[cookie]

Hello I´ve taken cymbalta for 6 years for depression. I gained a lot of weight which I was able to control the last 2 years.
2 days ago I started experiencing electricity and sharp pains in my legs and feet. I am kind of worried, because it resembles the symptoms of neuropathy.
For those who have taken this medication for neuropathy, could you describe your symptoms? and how cymbalta help you to alleviate them????

[watchdog]

Cookie-
I am back..... been off the boards for a while, mainly because of the spammers. My wife is doing VERY well, thank you. If I can be of srevice, let me know.

Watchdog

PS Cymbalta-free for about ten months now!

[Lundeliz]

Watchdog, Wow I can't believe it has been almost a year since your wife quit

cymbalta. Very glad to hear she is doing well.

[watchdog]

Lundeliz, on 18 November 2011 - 12:23 PM, said:

Watchdog, Wow I can't believe it has been almost a year since your wife quit

cymbalta. Very glad to hear she is doing well.

It has been a difficult journey, but one worth the effort. The emotional roller coaster has ceased, as have the brain zaps, bad dreams et al;, The last few weeks were rough as she refused to take the capsules apart to reduce the dosage (hard headed comes to mind), so as soon as she had done 3 weeks at 20mg, she just quit. Mind you, it was 6 months coming off 60mg... mixing the 20/30mg capsules to reduce 10mg at a time. After she stopped at 20mg, it was a really rough couple of weeks, but then things began to get better. I know it sounds silly, but lots of sunshine, outdoor activities, and family support were essential. After nearly a year off the drug, she has returned to "normal" at least in the functional sense. Every once in a while, a w/d symptom will jump up, but by and large it's finally over. She is now off all a/d's, and only has to take a toradol on occasion for pain.

Good luck on your journey......

Watchdog

[cookie]

Nice to hear from you both Watchdog and Lundeliz
I wasn´t able to quit the medication. I had to updose. Now I am having pin & needles sensations which scare me a lot. They are constant, all day. I don´t know what it is

[Pixi]

Hi Cookie. I finally saw ur post about DID/MPD from months ago & have replied to it yesterday. Sorry but I did not get an alert notification from the forum despite settings being on. I was not ignoring you - just only come here occasionally to update/report so others know there is life after C and u have to find a new kind of normal after being so poisoned & work with what is left of you.

I have neuropathy and Cymbalta made it much worse - intolerable, I would just lie in bed beyond tears with the pain, that's another reason I needed to kick this stuff & wean off. Been C free for about 6 months now and neuropathy so much better, but is more sensitive in feet & legs which buzz constantly now & flare up with sugars badly. I think C has fried my nerve endings & destroyed my memory/dumbed me down which is very upsetting & downright dangerous. Can't even remember how old I am or my pets names sometimes. Still getting the odd brain zap when overtired but they are milder & not crashing me into the doorways etc. I'm sure this stuff triggers epilepsy, TLE. I now grind my teeth all the time & have nocturnal seizures and bite my tongue.

It may be useful to some with diabetic neuropathy as a pain killer, but for me, it exacerbated it greatly & is not worth the risk taking it for that - it is a head med firstly. The worst part was the incontinance, which is improving now, but damaged forever. It causes neuropathy, yet is used as a "treament" for it! This is not a good med for those with T2 Diabetes or IR.

Eli Lily are marketing it for just about everything these days - even arthritis. It's not - it's a brain med people! A so-called antidepressant which doesn't work for most and you become dependent on it as the W/D are so severe, worse than heroin. If u can tolerate being on it and it helps, remember you will have to wean someday...and it's the W/D that causes all the troubles. Ppl on Effexor are in the same boat. These SNRI's are causing serious harm to generations of us.

I weaned unsupported over 7 months, removing 10 grains per day, week by week and it's the best thing I ever did. If I need to have more grains - I would go back up by a few to try & maintain function. I injured my spine by fracture and was confined to my bed, alone, so it was the best time to wean as little else I could do. The Doctor didn't give a toss and was angry I wanted off this evil med. I went with my gut as I knew it was killing me and I would suicide eventually.

No, I did not knowingly have DID before SNRI's. It's caused so many problems I can't even speak of them. The episodes of DID were quite severe - I went cold turkey off Lexapro a few months before starting Cymbalta. Oh, boy, that really kicked it off and then Cymbalta brought out all this weirdness & other "personalities". I still find things I don't recall buying, mainly clothing & lots of other stuff I won't get into on this board. I am now aware of these alters and it makes United States of Tar look like a kids show. All my money was spent (online mainly at eBay & bookstores) and I became homeless, ending up in a squat with a broken back and weaning off C. Still, I survived and all that has stopped now I am C free.

