Cymbalta Detox :(

[Sumocat]

Ugh, has anyone else ever tapered off of Cymbalta?

This was a miracle drug for me for about the past 2 years, but my doc and I agreed the time has come to move on to something else.

I've gone from 90mg to 60 mg...now down to 30 mg..over the course of about a month and a half.

Everything was cool so far, aside from the side effects that were already causing issues....but now that I'm weaning from the 30 mg, things are getting a little sketchy.

Sleep is messed up, which I can deal with...but now I'm getting this weird, intermittent nausea. Its like out of nowhere, for about 5 seconds, I'll feel like I'm gonna puke...then..nothing.

I've got papaya enzymes and ginger tea, which helps with the other upper gi side effects, but not the nausea.

Anyone come off of this stuff and had stomach issues, and if so, how long did it last? Anything that helped with the symptoms?

Many thanks in advance..

[exitwound]

I did. It was a horrible experience for me from day one, and tapering off it caused me to sweat, feel strange and nauseous, all kinds of fun stuff.

For nausea I usually recommend marijuana. Of good quality, preferably pure Indica or a majority-indica cross. And preferably used with a vaporizer, because smoking is hardly what you want to do when you are nauseous. Plus vaporizers are always preferred.

You can also try Meclizine, or if you have it, Promethazine (aka Phenergan; found in tablets or suppositories, can be bought easily from International Online Pharmacies or relatively easily gotten from doctors)....."dramamine" is just another form of Diphenhydramine AKA Benadryl. "Dimenhydrinate" is really just Diphenhydramine with a water molecule attached as a dumb-ass form of 'time-release'.

All of these COULD react with the Cymbalta i suppose, but I never had any trouble using them when I was on Cymbalta.

I had all kinds of freaky nervous system problems, shaking and jerking, weird movements when in bed, etc when on Cymbalta. be glad you're getting off that shit.

I would recommend something to help with the symptoms. If you can't have a steady of supply of stuff like opiates, MJ, benzos, etc. then get as close as you can from doctors or anyone else. The doc who had you on the Cymbalta should be responsible for helping you get off of it without too much trouble!

Good luck and if there's anything else I can do to help, please just ask! I'm here to help fellow sufferers and opiate users....regardless of circumstances.

[Beautifully_Broken]

good luck dude!


i almost died last month commin off effexor, worst experience of my life

i knew opiates caused an ugly detox when i got into them, but no one warned me bout the antidpressants!

[SpecialGuy69]

effexor? really? I had no idea there was a detox for shit like effexor. The only substances I was aware of that caused severe physical dependance are opiates, alcohol, benzos, and barbituates. I'm sure there are plenty, plenty more. I'm dead tired and noddin', so I might even be missing a few obvious ones, but effexor? What the fuck? That's crazy. Has this happened to anyone else?

Does effexor have any pleasurable psychoactive properties (maybe in large doses)?
Why did you have to detox from effexor anyways?

[Sumocat]

Exit, et al...thanks so much for the recs! Thankfully, I'm going to see my p-doc soon, so I will ask him about getting some stuff to help.

I don't know if he'll be willing to script it, but I discovered that Klonopin helps a lot with the CNS crap. Plus, my gf said she's got some promethazine laying around somewhere ...I always wondered what that stuff was for, now I know!

I totally know what you mean about the sweating and twitching. I had about a 6 month spell where I would feel like I had fever, couldn't seem to cool down no matter what I did. At night, I practically played soccer in my sleep, t-boning my girlfreind in the kneecap on numerous occasions, lol.

tm420tm: Yes, there is physical dependency with these meds. Maybe not as universally as with opiates, it all depends on the person...*but*...it all still does stuff to your brain chemistry.

Most anti-depressants just screw with serotonin. Effexor and Cymbalta screw with both serotonin and norepinephrine.

Just like with your endorphins, the brain gets 'lazy' making its own chemicals and has to kick start itself again once the 'help' is withdrawn.

Withdrawal sucks with all of 'em, but the ones that target 2 neurochemicals seem to be the nastiest.

[Beautifully_Broken]

I'd been on the effexor for about 9 months, was put on it for the usual reasons, but one of the side effects at high doses is suicidal thoughts....well i kept telling my pshrink and he kept upping my dosage, finally i couldnt take it anymore and decided to wean myself off it.....not my brightest move......anxiety attacks, cutting, crazy behavior, mood swings, i didnt know what the hell was going on.....sweating, nausea, nightmares, shaking, this way worse than any opiate detox i've experienced. it got so far that i had ordered the ingredients for my darvon cocktail, written my letters, and i was on my way out (tried to steal a gun from my dad but he caught me)

anyway, yall probably didnt want to hear all that, but as a last ditch effort i decided to go back on the effexor for a couple days, see what happened....and within 3 days i was back to normal (well, normal for me:p) since then ive been doin research, found out effexor and paxil cause horrible detoxes, so bad that usually the patient is put back on the drug just to stop it.

probably should have looked at these things before we put half of american on antidepressants

[Sumocat]

Oy Vey, Chica! That sounds horrific. Seriously, I went through something similar with two different drugs (prozac and wellbutrin, my body just doesn't like them), and I didn't have to do any arm twisting to get off of them.

