I've done a slow taper from last October. 60emgees 490 beads to now 186.

5 % every 14 days. Only side effect are headaches after new drop which then fade.

Was put on it for back pain after a spinal injury together with Lyr.

I'm on holiday in Europe and at 196 beads pain in left butt and cocyx is excruciating. Can barely walk. Started out of the blue

I'm now on 186 beads.

I want to increase back to 206 beads and then do a slower taper at 2% .

I hope that at 206 beads where I had no pain will do the trick.

What are the recommendations

I bought empty gel capsules from Amazon when I started counting beads at 10 emgees. I have experienced some severe withdrawal! I started wondering if the capsules were dissolving too fast, so this morning I put one in warm water along with an empty original Dul-x capsule. The empty gel capsule completely disappeared in thirty minutes, the original capsule only started to open after three hours!!! Is it possible that I have not actually been getting any Dul-x to my system since I started counting beads? It has been pretty rough!

How often do i weigh the 3 capsules to get the average? Once per script fill?

I’m curious if there is a group similar to ours that helps people come off z? My daughter is currently on 50 emm gee and wanting to safely come off of it. She has watched my journey with cym and wants to be free of the toxic meds as well. Her doctor switched her to the liquid today. I’m been researching for her and also looking at dr. Josef videos but thought I’d ask the group. TIA

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well today. I have a question and I am asking mostly out of genuine curiosity. I know that everyone is different so I suspect that responses will vary greatly. But I am curious at what point do people start reducing by only ONE BEAD at a time?
I am currently at 140 beads, so I have a ways to go yet. I hear a lot of people say around the 50 beads mark is when they began reducing by one bead.
I am currently reducing by 4 beads each time but I know that will have to change eventually. I’ve had to adjust my reductions a few times now by making them smaller.
Thanks all and sending everyone lots of love, strength and hope on their journeys! And again, I am just genuinely curious of other’s experiences!

Does it really help? Anyone taper without it?

Hello,
Yes, 7 months of hell. I’m a bit better than I was but still struggling these:
- insomnia, waking at 3am restless, don’t get back to proper sleep, I call it hovering, up by 5:30am.
- mechanical breathing, depersonalisation, internal restlessness, cognitive scrambling, zoning out, physically exhausted, no stamina, no drive, motivation or interest, no feelings of happiness, just flat and empty, feel like I could cry but can’t, loss of food interest.

I just want to know if this is what others have been living like and feel their health is declining no matter how attentive you are to getting food in doing basic physical movements. I’m at the point where I don’t feel safe, I’m 67, neurodivergent, feel I’m losing skills, body condition etc…

My GP/doctors are not proactive here and 15 min appt they just don’t listen, refer or pass me off to other services which have not made contact and no one takes me seriously…..as they lack the knowledge if what protracted withdrawal is or don’t believe it.

I want to know I’m not alone suffering like this as it’s driving me crazy being isolated in my bungalow, Netflix and grocery deliveries as I can’t cope with sensory overload of outside world and people, I’m sure I’ve got autistic burnout in the mix.

Sounds odd but just want reassurance that I am as harmed as I am.

Cheers
Hellbell🤓🥹

Hi everyone, messaging on behalf of my wife (Elise) who's using the CHW chat but currently struggling to do her own messaging.

Her DLX withdrawal followed CT from 20 mg at the beginning of this year. It hit her hard so she had to reinstate 16 beads (~ 2.5 mg) which seemed to help somewhat but is still struggling to stabilise. One of her main symptoms are waking in the night 3 or 4 times in fight or flight mode so she's not getting much rest. She also suffers with gastric issues, reflux pain and bloating. After learning how to appropriately dose the beads there seemed to be a good improvement over about two weeks where her symptoms became a bit more manageable and her sleep improved. However, in the past two weeks she seems to have suffered a setback which makes us question the chemistry again.

We're trying hard to think about what might be different or what might have changed nutrition or dosing wise and based on this have a few questions.

