Just wanted to thank you all for your advice on the Cymbalta and give you an update. I'm on my 3rd day of 30mg/day coupled with 25mg/day of Lyrica (which I'm going off of), and I'm feeling pretty good.

On the first day, I had some problems with nausea and lightheadedness, but those wore off pretty quickly. I've also noticed that my appetite has gone, but that isn't that bad! (I'm trying to lose weight anyway, and this helps me manage.) The biggest issue has been with sleep--I'm really tired when I shouldn't be then have insomnia when I should, but I'm hoping I'll adjust and that'll go away pretty soon.

Nothing in particular to report pain-wise. I don't feel quite as good as I did on the Lyrica, but I'm willing to trade some of the comfort I got with Lyrica for the depression and weight gain that came along with that to (hopefully) go away.

Alright y'all...

So I've decided recently that I want to go off of Lyrica. It has helped a lot with the pain but I think it may have been the cause of my weight gain and depression. I'm sensitive to medications, so am just on 25mg 2x a day, which worked PERFECTLY for pain control for about 6-7 months and for the last 5-6 has worked fairly well, with occasional fibro pain.

I've seen three docs about my fibro: the one who diagnosed me originally when I was 17 (and put me on a vitamin regime that worked really well while I was in Los Angeles, where it's sunny); the one who I see at my college in Minnesota (who put me on Lyrica); the one who I saw today, who replaced the doc who diagnosed me when she retired.

The new doc suggested that I try Cymbalta and said she has patients who are very happy with it. I wasn't overly familiar with it, so decided to go ahead. She gave me 6 weeks worth of samples, with the intention of me taking 30mg a day for the first 2 weeks (while tapering off of the Lyrica) and then going to 60mg.

I read up on Cymbalta, though...and now I'm mildly terrified. I'm not sure if I want to try it, based on the scary stories of withdrawal and adjustment. I'm a college student and am going back to class on Jan 3rd, and am afraid that I won't have adjusted by then (or that I'll have decided not to take it by then and will have to go off of it while class is going on). I'm not sure what to think. I'm tempted to wait and talk to the doctor who prescribed me the Lyrica, because I've completely psyched myself out about the Cymbalta. On the other hand, I want to try it and see how I feel with it after a couple of days while I'm still on break and am not doing much, but at the same time I'm afraid of side effects dripping onto my schoolwork.

I know everyone's reactions to medication are different, but I've heard so many scary things about Cymbalta. I have no idea what to do.

edit: Thanks guys. This made me feel a lot better about it and I just took my first pill (30mg). Let's see what happens.

Because some of you might find them helpful.

Quick intro: Female, 26, eastern coast of VA. Problems really started the beginning of college (Summer 2003) as I returned from my brief attempt at the summer indoc training at the US Naval Academy. I assumed my problems came from way over doing it in training both before and during the Navy training. It was neither - it was a combination of the fibro and some physical irregularities that messed up my running stride, etc. I spent most of my undergrad (fall 2003 through spring 2007) in physical therapy and from there, started going into regular maintenance functioning therapy, I guess you could call it. Mostly just meeting my chiropractor and trying to live a normal-ish life while I still had a good safety net in place. I was treated very, very successfully for several years with Lyrica. Only side effects were a little daytime sleepiness, but it was very reasonable for the benefits I was getting and I could cope. I added Tramadol as needed for bad days, and we ended up adding trileptal (seizure med) for headaches we thought were trigeminal neuralgia based on the symptoms at the time. Everything was stable through the two years of grad school, which meant I could finish up my course work by spring 2009 without leaning on the school-supplied assistance much, although it saved my ass several times. Especially the days there was just no way I could drag my body together enough to finish the last portion of my paper.

Summer 2009, Moved to a new place, started a new job. Migraines kicked in overtime, and although still not showing completely typical migraine symptoms (no light or sound sensitivity, they last for 3-4 days, none of the meds so far have worked, almost always triggered by weather changes), and I've been bouncing to neurologist to neurologist to get them treated. Around the same time, I was looking for a long term doctor for treatment of the fibro. My primary care doc has been continuing my prescriptions, but he really wasn't happy about it since he didn't understand any of what was going on and didn't know where I fell on any dosage levels or anything.

The new doctor is a neurologist (so he can also treat the migraines in conjunction with the fibro) through a center for pain management. He is working out BRILLIANTLY for me so far. He treats me with respect, believes me, and draws me out with enough teasing that I feel like he sees me as a person and not just some weird combination of complaints. He trusts me to try a couple of different things and let him know what worked, if anything. Before, I'd have ONE migraine med, and if it didn't work, I'd just want to die for 3 days. Now, I can try 2 or 3 things, and then if none of those work, I can just knock myself on my ass with painkillers.

