Cymbalta?
 

I am sure someone answered this question before but i think i missed it. I was told by a nurse that cymbalta is best for RSD. She said the side effects make her sleepy and if i take it take it at night only..She advised me to take it for two weeks and see how i do. I tried everything except this med. I told my doc i did not want to be hooked someething like i was with the others. She stated this is not a narcotic. If anyone tried this before or had expierences or knwos something could you please share. I have been without meds for aabout one to two years and i just want to bring my pain level down its been beyond ten for months a year?? thanks to anyone

hi mom,

my daughter takes Cymbalta and has for six about weeks. There are many of her RSD friends that take it for pain. It does take a while to get in to your system, but it seems to be helping her. If you take it DO NOT miss a dose because you can go into a form of withdrawal. My advise is to try it and see how it works for you. Everyone is different and it as helped a lot of people.

Good luck.
Sandy

Thanks Sandy.. you said withdrawal, i thought it was not adicting?

I've been taking 60 mg for a couple/few years (from the time it came out) until now.
My doc pulled me off my old antidepressant and told me to simply switch to this. It's worked as well as he said it would. My Dr (Knobler) Knows!

I've missed some days, and no problems, although I don't recommend that... of course.
It has worked well for me, both as an anti depressant, and an adjunct to my pain meds. So, who could I complain to?

pete

Oh okay Pete thanks for your input i really appreciate it. Iguess its worth a try besides at this point all i care about is being able to lower my pain level than have so high all the time.

I am just like Pete - I take 30 mg twice a day (total = 60). Sometimes I forget to take it, I've never noticed a problem with that.

I can't tell whether it has helped my pain levels, because I have never gone off of it and therefore seen a difference without it...I take it with Topamax, which I am tapering off of right now.

The best of luck to you. XOXOX Sandy

I have RSD & bipolar disorder. When I first started Cymbalta for the bipolar, they had me on 60mg, which made me really jumpy & manic. So, they lowered my dosage to 30mg. Docs told me that at 30mg, I would not get any pain relief. But, I take other meds for pain (Oxycontin, Oxycodone, Dilaudid, Soma). I take the Cymbalta with Lamictal for the bipolar.

Cymbalta is not habit forming. But, you do need to keep a blood level of the drug otherwise you will get side affects of the med. This is the same for neurontin - you need to keep a blood level on it.

I tried Cymbalta a few years ago. It permanently dialated my eyes until I got off of it. Keep that in mind as a side affect.

Good Luck

hi mom,

Check out this site for withdrawal symptoms. My daughter missed a dose and really suffered for a day.

Sandy

http://depression.emedtv.com/cymbalt...ithdrawal.html

Didn't work for me
 

I tried Cymbalta for about a month. Slowly increased it to 60mg. Unfortunately, it made me jumpy, my mind wouldn't stop racing and I couldn't sleep at all. I found that my pain actually increased a little, but I think it was due to the lack of sleep. I was so happy to get off of it.

Hi Momlovetobake, Why are you living in pain instead of taking something to make you comfortable? I was recently off narcotics because i felt the same way i didnt want to be physically dependent on medicine, then my Dr said why? Why would you not want to function the best you can. Then he said our meds are like insulin to a diabetic. They are needed to help us live & function the best we can. I do take cymbalta 30mg and it definately helps with my pain. I have come off it to make sure it works and my pain is definately controlled better when i am on it. It does cause dry mouth and i do take it at night. momof4

I was on this for about a year until WC suddenly decided that they would no longer pay for it. I took 30 mg in the morning and 60 mg at night. I did have rather harsh withdrawal symptoms when I had to abruptly quit. I also gained about 40 pounds. I seemed to help with the depression, but I did not notice any reduction in pain. Sometimes I get weird with meds, so this is probably not the best example. Good luck with it, Lisa

Oh yeah....I meant to add that the withdrawals from this drug are bad. I've run out of them before for 2 or 3 days & for about a day and 1/2 I would withdraw. The symptoms were almost as bad as opiate withdrawal. Definately the worse of any psych med I had ever taken. So, be careful not to miss dosages. The "brain zap" is the worst part. When you move your head even slightly, it feels like your brain gets shocked. I've talked to others who have had that happen too.

Hi I was on 120 of Cymbalta. I started at 30 and increased slowly. Now I am back down to 60. Not sure it was really helping and I saw no side effects with decrease. Now when I increased especially at the start of this med I was so nauseas I thought I would throw up for almost 2 weeks. I took at dinner to help with that. My pain doc encouraged me to stick through the side effect and it would decrease and it did. We are all different but I think it is worth a shot since you have tried other meds and have not found relief

momof4: Thank you.

I was thinking that exact thing. I cant even think about that because I was in so much pain. But my medications arent permanent. Mine get changed seasonally, as if I improve with the pain. If medication is taken AS PRESCRIBED, it has a great potential to help you. As we all know some medications arent for everyone.

what kind of life is it if you have no life at all?