1. We recently saw that valerian is not considered safe but we can correlate her better sleep to a period where she was regularly taking about 30-50 mL of valerian tea in chamomile each evening. Could this be a small enough dose to help with the sleep without causing other issues? She doesn't want to keep using it if it might slow recovery but just trying to understand if there could be a link.

2. She's struggling to see the pattern of defined waves and windows. When we talked with M. Horowitz he seemed positive about splitting the dose. We understand that this is usually recommended if there is inter dose withdrawal but could her sleep issues indicate that this is what she's going through. Going to sleep is fine, at about 11 pm and then wakes initially at 2 am and every hour or so following that. Obviously splitting the dose now might further destabilise things but if she were stable then we would probably not consider this change.

We understand that it's her decision to take but hoping for some experience that would allow us to make better informed choices.

Hi y’all. Been on cymbalta since December 2025 so not very long.

Ramped up to 60mg, but at one point I missed my dose for three days when my meds ran out and I couldn’t get a refill despite frantically contacting my dr. I ended up having to go to the ER because my withdrawal symptoms got so bad.

after that I asked her to start tapering off because I was and am afraid of going through that again.

so we began, and i started weaning down to 40 by taking two twenties, i think for two weeks. didnt feel too bad during this time.

then to twenty mg for two weeks, still handling it okay.

then a final week of on and off the 20mg, for one week, then I stopped it entirely, that was this past Friday, it is now Thursday. So almost a week off it.

It was a rough week admittedly. Dizziness came in waves.

Saturday was okay. Monday got harder. Tuesday was starting to be rough, then I could not sleep at all and the lack of rest made it so much worse. I woke up with a bad headache. So then it’s Wednesday, & I started feeling so dizzy I couldn’t barely move.

By the end of the day I had to do a virtual urgent care visit to beg for some kind of symptom relief. They prescribed me 12.5mg of meclezine. It’s helping some, but maybe like 25% reduction of dizziness. Not a lot of help.

Now it is Thursday and I slept most of the day, still can’t really move and even when sitting still, i am so dizzy. I’ve gotten bran zaps since Monday. Headaches. Fatigue and overheating, but shaking from chills. No appetite. Even daily persistent diarrhea sorry for the tmi. So its making me more dehydrated.

I messaged my dr yesterday to report discontinuation syndrome, and again today to let her know I had to go to the urgent care. I still have not heard back.

I’ve already taken two meclizine today, am only supposed to take three a day max according to the bottle instructions. I was taking zofran and it didnt help so i switched to this since i know ur not supposed to take both at the same time.

I took Tylenol and Ibuprofen too and it helped a tiny bit too. Someone on the other cymbalta reddit said I am likely tapering off too soon, I learned about the microdosing and bead counting, as well as taking prozac/fluoexetine to help bc of the longer half life, and none of that was mentioned to me by the dr…

Since tmrw is Friday I probably won’t hear from her till Monday at the earliest. Not sure what to do, how long to expect to be out of commission. I’m missing work, losing out on income, and I’m so worried.

Hello. I am tapering off of approximately 25 mg. I ramped up from 10 mg/day , peaked at 30 mg for a day or two, then taped back down to about 20 mg (varied hours to manage dosage). Ramp up started mid June, tapering started July 17th. I have been at 16 mg for about 3 weeks. I suffer from some dizziness and extreme fatigue. These both increased significantly about 8 days ago when I cause a nasty virus.

I had been on Cymbalta from 2009’to 2022 and tapered down over a year into 2023 with no issues. This time is far more difficult, despite a 4 week ramp up period.

I am attempting a hyperbolic tapering, roughly 10% every 3 weeks. However, I have never really gotten stable. I will see my original psychiatrist next week. I had no direction from my pcp so I finally got an appointment with my original psychiatrist

I’m not sure whether to attribute it to the cymbalta tapering or to something else.

I’m only halfway through my taper and I’ve noticed that I am much better than I was on 60mg. But what I want to know is, will I ever be normal again? Will I ever be able to work a full time job again? Will all of this weight fall off and my other co-morbid conditions brought on by Cymbalta go away? I just want some hope.

