Has anyone ever been on Duloxetine (Cymbalta) for nerve pain?

Cymbals made me feel great but caused low sodium and some side effects from that

I share your concern. I have the bottle of meds in my cabinet. I’m preparing to start it. Dreading it….but I have to try it, before my insurance will cover Lyrica.
And, Cymbalta may actually serve me better. Idk.

I’m ambivalent. I’ve read so much about it. Different people have different experiences. What I know is that my intermittent burning is excruciating and I can’t tolerate it long term. I’m scared and looking for answers, since my only diagnosis right now is Vitamin B12 deficiency.

Klonapin does help, but that’s a short term thing. If my burning continues, I’ll need something daily. I wish there was something to take on as as need basis, that’s not a Benzo, since I feel great on days there isn’t burning.

When do you think you’ll start and what symptoms did you have trouble with?

how is lyrica different and what is it prescribed for? Where are you getting the burning?

The symptoms were a bit of nauseous, but just a weird headache (sides of the head for some reason) and an overall blah and foggy feeling. I also heard that there is "brain zaps" fairly common in folks. This may be related to those feelings. It's hard to describe, but it wasn't pleasant at all. I also heard that it's bad for the male libido (delayed or no ejaculation, etc...) and that is fairly common side effect. All in all I'm not looking forward to it if I try it at all.

I know that some have benefited from Cymbalta and other similar medications, but everything you and others have mentioned are reasons I personally chose with my care team not to try it. I’m very sensitive to medication, and even things that are “generally well-tolerated” either aren’t, or I need to start at a much smaller dose.

But for what it’s worth, my neurology NP specifically didn’t recommend it for me when it came up because I tend to experience strong side effects. She also said her patients have had significant difficulty weaning off it if they need or want to stop it. I’m always very cautious around any kind of drug like that, but everyone has a different comfort level.

PT geared toward pain neuroscience and neuroplasticity has been a much better fit for me, and in a way it’s the most effective thing I really have access to because my central sensitization affects how I process medication. From living with chronic pain for almost a decade (!) now, it’s my opinion there still aren’t great options for chronic pain, especially for those of us hesitant or sensitive to medications. Then again, some people report life changing experiences with things like Cymbalta, Lyrica, etc.

I also take LDN (low dose naltrexone). It helps with fatigue, but I can’t really say for certain it’s helped my neuropathy.

I think I’m going to talk with my acupuncturist, who does other types of therapy too. It’s not covered by insurance though. Pretty expensive. I’d pick that over meds any day.

Dougs, I get the thing about sexual side effects. Fear of that is why I avoided Lexapro for anxiety. Glad I did. Turns out, it wasn’t me just being anxious. I was suffering from severe b12 deficiency. I’m not male, but Lexapro supposedly inhibits orgasms.

Cymbalta did help my pain and overall that was great...but it did make me feel weird. Can't really describe it. However I have issues with constipation and after 5 days of having no bowel movement I stopped it (took a Dulcolax with my daily stool softener and 'amatiza). I went 9 days after my TKR and was backed up to my distal colon so this was not an option for me. I only took 20mg then tried 10mg. Still a no go. I do take 900mg Gabapentin at bedtime and that is well tolerated. I have to be careful with any Nsaids as well and Cox 2 inhibitors which I don't really take. Best of luck. It's hard when the options are so limited.

Oh man. I just got passed 2 years of chronic constipation. I cannot tolerate it. I thought Cymbalta caused diarrhea. I can deal with that better than constipation. I’m so confused…. Hard decisions.

How do you get passed of 2 years chronic constipation?

I recently was diagnosed with B12 deficiency, which I thought was treated adequately last year, and prescribed daily large sublingual dose to continue indefinitely. After several days I started going again, without any Miralax, which I had been taking daily for most of the last 2 years.. I made no other change. Not sure how long it will last.

ok, glad you got things moving again, that's a tough thing to deal with