Brand Name Cymbalta by Eli Lilly is being discontinued!

It’s a huge difference. 180 pills (60mg)of the brand name is over $1700 at Walgreens vs $33 for the same amount of the generic using GoodRx. If you don’t use GoodRx, it’s over $2100 for 180 pills of the brand name.

It’s been hard to get a hold of my doctor as he is having a back surgery here soon. I’ve called Eli Lilly twice and their only response. Is to speak with your doctor about transitioning. They have told me no other alternatives or how to transition or wean myself off of the medication. Especially with there being Cymbalta withdrawal syndrome that is worse than any other antidepressant, I’m very surprised that they are just taking this off the market so quickly and not even notifying customers of this product or their doctors. But the FDA doesn’t require them to so they’re not breaking any laws. So it’s the consumer that is left to deal with the hell that is about to happen to myself and all those that are on this brand name medication. So many people keep saying take the generic and I have taken the generic in 2014 and 2016 and literally went into the hospital the one time And nearly the other. I would love nothing more for the generic to work, so I did not have to worry about what is going to happen in the future. I feel like my life is literally over once I run out of this medication. I don’t know how else to feel. It’s been excruciatingly hard since I found out to even get out of bed. On top of it I have a major shoulder surgery coming up tomorrow morning so it’s just trying to roll with the punches and hope to God that I get through this.

Talk to your pharmacy as they will know more about future supplies. Your physician isn't in much of a position to ferret out what you need to know. I expect your pharmacy might be able to get something more out of Eli Lilly.

Effexor is equal to duloxetine as far as difficulty to discontinue. See The Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines: Antidepressants, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids and Z-Drugs by Mark Horowitz and David Taylor, published 2024. I second @bajjerfan's suggestion to speak with your pharmacist about your options.
Good luck with your shoulder surgery. Sorry you are having to deal with these issues at the same time. You'll get through it, one day at a time. Breathe deeply. Hugs to you.

I'm aware there are alternatives to Cymbalta. At one time my pain doc would have prescribed it for nerve pain.
I guess I'm surprised at the severe difference for the OP in reaction between the name brand and the generic since they're supposed to be substantially the same except for maybe the non-active/inactive components. Maybe the Rising product will work. Again talk to your pharmacist.

Hi rockjock79,
Terribly sorry about what you're going through. I know because I'm going through the same process here in Canada. I am currently in an attempt at going cold turkey with one of the duloxetine generics, because it, while a tiny bit better than two other generics I've tried (Sandoz, TEVA), is having such a negative impact on my body and mind, I'm thinking I'm better off with nothing than I am with all the side effects of these horrible generics.

Today is the 8th day since I had my last 60 mg capsule of ACCEL generic Duloxetine (a Montreal company), and for the first 3 days I felt ok-ish, but the withdrawal side effects have mushroomed since. (I'm at this moment waiting for my doc to call to discuss this, i.e. to drop down to 30 mg and do a proper tapering out over the next few months or continue cold turkey). Couple of things have helped with the cold turkey approach, and that is, during the day, to stay in a recliner and either read or watch TV, and take a Percocet tablet at three points during the day - morning, noon, early evening, on an empty stomach. We're in early winter here in SW Ontario, and so I don't want to go out much, but when I can, for golf or lengthy walks, during the warmer weather, I take a Percocet at points during the walk or golf game so I can actually do the walking and swinging a golf club (debilitating lower back issues).

Since Cymbalta was toast, I have taken generic duloxetine for the lower back nerve pain relief as well, but am stopping these useless generics because the side effects are far worse than any benefit.

My (amateur) take on the difference between Cymbalta and generics is this: Eli Lilly had clearly mastered the timed release of duloxetine over 24++ hrs, so that it came through our bodily systems seamlessly i.e. no noticeable jolts or dips in coverage of the drug during the 24++ hrs. A smooth release of powerful medication during a two day period (I have no doubt that Lily added that 24+ hour buffer period to provide for smooth overlap day-to-day plus an extra period if a dose was missed).

With the generics (all three that I've tried), the jolts of the crude timed release of duloxetine at various points causes problems in my experience - I can actually detect when a blast of drug release is happening throughout the 24 hours! It produces a short period of gross nausea during each release point. It's a series of sickening experience during the release periods, which add up to a very bad experience overall. That's my guess, for what it's worth.