But wouldnt you want to do anything you could to improve your life a little bit? Because then, when you have less pain you can do more things, which results in your limbs not losing muscle even more, etc. you get to do functional physical therapy. You lessen your pain do your therapy which then results in being able to do more things slowly. If we come with the offset mind of we don't want to 'get addicted' you don't have to get addicted. You can ween off of the medication. Everything to a point we are addicted to, diet coke, processed foods, those are horrible for us and alot of people are addicted to bad eating habits.
For me, it wasn't a matter of 'wanting' to take medication, it was a matter of me being able to get out of bed in the morning. And at 20 years old, thats a hard concept to have to grasp.

Take care of yourself, I think I can say most of us have tried many medications that haven't worked, but when we have found one or two that helped us, it was worth all that hard work and effort to get where we are. Don't look at it as getting addicted, obviously anything that we do daily and then we stop, our body will have withdrawals. Its a fact of life. Look at it as, one step in the right direction, and if it doesn't work, and you fall. Get back up again and try again. you have the support of us, but you have to try everything you can in your ability to help yourself. Be positive and even if the Cymbalta doesn't work for you, don't give up. :)

Oh and i have been on 60 mgs of Cymbalta for over a year now.

Hannah,

Amen!

We can't just start meds and stop, say, in a months time. We need time to Evaluate!
Titrate up.
I say, NEVER try to start two meds at the same time! (I actually taught my own doc this), we can't tell which med, is doing what? Right? See later comment).

So, you take one, and evaluate carefully. Does it help your symptoms? Or, does it's side affects cause too much chaos? (See, if you try this with more than one med at a time, you can't tell which one is doing what!) In all honesty, I must say for my Doc, he was trying everything possible to keep me, my family and business's intact. I cannot, and never would fault him! I was in bad, bad shape after my 2nd accident, which was a rude Brain Stem injury...

So, I've been on Cymbalta 60 mg. for a few years, (as the enclosed pamphlet says, there is no indicated benefit by taking more than 60 mg. Not a quote).

So, ya'll gottu use this as an arms length kind of measure stick.

If the white paper states, no more than 60 mg., I believe it!

So on, and so forth with other meds....

All be well,

Pete
asb

Thanks for all the responses. I do want to feel better just afraid of the pain meds. like you said its worth a try. I guess its for depression and pain sounds good to me:)

Momlovetobake: You have to just take them with caution, you cant be afraid of them having a chronic life long pain disease. You hear all of that about people getting addicted because they are taking MORE than prescribed to them, or lying about their pain just to get pain meds to escape their miserable life... wa waaa about the liars. That is how you hear about that. Or the people who have a little back pain (NOTHING LIKE THE PAIN WE HAVE) And they go into the doctors wanting to escape life in the feeling of meds, and they lie how horrific it is. I have a cousin that is on 7 times higher fetanyl and norco, and just drugs than me for when she sprained her back.... THAT is how people become addicted, because they let their lives sink into their "pain" that they supposedly have.

You can't be scared of them, you have to take them AS PRESCRIBED, and they can do a world of wonder in your life to get you back on your feet. Good luck to you. I assume you have children as to your name, so do it as a Mom to your children I am sure they would love to see you get relief. Just do it the honorable way.

I took it for over a year....
 

Couldn't really swear that it worked for the pain....I think i did notice slight improvement for several months.....
The thing I remember (in my case) was that it caused me to sweat profusely and overheat very easily.......kinda like being in a constant 'hot flash' .....
But! I also was dealing with Hypothyroid issues at that time as well, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Best of Luck
Caring
Rae
:hug:

Oh and I forgot to put, the Cymbalta I don't know if it worked directly with my pain. But it improved my mood which then helped me cope with being in pain all the time. I then had to worry WAY WAY less about my mood, and I had more energy to have the relationships around me. I say it was a lifesaver with me. Good luck to you, and keep us updated on how it affects you! Hopefully good not bad, but if so... we can get through it:)

Hello,

I took 60 mg of Cymbalta for several years. I took it for depression a side affect of RSD/CRPS. My doctor felt I was handleing full body RSD as good as anyone could and we decided to stop the medication. I have been fine without it and I went through no side affects from stopping the medication. I missed 5 days once. I went to PHilly to see Dr. Schwartzman and fogot to pack it. I was fine. Remember medications respond differently on all of us.
I wish you the best of luck.
Sherrie

Dear Momlovetobake and All,
It is funny that I just read this since I have been taking Cymbalta for the past 8 days and have been deathly ill from it. It has caused me severe nausea, extreme exhaustion, increased all over body pain, and I am very lithargic too. I have now decided to stop it since it is making me much much worse. I don't know how anyone could take this stuff as it has just about killed me for sure. I decided this morning that I can't live like this anymore and have to stop it. Oh, and it has kept me awake even more than normal so I haven't really slept in 8 days either. I wish you the best of luck with it. Everyone has different reactions but I know I will never take this again.
Take care,
kathy d