Member Experiences With Cymbalta
Friday December 10, 2004
One of the best ways to learn about medication effects--both positive and negative--is by comparing notes with other patients. The following index links to forum posts discussing the pros and cons of Cymbalta. Read what others have had to say and share your own experiences here.
Comments
cymbalta was the worst mistake
that I ever made. I gained 30lbs
and the withdraw symtoms were awlful
check out cymbalta withdrawal sites
I’m one of thousands
I just tried cymbalta and broke out with an itching rash (two pills). we were’t sure if it was from it or not, so later the next week i tried it for two nights again and once again on the third day, i broke out worse with hives, severe itching all over my upper torso, body parts exposed to the sun. now my doctors are saying had i of continued it, I probably would have had that analphalatic (sp) shock and I will never be able to take it. NOw looking up the side effects, that was one of the most serious. has anyone esle had this problem?
I have had great results so far, in the three weeks I have been taking Cymbalta. I was nauseous the first week, but never to the point of getting ill.
I have been on Cymbalta for some time now with great results and little or no side affects. The pain has been greatly decreased to the point of going back to the gym after 8 years of being unable to. 30 mgs.
I have been on cymbalta for 6 weeks. I feel better than I have ever felt in my life. Before taking it I just thought I had always had anxiety. Now I see I was depressed but didnt know the difference. My depression was all manifested into anger rather than despair. I am a 8-9 on a scale of 1-10. I am sure I was at maybe a 2-3 but only if I had my xanex.
I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. My doc originally prescribed Lexapro but I began to feel like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. If this is what it felt like to be better, keep the medicine to yourself doc! But my wife convinced me to go back to the doc. She told me that one of her girlfriends was doing great on Cymbalta (I didn’t realize that about her, but it got me to go back to see the doc) so I asked the doc for Cymbalta. I am so glad the doctor agreed! I am on 60 mgs now. From 1 to 10, 1 feeling totally depressed and anxious to 10 feeling happy and calm. I went from a 3 to a 9. I was worried about side effects especially after the Lexapro, but I couldn’t go on feeling like I did. Doctor said that every patient is unique and weird things can happen to anyone even on aspirin (just like I did on Lexapro and the other people commenting on this forum). He said that if I was a betting man (ok, ok, i have been to Atlantic City once or twice), he said there was about a 20% chance I would feel mild nausea but he said it was temporary and we could minimize the nausea by taking only half the dose (1 pill of 30mg) and taking it with food. I thought the nausea would be bad but it wasn’t. It was mild and annoying and it went away after several days. Before the nausea went away, I did start to feel a little better. Afterwards, the doc increased my dosage to two pills of 30mgs, now I am on just 1 pill of 60 mgs. Now it has been about 4 months. I hope this helps someone else somehow.
I just turned 18 a few months ago. I have been on Cymbalta for nearly a year. Before I was put on Cymbalta, I was prescribed Lexapro, Effexor and Zoloft. Nothing worked and I felt even worse with the side effects that came with them. With Cymbalta, I have experienced several side effects, as well. These include vertigo, feeling cold all of the time, feeling jittery and unable to sit still for any length of time, dehydration, muscle tightness and twitching, insomnia, severe irritability and agitation, severe mood swings (relaxed to angry to sad to numb all in a minute and a half), increased tendency to bruise, dizziness, headache, tendencies to be anti-social and avoid people in general. I have been on 20-40 mgs in this time period. I have been trying to step it down to eventually get off the medication yet have had trouble due to withdrawal side effects. It has been a terrible experience.
I have also been on lexapro and experience the “crawing out of my skin” business. But I also delt with side effects from Prozac, Zoloft and terrible nightmares with Effexor. Cymbalta has actually been the only medication so far that I can tolerate on a day to day basis of two 30mg a day. I have been making small steps toward progess– but the withdrawl from not taking it is MURDER! I feel like my brain is short circuiting and I can’t be around bright lights or loud noises. Cymbalta works for me,-just try not to ever run out!
I was put on Cymbalta for postpartum depression. I was on it for 6 months and I don’t know how I survived. What I was going through before was nothing compared to what Cymbalta did to me. I became profoundly suicidal, with moments where the impulse to harm myself became nearly overwhelming. My thinking was too confused to realize it was the Cymbalta. My doctor only gave me a 6 month prescription and told me to taper off on my own when it ran out. That’s what saved me. I think, if I’d stayed on it, I would have eventually succumbed to the pressure to harm myself.
I refused to consider taking any other medication for a long time after that, but finally went to another doctor a couple of months ago and she persuaded me to try Wellbutrin, which has worked very well for me. I feel much better.
