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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by nlcrj on December 17, 2008, at 14:26:19
im new here, and sorry if this was already answered; im not very good with forum searching. im trying to get off cymbalta and ive been off from 20mg (tapered from 60mg) for a few days and i dont think i can tolerate the withdrawals. going down from 60 to 20mg wasnt very difficult but the last mile is the longest.. would i have better results if i took a week or so of 10mg, then a week of 5mg? i already counted out the pellets and made a supply with what i have, im just unsure whether i should go back, or try to tough it out while risking my (already strained) relationship with my girlfriend. I dont want to lose her over this &*&^%ing medicine
Posted by Phillipa on December 17, 2008, at 14:40:44
In reply to question about tapering off cymbalta, posted by nlcrj on December 17, 2008, at 14:26:19
Some of posters have actually counted the beads and either gotten gel capsules from pharmacy or vitamin shop and counted them out til got off the med completed. Or mixed in soft food just don't bite them as time release. Good Luck. Phillipa
Posted by West on December 18, 2008, at 7:25:52
In reply to Re: question about tapering off cymbalta » nlcrj, posted by Phillipa on December 17, 2008, at 14:40:44
Hi
I just wanted to say that i've come off cymbalta without any problems about 3 months ago. I folded a piece of card into a 'v' shape so that it stands up and poured the contents of whichever capsule i was using (60mg or 30mg) into the 'rut'. Next i cut off a thin piece of card and cut the end at two right angles to push the beads up and down with. I divided the beads by eye and went down in increments of about 10mg per 5 days.
The day i was due to reach zero i took 20mg fluoxetine, and another the following day (luckily my mother is prescribed them), I think that should probably see you through. I did have some 5-htp as well for sleep which helps to raise serotonin levels.
Of course you could always just switch to fluoxetine for a week (it's total guesswork but i would take 20mg to equal about 30mg of cymbalta). It has a long half-life meaning the tapering process continues weeks after you take the capsule.
Hope that helps.
Posted by nlcrj on December 18, 2008, at 13:36:44
In reply to Re: question about tapering off cymbalta, posted by West on December 18, 2008, at 7:25:52
Thanks for the input. I do have the gelcap time release type, and i can count out beads. I read somewhere that it's bad to take tthe beads directly, and since theyre supposed to be digested further down, if you take them outside of the pill capsule you can risk stomach damage. but at any rate, its not hard to pop open the pills, dump out the beads, swear at them a bit and count out a dose. i counted 180 beads in a 20mg capsule which works out to be 9 beads per mg.
i also have a prescription for sertraline 50mg that i havent started yet, as i wanted to get off the cymbalta first. ive taken it before years ago, and it seemed to work well enough then; the effects were much more mild, and thats more what i want. just a little boost, as i can do the rest of the work on my own.
would it help to switch directly to the sertraline, or should i wait a few weeks to establish a baseline?
part of me wants to just throw them all out the window and operate drug free, but my mood swings are intolerable without any medication. hmmmm....
Posted by West on December 18, 2008, at 14:23:37
In reply to Re: question about tapering off cymbalta, posted by nlcrj on December 18, 2008, at 13:36:44
> Thanks for the input. I do have the gelcap time release type, and i can count out beads. I read somewhere that it's bad to take tthe beads directly, and since theyre supposed to be digested further down, if you take them outside of the pill capsule you can risk stomach damage. but at any rate, its not hard to pop open the pills, dump out the beads, swear at them a bit and count out a dose. i counted 180 beads in a 20mg capsule which works out to be 9 beads per mg.
>
> i also have a prescription for sertraline 50mg that i havent started yet, as i wanted to get off the cymbalta first. ive taken it before years ago, and it seemed to work well enough then; the effects were much more mild, and thats more what i want. just a little boost, as i can do the rest of the work on my own.
>
> would it help to switch directly to the sertraline, or should i wait a few weeks to establish a baseline?
> part of me wants to just throw them all out the window and operate drug free, but my mood swings are intolerable without any medication. hmmmm....If you aren't getting any benefit you could switch without running into any problems yes. It sounds as if you're better off on an SSRI anyway.
This is the end of the thread.
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