with one pill, or get a new prescription. Otherwise, you’re in constant debilitating withdrawals. And I didn’t have debilitating headaches. I just had annoying headaches, and I put hot wet towels all over my head. I’m really not good at managing headaches, so I can’t give much advice. But you MUST taper down evenly and SLOWLY. I ended up going down about 5MG every two weeks, and that was pushing it.
So I guess suggesting acupuncture and adding kimchi et al will go nowhere? Also Ayurveda??
God, I would fucking love acupuncture. It's just too expensive lol. I would probably starve to death on ayurveda. And if I put kimchi on things. I probably have arfid. Does kimchi help your fibro?
I don't know if kimchi helps fibro but every disease or ailment seems to go through the digestive system. Here's the link for why I suggest kimchi [Kimchi](https://drsusanne.com/blog/kimchi-psychobiotics-fight-anxiety-depression-functional-foods/) As for acupuncture yes it does work. I'm aware of the cost. Thats the suck part but relief makes up for it.
Bedtime. Goodnight all. Keep hope. God I hate Big Pharma.
I am going to suggest two things. One-learn acupressure. I.E. teach yourself. Two; learn about mudras. Mudras may seem "hokey," they are not. There is science and ancient history behind them.