Posted by ed_uk2010 on December 14, 2013, at 1:53:03
In reply to cymbalta withdrawals, posted by joe f on December 13, 2013, at 22:47:33
> has any one had serious problems withdrawing from cymbalta
Not personally, but some people have, the symptoms are similar to Effexor withdrawal eg. dizziness, anxiety, vivid dreams and strange sensations in the head, sometimes like little shocks. Not everyone is affected of course. A feeling of dizziness is probably the most common symptom.
If you have difficulties in withdrawal eg. going from 60mg to 30mg to nothing, the dose will need to be reduced more slowly. Do not do alternate day dosing, it is not a suitable method for short half-life drugs like Cymbalta.
The issue is usually (relatively) simply overcome by reducing down to 30mg per day and then opening the 30mg capsules and tipping some beads out in order to reduce the dose more gradually. The number of granules taken can be reduced every few days or so, according to how you feel. The capsule itself is simply a coloured gelatin shell. The granules inside are specially coated and should not be crushed or chewed - swallow whole.
If you are transferring from Cymbalta to a related antidepressant such as Effexor or an SSRI, the withdrawal symptoms will probably be considerably reduced when the replacement drug is started, and such gradual reduction may be completely unnecessary. If you are not going to be taking any related antidepressant in place of Cymbalta, gradual reduction is advisable, unless you've only been taking it for a couple of weeks (eg. because it didn't suit you). If you've been on it for many months or years, and plan to stop antidepressants completely, the withdrawal should be done over at least a month, possibly more, unless Cymbalta needs to be stopped more rapidly due to some serious side effect.
Hope this is informative.
poster:ed_uk2010
thread:1056094
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20131209/msgs/1056109.html