Oh my God.....Cymbalta!

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I have been depressed and anxious due to chronic back and hip pain. (among a multitude of other health issues). My dr. has been pushing Cyrabalta for awhile. I have never had a good experience with any anti-depressants. I started it on Fri. July 4th, and took it today July 5th. He started me on 60mg once a day. I am MISERABLE. I am nauseous, jittery, completely drowsy and cannot do anything. I am also getting chills and then get hot. Oh yea, and I have blurry vision.(other than that everything is fine LOL). Anyway, I am getting a lurabar epidural on Wed. I KNOW those steroiRAB are going to make me edgy as heck. They always do. I am seriously thinking about getting off this Cyrabalta tomorrow because I am hating this beyond belief.
Feedback? or sharing???????? Thanks!
 
Actually, before you take your doctor to task you might read through the prescribing information from the drug manufacturer. 60mg. is a pretty standard dosage for most of the conditions for which it is prescribed. The med comes in 20mg, 30 mg, and 60 mg pills and 60 mg is the maximum recommended dosage for most ailments. Also, taking it once a day is standard for many of the reasons it is prescribed, like GAD, neurapathy, fibromyalgia, etc. Your doctor is giving it to you the way the drug manufacturer recommenRAB.

Also, like most SSRIs the side effects usually lessen or go away after about two weeks. It is often prescribed for back patients because it is used to treat both depression and neurologic pain.

I'm sorry you are finding it so unpleasant. Hopefully there will be another medication that you can more comfortably take.
 
I personally would discontinue it and give your doctor a call Monday. I am shocked that he started you out on such a high dose too.
 
I Know that 60 mg is the usual prescribing dose but he gave me Paxil about 2 yrs. ago and the same thing happened. Plus, I keep reading that most people get the dose titrated up. I have only taken it for 2 days so far. I am going to stop it tomorrow, get my steroid lurabar epidural. Then maybe in a month or so, progbably try Cyrabalta again at maybe 20mg. for a week, etc.
Do you think taking it for 2 days will give me withdrawal side effects?
 
For Me, Cyrabalta was BAD NEWS!!! I was dizzy, nauseous, emotionally unstable has heart palpatations and extremely high blood pressure (which usually runs very low!).. I would stop taking it for now, especially if you are getting an epidural soon anyway... See how the epidural goes for you and then decide if you think that you might still need some type of antidepressant. If so, I would not go with the newer SNRI's (since you are having trouble with the cyrabalta).. I would ask the doc to try and older one used for pain such as elavil... Good Luck To YOU!!!!
 
I am really annoyed that he did that to me. I have since read that it shoud be titrated up. What is he...a moron?
I am going to stop taking it and then get my epidural and see how that goes. Then if I need to start it up again in a month or so....I am going to go SLOWWWWWWWW. Any recommendations of what a good way to titrate would be? Because the next go 'round...I am going to TELL him.:mad:
THANKS
 
Hey Michelle,
Why did you go from 60 mg to 90? Was it starting to not work as well? When I saw my doctor a few weeks ago, I told him that I can only describe this feeling as more "normal" than I've felt for a long time, ie, years. He felt that my whole countenance had changed, even though I had hidden my anguish over my neverending physical problems from everyone pretty well. But he did mention that as time goes on, I may need to take more to keep the effect.

Just wondering if that happened to you.

:wave: Emily
 
I'm surprised, too, that he started you on 60 mg right off. Cyrabalta has been good for me, but I started on 30 mg for a week before upping it.

How many doses have you taken so far? You might not want to stop it abruptly. Just as it's usually titrated up when it's started, it's generally titrated down when stopping. You don't want to have headaches and the other side effects that can crop up from stopping it too quickly.

I hope you can get it straightened out. I started on it for the same reason as you, long term chronic pain (over 30 years for me, and it got so much worse in the last 5 years, I just reached the breaking point). It's made a big difference for me. Maybe you need to see a different doctor who is more familiar with these meRAB.

I wish you the best,
Emily
 
All the oldies on the board know the horrible time I had with Cyrabalta. But that is just me. Let me just say one thing....make sure you have a doctor who is VERY experienced and familiar with not only putting you on the drug but also getting you OFF the drug. My PM doc put me on the drug but really didn't have a clue how potent it was. After months of trying to come off of it with brutul withdrawal symptoms, I ended up having to go to a psychiatrist to get off. I had to go on Prozac for 6 weeks or so and then wean off the Prozac. He said that a lot of doctors prescribing it do so very nonchalantly and don't realize that this is a "heavy hitter". This is a fairly new drug.....and Cyrabalta and Effexor are the only two anti-depressants that impact two areas of the brain...hence the side effects and withdrawal can be worse. With all that said, this drug has been a lifesaver for many people. Just please make sure to research it yourself and make sure your doc has lots of experience with it. I can't even watch those commercials on TV anymore about Cyrabalta because it makes it seem like a very benign drug. Good luck to you.

Deb
 
Hi, my 21 yr. old son took Cyrabalta, and he could not tolerate it at all. He was nauseous and extremely tired. He's a college student, and he said he was falling asleep in class. He tried the 30 mg., and he had to stop.

On the other hand, my sister takes the same drug and she does great on it. She was a nervous wreck, very anxious and depressed, and it has done wonders for her.

Go figure!
 
I didnt take it this morning (would have been day 3) and I am feeling pretty jittery. I had a horribly restless sleep lastnight. Made me want to get off of it even more. I am probably having withdrawal even after only taking it for 2 days. One weird thing was I was yawning CONSTANTLY. And they werent normal yawns. They were these huge all encompassing yawns. weird. My husband said he had the same thing when he took Prozac years ago when he got a divorce. Strange. At least today i am not doing those yawns and I am less zorabie-like. Just jittery and still kind of nauseous. whew
 
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