Posted by Racer on February 9, 2008, at 19:21:58
In reply to Cymbalta dosage, posted by Maxime on February 8, 2008, at 22:08:39
I took Cymbalta for about a year and a half, at dosages ranging from 90mg -- for a very brief while -- down to 20mg. In tapering off, I had no trouble whatsoever. (I had a very different experience tapering off Effexor, by the way.)
I found that I had to take it differently than other medications I've taken, because of the GI troubles it gave me. Normally, I sit down at the breakfast table, take my various pills, then eat my breakfast. For Cymbalta, I had to take it after having eaten something -- I would sit down, take my vitamins, eat my poached egg, then take the Cymbalta before finishing my breakfast. With Cymbalta, for me, taking it "with" my meals didn't do the trick -- I actually had to have something solid in my stomach, which was enough to settle the GI problems.
It's been a long time since I started it, but I seem to remember having been on 30mg for four to six weeks before my doctor had me raise the dose to 60mg. It had already started to help by then, but it wasn't doing enough.
Keeping always in mind that I have one set of weird reactions to medications and that those are very different from the set of weird reactions you have to medications, I had a fairly good run on Cymbalta. It wasn't the answer for me, obviously, but it was one of the friendliest medications I've ever been on for depression: virtually no side effects, once I figured out that I needed to have that egg inside me before taking it. At first I lost weight, but that's also when I started treatment with the nutritionist, so the weight gain was more likely the nutritional counseling, rather than the medication.
Based on what I remember, I'd say talk to your doctor about how soon to up the dose, and give it a good try -- if you react anything like the way I did, it may be a very good journey for you, too.
Best luck with it.
poster:Racer
thread:811623
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080207/msgs/811781.html