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My Journey of getting off 30mg Cymbalta

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Posted 5/1/2012 1:25 PM (GMT -8)
Hi Everyone:

Today is my first day quitting Cymbalta cold turkey.  I decided to start this little journal that I will add to each day to report how I am doing.  I don't want to quit it but have no choice because I'm having really bad acid reflux.  Whether the Cymbalta is causing it or not...I do not know.  Time will tell.  I've been on the med probably about a year or so with no problems on it however, tried to go up to 60 mg on January which caused me an extreme amount of anxiety.  Then, late January/early February my Acid Reflux problems started.

Anyway, here goes:

DAY ONE

No Cymbalta in the morning today.  It's now 2:20pm....and no side effects so far.

Posted 5/1/2012 1:54 PM (GMT -8)
Good Luck.  Cymbalta's half life is 12 hours and clears your system in about 3 days. I do not remember what you dose were on  ?
Posted 5/1/2012 1:58 PM (GMT -8)
Stkitt: I'm on 30mg. I always get confused on "half-life" and stuff like that. So are you saying that after three days, I should feel fine or that in 3 days I will start getting side effects...?
Posted 5/2/2012 11:58 AM (GMT -8)
Carrie,

Everybody is different in how they will react to stopping their medications.  A drug's half-life is determined by finding out how long it takes a medication or drug to be eliminated from blood plasma by one half of its strength. The shorter the 1/2 life of a drug the sooner you will notice any withdrawal sx. 

How are you doing today ?

Kitt

Posted 5/2/2012 12:15 PM (GMT -8)
Thanks Kitt!

Okay, Day TWO OFF OF CYMBALTA

It is 1:10pm California time and I am doing pretty good. Still having acid reflux unfortunately which is the ONLY REASON I'm going off this medication but I would imagine that if this is causing the acid reflux it will take a good week to resolve.

No dizziness or headaches yet and I'm 53 hours past the time I would have taken my last dose. Slept very well last night.

I'll keep updating!

Carrie
Posted 5/2/2012 6:04 PM (GMT -8)
Good luck with this journey. I bet your "journal" will be helpful to others. Keep it up.
Posted 5/3/2012 9:08 AM (GMT -8)
DAY THREE OFF CYMBALTA - AM REPORT

It's 10am California time and today I am starting to feel dizziness. I've never been clear on what a "brain-zap" is, but this might be that... It's like I'm walking and my brain feels like it's moving all the sudden or something like that. I felt a few hints of it last night too, but today....it's definitely there.

I have a far infrared sauna in my house, so I went into that this morning thinking that it could only help to speed up getting the drug residue out of my body.

I slept great last night and had a really hard time getting out of bed this morning. Still feeling very tired. But...must get to work.

I'll report back for a day three PM report later today.
Posted 5/3/2012 1:47 PM (GMT -8)
DAY THREE - AFTERNOON REPORT

Still getting little bouts of dizziness...but nothing major. Waiting for something major to happen, but nothing is happening so far which is good!
Posted 5/4/2012 3:26 PM (GMT -8)
DAY FOUR OFF OF CYMBALTA

It is 430pm and I have now been off Cymbalta for four days.  I am getting what I guess you might call "brain zaps".....very brief periods of dizziness. 

Other than that, no emotional meltdowns or anything like that....  Still having acid reflux though and that is the reason I am stopping the meds but it's only been four days.  I pray that the acid reflux resolves.  Either way, I do not plan on restarting the med once I'm off....

Posted 5/4/2012 3:36 PM (GMT -8)
Carrie,

I am glad to read you are not suffering any severe withdrawal sx but I do hope your acid reflux lessens.

Glad to know you are monitoring yourself closely.

