Cymbalta -anyone try to stop or taper off? Withdrawal symptoms?

Not Cymbalta, but Zoloft. Only lasted maybe 4 or 5 days, but I wasn't on it very long. I was prescribed Cymbalta for chronic neck pain, took it 2 days, and threw them away. I HATED it. It is such an awful drug. I heard from others who took it that it can be a very bad withdrawal too, with brain zaps for weeks and months. I suppose it depends on the person and/or dose and how long they were on it. The best way is to taper off. Half, then quarter dose. Hopefully it's just a few days for your family member. I only remember the brain zaps, restlessness, and actually "feeling" again when coming off the Zoloft.

A friend of mine was forced off because medicade won't pay for it...the new stuff he's on doesn't work as well...he's having a hard time adjusting...it's been nearly a year now...

screw "tappering off". it just makes the process last sooooo much longer. if he/she is down to just 60mgs a day,
talk with a doctor and get prozac 20 mgs. just quit cymbalta and immediately start prozac. they will feel tired, but not unconfortable, for about a week. stay on prozac for at least 8 weeks. stopping prozac is way easier than the cymbalta hell they are going through now. i tried tappering off cymbalta for 7 years. the prozac was the only thing that got me thru it. wasted 7 years of my life on that horrible drug cymbalta. now im off everything and i feel 100% better. just make the switch abruptly. tappering does not work. just switch meds and you'll be free of all of them in no time. best of luck to you.
p.s. 1mg of atavan for the first 30 days will "take the edge off."

Thank you for your comments. I'll pass the suggestions along.

Cymbalta is an SNRI just like Effexor, so I'd imagine it would have similar withdrawa symptoms.

I tapered off Effexor years ago by removing granules from the capsules. I just decided that the pills weren't worth a damn, so I took the last 20 I had and counted out granules from them until I had them all lined up on a shelf. The first was was the full dose and last one had like 4-5 little granules inside.

Then, I just took one a day just like normal except the dosage was slowing going down. It was easy... no brain zaps, no feeling like shit, no nothing. I really should never have bothered with that crap in the first place, though.

That shit is bad news- took a month to ween off of it. Took it for my neuropathy. Symptoms include extreme irritability- jumping the gun-starting arguments, pissy mood, sleeplessness, and fatigue.