Hi everyboy!

Well, well, after taking 60 mg Cymbalta for five months (to reduce pain), the side effects went really worse. And I was running out of pills anyway, so I cleverly decided to stop taking Cymbalta. Cold turkey.

What a clever idea ! I think I donīt need to mention that the withdrawl symptoms started right away. I am now on my fourth day. I feel like....like I would be really sea- sick. And I am exhausted but canīt sleep. Oh, and I tend to cry very, very easily.

I know that I shouldnīt have done it... I should have reduced my dosage slowly...But now I am that far and I am not planning to go back again.

I have a week off at the moment. I stayed in bed the whole day today. I am planning to schedule my day more tomorrow. And Iīll try to drink a lot of water and eat healthy foods. If thatīs going to help??

Anyone else here stopped taking Cymbalta?
Anyone any advice?
I am really down at the moment- not so much because of the withdrawl symptoms, I am so afraid that they will stay for weeks and months...

Kate

Hi Kate,

Hang in there. You are right, you shouldn't have done it cold turkey. But, now that you did, please don't go back unless you absolutely have to. Cause then you get all the side effects of taking it again. Have you called your doctor to let them know you went off it?

I was on Cymbalta for a year, for fibromyalgia pain. At first, it seemed to work. Started at 30 for two weeks, then 60 mg for a few months. But then, it quit working, so my doc raised the dosage to 90 mg twice a day. I was so sick from the side effects, I decided to taper off it. But I did it pretty quick. I went down to 60 for two weeks, then 30 for two weeks, then off it. I still had some side effects at the end, but not as bad as cold turkey would have been.

Probably drinking lots of water is a good idea. It may help flush it from your system. Do a google search on "quitting Cymbalta" or something like that. You will probably find some forums where people have used it and quit and what they experienced.

Good luck. Take care of yourself, ok? Cymbalta is not something to mess around with. I decided I was never going to take it again. It wasn't worth the way I felt while on it, or while going off it. It does mess with your brain chemistry.

Kathy Bahr
Merritt Island, FL

Oh, I forgot to say, while on Cymbalta, I gained ALOT of weight! Almost 35 lbs. Yeah, that wasn't any fun. I went off it in January, and have lost 34 lbs so far. I feel like I had to start over in the losing weight arena. Since January, when I went off the Cymbalta, I have had knee problems, and finally just had knee surgery, so I wasn't able to do much exercising. I believe that just watching my eating (which I was doing before) and getting OFF the Cymbalta allowed me to lose weight. Hopefully, in four more weeks, when I am off cructches, I will be able to start exercising again and lose some more weight and finally get to my goal.

Kathy

Hi!

Ok, I am now on Day 6 without Cymbalta. Not sure if I provoke bad luck, but the worsed seem to be over.()...Except the brain zaps (just learned that there is a word for it!!).
Actually, I slowly begin to feel better- better as with Cymbalta! Energy level raises, sleeps is better, no vivid nightmares, reduced sweating...


Thanks for your answer, Kate!
Yes, I asked my Doc about going off Cymbalta...Her answer was "Why on earth do you think there could be problems???". I got to "to test it" because of my facial pain...Some times I think Doctors here are treating some ADs like M&Ms.
I am not sure, but I think I gained weight with Cymbalta as well (I avioded the scale lately...). I may gained just a little, but I DIDN`T LOOSE WHILE EATING NEARLY NOTHING (Cymbalta made me feel sick)
Hope youīre feeling better with your knee soon!



Kate

Kate, that seems a pretty odd response for a doctor. Every doctor knows there are some medications, and antidepressants specifically, that must be weaned off of, rather than terminated quickly. Answering a patient's question that way seems to be an odd response and downright hostile. Personally, I'd start looking for another doctor.

kaplods, I am just about to change my Doc, just need to wait until the end of month (an insurance thing). My Doc is a bit ***** if she see me. She never came over the fact that I accused her of doing something a bit wrong (like in just testing the blood sugar level in a normal way to find out about my insulin level...)