Kindly,

Kitt

Posted 5/4/2012 5:15 PM (GMT -8)
Glad to hear things going well.  You taking anything for the acid reflux?  That can be pretty uncomfortable, but there are meds that can help.
Posted 5/5/2012 12:56 PM (GMT -8)
Glad you are doing so well. Gives me hope when I decide to get off this myself. I have not taken it as long as you. I was on 30 mg for 10 weeks and got bumped up to 60 mg 4 weeks ago and do not like how I feel on 60 mg. My next appointment is May 16th. Guess I will have to decide by then. Keep posting please and can I ask why you were on Cymbalta?
Posted 5/5/2012 8:19 PM (GMT -8)
Day five

Was great until 830pm and then BAM! Omg. Anxiety setting in big time. Sound sensitivity and I feel like every nerve ending on my body is exposed right now. I'll report tomorrow. This is. It going to be as easy as I thought it was going to be.
Posted 5/5/2012 8:20 PM (GMT -8)
This is NOT going to be as easy as I thought it would be is what I meant to type.
Posted 5/5/2012 8:22 PM (GMT -8)
The shear beating of my heart right now is causing me to have those brain zaps. Ugh. I can do this. I can do this.
Posted 5/6/2012 6:57 AM (GMT -8)
Carrie,

You have made it to Day 5 and now the road is getting a bit bumpy.  I am sorry to read this.  Do you have anything to help with the anxiety?  Also are you taking a fish oil supplement which is recommended by many to help with the withdrawal sx from SSRI medications.  Hang on and be good to yourself.

Kindly,

Kitt

Posted 5/6/2012 4:09 PM (GMT -8)
Day six
Feeling very emotional today. Still having dizziness and unfortunately, still having acid reflux. Feeling hopeless today and wondering why my life is so sucky. Waaa
Posted 5/7/2012 6:53 AM (GMT -8)
Day Seven:

Well, It's only 745am here but I awoke this morning feeling pretty good. I did notice last night that the brain zap feeling was less as the day progressed yesterday then it had been. Okay...I just bent my head to the left and got a brain zap. ha ha Anyway, I was very emotional yesterday and just could have broken into tears at any moment. I finally left the house and ran some errands and while out, forgot that I was detoxing. So, I think while detoxing, it will be important to kind of get out the house and keep busy so as to keep my mind off of it.

Brono: You had asked why I was on antidepressants. A few years ago, I had my gallbladder removed. Before this, I should say, I was in perfect health - or so I thought. Well, a few weeks after my surgery, I started getting crazy symptoms of numbness in face/feet, tingling/vibrating/pulsating in legs, and a super super high level of anxiety, etc. I went to two neurologists and they both told me I had anxiety and needed to see a phyciatrist. I refused the Pills for many months but then could not take it anymore and started maybe thinking I was crazy, so I caved in and started on Prozac. While the prozac did help some with the anxiety, it did not relieve my symptoms. I was finally tested for lyme disease and turns out that it was positive. My gallbladder surgery was a stressor on my immune system which caused the lyme to explode in my body basically. I've probably had it for many many years but my body/immune system was able to keep it in check - until the surgery. Then, my doc wanted to increase my Prozac (this was before the lyme diagnosis). He upped it to 60 mg and then the acid reflux started. I felt fantastic on the Prozac and I much perferred that drug over Cymbalta. Anyway, so I had to get off of that.

Skitt: I have tried taking Prilosec and different things for the acid reflux but they only make me worse. I don't so much feel burning but I feel as though I have stuff stuck in my esophagus. It is very uncomfortable. I hate it!!! My GI doc said it's not acid if the PPI's aren't helping me. So, I am taking a break from all the lyme treatments and now an 7 days off Cymbalta trying to get this to calm down since I don't know what is causing it. If it doesn't go away soon, I'm going to have an endoscopy done so that he can see what exactly is going on.

Anyhow, I'm going to get into my infrared sauna this morning (I did it yesterday too) and see if I can get these toxins and drug residue moving out of my tissues.

I'll post in later.
Posted 5/7/2012 7:10 AM (GMT -8)
Carrie,

You are one strong lady and wow, you are really hanging in there !  Feeling so nasty and still being able to hold back the tears and go out shopping. 

You may want to browse through the GERD Forum as I am not sure I agree with your Dr. re " it is not acid if the PPI's aren't helping" comment. 

You may want to ask your GI for the following tests if things do not improve:

Upper Endoscopy

X-ray, CT Scan and MRI studies

Upper esophageal manometry

24 hour pH probe and multichannel intraluminal impedance testing

Barium or Gastrograffin swallow study

Keep on posting here in your thread as you sharing is very helpful and encouranging for others weaning off of AD meds.