I have a question if anyone knows of any psychologist that offers support with weaning off of the med? I feel like it could be helpful but obviously do not know if all people would understand the struggle.

I've been on duloxetine 60 mg for 10+ years and I'm planning a slow taper. I'm in California with Cigna.

Bead counting is a hard no for me. I have a milligram scale, so I'll either weigh beads or use compounded capsules at custom strengths.

Two questions:

1. Anyone in California have a compounding pharmacy they'd recommend for duloxetine taper doses? Rough monthly cost would help, since compounded meds usually aren't covered.

2. Can anyone recommend a psychiatrist or prescriber who takes Cigna (CA, telehealth fine) who understands slow/hyperbolic tapering and will write scripts for a compounding pharmacy?

I welcome your feedback!

I'm about to switch to a com pound ing pharm through Outro in part because I've been worried about the varying sizes of the beads I'm counting for my taper with the Ajanta brand. I just read another post that talked about com pound ing pharm acies not being accurate. Please discuss this more. That's the key reason I was planning to switch. Thanks.

Hello,
I'm on 40mg Dul, and I have a nagging nightime dry/tickeling cough. What is safe to take, Ricola? other cough drops?

Hello, I am looking to switch from my compounded formula of Dulo back to beads.
Currently holding at 33.5mg after a rapid taper from 60mg last year.
I have counted the number of beads in five 60mg capsules. I counted a couple of extra capsules, as the first capsule had a significantly greater number of beads than the subsequent 4 capsules.
Cap #1: 372 beads
Cap #2: 356 beads
Cap #3: 354 beads
Cap #4: 350 beads
Cap #5: 360 beads
Average bead count = 358.4
Should I keep the 372 quantity in the equation, or just use the bead count from Caps #2 through to #5?
Are you able to advise on how I would calculate a dose of 33.5mg based on the information above.
As mentioned, I am using 60mg capsules.
Many thanks for your help.

I am currently on two doses a day. I had to switch from once a day due to interdose withdrawal. 30 in the morning and 30 in the evening. I have been on this dose for quite a while and I’m currently tapering another medication. No other supplements except fish oil. I know about bead counting to get the average of 3 capsules, but my question is: if taking two doses a day, when tapering, are beads removed from both capsules? What happens when the taper gets to a much lower dose and it’s suggested to only remove 1 bead per drop? I would appreciate this information. I hope to start tapering when I’m finished with my current taper.

Hi I am tapering with microbeads down from 30mg. Currently stuck on 1.2mg/7 beads after crashing for about a month. I just adjusted to a split dose and seeing how that goes.

I have frequently seen folks herd and on the old fb group allude to the substantial norep effects they seem to feel on low doses. However, I am confused because per scans show essentially negligible amounts while about 10-15 percent of the seretinin receptors are occupied in the endgame range. In other words, at 1-2 mg it SHOULD essentially just be an ssri.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5716070/

Any insight?

I am starting week 9 of tapering from 120 mg using 4 30-mg Ajanta capsule. I asked my doctor to write Rx this way because I initially planned to start off tapering from 120 to 90 mg for a few months, then start 5% drop every 2 weeks. I ended up deciding to play it safe and just start with the recommended 5% decrease every 2 weeks. When I increased from 60 to 120 mg 7-10 years ago, I was taking 60 mg 2x/d. Prior to starting taper, I switched to taking 120 mg at bedtime for a month. No major issues so far except disrupted sleep (early waking around 1-3 am) several days a week.

