Posted by 49er on May 22, 2010, at 6:27:32
In reply to Re: Cymbalta Withdrawal » Elanor Roosevelt, posted by SLS on May 21, 2010, at 16:13:07
Hi Scott,
I just read Elanor's response about not wanting to reinstate so I will just respond in general terms because I think this is an important issue.
> I imagine you feel that you have already invested 2.5 weeks of time and endured much pain towards discontinuing Cymbalta such that you would not want to restart it. Who would want to reintroduce this drug if the discontinuation syndrome will end in a few more days? >>
I am not sure why you would think the discontinuation syndrome would end in a few days because even drug companies don't advise you to cold turkey a med.
Also Cymbalta has one of the shortest half lives of all antidepressants so when you cold turkey this me, you feel it even more than you would with a med that has a longer half life.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule but that is generally how it works.
Regarding using Prozac, that is a good idea with these caveats. Unfortunately, it doesn't prevent a person from having withdrawal symptoms from the Cymbalta if they taper too quickly. You could also have start up symptoms from the Prozac.
Not that this is proof but it seems people on the Paxil Progress Boards who are doing this are not having success. One person in particular has reinstated the Paxil and will eventually taper it after stabilization.
If it works, obviously tapering Prozac is alot easier than tapering Cymbalta but it just seems like there are alot of ifs.
Using an anticonvulsant to taper is a bad idea in my opinion. People on other boards have a had a horrendous time getting of drugs like Lamictal.
Be careful with Benadryl as it is an ototoxic medication. If you have developed tinnitus or hearing problems from any med, you will be susceptible to the ototoxic effects.
There is no denying that my method for tapering takes a long time. So what?
This is isn't a race as the goal is to stay off meds.
Yes, there are folks who can go more quickly but again, you're not going to know if you're one of the lucky ones until it is too late.
And people have talked about having no problem tapering quickly the first go around only to do the same thing and then have problem the 2nd time. Is that a risk worth taking?
Personally, I don't think it is but that's me.
49er
poster:49er
thread:948148
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100514/msgs/948284.html