Kindly,

Kitt

Posted 5/7/2012 9:58 AM (GMT -8)
Hi Kitt:

I did actually also do a posting on the GERD forum. I'm having pain in my chest when I take a deep breath....ugh. This has been going on for maybe about four days now. I am so freaking tired of all this crap....I just want to cry! Anyhow, I called my GI docs office and made an appointment for an endoscopy. Unfortunately, it's not until May 24th.

I think I'm going to give Prilosec another shot. I'm so worried about the damage that is going on inside my body.

As far as Cymbalta goes...I'm doing pretty good today. The brain zaps, while still there, are definitely lessoning. I felt really good when I woke up this morning, but I am definitely have some fatigue now. I have lyme though, so that could be part of the issue too.
Posted 5/7/2012 10:08 AM (GMT -8)
Carrie,

I am glad to hear you got your scope scheduled. I can identify with being so dang tired of feeling sick - and yes I will feel fine and think I am doing great then everything falls apart.  It is often hard to answer someone as when you say "I am feeling good" and 2 hours later you feel like a truck ran over you and say "I feel so sick right now", someone is always bound to ask me, "What happened?"

Boy if I knew what happened and could fix it I would.  I would be over the rainbow.  Glad to know you posted in GERD and I will check you post there.

Sending you warm thoughts of healing.

Kitt

Posted 5/7/2012 1:04 PM (GMT -8)
Carrie, sorry to hear the surgery triggered everything. I am glad you are doing so well at and staying with detoxing from Cymbalta. In two days it will be 4 weeks since going on 60 mg for me and it got rid of the anxiety for the most part but I have pretty much lost interest in everything I enjoyed before. No motivation, I have to make myself get up and do things and I'm getting to where I just want to be left alone! Last Thursday was a big let down for me, I found out thru blood test results that my heart disease is alive and well in me. The indicator for inflamation in my coronary arteries is 9 times higher than normal. Now I am relly bummed out and may not try to get off the Cymbalta till we find the cause for this. One thing at a time.

Hang in there. If you make it thru this maybe it win't be so scary for me when I decide to do it! Hope you're having a great day.
Posted 5/7/2012 1:45 PM (GMT -8)
Bronco: I'm so sorry to hear about your heart disease. I agree that maybe now is not the best time to try and get off anything. When I went up to 60 mg, I'm telling you, I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't get out of my head, my anxiety was through the roof...ugh. It was awful!!!!! I could only do it for a few weeks and then told my doctor I just couldn't handle it anymore and dropped back down to 30mg. I did not really notice any withdrawals from going from 60 to 30 to be honest with you. I was just relieved to not have so much anxiety!

Anyway,

DAY SEVEN AFTERNOON REPORT
Doing much better today. Day 5 was probably my worst and I had quite a bit of anxiety at night. The brain zaps are much farther and fewer between. I am also feeling a little better however, I can cry at any moments notice when I start thinking of my health problems and how much better I used to be. I am still hoping that eventually my acid reflux will get better. I had it come up really bad after my doctor upped my Prozac to 60 mg and it took a good couple of months for it to go away. So....I am going to keep holding onto that .....that it did get better.

It's weird...one minute I'm very optimistic and the next, it's like my world is falling apart. Guess that is part of the withdrawl process.

BUT...doing better on Day Seven! woo hoo

I went into my far infrared sauna today for 45 minutes....I think this is helping with the detoxing process.

I'm going to keep reporting!
Posted 5/7/2012 1:50 PM (GMT -8)
I just want to add that it's kind of funny to read my own posts as the days are passing and see how my emotions are from one post to the next. ha ha Waaaa !!! I guess that's Cymbalta withdrawal. When I quit taking Prozac, it was a breeze. No withdrawal symptoms at all that I can remember. I hope to not return to antidepressants but if I ever had to recommend either Prozac or Cymbalta, Prozac would be my choice.
Posted 5/7/2012 4:18 PM (GMT -8)
Carrie, are there any side effects on Prozac? I've had lots on Cymbalta. Still having some. I was told by the dr. that it takes at least two months to see if it will work and the side effects go away. Maybe in another 4 weeks they will have my blood work numbers where they want them, or at least heading in the right direction. Then I can decide if I want to stay on this. My Cardiologist is not happy with me being on it but he refered me to my GP when I finally told him about the anxiety. He said anxiety is a common reaction to open heart surgery and that most get over it in time. The ones that don't have to have meds or therapy or both!
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