Maybe a new p-doc is in order?? No one should have to go through that.

Btw, when you tried to get off the Effexor, how did you do the taper? You might have come down too fast, even what *seemed* like a slow enough taper.

Of course, the problem with these meds, too, is the fact that they're in capsules. There's nowhere left to go at the smallest prescribed dose, except breaking them open and counting out the grains.

[exitwound]

Yeah, I often wish that my doc had scripted me some benzos when I was coming off that horrible Cymbalta shit. I'd been on Zoloft and Wellbutrin previously without any major problems but Cymbalta just didn't agree with my neurochemistry or something.

I have mixed feeling about Klonopin (Clonazepam). My sister was on it for a long time to treat night terrors, and I had access to her surplus for a long time. I have used it more recently for therapeutic purposes and it wasn't quite so unpleasant, but I still think that other benzos could be potentially more useful for certain types of pain and maybe even for side effects of cymbalta.

The only key benefit of klonopin, which isn't so minor in this instance i would guess, is how long it lasts. Much longer than most other benzodiazepines.

However, almost any of the benzos should work pretty well. Ativan, Xanax, Valium, Temazepam, Oxazepam, etc etc.

Good luck!

Exit, et al...thanks so much for the recs! Thankfully, I'm going to see my p-doc soon, so I will ask him about getting some stuff to help.

I don't know if he'll be willing to script it, but I discovered that Klonopin helps a lot with the CNS crap. Plus, my gf said she's got some promethazine laying around somewhere ...I always wondered what that stuff was for, now I know!

I totally know what you mean about the sweating and twitching. I had about a 6 month spell where I would feel like I had fever, couldn't seem to cool down no matter what I did. At night, I practically played soccer in my sleep, t-boning my girlfreind in the kneecap on numerous occasions, lol.

tm420tm: Yes, there is physical dependency with these meds. Maybe not as universally as with opiates, it all depends on the person...*but*...it all still does stuff to your brain chemistry.

Most anti-depressants just screw with serotonin. Effexor and Cymbalta screw with both serotonin and norepinephrine.

Just like with your endorphins, the brain gets 'lazy' making its own chemicals and has to kick start itself again once the 'help' is withdrawn.

Withdrawal sucks with all of 'em, but the ones that target 2 neurochemicals seem to be the nastiest.

[NineLives]

Ugh, has anyone else ever tapered off of Cymbalta?

This was a miracle drug for me for about the past 2 years, but my doc and I agreed the time has come to move on to something else.

I've gone from 90mg to 60 mg...now down to 30 mg..over the course of about a month and a half.

[snip]

Anyone come off of this stuff and had stomach issues, and if so, how long did it last? Anything that helped with the symptoms?

How are you doing now, Sumocat? Reading this thread brings back my nightmare Cymbalta experience. I was on it for about 4 months and quit cold turkey. I remember the docs and the drug company kept claiming there were no withdrawal symptoms - what a load of BS!!!!

The WD symptom which bothered me the most was what I can only describe as a "nerve jolt". It would feel like every single nerve in my body would go *ZAP* at the same time, like a static electricity shock, but far more intense and on the inside. It would make me jerk uncontrollably. I would get "zapped" about once a minute... I thought it would never stop.

My doc finally gave me some klonopins, I don't remember the dosage, but he had to keep increasing it to a pretty high level before I got any relief. The WD lasted a looong time for me, about 6 weeks. I was seriously afraid something about my nervous system had been permenantly damaged!

But eventually, it did pass; the worst was over in 3 weeks with full recovery at 6 weeks. I did end up getting 10mg valiums and they helped the most when opiates weren't available. I wish I had some advice about the stomach issues, other than phenergan I don't know what would help. I remember my stomach feeling terrible, like it was tied up into a hard little knot or something, so I would put a heating pad on my stomach and a pillow on top to help hold it down... it was suprisingly helpful.

I sure hope you are doing better, my heart goes out to you! Give us an update when you can.

[OxyContinuously]

Cymbalta works on norepinephrine and serotonin. Coming off those kinds of drugs (strattera is another example and I also saw someone posted about the horror that is venlafaxine wd) always sucks and it is often a painful process. The best thing to do is wha you're doing...taper gradually, over a period of weeks to months, and slowly but surely rid yourself of that poison.

