# Missing a day of your med, what happens to you?



## emily77 (May 4, 2006)

Several things happened in succession today that got me thinking about asking this question to you all.

First off, Cymbalta makes me feel uuber sick for about 4 hours after I take it. I was supposed to go from 30mg to 60mg today, but knew I wouldnt survive that. Since I couldnt get more 30mg today, and I cant cut a capsule in half, I went without. 

My day was horrible, as it always is when I miss a dose. When I mentioned this to my mother, she told me that I shouldnt feel it like that because of the drugs half life. 

Perhaps that is true, but I cant miss a dose, or my day is aweful, no matter what med I happen to be on. If it is helping, I better take it religously until I switch to something else, because its just not good if I dont.

Do any of you have a horrible day when you miss a dose? Or does this sensible idea of the half life saving you actually work for others?

I'd be interested to hear your stories.


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## Mork (Apr 11, 2005)

Cymbalta has about a 12 hour half life, so I'm not sure what your mom is talking about.

On lexapro, if I miss a day I feel a little bad, but I really have to miss two days to feel like crap. I get moody and irritable. I'll also be a little more sweaty than normal. I've forgotten my meds without realizing it, and then when I see my pill organizer with those days not used, it suddenly makes sense.


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## Lupus (Oct 29, 2005)

Yeah its a poor idea to randomly stop taking your ssri/snri/etc because it always ends badly. Cymbalta and Effexor are notorious for causing very nasty withdrawl effects. Going cold turkey on my klonopin sucks pretty bad also, especially the insomnia.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

emily77 said:


> I cant cut a capsule in half...


But you can open a capsule and consume half the powder inside it. If you divide the powder in half using a razor blade on a mirror it really looks sinister. :lol

Keep in mind that there could be some placebo effect. You know you missed a dose and you expect bad things to happen upon missing a dose, thus you feel bad because that's what you expect.

A lot of people think Xanax, the med I take, causes severe withdrawl symptoms if you dare to miss a dose. There have been days when I only took one dose of 2 mg because I was asleep for much of the day and I didn't have any problem. Other times I've gone for 16 hours between doses (sleeping for a good part of that time). Some would think I should be a raging drug addict who has to get his Xanax fix like clock work, but that's not my reality at all. I average 7 or 8 mg a day, but it varies from day to day and it can vary significantly.

I've also found that I feel no need for Xanax if I've had some drinks and I skip a dose in that case. Alcohol has a similar calming effect, though alcohol produces an intoxicated feeling that Xanax certainly doesn't.


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## David1976 (Nov 8, 2003)

I am taking paxil and I can go a day without taking it... basically because I forgot... but the day after I will be reminded that I didn't take it by the start of the dizziness that starts.. and then I take it right away and feel better within the hour..


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## americandancer (Mar 19, 2006)

I've missed a day of my cymbalta here and there and didn't really notice a difference. I'm sure if I had missed more than one day, I may have noticed. Do you think the cymbalta is helping your anxiety any so far?


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## emily77 (May 4, 2006)

americandancer said:


> I've missed a day of my cymbalta here and there and didn't really notice a difference. I'm sure if I had missed more than one day, I may have noticed. Do you think the cymbalta is helping your anxiety any so far?


I'm not sure if it is helping yet or not. I'm begining to get pissed off at my doctor for switching me so rapidly from one drug to another, and i cannot tell what could be the side effects of cymbalta vs withdrawls from effexor. I do know that Cymbalta makes me very sick for about 4-5 hours after taking it, and im not happy with it at all for that. One of the things ive been looking for in a medication is to help stop the nasea and vommiting every morning.

i wonder if im just more sensitive to medications than some. But i seriously have a rough day filled with trembling and panic attacks if i miss a dose. and not just when i know ive missed a dose, but often when, like a previous poster, i miss it and dont notice until the next day when i see my pill organizer.


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## Caedmon (Dec 14, 2003)

Have you ever tried taking an antihistamine such as meclizine along with the Cymbalta, to see if that helps nausea?


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## emily77 (May 4, 2006)

Caedmon said:


> Have you ever tried taking an antihistamine such as meclizine along with the Cymbalta, to see if that helps nausea?