I don't know if my experience helps you sort through this nightmare, but your thread may have a chance to awaken those in a position to help - such as the FDA, who should find out for all of us who thrived on Cymbalta, why Cymbalta cannot or will not be manufactured any longer. At the very least, our voices may point out that if we, in these early days of prescription renewals for many of us, get our plight from this nightmare exposed, it may well explode as a nasty reality to the horror of the FDA and Eli Lily. I don't wish harm here, BUT WE NEED HELP. All the best rockjock, I'll keep monitoring this thread.

I don’t know what else to do. I called the FDA, they couldn’t care less. I messaged the CEO of Eli Lilly…of course no response. Where else do we go? If one generic isn’t working, I’m sure they are all the same. There’s so many complaints online about the generic, yet the FDA isn’t doing anything about it. Just because there’s the “supposed same active ingredient” doesn’t mean it works the same or that the medication is being properly dispensed into the body at the correct intervals. So there are those of us that may end up dying or going into a mental institution because of this! It’s wrong and disgusting. And no one is listening at the FDA. Multiple complaints from consumers over this one med going generic dating back to 2014, and they side with the all of the generic companies that consumers have reported. There’s an article everyone needs to read, even if you have to subscribe for free and then cancel, which is what I did. It’s a Bloomberg article…type in Bloomberg Cymbalta generic. It’s an article from June 26, 2017

If it's due to the timed release properties of the generic vs name brand maybe Eli Lilly share their info.

Duloxetine has the brand names: Cymbalta, Drizalma Sprinkle, Irenka

Are the other 3 available and do they work the same?

If you want to read the article, highlight and copy the URL. Go to http://www.archive.is and paste the URL into the box and click on save. VOILA!

An update on my travails with duloxetine. I've tried a few different things to make it 'work' - it was a horrible experience taking the drug with reasonable expectations that it would be a seamless transition to go from Cymbalta (60 mg) to a generic (60 mg). I tried 3 generics, TEVA, SANDOZ, ACCEL (Montreal Co.). TEVA was the worst, the 60 mg capsule it made me hyper, jittery, anxious, angry. I had high hopes for SANDOZ as its a well known drug maker in Switzerland. It was far better than the TEVA concoction, but it was also making me angry late in the day (generic road rage while hiding under the steering wheel - after all what can an octogenarian with R Arthritis do if challenged). And ACCEL generic was maybe a little better than SANDOZ generic, perhaps I didn't give it a full chance in my tests.

I then tried to go 'cold turkey' off the ACCEL because it was wreaking havoc at 60 mg. After 8 days, 3 days that were easy, and 5 days that were difficult, as it made me want to vomit (never did though), I realized I desperately needed to taper out of duloxetine, rather than go cold turkey. I was a mess.

Here's what I did next. I had my doc prescribe the 30 mg capsules of the ACCEL duloxetine, thinking I could taper out from the 30 mg level since after 8 days of cold turkey, some of the duloxetine would be out of my system. As of today, I'm in my third day of 30 mg duloxetine taken at 8 am each day. Lo and behold, the 30 mg has stabilized me and has given me hope that 30 mg is the dose that can potentially be a reasonable, side-effect free substitute for the 60 mg Cymbalta. It's not a perfect replacement for Cymbalta 60mg, but close enough, at least so it seems after only 3 days on the ACCEL 30 mg duloxetine. I do not get the truly horrendous crazy mental and physical side effect fluctuations I was getting from the much larger capsule of ACCEL duloxetine 60mg.

For now, I can only suggest that you replace the generic Cymbalta that you've been trying at a (significantly) lower dosage, and start from there. It may be all you'll need. If not, try half-dose in the morning, maybe half-dose at bedtime. If it doesn't work, perhaps you could try the SANDOZ brand of duloxetine. Although I'm not presently using it, SANDOZ the pharmaceutical company has a good reputation, has been around for a long time.

I will keep abreast of all the comments here, hoping for some positive outcomes for you all. It's a damn shame that Eli Lily didn't exit the Cymbalta production with suggestions for physicians as to how best to replace their medication. Bloody hell!