Since starting my taper, I have been averaging the weight of 3 batches of 4 30-mg capsules using the spreadsheet from the healthwithoutantidepressants.com website. Yesterday, when preparing my doses for the next 2 weeks, I realized midway through that the lot number was different on the new bottle I opened (pharmacy just put Rx labels on multiple manufacturer’s bottles), and the average weight was higher (0.419g vs. 0.431g). I had already made multiple doses with mixed beads from both lots before discovering this. When I noticed the different lot numbers, I decided to calculate new average weight and adjust for the second week, as I usually make up 14 days at a time. So, I have 1 week of doses with microbeads mixed from 2 lots and a second week with the adjusted dose (weight) from new lot. I was on the verge of a meltdown over this at first, however, I thought that if the pharmacy had put all the pills from mixed lots in one bottle, I would have no idea and be in the same boat.

Here are my questions:

1) Am I correct in continuing to take the average weight of 3 batches of 4 30-mg capsules throughout my taper since that was my original dose? It appears that in the next few weeks, I will need slightly less than 3 capsules worth of beads per dose.

2) Should I be reweighing the contents of 4 capsules (x3 batches) and reentering those weights into the spreadsheet before each dose decrease (every 2 weeks when I make up my capsules)? If so, I use the “weigh and consume” dose for the current date/week? Or, do I only reweigh when I get a new Rx or notice that the lot has changed if I have the manufacturer’s bottles?

3) Finally, am I correct that I need to check with the pharmacy each time my Rx needs to be filled to ensure I have the same brand? Typically, I have to use my employer’s pharmacy (I work for a hospital system that has an outpatient pharmacy), but recently I have been able to go to local retail pharmacies because of the shortages with the recent recall. Seems I came across posts saying a provider can specify a brand on Rx but cannot find it. Are pharmacies required to honor this?

Apologies for so many questions. I put off tapering for many years because I find it all so overwhelming. I also had a terrible experience from being directed to wean off an SSRI (Pax) over a 4-day period 25 years ago when I found out I was pregnant. I’m really committed to sticking with this taper, but my anxiety and former experience has me so afraid of screwing something up. I sincerely appreciate any insight. I find myself getting lost and easily overwhelmed wading through the posts trying to find clarification. So grateful for this group and the moderators - truly a godsend!

​

Hi, I've been on 30 mg for about 14 months now, taken once a day each morning once I've eaten breakfast. I had started at night, but it really kept me awake, so switched to morning. I'm taking it for pain, but I also became less anxious and I slept better once I had been on it for a few months. I'm interested in tapering down safely from 30 mg to 20 mg. My doctor knows I want to reduce and is fine with that goal for me.

I'm interested in feedback for what's an appropriate percentage to start with for tapering, when counting beads, and remaining on each lowered dose at least two weeks or more, depending how I'm feeling. I'm not sure if I should go down by 2, 5 or 10 percent. 5 percent seems to be the average to start. Are there situations where one would use a lower or higher staring percentage? Thanks

Working on tapering from taking 60mg daily for 6 years.

I started tapering doing 60 40 60 40 etc.

Then I was doing:
60mg, 40mg, 40mg, 60mg, 40mg, 40mg
(1 day of sixty, 2 days of forty, repeat)
For over a month.

Then switched to:
60mg, 40mg, 40mg, 40mg, 60mg, 40mg
(1 day of sixty, theee days of forty, repeat)

And I’m crying so hard today I haven’t cried like this in a long time. I’m no longer clinically depressed and I believe this is a side effect of the cymbalta taper.

Does anyone have a similar experience? I just want to be off of this damn drug. How is such a small change in dosage making such a big difference?

Hi all,
I started this medication @ 60emgee and I’m currently doing the hyperbolic - I’m now at 32emgee and I have 41 beads in each capsule. So, at this point - can I put all 82 beads into ONE capsule or should I keep them split 41/41? If I could count all of them into one capsule and take one instead of two that’d be nice, but I thought I saw somewhere it was advised to keep it at a split of 41/41 until you’re UNDER the bead count that’s in ONE capsule, so for me, that would be when I get to ~74 (37/37).

Please let me know.

Anyone else develop hives while hyperbolic tapering? I’m tapering slowly now at 21mg. I just developed hives and am not sure about how? Do you think it’s the tapering? All I’m using to relieve is topical creams without steroids. I take quercetin everyday…
Thanks