In January, 2014, an article published in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences titled “Long-Term Duloxetine Withdrawal Syndrome and Management in a Depressed Patient” reported on a depressed patient who used Cymbalta (duloxetine), discontinued the drug, and faced long-term withdrawal symptoms.
After using Cymbalta (60mg/day) for one year, the patient, called “Miss B” in the study, discontinued the drug, citing annoying side effects including dizziness and sedation. Abruptly, Miss B switched to bupropion (Wellbutrin) daily use.
According to her doctors, “She started to feel more energy, but with intermittent severe nausea, unexplained fear, and dizziness after quitting duloxetine for 1 day. She still had withdrawal symptoms once-to-twice every week in the following 6 months after the switch. She took duloxetine 30 mg only while feeling withdrawal discomfort in the next 3 months, and then took 15 mg (discarding half the dose of the 30-mg capsule) in the same way for the last month. She took 10 months to recover from long-term and intermittent duloxetine withdrawal syndrome.” (emphasis added)
Because Cymbalta’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly & Co., has failed to provide adequate instructions for how to properly taper the drug, thousands of patients have faced unnecessary withdrawal symptoms, prompting Cymbalta lawsuits to be filed across the country.
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