Cymbalta wean side effects

I was on Cymbalta 3 years, in November 2024 I needed to starts a heart drug and needed to get off Cymbalta. I was on 40mg in November and probably weaned too quick, went to 30 and then 20 in two weeks, then quit cold turkey after a week.. Too fast yes, but I can't dwell on that, it's done.
I have not had anxiety, depression or pain back but, I feel terrible 2 months later. At first I was having headaches, brain zaps, nausea, balance issue and everything you read about. Now two months later, I am still dizzy, headaches, some nightmares.

I also have COPD, I am well supervised by doctors, my vitals are stable but I still have micro tremors, feel like I get low blood sugar dizziness and just feel awful most of the time and get short of breath too often although I am clinically stable. I am hoping some of this goes away soon, it is miserable, stops me from doing things. I do exercise 4 to 5 days per week.

Can anyone tell me when how long it took for the worst of it to go away ? Most people say 3 month .

Thank you for reading, Michael

I’ve been taking Cymbalta for 20 years and I believe it’s not doing any good at all for my depression and anxiety. I have tried to stop and couldn’t handle the withdrawal. First of all “slow taper “
Then , this noise in my head. What is that. A noise that never stops. Buzz or electric ?? Hard to explain or call. I feel if I’m ever going to stop cymbalta I will have to be put on something in the hospital and maybe knocked out. There is nothing like this withdraw that I have ever experienced in my life. I have gone through many withdrawals. I don’t want to be a prisoner to a drug if it’s not working. I think I am what’s call ? Like no antidepressants can help any longer. My anxiety 😥 is the worse it’s been in many years. Any help out there. Believe me I won’t do anything you all suggest without going over with my shrink. That I love.

Not sure I can help but this drug was awful for me. I took the generic form duloxetine but I became very constipated and my anxiety got much worse. I have ptsd. My psychiatrist at my request stopped it and switched me to escitalopram 10mg. I have been on this about 1 year. I have no adverse effects with this. Does it really help much? I have learned to manage my ptsd with rest meditation hydration self awareness etc. Many skills I learned in therapy. I am also relearning about internal and external locus of control.

@plezbleevme714
I tapered off 60mg that I was on several years but it stopped working/helping. It was hard because I was taking capsules. I gradually reduced down by opening capsules and taking half the capsule over weeks/months (1-2). I would put the capsule contents on a spoonful of yogurt or applesauce. It was tedious but I did it. I then would take half every other day for weeks/months (1-2) then every 3rd day for weeks/months (1-2). I continued this type of taper over several months and despite tapering, I think my body rebelled after having a surgery. I sunk into a deep depression. Before tapering off Cymbalta, I tapered off Wellbutrin/bupropion over several months. My goal was to be off the medication before my surgery to see how I felt afterwards. I should have worked with my doctors but I was struggling with so much at the time.

This seemed to be a perfect storm, tapering off 2 medications, surgery, job loss, perimenopause/menopause, single parenthood stress, many health issues/chronic pain that crashed/exploded when I fell into a deep depression. I am finally, after 1.5 years, stabilized, crawled out of my dark hole of depression and now back on a combination of Wellbutrin/bupropion and Zoloft/sertraline that is working better for me. It took 1.5 years to find new medication combinations that helped and didn’t cause too many side effects. Some combinations didn’t work or would cause brain zaps.

My suggestion is to really work with your doctor/psychiatrist on a very gradual decrease of your medication over a longer period of time to give your body/brain time to adjust to the decrease in Cymbalta. You have been on the medication for a long time so you will need to really be careful with tapering and be monitored by a doctor.

Are you on any other medications? What are your current symptoms? What other medications have you tried but they didn’t work?

@plezbleevme714 Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect! I'm glad to see you reaching out to others and figuring out what to do to get off Cymbalta.

Like you have already read, get your medical professionals involved in this! There might be something they want you to add in and change to as you go through a slow taper. After being on any medication for so many years, our bodies and minds may rebel and no longer benefit from what was working before. But that doesn't mean we can just walk away from it. And each of us is different, how we will respond to a tapering off. I was on an SSRI called citalopram for a long time, and had to do a taper off that took almost 8 weeks. I am back on that medication now for the last 5 years.

What has you medical team had to say? Take into account any other things you take and medical concerns you have. As your profile mentions, you have dealt with other addictions, so you know this may all be a challenge for you. You're strong! You got this!
Ginger

I have been on low dose duloxetine/Cymbalta on/off for 15 years. I am finally weaning off 20 mg this week after a 13 month slow taper. I have been having increased back pain and general aches/pains since the taper. Also I have no will power and putting on weight. Any suggestions?

I want to wean off after 15+ years. Tried once and had terrible side effects in terms of depression and emotional swings, any advice from those who have been there!

@msvjv
I was originally put on cymbalta and lyrica for fibromyalgia and pain from failed back surgery. I did try to taper off, probably too quickly about two years ago ago and had terrible side effects- Brain zap, constant buzzing, depressed, paranoid, jealous….headsches etc, when I had a hip replacement during which my gluteus medius and minimus were cut, detached from bone and atrophied I could not cope and went back on cymbalta for severe anxiety, I am afraid to come off but now my BP is much too high despite lifestyle changes and 3 BP meds. We cannot determine why I am not responding to treatment, would you share how you determine cymbalta was the issue!

@patgrant Sure. I went to a surgical center to have a procedure on my ankle…injections…which I had had several times. My blood pressure was very high, 200 over 100 something even though I was taking blood pressure meds. When I expressed concern to the nurse, she blew it off as white coat syndrome. I told her I wasn’t nervous that I’d had the procedure many times before and I wasn’t anxious about it. Post procedure my BP had gone down a bit. When I got home, I took it again and it was still too high. Longer story short, I pulled out the information sheets for each of the prescriptions that I was taking at that time… Those that you get when you start a new prescription. On the last page of a two or three page information Document for Cymbalta, was a warning about Increasingly rising blood pressure. I knew Instinctively that it was the Cymbalta causing my blood pressure problem.

If you have the prescribing info that comes with Cymbalta read it all because that one warning is on the last page as I recall. I’m not sure that you can find that info online, but you might try googling and reading the patient information that normally comes along with a new prescription.

@msvjv thank You. I will check it out, after coming off,did your BP normalize?