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mickonz
19-05-13, 11:46
Ive been on duloxetine 60 for about 5 weeks and it seemed to work ( i am also on pregabalin 400). Last week was frantic at work and stupidly i forgot to take the duloxetine 2 days in a row. That night i was violently ill and delirious which at the time i put down to food poisoning ( or over-indulgence!). However since then for the past week i have gone through the symptoms of high anxiety and deep depression/tearfullness off and on. Does anyone know if it is possible that I could have either withdrawn so quickly from the AD , or whether the vomitting could have somehow got i tout of my system.

My fear is that this isnt the case and the meds just arent working. Apparently duloxetine has a very fast half life ( 12 hours) but i am not sure what this means. If i know that it is just a case of building th drug up a gin it will make the side effects a little more bearable.

can anyone help here? I feel i need a bit of solid information, as even my local criris team seems to have different views- some saying i have probably withdrawn, others that is isnt possible.
mickonz

LilyPad1991
11-06-13, 17:33
Because cymbalta has a very short half life (in comparison to other antidepressants), it leaves the system extremely quickly as the 'store' of the drug within the body depletes rapidly resulting in the withdrawal effects.

On the upside, the initial 'loading' of cymbalta within the system is generally very rapid. Many mental healthcare professionals will tell you that the majority of antidepressants can take up to 4-5 months to fully integrate into the body. On the other hand, it can take as little as 2 weeks to see the genuine effect (good or bad) that cymbalta has upon your body and mind.

I regularly forget/don't take my cymbalta. There is no good reason for this, I'm just a bit of a div and get busy and think 'Oh i'll be ok.' Anyway! The symptoms I experience are nausea, a peculiar dizziness, extreme hunger, agitation, irritability and tearfulness. The basic effect of cymbalta's very short half life is that it leaves your system quickly resulting in a quicker onset of the negative symptoms.

However! DO NOT PANIC. Because of the fast acting nature of cymbalta it should be easy peasy to get your body back up to speed as soon as you start taking the tablets again. Stay positive in the knowledge that once you start taking the tablets properly again, the horrible side effects WILL subside.


My knowledge and understanding is based upon:
- my own personal experience of being on cymbalta
- the information provided by my brilliant psychiatrist when I was put on cymbalta over 2 years ago.
- the LIMITED knowledge I possess thru' being a student of this sort of things... (Only 2nd year though: so many more years to go!)


I am in NO WAY qualified to give you this information as guarantee. Please appreciate that I have acquired this knowledge through my thus far, LIMITED university experience and my own personal research.


For more accurate info, visit the link below and download the PDF Patient Advice Leaflet (PIL.)

http://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/medicine/15601/PIL/Cymbalta+30mg+hard+gastro-resistant+capsules%2c+Cymbalta+60mg+hard+gastro-resistant+capsules/


Pay particular attention to the 'IF YOU STOP TAKING CYMBALTA' section. That describes the unpleasant effects if you just STOP or continuously FORGET your medication. You will see that the symptoms you are experiencing are listed in there. Please be reassured by this :)


If you want to chat at all feel free to message me.

hanshan
21-07-13, 11:03
A half life of twelve hours means half the medication is still in your body after twelve hours, a quarter after 24 hours, and so on. If you miss two days, you are down to a sixteenth, which is probably close to nothing, and hence your getting withdrawal effects.

So take care with it, and try to even out the potential bumps.

Also note that some people process medication faster than others. The half life figure of 12 hours is just an average for a range of people. You may be faster or slower. In general, younger people are faster processors of medication than older people.