Starting over

From my signature you see I did about a 5 month taper then spent months in a horrible protracted withdrawal, all the time taking 60mg cymbalta.

I put 1.5 mg K back in and did well for a short time as expected. Now I’ve tapered the cymbalta and again ongoing issues related to that while still taking the K.

Question, I have the time should I take a year or a year and half to taper the K this time.

My goal is to be free of both. Will a super slow taper increase the odds of being free of the K without a protracted withdrawal?

Slower is always safer with regards to withdrawal. Years ago there were folks here that would say no, that was worse, but meh. To each their own. If you are dealing with the taper of another drug, DEFINITELY seriously consider a taper that will be easier on your system and that won't put you through hell at the end.

I was in a situation similar to you where I had tapered off imipramine (back in 2012) and due to bad withdrawaly at the end, I naively and ignorantly upped my Klonopin to help. Well, that didn't end well. I ended up on a dose 3x higher than I stared with. Six months after finishing my imipramine taper I started my taper on the klonopin and went down from 3mg to .5 mg where I currently am. I couldn't go fast due to the uptick in symptoms I got. So I went slow and it took me years just to get to .5 mg. Now I am looking at going down to .25mg. I don't regret going slow. I don't regret stopping at .5mg. Turns out stopping was good. I had some major life stressors come up that year that ended up lasting for a few years. If they had happened while tapering, I would have never been able to deal with them at all.

If you think going slow is what might work best for you, then by all means, go slow. There is no reason to rush if rushing will only add to your misery. The goal is to lower your dose. Often people just want to get off as fast as possible. But really, look at me. I'm off one drug. I'm at half the dose of the benzo from where I started decades ago. That to me is a win. I don't regret taking my time. I don't regretting stopping my taper for a while to get my life and health back. For me, it was a great choice.

Do what is right for you that you feel is best for you. In my experience, slower is better if it means:

• there is a better chance you can get off at some point,
  
• there is a better chance you can at least lower your dose,
  
• there is a better chance you will have an easier journey through it rather than suffering all the way through,
  
• and most of all, there is a better chance you will be less likely to have protracted withdrawal or if you do that it might be shorter and less severe
  

.