hello joanna,

 I am so glad you were able to post this question, OMG WHAT I NIGHTMARE IT WAS FOR ME ,, but the key word is,,,,EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT,IE:,some people can take medications that others cant,,some can take aspirin,some cannot.EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. I was diagnosed with F.M. just this past September. I have been in chronic pain for as long as i remember,mostly its my back. I am 45 years old. When the Rheum. Dr. diagnosed me, and saw the list of meds i was on ( fent.patch 100 mg/hr every 48 hrs, soma 350mg every 8 hours, hydromorphone 4mg every 6 hours, as well as klonopin for p.t.s.d.,also, i get injections (mostly trigger ) ever six weeks, that doctor looked at me as if I was a druggy,, I told him my goal is to get off all pain meds. He wrote me a script for cymbalta, and i was sooooo happy that Finaly finaly there is hope. I started off with 30 mgs and he wanted me to work my way up to 90mgs. Well i did not make it past my first 60 mg dose, this is what i experienced. I was falling asleep constantly at work. I was falling asleep while driving, i was seeing double almost killed myself or someone else one day on my way home from work. I was commenting on things that were not said (hallucinating. pardon my spelling) i went to the store only to be woken up three hours later, i never got out of my car, fell asleep in the parking lot in my car, with engine running and a concerned customer and store clerk were banging on my window to wake me up. I can go on, but i think thats enough. Those were my perosnal experiences with Cymbalta.,recently i tried Savella, again, same thing, then there is Lyrica, i took that before, it just did nothing at all. I personaly think that these drugs have been recently approved by the FDA, and have not been around log enough. and they are being pushed on us as the wonder drug,, to me it was a wonder drug,, i wondered how i am alive right now to write this. THANK GOD I KNEW HOW TO TAKE MYSELF OFF OF THIS AS I AM IN THE MEDICAL FIELD, dont ever try to take yourself off of anything PLEASE!!!!. now i am trying Neurontin i feel safe with that,but, right now i dont have any antidepressants yet, and i need them,, its just that my body has been through soooo much these past couple of months. I honestly need to learn to deal with more doors closing and less opening at this stage. No matter what anyone says to you joanna, always go with your FIRST INITIAL GUT FEELING, it is never wrong, I wish you the best of luck. I am going to read what the others wrote, as i am curious (exscuse my spelling please)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

joanna

12/ 5/09 2:09am

I am also in the Medical field, or rather, I use to be before everything went to hell after my back surgery and now I can barely walk even with walker. Funny, what you describe about being sleepy all the time. I am not on Cymbalta and I have the contant sleepiness. I get up get cleaned up etc. feel pretty good to go and an hour or less later I am ready to go back to bed. falling asleep wherever I am. I also have tingling in my hands.  

Linda

12/ 5/09 5:56am

hi joanna,

  what kinda back surgery did you have if you dont mind me asking? i am off to work, i will be thinking of you, hope you have a low pain day........

   Linda

joanna

12/21/09 11:59pm

This may be a good thing, maybe a bad thing. What he is doing is gradually increasing my Mg to see how that works. Boy, something is not working. I have continued to fall out of bed and not realize it until morning when I wake up on the floor, experiencing aches in back side and down the backs of my thighs. Pretty bad too. The most important thing  I think is I can't always say what I want to, came home the other night and started ripping all the clothes out of my drawrs and throwig thrm on the floor. I then told m son to get those clothes out of here. He said but mom that's your stuff. See I had it firmly in my brain that those clothes  belonged to someone else. I halluncinate also. This is some scary stuff.  I hope you don't go throw what I am and I hope you have a great holiday! What happened to your writing my dear?  

Hi Joanna, I will tell you of my experience w/ Cymbalta, over the past 4 yrs. I've been on 120mgs. once daily. While it has helped marginally w/ my depression, it has not helped my pain in any way. Now that's just my experience, and yours may be entirely different. I would like to get off of it but I'm too scared to try since I'm on such ahigh dose and I I'm not sure what will happen. Is your doc wanting to prescibe this for pain or depression or both? Hope this is helpful, Pie.

joanna

12/ 2/09 5:16pm

Thank you for your in-put Pie. He wants this only for an anti-depressant, any "good" side effects such as pain relief is a plus.

