How do I come off duloxetine

[IrritatedUser1960]

Hi everyone, I started taking duloxetine to get through my divorce as the whole process caused me extreme depression and anxiety.
I'm in a much better place now and I'm ready to live life without it but I'm terrified of the awful side effects I'ce heard about if I just stop taking it.
Does anyone know how you come off the stuff without too many side effects? I'm on the lowest dose 30mg and it's a capsule so you can't taper your dose down. has anyone tried it?
I'm going to have a word with the pharmacist at the weekend but it would be nice to hear about some personal experiences.

Please ask a doctor, not the internet.

Well obviously, but I just wndered if anyone had personal experience of this.

Hi
I've no experience of this drug but thought I would write as I came off Lamotrigine earlier in the year (used for bipolar, epilepsy) as I was TTC.
I went to see my GP to explain what I wanted and a very severe 4 week plan was put in place to remove everything (including ADs). I couldn't function - it was awful. I ended up self-prescribing a bottle of wine most nights just to be able to get to sleep. Anyway I went back to my GP and asked for a referral to see a psychiatrist (my meds weren't ones that a GP would prescribe) who shook his head at my GP's ineptness and prescribed doses which enabled me to reduce my intake of the Lamotrigine very very slowly. He suggested I then wait a year before trying to come off the ADs.
There is a site called Beyond Meds which is useful if you want to do some reading - what I suggest really is doing your own research and then go and see your GP well-informed. It looks like the drug you're taking comes in 20mg doses, so between breaking those in half and your 30mg ones you should be able to come up with a sensible long-term plan (i.e. 10 + 15 for 4 weeks etc, 20 mg for 4 weeks..)

I also drank a lot of green juice. Probably didn't really do anything but my skin did look quite nice :-)

All the best x

Oh, sorry - missed the bit about it being a capsule. On the site I suggested it just mention people measuring out doses somehow. But your GP should be able to tell you what to do - make him/her own the problem and have weekly check-ups.
x

I've come off duloxetine (I'm back on it now).

Gp recommended skipping a dose every second day for 2 weeks then to stop altogether. It was bad.

Then I tried skipping every second day for a week and taking a tab every 3 days.

In both cases it just seemed to me I was having withdrawal symptoms over and over again, after taking each tab and it wearing off until I was able to take the next tab due on the second or third day.

Eventually in desperation I googled and there is a method out there, which I did use and was so much easier in terms of withdrawals. It involves opening the capsules and spreading the contents in the fold of a piece of paper with detailed measurements. I reduced my dosage over 10 weeks this way.

I was in a country where only the 60mg tab was available and found that gps really are not sympathetic to the effects of withdrawals of these meds when they say you should just taper the dosage for 2 weeks.

Anyway, I don't want to recommend the process I mentioned above, only advise you that it's on the web if you look and that I used it successfully.

Thanks for the info everyone, I couldn't get to see my doctor for weeks so I just took things into my own hands and stopped taking it. I feel fine.
The only withdrawal I have had are some nightmares and a bit of dizziness otherwise ok.

You've been lucky! I had horrific time coming off it. It comes in 20mg and I had to split them so got down to taking 5ish per day then every other day.

That's awful Randommess, I had a hard time starting them, felt crazy, then suicidal but after about 3 months they did help and the panic and anxiety over my divorce subsided and hasn't come back.
I suppose it must depend on our individual metabolisms. I take loads of strong painkillers for spinal problems and they make me feel quite euphoric so I guess that must help.

I'd been on 60mg for about 5 years took 6 months to taper off them. Tried cold turkey it was horrific on my family due to mood swings as well as the other side effects. Lots of info on line that some people never get off them!

I've only been taking 30mg for a year but decided the 12 hour daily sleeping pattern was too much.
I just thought fuck it cold turkey let's see what happens. It wasn't great but it's ok now.

I was robbed, didn't help my MH and certainly didn't improve my sleep!!!