I started taking Cymbalta and began having severe pain in my neck- to the point I couldn’t turn my head. My Dr. told me there were little side effects and the pain was not associated with the drug. I stopped taking the meds on my own and the pain went away. Several days later I tried the drug again and the pain came back.
I was given Cymbalta because of severe nerve pain in my legs. I have been very please with the relief I have gotten fromCymbalta. I still have trouble with walking without pain, but the doctor just recently increased my dosage. I am very hopeful
I’ve been taking Cymbalta for about 2 months now. I originally went to the doctor for severe depresssion and anxiety. I’ve been doing battle with this my whole life and I am now 54. I put up with the nausea for about a week, nothing that a little Pepto wouldn’t take care of. Now I can’t remember ever feeling this happy and hopeful about life. I call it my miracle drug. I’ve lost 34 lbs. I think my eating was related to the anxiety. Get anxious, get food. It’s wonderful to feel this well. Like I told the doctor “I feel like other people feel now.” The people I work with have noticed a big difference also.
I have Fibromyalgia and while going through a life altering grief my pain became almost unbearable. The antidepressant I was on helped but left about 40% of the job undone and didn’t touch the pain. Then I went for a physical with a new dr. He put me on Cymbalta which I had to adjust to. I had nausea at first and some weird feelings, like a heavy head when I’d stand up. But the pain began to go away. Now I am back to work. I’ve moved and feel very hopeful. I do things I could never have done without being in bed from it before. It is almost as if I don’t have Fibro at times; I just have to pace myself. BUT I never used to prespire much and since being on Cymbalta I have started to sweat like a football player in August. It is embarassing and extremely unsettleing, not very feminine, that’s for sure. Sometimes it just starts in the a.m. after my shower and I drive to work with a towel around my neck to prevent dripping on my clothes. I’ve been in a store shopping and got hot and had to ask for paper towels from the management. They think I am about to have a heart attack or something and look at me like maybe I need medical attention. I talked to the pharmacist and asked him if it would go away. He doesn’t think so. What a quandry I am in. I need this medication! I just don’t need to go around looking like a boiled lobster all the time. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Cymbalta has been a miracle for me. I have suffered from major depression all of my life. I have been on every antidepressant known to man with HORRIBLE side effects. I was at my wits end. I moved and changed Doctors and was told about Cymbalta. At first I had nausea, but not too bad, was sleepy, not too bad, but I started feeling better after about 3 weeks. I am on 60 mg now and I never knew I could feel so good. I enjoy being with people and going places now. My whole outlook on life is completely changed. Thank God for Cymbalta.
I had the same experience with Cymbalta. At 3 days into treatment,(at 30mg per day)I began to break out with hives. Each day, the hives grew more prevalent until on the 5th day, I had hives covering my legs, arms, stomach, neck, hands and buttocks. I called my doctor and she proscribed a round of Prednisone. I just took the first dose of the Prednisone, and I am hoping this will take care of it.
I have been prescribed at variious times wellbutrin, serzone,prozac and paxil. None of them helped at all, prozac gave me tachardia and I thought I was having a heart attack.
I’ve been taking Cymbalta for a few weeks now, and I could tell IMMEDIATELY that this was going to work for me. I have never felt better in my life emotionally/psychologically, and yes I have one or two physical side effects….mainly cold feet and hands sometimes……also when I started taking it I must have only slept 4 hours in the first three days, but now I sleep fine, and I recommend giving it a shot….I’m convinced SNRI’s are the next wave in treatment of depression (that or specific seratonin reuptake inhibitors….maybe both)……Anyway Cymbalta did what it promised and exceeded all my expectations so far.
Good luck to everyone.
Every person is made differently therefore medication is going to treat people differently. I tried medication after medication and had bad results. I have been on Cymbalta now going on my 3rd year and I have never felt better. My anxiety and depression has diminished I would say about 95%. I will never be 100% this I know, but this medication has worked wonders for me. I am alittle nervous about the withdraw and seeking information because I want to slowly come off the medication in hopes of having another child so this is why I am on this site. Thank you for all of your experiences and thoughts to think about.
I am post menopausal. I was depressed and didn’t see any hope, I started taking cymbalta amost 9 months ago. I began feeling better right away. The side effects I experienced were lack of interest in anything but at least I wasn’t depressed, a real hate for sex and I wanted to sleep all the time. Pretty much isolated myself. I was taking 60 mg. a day at that time and now I am on 30mg. I feel more like doing things now and I think 30 mg might just be the best thing for me. I’m having sexual feelings again and getting out more. My weight has stayed about the same. And that’s my story!
