[Melanie2]

Hello friends,

I am new here and would appreciate hearing from anyone with a similar experience. I am 39 and have only been on Cymbalta for 6 weeks (2 weeks at 20mg,4 weeks at 60) It was prescribed for chronic low-back pain due to lumbar scoliosis and spinal arthritis. It has worked VERY well for my pain, and since I won't take any narcotic pain relievers I was so happy to find something that helped so much.
BUT... 2 side effects have been so bad I unfortunately feel that I need to get off Cymbalta. Firstly, the constipation is so severe that I went a week without a poo, and then I only went once after 3 days of laxatives. Horribly uncomfortable! The second is even worse to me and that is diminished libido and almost non-existent sensation and NO climax. I am numb! This is unacceptable to me as my husband and I are very active and our sex life is extremely important to me!
My husband is a pharmacist and he has strongly encouraged me to taper off, but I'm going to go on ahead and try cold-turkey since I've only been taking it for such a short time. I took my last dose yesterday morning so today has been my first day without.
My question: Has anyone else experienced the horrible libido/response side effect and, if so, how long after quitting did things go back to normal? This is making me depressed and I've really never been seriously depressed before! Thank you for any insight or tips on what I can expect through this. After reading many other posts, I'm getting a bit scared!

[RickWC]

When I started taking Cymbalta, that was the first thing I noticed. I told my doctor I hated the lack of sex drive and he said to give it time and it would come back. It never really did. I could still have sex but it was difficult to become aroused and the pleasure was never the same. The worse part for me was that after 6 years on Cymbalta, I didn't really even have the desire anymore. Because of the additional medications I took while weaning off Cymbalta, I didn't recover my full sex drive for several months. But around 3 years ago, I went cold turkey from Cymbalta (ran out) for 4 days and my sex drive went through the roof within 2 days.

Everybody reacts differently but I would guess that if you have only been on it for 6 weeks then you should be back to normal in 2 to 3 days. Good luck and I pray that your short time use will prevent your from having the other side effects that most of us have experienced.

[Melanie2]

Thank you for sharing your experience. Tomorrow will be Day 6 and aside from having these frequent weird little zippy feelings in my head and some dizziness, I'm doing pretty good! Like you, I got my sex drive back on Day 2 (Yay!) but unfortunately my back pain was back too. Not very experienced with meds that alter brain chemistry but after this experience I won't be trying anything else that tinkers with my brain. I didn't like that chilled, couldn't-care-less mood that Cymbalta caused me; I like being able to feel happy/sad/scared/excited/depressed/angry.. Life without emotion is so boring!
I hope you are doing well now. Take care!