I've not tried an antihistamine, no. They tried me on Prevacid, but yeah, not a help at all.

The nausea is not the worst part, i get that when im not on meds. I vomit every day if im not on a good med. But with cymbalta, I also had PAINS in my abdomen all over, especially to the rear. not my back muscles, but inside it just HURT. Being on it for such a short time, i doubt if i will even take it again. It wasnt worth it. Yet another med with terrible side effects and limited help for my anxiety itself.


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## americandancer (Mar 19, 2006)

emily77 said:


> The nausea is not the worst part, i get that when im not on meds. I vomit every day if im not on a good med. But with cymbalta, I also had PAINS in my abdomen all over, especially to the rear. not my back muscles, but inside it just HURT. Being on it for such a short time, i doubt if i will even take it again. It wasnt worth it. Yet another med with terrible side effects and limited help for my anxiety itself.


My abdomen hurt also....it did the same thing with effexor. I don't think cymbalta does much for my anxiety. I'm about done with all these ssri's, snri's, whatever. Plain ole alprazolam seems the best for me.


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## emily77 (May 4, 2006)

americandancer said:


> My abdomen hurt also....it did the same thing with effexor. I don't think cymbalta does much for my anxiety. I'm about done with all these ssri's, snri's, whatever. Plain ole alprazolam seems the best for me.


I am in the same position. And I refuse to try MAOI's at all. So it looks like xanax it is for now. However, i go up and doewn a lot when im on xanax. I cant seem to keep stable with my energy levels and my anxiety levels on it.


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## americandancer (Mar 19, 2006)

omg, that sounds just like me! It helps me a lot to break my 1mg into 4 pieces and try getting by on 2.5, but it usually takes at least .5. I do okay as far as energy goes as long as I don't sit down! I work with children during the day, so my energy is okay, I just yawn a lot. I seem to have moodiness, or irritability when my dose wears off. I don't take it on a regular schedule everyday. I'm sure the irritability would improve if I kept the xanax on an even keel during the day. I'm just scared I'll run out and not have them for an extremely bad time, and my dr. won't give me anymore! I only think he keeps prescribing them because I keep trying all these ads, anyway. :sigh


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## emily77 (May 4, 2006)

Yeah, we seem to be int he same boat here. Only I work with animals all day. But I break my xanax in 1/4's as well!


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## dan81 (Jan 5, 2013)

*cymbalta*

Everytime i miss my cymbalta half way through the next day i get severe headaches and chills and shakes its less than awesome . i try to take it at the same time everyday so if i miss ity i try to wait the day out sometimes it tottally sucks .


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## bazinga (Jun 9, 2010)

Yeah, you can open the capsule and dump out half or dump out the contents and separate it into halves. I did that with a few medications. It's not completely accurate but close.

I was on prozac which has a very long half-life. I could miss many days and not feel it.


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## mark555666 (May 1, 2008)

If I run out of dexedrine = bedridden depression. No problems with lexapro but clonazepam is hell.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

bazinga said:


> Yeah, you can open the capsule and dump out half or dump out the contents and separate it into halves. I did that with a few medications. It's not completely accurate but close.
> 
> I was on prozac which has a very long half-life. I could miss many days and not feel it.


I should have done that when I was taking Geodon to help me fall asleep. The smallest dose, 20mg, was too much for me. It would just look awful to put the contents out on the table and then use a credit card or razor blade to divide the powder into areas and then put it back in the capsule.

Back on topic, if I miss a day of Paxil, I get brain zaps pretty quickly. It's like walking down the street and suddenly getting smacked on the top of the head.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

Necro bumped.


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## riptide991 (Feb 1, 2012)

You can't take a capsule and divide the powder. It will not be uniformly distributed. You may be getting mostly filler. With tablets it is more likely to be uniformly distributed (At least for brand name versions due to its manufacturing process being more strict, yes FDA has to approve it while not for generic companies). Anyways, sounds placebo to me. Once you reach steady state with Cymbalta it will take about 4 days to clear from your system. If you truly get issues after 1 day then chances are you are on a too low of a dose since you're only getting a proper effect as long as plasma levels are peaked.


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