Linda

12/ 5/09 12:18am

Hi Joanna,

 I highlyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy recommend ZOLOFT, for an anti depressant, it is so well tolerated, hardly any side effects either,,, and has been around for a long time,,, i dont know what other meds your on, or i could make another suggestion,, please keep me posted, if i can help i will be more than happy to.

                           linda

joanna

12/ 5/09 1:43am

When I first went on antidepressants years ago, I tried Zoloft and Wellbutrin. One made me feel like a space cadet and the other did nothing. Then, I went on Paxil which was wonderful stuff as lonf as I was on it which was about three years before it didn't work any more. Getting off Paxil is a nightmare!

Linda

12/ 5/09 5:53am

wellbutrin has alot of side effects, i believe the "space cadet" feeling you got was from that,,wellbutrin is usually always given with something else, i dont personaly like it, my patients take it, and their side effects have shown that spacey feeling, i think zoloft ALONE,, 50mg and up to 100 works well, then again,, everyone is different,

 thanks for sharing

 Linda

My rheumatologist put me on Cymbalta close to 2 years ago for my diabetic neuropathy and filbermyalgia pain.  It does take the edge off the pain for me.  Chronic pain can wear a person down and so the other use for depression is also helpful for me to have a better out look on life in general.  I have had very little if any side effects.  The only one that I can gather is sometimes strange dreams.  All in all, the drug has helped me.

Hi,

On January 20, 2009 I was hit by a car (I was a pedestrian). I have chronic lumbar pain, hip pain, cervical pain which triggers severe migraines and a torn labrum in my right hip. I use a cane and limp. I take Lyrica, Elavil, Tridural (Opiod) and anti-inflammatories to help me cope with my pain. Next week the specialist will let me know if I need hip surgery. After a few months, I started feeling a lot of anxiety and even had an anxiety attack...my doctor diagnosed depression and anxiety...in other words PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and prescribed Cymbalta. OMG, I felt sick like a dog for the 3 days that I was on it. By the 3rd day I felt so sick I was bedridden. I stopped taking it and felt better after it was out of my system. My family doctor told me that 1 out of 10 people have severe side effects on Cymbalta. He replaced Cymbalta by Cipralex and I can honestly say I have not had any side effects. By the way, Lyrica did not make me suicidal. Whatever you decide regarding Cymbalta, good luck. FDG

joanna

12/ 5/09 2:18am

Lyrica doesn't make me suicidal now either because I am still on it and too scared to get off. I have tried to get off twice and that is when I get suicidal among other things. I've never been on a drug before that did something like this to me. While being on ir, I have tingling hands, headaches and terrible sleepiness and severe dry mouth.

I can only tell you of my experience with both meds.  Lyrica worked great except I gained 40 lbs. really fast and my dr took me off of it.  I lost the 40 lbs. and more (and am still going down) without dieting.  The Cymbalta was a lifesaver for me.  Reduced my pain and helped my "mood".  I guess I was lucky in that I did not have any of the horriable side effects others have had.  You may be too.  You will not know until you try.  I know when he asked me if I wanted to try some of the newer drugs out I was very hesitant to change.  I don't want to go through getting off of cymbalta and trying another drug that may not work when I know cymbalta does.  I can tell mood wise when I don't take it.  Pain wise I can tell if I miss 2 days.  I take 2 60mg. caps every a.m. along with several other meds.  I love my cymbalta but you have to make up your own mind, hope this helps.

