No matter how well you plan your Cymbalta detox, it will suck, and you will have no idea how long it will take, and how long you will feel like shit. There are things you can do to make it as short and as tolerable as it can be for you. This is what I did, and what I should have done better.
I decided to get off the Cymbalta after a surprise withdrawal event stemming from a delay in refilling my prescription. Turns out, this is a very common reason people decide to get off the drug. It is almost always a very unpleasant and frightening surprise, and apart from the range of other side effects, which are mentioned in passing in the drug’s documentation, goes unmentioned in any official marketing – at least it wasn’t mentioned in what I saw.
Once I decided I was done with the drug, I did my homework about how other people survived the withdrawals and came up with a plan.
Step 1. Taper. Cold-Turkey only sounds macho until you are falling down the stairs and tossing your cookies on the way. Brain-zaps may sound like something you’d pay good money for from your dealer behind the mini-mart, but in reality they feel like your brain wiring has shorted and you are being electrocuted by your own nerves. You will be dizzy, nauseous, and disoriented, with limited control over your body, including your digestive tract, and the extent that you can reduce the severity of these symptoms will make the whole attempt more successful. I have stupid strong will-power when it comes to enduring pain, and I could not handle cold-turkey.
PRO TIP: Take your time on the taper. I rushed it. I was scared/sick of the drug and I wanted off of it so badly that I only tapered for two weeks. It takes 3 days before the reduction in the drug starts to really impact most people (including me) and I would have been better off to have done the taper over two months or more – I am almost positive that my withdrawal would have been less severe. The problem is that the drug manufacturers don’t support a way to easily taper off the drug, so you’re going to have to open the capsules and remove pellets, and it is annoying and time consuming, and a constant reminder of how this subversive drug has taken command of your reasoning, because seriously, breaking open capsules and counting pellets is not something that a sane person would do. No matter, do it. I wish I had.
Step 2. Schedule. You are going to feel like shit for a while after your last dose, no matter how gently you taper. You will probably start to feel like shit during your taper (I did) and scheduling your withdrawal to align with your work and life as best you can will be helpful. I live alone and between Christmas and New Years are the slow periods for my work, so I planned to deal with my withdrawals during the holidays when I could lock myself up in my house and be sick by myself without it having a major impact on my job. If you can plan around at least a week worth of feeling like you have the flu/a migraine/a hang over/and you’ve just come off the teacups at the fair, you’ll be doing yourself a favor.
Step 3. Tell your family/friends/boss what you’re doing. This is probably the only time you’ll ever get to warn someone in advance about a major illness you are going to experience and exactly when you are going to experience it. It will make it easier for when the withdrawals last longer than you’d hoped and you have to bail on that one critical conference call because you can’t leave your toilet for that long.
PRO TIP: Soft toilet paper and wet-wipes are a must. You may or may not vomit (I did) but you will have the runs… for days. And Days. Aaaannnnd Days. Especially if you taper too fast. Best to be prepared.
Step 4. Supplements are your friend. The supplement that has done the best by me is the Fish Oil – especially after I found the kind you can take that Doesn’t leave you burping halibut fumes all day. If you’re like me, you’ll want to take twice the daily dosage, and especially for the first week of withdrawals, you’ll probably want to take them twice a day. I finally got the krill oil (cuz it’s all about the Omega 3s, baby) and when the “head stuff” (aka dizziness, disorientation, confusion, headache, brain-zaps, etc.) gets bad, I find that a dose of the krill oil starts to help within about an hour. Other things that have helped immensely is dramamine (or any other motion-sickness medicine) and your favorite anti-nausea medicine. You’ll also want to drink A LOT of water. I kept feeling dehydrated, and I found that drinking water also helped with the “head stuff”, so I’ve turned it into a game to see how clear I can pee. Yes, I lead a very exciting and fulfilling life.
PRO TIP: Herbal tea is both calming and can be good for the hydration. I have a detox tea that I like and that I feel helped me feel a little less disoriented. Probably placebo effect. Don’t care, love my teapot.
Step 5. Prepare food ahead of time. Once you take that final dose of the Cymbalta, it is a countdown to the withdrawals. After they hit, I had absolutely no ability to drive, or really to even walk very far. I’d stocked up on brothy soups beforehand, and they were just right. My appetite disappeared, but adding light-headed-ness from lack of food to the full body punishment of withdrawals was a bad idea (hence the falling down the stairs). Soups worked really well for me. Easy to prepare foods will work best, especially if you are on your own and can’t stand for more than a few minutes without feeling like you’re going to fall down/pass out/vomit/cry/shit yourself/all-of-the-above-at-the-same-time.
Step 6. Move as much as you can. I’m on day 6 of withdrawals today. Today I went to work (and left early). I walked my dog. I did laundry. Yesterday, I made soup and did laundry. The day before I made soup and took a bath. The day before that (day of true hell) I took a bath. The day before that I had a migraine (it was the first withdrawal symptom for me) and I scrambled to get everything ready for what was to come. Tomorrow I will go to my doctor and tell him what I have done (he was not supportive the first time I mentioned quitting the Cymbalta, but then again, he’s lost my trust at this point), and I will go to work, and after work, I will hit the gym. Not hard. Easy like, a pat or a little poke even. Unless I feel worse. No way to know for sure. I do know though that if I’m moving and doing something I feel a little less bad than I do when I’m not doing anything. I expect that I will still being having problems with dizziness and confusion and brain zaps this time next week, though I hope it will be better. I might have them the week after that. I’m prepared for that.
UP SIDES!!! I’ve lost 5 lbs since about half way through the taper – without changing much else. Course, five days of soup has probably helped. Also, I haven’t been drinking. Because there is no way I could handle a buzz on top of the rest of it. No way in hell. I also have more energy than when I was on the drug. My brain feels clearer (despite the “head stuff”) and I feel more like myself. The pain is there, but it isn’t as bad as it was (or, and this is far more likely, my pain thresholds have been re-set to something much higher) and, above all, I know I made the right choice getting off this drug. I have no doubts. None.
Ok. The toilet’s calling me… again. Maybe, if I have enough energy left, I’ll touch in again tomorrow. Maybe it is time to be back in the world again. Maybe. 🙂
SecondHand Saint 