Cymbalta anyone?

I was on Cymbalta for years for depression and pain. As far as I can remember, it didn't help a lot with either, just a little. I take Lexapro now for depression, which has helped TREMENDOUSLY, and Tramadol for the pain. It's been a good combo for me.

There is no NSAID component. It has a significant number of drug interactions, though, so your prescribing physician needs to know everything that any of your other doctors have you taking so he can be sure it is safe.

As far as I know (from the class on psychopharmacology that I took last year) there is no immediate release version of Cymbalta, so you may need to try a higher dose in order to get enough of it absorbed into your system.  (They may, however, have come out with a new version since then.)  As far as side effects, gastrointestinal upset is common, but often fades fairly quickly.  Some people report being jittery or having increased heart rate or lightheadedness, and those side effects do NOT seem to fade so throw people usually opt for another medication for depression.

Ad far as the pain relief, it is most useful for nerve and skeletal pain, and often has little or no effect on other kinds of pain.  It often does nothing for sharp pain no matter what the source (but neither do things like Tramadol or even Vicodin).

It does has a significant withdrawal syndrome (it rivals only Paxil as far as negative effects if you do not gradually decrease the dosage), so even if you have only been on it for a short time, do not suddenly discontinue it.

I hope it helps you.  I know a number of people who had no improvement of their depression when taking SSRIs, but got relief from SSNRIs (including Cymbalta).

Lora

I wasn't aware it was so hard to come off of.  That was one reason I did not want to go back on Effexor, it has terrible withdrawal.  My psychiatrist indicated to me that Cymbalta was not like that.  I'm unhappy that he was not up front with me about that.

I'm not sure I want to take it now but I really want something to help with this pain.

It's unfortunate that he is not aware of that.  When I was working on a project for that class, I perused some depression forums and such (not for research, just to find out what issues people were having with SSRIs and SSNRIs for project ideas), and many people complained not only of the severity of symptoms but of the duration of them.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. :(

I never tried it since it is extended release, so I cannot cement from personal experience, but have had clients who have had problems and some who have not when doing a simple titration of dropping to a lower dose for a week and then dropping the dose again OR taking that same dose just every other day.  Part of the problem going off of it is that it is available in fewer dosages (just 3) than other anti-depressants are, and since it is extended release can't be cut in half to further adjust the dose.

I would do some reading on the Internet, recognizing that  you will find much more from people with problems than from people who did NOT have trouble (just as we do here), to get an idea of what kind of issues people were encountering.  Some of them were rather unusual.

Lora

Yeesh, even though my pain is nerve pain I don't think that I want to get into another whole situation. Thanks for chiming in on this Lora!

Martha 

I take 120 mg of Cymbalta for depression, fibromyalgia, and RA. I definitely can tell a difference without it. I, too, tried coming off of it at one point and it was too hard. But then again, I was in so much pain, I just wanted to get it back. It has worked wonders for me with both the depression and the pain.

Hope it works well for you as well!

I am SO conflicted!! Thanks Missy. I think that I will talk to my doctor about this and also do more research too.

Martha