Hi. I don't usually respond, but I felt that your question was something I could offer some sound input from my own experience on.  I was put on Cymbalta back in late July for FMS by my Rheumatologist.  I went from 30 to 60mg and felt FABULOUS.  I've honestly never felt so good in probably a decade if not more.  I did have the sweating side effect, to the point of dripping in any temp over 75, but I could live with that to feel so good. I went on vacation with my boyfriend in August and we walked all over, ran, WALKED UP the steps in a lighthouse and MILES around NYC.  I didn't hurt. BUT, I did have 3 instances of headaches that were unbearable and almost landed me in the ER while I was on Cymbalta and since my BP would go up during these incidents, the rheumy took me off of it and put me on Savella (which doesn't make me feel as good).  Then in Oct, I went to my Psych and he suggested Cymbalta to which I immediately balked because of the headache reaction. He said that this was by and far the best drug he'd encountered in years and many of his patients were having success at the low doses of 20 and 30mg. He all but begged me to try 30mg and see if it got rid of the last bit of pain and settled the depression and anxiety issues.  I agreed to give it a try and have been on 200mg Savella w/ 30mg Cymbalta since then.  The Cymbalta once again knocked my pain down to nothing AND at the lower dose I didn't have the headaches.  Both the Cymbalta and Savella caused me to sweat.. then again, my boyfriend, a pharmacist, is 99% I've started menopause, so the drugs don't matter much on that!  I honestly think Cymbalta is a great drug. I feel so good taking it and know that even after stopping it, I looked longingly at that bottle knowing how good it would make me feel!  I've NEVER had that kind of longing for a drug... and it wasn't an addiction longing, it was the knowing how well it worked feeling.  My psych swears by this drug and I can see why.  It seems to work well for both sides of the house and if you're not one of the very small minority who has the side effects I've suffered, I think it will be perfect for you.  As I said, it's a small minority who can't tolerate it. 

Oh yeah, if you do take it and want to get off. The worst thing about it is the withdrawal.  I felt agitated and just generally like every nerve in my body was "awake" during the stepdown process.  But then, I would have prefered to have never quit it anyway!!! Lisa

I've taken Cymbalta for a number of years , the highest dose being 160mg . I'm now taking 90 mg , it is literally a life saver for me with severe debilitating depression ( Bipolar ) so I am very familiar with many of the drugs that are used to treat depression , anxiety and pain . The side effect I was most troubled with was suicidal thoughts off and on for apx. two weeks when I first started taking it but I knew this was possible so I sweated it out , I know that  that sounds terrifing but the depressions I've experienced and the relief this drug has given me was very well worth it . It can make you sleepy , sick to your stomach , dizzy , dry eyes/ membranes etc. , damage liver and Kidneys , severe constipation but they can all be handled easily enough by keeping a regular /early bedtime in a dark room that is comfortable and quiet , eat a well balanced diet with real protien at every meal ( a little soy or cheese as well as 16 oz redmeat sometime in your week ) stay away from white foods as much as possible ( white flour , sugar , etc.) Eat real wheat pasta , breads , cereals , Staying away from caffeine is a must , buy cracked flaxseed ( Wal-Mart carries a good product ) add 1/4 of a tsp to any soft food you like and over a period of 4 weeks gradually increase it to 1 tbs along with at least one large salad of Romaine lettuce with at least 6-7 other veggies of choice , I drink mostly water and a lot of it , apx 1 quart per 50lbs body weight . For dry eyes I take Fish,Flaxseed,Borage oil ( Wal Mart too ) 2 in the morn/2 at bedtime . Know that your not alone and that if your really afraid to try Cymbalta now then don't there are other things that your Doctor can try with you but so far its made my life a joy again and keep in mind that no medication is without risk so help take care of you too , even though we can all give you our opinions remember that that is what it is and he is your Doctor , trust him to get you well . 

I think the right anitdepressant is hard to find.  Lyrica isn't an antidepressant, its used for treating fibromyalgia and nerve pain. 

I am on Cymbalta and I've had no side effects or problems and it is helping controll my depression.  As far as it being a pain med, I don't think there is much in that pill for pain and it is not addictive like percocet and oxycodone and pain meds like that.

Sorry, I just noticed the date you wrote this question.  I sure hope all is well with you and you've found some relief.