getting off Cymbalta

[deBBieW]

I tried getting off of my 60 mg of Cymbalta once before, and was not successful. I went down to 30 mg, for 2 weeks, then stopped. After a few days I couldn't stand how I felt, not more pain, just felt flu like, on the verge of crying, body temperature swings.... so I went back on.

I want to try again, and I have my GP to help me this time. She wants me to go on Noritriptyline first (which I am now on 10 mg), I'm sure that dose will go up.

I don't know if Cymbalta is really helping with pain anyways, and it's sooo expensive. So i'm going to give it a try.

Any suggestions to help me this time? Is Cymbalta a common med prescribed for PN patients?

thanks,
Debbie

[janetm2]

Debbie,
Good to have GP helping you to transition off the Cymbalta. I do not have experience with it but did get off the fentanyl patch and then Lyrica and slow was the key. I think it was two weeks for each. Hopefully the Noritriptylene will help offset the side effects. Best of luck.
Janet

[DoubleEdgedSword]

Hi ladies,

I'm currently on 90mg of Cymbalta/day & I have to agree, it's very expensive. Maybe when they make a generic of it, it'll come down in price. I haven't tried to taper off of it. I get almost every common side effect it has, & some of the more rare ones too. I know when I was increasing my dosage, I had to do it slowly. I've heard of some of the awful side effects of going off of it. Perhaps your new med will help, & maybe ask your doc if you can take longer to wean off of it.

When I was weaning off of Lyrica, I typically took 3 weeks at each lower dosage, then when I was down to my last couple weeks' worth of pills, would take them every 1.5 days, then every 2 days til I didn't have anymore. Perhaps that might help, but be sure to ask your doc.. Best of luck with it, & I hope you're able to get off of it.

[Violet M]

When I went off lexapro I went down on the dose very slowly because I had read how difficult it was to get off. If I remember correctly I cut back by 1/8 tablet a week and took just over a year to get off. When I finally went off the last 1/8 pill it wasn't too bad. Maybe I was being overly cautious but it worked for me.

Good luck, I hope you can get this sorted out without too much difficulty.

Violet

[deBBieW]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. My doc said go down to half the dose for a month, then one 30 mg Cymbalta every other day, for another month. Not sure if I'll be increasing the noritryptiline, it makes me very tired at 25 mg.
Now every time I get a flare I think should I be reducing the Cymbalta????
I'm sure I'm not the only one that goes through that.

I see that slow reduction in meds is key . Who knows, maybe I really need Cymbalta, only one way to find out.

Debbie

[Thunderman69]

I went off Cymbalta and paid dearly. Had the worst flare of my life that put me in bed for almost 2 months. I started back on it at 60 mg and within 4 weeks I went from a 9/10 pain level down to a 4.
Now, I sit 6 hours a day and got SOME of my life back.

BTW - Cymbalta patent expires in December... By early 2014 the market will flood with Generic duloxetine (the active ingredient in CYM) and the Price will fall off a cliff

Thunder

[deBBieW]

Hi -
well I'm doing very well with the reduction in Cymbalta actually. I'm now taking 1 30 mg every other night, and a few nights I have forgotten. Next week I will try to take none. This is my 2nd time trying to get off, and it's going much better.
Slow, slow is really the key. My new family doc did give me good advice. I can't say my pain at this point is any worse. Everyone is different of course.

Debbie