He suggested trying Cymbalta instead of Lyrica to see if a) it would help with daytime sleepiness and b) it would help with the migraines (topamax not doing much for me, so that would fade out as well). I'm finishing up my first week of Lyrica at 100mg/day instead of 150mg/day and I'm mostly ok, except for some pretty minor aches and pains. I've tried this before without the background of the Cymbalta (worked up to 60mg, where I currently am) and I'd never be functioning this well after this long with this low a dose of the Lyrica.

I'm hoping that once these drugs reach an equilibrium state, my sleep patterns will start going back to something resembling normal. I'm tired of weird dreams all the time, and being told that I make weird noises like I'm trying to talk to someone without really opening my mouth, or that I'm reaching up in the air for things without getting up from bed...

But I am so, so, so grateful for my boss and my coworkers. They are so helpful and understanding. I'm not officially registered anywhere as handicapped or anything. I just slide through by working my hardest and being upfront about my needs. Which are generally not too bad. Just need doctor's appointment time and occasional sick days, sick days that I'm trying my damnedest to get shorter and further between...

Anyway, please let me know if this helps you, touches a nerve, or if you have anything to chime in that might be of use to someone going through a major change like me.

Thanks, all who take the time to read this!

Thanks for all the comments yesterday regarding my double dose of Cymbalta.  I had called the Dr before ever posting and was waiting on a call back from the nurse (gotta love screwing up after lunch on a Friday).  She did finally call me back and let me know I should be ok.

As it turned outI spent most of the day feeling like a zombie, just totally knocked out tired.  The upside was not feeling all the anxiety I've had lately (not feeling anything).  The downside was... well... not feeling like moving for the entire day.  Kinda felt a lot like a bad flare.

This was like the 3rd or 4th time in the last 2 weeks I've forgotten to take my Cymbalta, but the first time I've screwed up and taken a double dose afterwards.  I've gotta do something to make sure I don't forget again.  I've been on it for about 4 months and never forgotten it until the last couple of weeks.

I forgot to take my Cymbalta yesterday and when I realized it this morning I took yesterday's and today's without thinking about it.  I think that was a mistake. I went back and read online and it says not to take the missed dose if it's already tiime for the next dose.  I'm feeling nauseated now and a bit loopy.  Wondering if any of you have made this mistake before and how it affected you?

I'm trying to figure out if I'm in a flare or if it's the Cymbalta. Earlier this week I upped my Cymbalta (to 60mg - I just started it at 30 about 10 days ago). All week I've been really fatigued (both physically and mentally). I feel like someone just stuck a vaccuum up to me and sucked out all the energy. I'd be perfectly happy to just sit in a chair and stare off in space (or go to bed and do it for that matter), but I feel like I have to do something (so the tv is on).

I was in a really bad flare all weekend, and PT helped that on Monday. It was Tuesday (I think) when I upped my Cymbalta and every day it's just been worse and worse with the fatigue. Did anyone else run into this with Cymbalta? I had this problem previously on an anti-depressant when I got up to the rec dosage and sometimes have a low tolerance for meds. So I'm stuck wondering if it's that or if I'm just in a flare. I think I'm going to try going back to the 30mg tomorrow for the weekend and see if it helps at all.

Just to give some background info, I stepped off Cymbalta and haven't had any in a week and a half or so I think. Maybe a little longer. I'm now stepping up onto Savella and am at the end of my first week. I've been on Savella before, and don't recall having any weird side effects.

And the rest is cut because it's TMI. Poo TMI. ( Woes! I have them! )


Mods, assuming you're kicking around here somewhere, can we have a Savella tag?

I started to have panic attacks from stress but my doctors and I decided to try me on Cymbalta because it would help overall with everything else wrong with me.

He didn't tell me what time of day would be best to take it. Can someone help me out? I'm eager to start on it and not be on Xanax.

So I went from 60mg of Cymbalta down to 30mg for a week, then did it every other day for a week like the doctor said. Now I'm on day... four I think without Cymbalta and oh God. I hurt so bad. I didn't even hurt this bad when I wasn't on anything at all. I don't know if it's the Cymbalta withdrawal (which is causing me to be dizzy and feeling odd electrical currents through my body) that's making me hurt or whether my pain is just worse now, or what. But I only have two doses of tramadol left, and as tempting as it is to take one (or both) now, I know I need to save them for when I'm feeling badly at work. So I'm just here. In more pain than I think I've ever been in before. Even with the horrible side effects I was getting with Cymbalta, it's so tempting just to start taking them again so I won't feel so awful.

I have no idea how I'm going to handle this if it's this bad or worse when I have to work tomorrow. ;_;

That's it, I just wanted to have a bit of a whine. Thanks for reading.

For a few months now I've resigned myself to just dealing with the tremors and muscle spasms that have come with using Cymbalta because it helped so much with my pain. Then it stopped helping quite as much... and the muscle spasms started getting worse.

Sunday night I woke my husband up twice when muscle spasms caused me to jerk violently. The only reason it didn't wake me up is because I had taken two muscle relaxers to help me sleep since I haven't been able to sleep through the night lately.

( The rest is under a cut to save your flists )