I take 180mg for my depression. I think maybe this has lessened my pain already? I was diagnosed 1 week ago and the injury was 4 weeks ago
i now have pinching stinging in 2 places but it doesnt last and is not constant
do you think this is why my pain is not more prevelant?

I think those are questions to ask your doctor about.

I also take 180 mg of Cymbalta, and it does help neuropathic pain, and major depression, for me.

Please make sure your doc is ordering reg. blood work on you as the liver works overtime to process medications in such high doseage(such as you and I consume). Dew

Hi fewdalord,
My Dr. has me on 240 mg a day. He says Cymbalta works well on nerve pain. I was able to get off two other anti-depressants when I went on Cymbalta. It is also the only anti-depressant FDA approved for Fibromyalgia, which I also have. Anti-depressants are used not just for depression but also for nerve pain. My Dr. in involved in studies done by a couple drug companies. He is Neurologist, Psychiatrist, and Pharmacologist. experience with RSD. Is the Dr. that has helped me the most, besides the pt's and massage therapists. It's not that easy to find a Dr. with the three degrees. A med that has helped keep my nervous system calmed down is Lorazepam mg. 3xday, anti-anxiety med. Take Vicodin for pain and 2 high blood pressure meds. I've been seeing this Dr. for 5 years. Have gone off 4 meds and am losing weight and hope to cut back on the blood pressure meds. Then we are going to try and cut back on pain meds. It was a orthopedic hand surgeon that diagnosed me in a different state. Hope you find a Dr. you feel is experienced in RSD and you like. I also have an internist , cardiologist, and family dr.Internal organs can be affected as this is an autonomic disorder. I have heart and lung involvement.full body 13 years now. Take care, loretta

I am on 120mgs of cymbalta and it doesn't seem like it is doing anything for me. I am also on skelaxin,nabumatone, lyrica,generic ambien, and generic xanax xr. I have a scs implanted and everything combined sure doesn't seem like my pain is any less. I just learn to deal with it the best I can. I have had rsd for 6 yrs and was not diagnosed with rsd until I had it for 3 yrs. so that might play a factor into it as well I have no idea. All i know is I hurt all the time. It sucks. Somedays I just think it would be better to just die than deal with all this plus the stress I deal with on a day to day basis.
Good luck to you all and take care.

Sincerely,
Tracy(screwballpookie)

have you tried fentynal patches for pain?

I was on this but now am working back up to 120 with a combo of other meds. Before I was on too low of dose but didn't see any benefit but hoping now I will.
Tracy I am so sorry but we have to remain hopeful which I know is hard trust me especially in the flare ups that are nightmares. I am not sure where your rsd is but are you able to do any PT? I have seen a couple specialist who deal with rsd and have heard how key range of motion is and strength training. Now this is just what I have been told and I know the pain I am in I can't even think about that but am hoping if I find the right combo of treatment to get to that point. Also have you thought of kentamine the outpatient though? Please take care and if you want or anyone else an email buddy I am here.

Thank you for your responses once again, but my pm doc acts like he just gave up on me which he is the authorized doc for WC. I started with rsd in my dominant(left hand)after an injury at work. Worked under docs care for 1 and a half years and come back with permanent restrictions and the company basically said see ya. So I got fired. I have not been diagnosed with it anywhere else but I know in my own mind that that could only be the what is causing the trouble in my right arm and my legs from my knees down to my feet. I am right now on a crutch trying to afford to get a walker but struggling with that as my husband is the only one working. I did try to get a job after I lost my other job but of coarse nobody would hire me. I got off the waiting list for vocational rehab and went back to school for 2 yrs. and graduated with an AA degree in Health Information Technology. Tried to get a job in that field and got no where but going into a deeper depression so I gave up looking for a job. I am fighting WC for the 2nd time since they renigged on the first settlement which the biggest part was an open file for my rsd. So now we have to go back after them. So in the meantime we are having to pay for meds,turn the receipts in to the attorney, and turn in the bills to the attorney while we get turned over to the collection agencies for not paying when WC should be paying. When I started to get pain in my legs I did call my pm doc and they said they don't do anything with legs so I am back to square one with a diagnoses even though I have a gut feeling I know what is going on especially after I talked to my family doc the last time. He took blood and done blood work and everything was fine and an EMG which was normal. That was no surprise to me because I have been through all of this before. I asked him what he thought might be going on and this was his remark,"I think it might be the progression of the disease.............Whatever that may be." I don't think he wants to commit because of my lawsuit so this is what he said. Do you all think i am crazy or do you think i am on the right track?I don't know anymore. I have not tried the patch cause my pm doc keeps telling me there is no more he can do for me so I end up going out on my own so I can figure out for sure what is really going on and basically starting from square one again. I was also told as far gone as I am pt won't do me any good.So I don't know. In the beginning I had 8 months of pt and it didn't seem to help me. So I was told it was a waste of time to even do that.So I guess I just feel like I am running in circles with all of this.
So as you can see I am really trying hard to keep my head above water and it is getting harder and harder. Thank you all for reading my babbling. I am just having a very tough time this week.

Sincerely,
Tracy Tracy(screwballpookie)

Hey Tracy,
I take 60mg/day.
The liner notes say, that no positive effect has been found over that.
(But, I don't think they're considering off label use).
Anyway, that's all my Neuro will give me, that's all I take.

Pete
asb