I have been on cymbalta 20mg for 4 days. My anxiety seems a little worse, I am able to handle it with xanax as needed. Did anyone else have an increase in anxiety in the beginning. Will that get better after time. I went on this med for anxiety, the last thing I need is worsened anxiety. Thanks for any advise you can offer.
I was prescribed Cymbalta 60 along with Lantanon and Wellbruitron I have more negative side effects then good I know it is a cocktail and to find which is the “baddy” is difficult I have awful itching and tiny spots on my body also I get unreasonably angry I have gained so much weight that now I am a borderline recluse as I look and feel dreadful I also get the sweating outbreaks and now I am decided to stop taking all my meds as I know another trip to my Doc will be another “cocktail” and after 20yrs of depression I am just so tired of trying new drugs and finding myself so allergic that I went into toxic shock my throat swelled and closed! Is there an alternative to chemicals I would appreciate any advise
I have been on 60 mg Cymbalta now for 1 week. I noticed a complete difference in myself (for the better). The only side effect for me are: heartburn & some insomnia, I take pepto for the heartburn & Temazepam for sleep. I am really liking this med. BTW….I have major depression disorder, anxiety and Fibromyalgia. I would recommend this to anyone. I have taken alot of other anti-depressants that just didn’t work…This is the first one for me that does!
I have had major depression and anxiety since early childhood. When i turned 23 years, I was admitted to a hospital as an inpatiant and stayed there for one year. I had major depression, anxiety and chronic pain. I have tried mianserin, Seroxat, Zoloft, Effexor, Cipralex, amitriptyline, L
amictal and cymbalta. I am currently on Cymbalta 120mg, mianserin 20mg, amitriptyline 20mg and Lamictal 50mg.
My depression was mostly gone when I started with Cymbalta 60mg, and I started it as a treatment for chronic pain. The efficacy the first few months was fantastic. I had almost 100% remission, and it worked best for pain of the generalized type – the type where your whole body hurts, but it is difficult to point to the points where pain orriginates. I have been using it now for two years and upped the dose to 60mg twice daily after one year. The medicine still works and all the side effects are gone, but my pain have gotten worse and I have gotten a reumatoid disease so I have some pains today. I had rapid cycling of mood, but after starting on lamictal all is stable.
Cymbalta was working fine for me until the fourth week I broke out in hives. I had to switch to another antidepressant.
i don t know what s goin on with me i think this is what we cal depression but not sure yet i need help from some 1 who had psychological problems to contact me it will be greatfull thanks
This is my abbreviated story. After 9/11 I was prescribed paxil. Since that time I have been on every possible antidepressant. More recently, I have been on cymbalta. My psych. has reduced my prescription. I desperately want out of this black hole. I am now off antidepressants but have symptoms such as:
electrical shaps in my brain, dizziness/vertigo. I can not move my head to fast. It feels as if it is going to spin off. Does anyone know how long this will last? Is there any homeopathic stuff to take. Its been 4 days since my last dosage of 20mg. Please anyone…
Cymbalta has truly chaged my life. I was a prisoner inside my own head for more than two straight years — thinking constantly about my health (more specifically fixating on all of the diseases I definitely had). It was like a cloud hanging over me and I wondered evry night if I’d wake up the next day. I started taking Cymbalta at the urging of my Doctor who had a complete picture of my family history of anxiety, depression, addictive behaviors, etc. I am now the person I used to be. My marriage has improved and I no longer fixate on my health. My goal at the outset of taking Cymbalta was to go one full day without thinking about whether or not I had cancer or some other life-threatening disease. And after more than a year on Cymbalta, I can say that I’ve stopped counting those days — there are too many to remember! I am truly a Cymbalta success story. Btw, my mom (77) takes it too and loves it!
I have been depressed since childhood and on various meds for 20 years. I am on a combination of cymbalta and fluoxetine. The cymbalta has been realy helpful for body aches and numbness and I’ve actually felt cheerful for most of the past three years I’ve been on it. This winter was dark, cold and miserable and I put on 6 pounds from lack of exercise. I feel that cymbalta has saved my life. I was mildly nauseated for several months in the beginning but that subsided.
Wellbutrin made me feel like I was coming apart. I wonder if it is opposite in effect to cymbalta as if one really doesn’t work the other seems to.
I just started Cymbalta after going on Zoloft and noticing a complete lack of libido by the 4th day. Since being on 30 mg of Cymbalta for about 1 week I have noticed that my libido is back closer to normal. Zoloft just made me feel numb.