My doctor was trying to take me up to 120 mg/day of Cymbalta to treat fibromyalgia symptoms. When the dose increased from 60 to 90 mg, I became hypomanic, and then became really depressed. Obviously that doesn't give you any information on manic episodes (I'm bipolar II), but Cymbalta definitely caused cycling in me.

Dear Furious Seasons Readers,

I too think that taking Cymbalta was one of the worst TRIPS of my life!! When I was able to flee the U.S. and go to Canada and meet with a pharmacologist who specializes in SSRI/SSNRI molecules (doesn't see patients) who is not in a PHARMA pocket, he told me I had bipolar 3 , that is right 3. HYPOMANIA DUE TO SSRI/SSNRI POISONING!!! I was taking too much of everything. And he was correct! Once I slowly tapered off the Cymbalta, I was OKAY again. Folks, honestly, I never felt as sick, both physically and mentally, as I did while taking Cymbalta. I would DISCONTINUE immediately tapering if you feel you are not yourself! Please tell your prescriber that you are doing that. If they give you grief, FIND ANOTHER PROVIDER.

So, to all of you, who are experiencing hypomania OR LIKE THE OTHER READER whose HUSBAND is showing signs of hypomania too, MAYBE TRY slowly taper and maybe go see someone you can trust. I know they are hard to find. But once you do, its well worth it. I am not an MD, so I can not give medical advise. I just am telling you my opinions about myself.

BTW - I was told by 3 major psychiatrists that I could stop Neurontin COLD TURKEY. I questioned them repeatedly, and they said.. oh it would be fine. WELL IT WAS NOT FINE!! I went back and told each MD I got very very sick. Never tell your patients that!! They are so misguided.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Dr. Black Kitty

I just wanted to alert readers to the fact that tapering off Cymbalta is not an easy task for one practical reason. It comes in capsules with pellets inside and even the pellets are different sizes. The smallest dose is 20 mg I believe and, if you've been on Cymbalta for any length of time at all, that's not going to be a good dose from which to stop cold turkey. Taking it every other day or every third day is also not very satsifactory given what I believe is a fairly short half life. Your other alternatives are possibly taking the capsules apart yourself, separating the pellets by size and then reducing doses by decreasing the number of each size pellet you take. Another alternative is to go to a compounding pharmacy and have them make up the right dosages (expensive) and finally you can try switching to Prozac and taper from that. Sounds like fun, right? One almost wonders if this is deliberate to keep people on it. P.S. I am not a medical professional but have researched this specific topic with those who are.

Sara brings up an excellent point regarding tapering off of meds such as Cymbalta with the different sized pellets in the capsule.
This goes for time-released versions of medications as well. I was speaking to a pharmacist about this recently, and she told me never to split an extended release version med for tapering, because you will not know your exact dosage when you do. It would be wise and yes, tedious work, to get a replacement med in place to help remove the Cymbalta.
Conversations like these, hearing these stories about how difficult it is to remove meds, or seeing others change for the worse as a result of being on meds; is what needs to be discussed more than this rock solid pharma based plan of medicate, medicate...then drop the subject.
I have been told to drop Prozac cold turkey, as well as Seroquel. Prozac I was diligent with--Seroquel I was hasty, and had a rough time with cold turkey on that one. I also feel it triggered my recent re-awakening of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that I was in a happy remission.
Doctors do not think potent chemicals like these can cause problems when they are removed....yet they do talk about slow addition when starting them.
Doesn't it just make sense to remove them as slowly?

The husband out of control - serotonin boosters have a common effect called 'loss of inhibition' this means that the usual moral/ethical controls disappear and off the patient goes, a derailed train. Some drink, some gamble, some have affairs... Add in the oft encountered hypomania, booze (there are good reasons for not drinking when taking these A/Ds), the mood swings, anxiety and aggression, and there you have your typical serotonin-booster adverse effects. The fact that the husband loves the drug is also classic, he'll think he's having a whale of a time, and it is only after people have discontinued that they become aware of the damage the drug has caused to them, their lives and relationships.

At the moment, I'm taking 90 mg of this crazy drug, recently boosted from 60 mg. I've been taking this for about a half of a year for depression/anxiety, and realized I've been very detached from what's going on with my body.
Just over 2 months ago, I genuinely forgot to take my meds for over a week and had some serious withdraws. I went a little nutty and attempted suicide a couple of times... which is NOT like me. I'm finding some similar connections to your post. This is way more serious than I thought.