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Has anyone ever been on Duloxetine (Cymbalta) for nerve pain?
Has anyone ever been on Duloxetine (Cymbalta) for nerve pain? I've had 2 doctors push this on me. I know that the side effects can be terrible and getting off of it difficult as it requires titration. One time I remember taking one pill, and not liking the way it made me feel, so not taking any more, and still feeling the "weirdness" from it 2-3 days later. and that was only 30 mg Please pass along any experience or advice from this medication?
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I went off duloxetine 7 days ago. Cold turkey. Not an easy ride. Also dealing with hives for over a year. Maybe allergic to duloxetine. Great dreams.
I'm on celebrex for joint pain due to Hypermobilty Syndrome and when it wasn't working well enough (for me anyway) Dr added cymbalta. The combo led to bad constipation for me so I weaned off after only 3 weeks on it. Celebrex still isn't the be all end all, but it does help.
I was on this it was horrible. Made me feel weird,
Yes this was one of the worst drugs I’ve taken and I’ve had quite a few. I was desperate for relief from my pain and would try anything. The very nice psychiatrist that prescribed it said it took a few weeks to be effective.
It made me feel horrible from the start. I was working full time ( and needed to with 2 in college) so
I persevered . I had every side
Effect. When the whites
Of
My eyes turned very yellow I had had enough. It took over 3 months of terrible
Withdrawal. I would itch so
Bad all
Day. I wanted to live
In my shower. I really don’t know how I got through but I did - it was 15 years ago; I have not forgotten.
@suecutuli
cimbalta almost destroyed my daughter. / The doctors thought she had become a borderline . It was all cimbalta. It made her seem "crazy" irradic, unable to cope emotionally. I sent her to Gundersen, a mental health program a for woman. Once that got her off the drug (months) she went. right back to normal. I know she is not the only one. I thinks it is a very difficult drug on your emotional health. I would stay away from that drug.
don't take that drug. Read. about the woman that thought they had gone crazy
@huong26
I was taking it. It did help with depression and brought pain level from 8/9 to 4/6 however it caused severe intestinal problems for me.
I have been on Cymbalta for 9 years now. It was given to me for my nerve pain and depression. I am now up to 120mg a day. I tried going off of it, but it made me so sick to my stomach that I couldn’t eat. So now I’m hooked on it. I really don’t think it’s doing me much good anymore, I think I’ve been on it for too long! I don’t have any side effect’s that I know of, but I’ve been on it so long who knows? But if you took 30mg and didn’t like it, I wouldn’t go on it. But that’s just my opinion. I’ve been on so many drug’s now, that I would like to go off all of them and start over. I wish you good luck, just use common sense and you’ll be fine. But don’t take everything that your Doctor pushes, because then you just get hooked on them and can’t get off of them. Hang in there. That’s all we can do!😁
I’ve been on Duloxetine for nerve pain and totally get the hesitation because it’s one of those meds where people either find it really helpful or really hard to tolerate, and what you described (that “weird” lingering feeling after even one 30 mg dose) isn’t unheard of since duloxetine affects serotonin and norepinephrine pretty quickly and has a half-life that can make side effects hang around for a couple days, especially when you’re just starting and your body isn’t used to it yet, but for context a lot of people who do end up tolerating it start lower (like 20 mg) and build up slowly to minimize things like nausea, jitteriness, brain fog, or that slightly “off” feeling, and in terms of nerve pain specifically it’s actually pretty well-studied for conditions like neuropathy and Fibromyalgia because it works on central pain processing rather than just masking pain signals, although yeah the trade-off is that discontinuation can be rough for some people (brain zaps, dizziness, mood swings), which is why tapering is important if you stay on it longer than a few weeks, so it kind of comes down to whether the potential benefit (reduced nerve pain, better function, sometimes improved sleep) outweighs that initial adjustment period for you personally, and if you’re unsure but still curious it might be worth asking your doctor about starting at an even lower dose or trying an alternative like gabapentin or pregabalin just to compare how your body reacts.