[Papa Verine]

How are you doing now, Sumocat? Reading this thread brings back my nightmare Cymbalta experience. I was on it for about 4 months and quit cold turkey. I remember the docs and the drug company kept claiming there were no withdrawal symptoms - what a load of BS!!!!

The WD symptom which bothered me the most was what I can only describe as a "nerve jolt". It would feel like every single nerve in my body would go *ZAP* at the same time, like a static electricity shock, but far more intense and on the inside. It would make me jerk uncontrollably. I would get "zapped" about once a minute... I thought it would never stop.

My doc finally gave me some klonopins, I don't remember the dosage, but he had to keep increasing it to a pretty high level before I got any relief. The WD lasted a looong time for me, about 6 weeks. I was seriously afraid something about my nervous system had been permenantly damaged!

But eventually, it did pass; the worst was over in 3 weeks with full recovery at 6 weeks. I did end up getting 10mg valiums and they helped the most when opiates weren't available. I wish I had some advice about the stomach issues, other than phenergan I don't know what would help. I remember my stomach feeling terrible, like it was tied up into a hard little knot or something, so I would put a heating pad on my stomach and a pillow on top to help hold it down... it was suprisingly helpful.

I sure hope you are doing better, my heart goes out to you! Give us an update when you can.

I too went cold turkey off Cymbalta a few months ago and experienced nausea and ZAPS! I was smoking A lot of weed and after a few days I felt fine. It really didn't last long and I'd take those W/D's over opiates any day!

[opiobsessed]

This is surprising, back like 6-7 years ago I was on a high dose of prozac, when it quit working any good for me anymore I just cold turkey quit. I had been on it for a few months too and I dont remember any kind of wd symptoms. However as soon as I quit prozac and also the risperidal I was on, I went right back to drinking alot and getting buzzed good on alcohol

Glad those days are over with and I have finally found the perfect antidepressant(opiates)

[NineLives]

I too went cold turkey off Cymbalta a few months ago and experienced nausea and ZAPS! I was smoking A lot of weed and after a few days I felt fine. It really didn't last long and I'd take those W/D's over opiates any day!

I agree 100% - Cymbalta WD's are a walk in the park compared to opiate WD's, but the WD was still a seriously un-fun time for me. Never ever again will I take an AD!

::shudder::

[Badly Drawn Girl]

This is surprising, back like 6-7 years ago I was on a high dose of prozac, when it quit working any good for me anymore I just cold turkey quit. I had been on it for a few months too and I dont remember any kind of wd symptoms. However as soon as I quit prozac and also the risperidal I was on, I went right back to drinking alot and getting buzzed good on alcohol

Glad those days are over with and I have finally found the perfect antidepressant(opiates)

My mom went cold turkey off of Cymbalta after being on it for some time. She just got emotional, no physical wds.

I've been on Wellbutrin (which I quit because I wanted to smoke cigarettes), Zoloft (which made me depressed and suicidal) and I can't remember the last anti-d I was put on because I never took it. I was prescribed them for my fibromyalgia, because apparently some people find pain relief from them, but I felt that was bull. I was not depressed but I ended up depressed because of the pills. No more anti-depressants for me unless I'm actually depressed.

[Sumocat]

Didn't realize this thread still had some life in it ;) Well, here's a brief update on how things are going so far..

Last time I saw my doc, he talked about continuing the taper by going down to the 20mg dose. For some reason that I don't remember at the moment, we decided to hold off on that.

I really wish we hadn't, and I'm actually waiting for him to call me back so we can work something out.

It is to the point now where just taking the 30mg makes me ill. Really weird palpitations, tension and panic sensation. It absolutely sucks ass.

Weird how the things that work so well can turn on you when its time say adios. I've got an interim plan for myself, though. Have been doing a one day on/one day off routine.

I also ordered some Kratom this week (will be my first time experimenting with it). Hoping to get to the painkilling/sedating dose on the days when I have to take the Cymbalta. Will report back and let y'all know if it works as well for AD withdrawals as for opiate withdrawals!

[chasetherush]

from what i understand, SNRI's (effexor, cymbalta) and other AD withdrawals are unlike withdrawals from things like opiates or benzos in that you don't crave more cymbalta or effexor. when i WD from benzos, i craved them like a motherfucker. they accidentally administered lorazepam (ativan) at the detox clinic, and even though i knew it would just make the WD last longer and be even harder, i jumped on the opportunity to take that pill and felt much better...for about 4 hours. then it was back to WDing. if i'm wrong, let me know. i've come off of many different anti-depressants and like meds cold turkey and had some slight side effects, but no craving. only things that have caused craving with me are all scheduled substances.