Experiences with Cymbalta

Hello Everyone-

I recently went medication free for 5 months after 17 years of taking an SSRI. The withdrawals were a nightmare but once I got through them I was so proud of myself for coming so far. It was a grueling two months of horrible withdrawal as I went through the wean process. Then for the past 3 months it has been a matter of coping and adjusting to dealing with my ever so hectic life without the assistance of medication.

Unfortunately I am having a hard time coping off of the medication with so much going on in my life right now. I decided that I needed to get back on some type of medication since my daily quality of life has been diminished because my days have been riddled with racy thoughts, stress, worry, and anger recently and my OCD has magnified X10 since being off the medication. With this being said, I didn't want to go through a gamut of trying numerous medications to find the one that works best for me. There is a new Genetic Testing that some Psychiatrist offices offer now and mine is one of them. I completed the testing and the results showed that the best family of medications that would work for my genetic make-up is SNRI's. So, three days ago, after 5 months of being medication free, I started on 30mg of Cymbalta. I do know that there are side affects to get through before knowing for sure if this medication will work for me. I do have some of the side affects already and am hoping they will pass. I have no experience at all with SNRI's I have only ever been on SSRI's with the exception of an Ativan on the rare occasion that I need to take one. I seldom do as I do not care for the way Benzodiazepines make me feel.

I am wondering if anyone can give me their input on any experiences they may have had with Cymbalta.

I did not do well on Cymbalta. It was originally prescribed for pain/fibro. It did nothing--and made me furiously angry. I stayed on for seven months to give it good test, then started weaning down with doctor's supervision.

All medications have side effects: Good ones (the reason we are taking the med) and bad ones. If the bad outweigh the good ones, then talk to the doctor.

One suggestion--many people have to make their peace with long-term, life-long medication use. We don't have to like it, but we do need to recognize that us with medication is better than us without.

Personally I have no experience with Cymbalta but did some research on it as I was hoping to be Rx'd Cymbalta for my OA pain. I had a severe leg injury over a decade ago and have been taking Tramadol ever since. Three years ago I developed prostate cancer and am now on ADT hormone therapy which causes mood swings and lots of hot flashes. Gabapentin helps the hot flashes but am supposed to start Effexor in a couple weeks as that will maybe handle the flashes better but also handle the mood swings.

I've never taken any mood altering drugs before (well, okay Tramadol being a narcotic does that somewhat). I had to taper off the Tramadol because it would interact with either the Effoxor or Cymbalta... it's called serotonin syndrome. The opiate discontinuation was difficult but actually the Gabapentin helped settle the limb restlessness. I have more surgery in two weeks and will start the SNRI (Effexor) afterwards.

My wife kept telling me that I was depressed following a traumatic experience a couple years ago but I was having trouble getting help. I seem so stable to most. But with my family I would just fly off the handle so to speak and end up sulking for weeks. Somewhat difficult to explain. Then just a few months ago we discovered that my wife has stage 4 lymphoma. Her large family came to visit in the hospital and I really lost it. That's when everyone was telling me to get some help.

So anyway that's what led me to Effexor... my cancer and SE's from therapy, her cancer and me now a caregiver... on top of chronic OA pain. So that's what led me to Cymbalta, end eventually to Effexor. This is going to be a new experience for me and I feel better just knowing that I will finally be getting treatment.