It has altered my temper. I was always placid & quiet, rather a doormat. Now I am explosive & my emotions are very dulled even off it for 6 months. I can be suddenly aggressive when things build up and it only takes something small to trigger me - like a pressure cooker that cannot vent & then explodes. It scares the shit out of me. I am also very lazy now. Something I never was. No pride in keeping house or even unpacking after several moves. Live in chaos and am confined to bed a lot still due to injury. No help around, so it's tough. I am disabled by severe osteoporosis/arthritis & in much pain so normal things are a great effort anyway - even turning over in bed etc or standing up, but now I am sooo tired all the time I don't get much achieved in a day other than basics. I put it down to brain damage from Cymbalta as I was never like this before it - a very hard worker. I find it hard to care or feel much now. I don't look sick other than using a wheelchair or walking sticks when needed, so no consideration is made by others and I find it hard to ask for help.


I am hopeful though - hopeful that my poor brain will continue to recover slowly from a massive toxic assualt this drug has done to me. I refuse to see any more Doctors. They have no clue about withdrawals. Disgusted with their limited education & horrifed they continue to get ppl on this muck. Sorry, I do go on. Good to have a rant now & again.



I wish you & everyone here well with your weanings. It's a slow slow road and I wish this drug was banned. On the brighter side, it feels good to be off it, depression 90% better.



Blessings, Pixi.

[Pixi]

PS: I would also like to say that coming back here occasionally to let ppl know about progress after weaning will be ever changing as the weeks/months & years go by & the brain continues to heal. It's a slow journey and will still have its ups & downs as life evolves after Cymbalta. Like I said before - you have to work with what is left of you and eventually you will find a new kind of normal for you - a place that you can function in. For some of us very badly affected by Cymbalta - we will never return to who & what we were before it. It has damaged our neurones beyond repair.
The first few months after my slow wean were good. I thought "Hell, I've done it! I'm going to be okay." It's now, almost 6 months later that I am finding just how far the damage has gone as I awaken. Some of my prior posts are more positive than others. I'll say it like it is at the time.

I suppose the closest thing I could describe the state of myself is like a person who has MS/Alzheimers. This is what it did to me. I have head tremors as I am typing this now - something I forgot to mention before, as I can never remember all the little symptoms I am left with - too many. Sometimes, these can be bad. I had them when I was on C, but not before it. Even saw a private neuro about it who was mystified (useless). Anyway, I just wanted to say that it's an ongoing thing - organic, ever changing recovery after being poisoned by Cymbalta - which I was heavily pressured into taking for depression & pain relief by hospital Doctors who probably would never even prescribe it for their own kin.

[cookie]

Dear Pixi

I took cymbalta for depression, other than than I was a pretty healthy person. After 6 years of taking it, I have sugar problems and now I am experiencing prickling sensations and pin & needles. I also have problems remembering names. I also experienced seizures and problems with my joints which I never had prior to the medication. I can so relate to the laziness, I was never a lazy person, which I am now.

At least, you are off the medicine. I tried to quit, weaning slowly for a year, and it was imposible. I got all kinds of new physical and psychological symptoms which I never had prior to the medication. I had to updose, and even had an allergic reaction. It is like I cannot quit the medication but I don´t feel well on the medication either.

[Pixi]

Oops. I just replied to this neuropathy question Cookie on another thread. I am having a hard time finding the posts here to reply to! It's 5.30 am and I am very tired.


In my experience Cymbalta definitely caused neuropathy in me. I had been on it a few months when I started with the pins & needles & blood sugars all over the place. Then later I was dx with IR T2 diabetes even tho I am not overweight.

The T2 has caused a lot of damage to my eyes & body. C triggered it off. The neuropathy was far worse on C than off it but I am still suffering with feet & legs buzzing painfully most of the time even tho I keep sugars down. I wish you could try to wean again ball by ball if need be over years if that's what it takes. This drug is bad news. I understand about the weird psych issues w/d brings out, but if u have ppl around you who will support you thru these changes, don't be too scared to try it again. You can't stay on this wicked stuff forever can you? Eli Lily should have a proper weaning program for free for all adversely affected by their chemicals.


Yes, the laziness is very upsetting really. A frustration or inability to just do the tasks at hand. Not like a depressive laziness, but just overwhelmed. I've been like it a couple of years now & will have to pay someone to come in & help me unpack boxes I've had in storage as I just cannot do it or manage to set up home. I just moved house last week, but have lived with boxes all over the joint for years during Cymbalta.

[Pixi]

Due to my brain damage - I forgot to say that the joint problems are far worse now. I swell up all over so much so that my fingers cannot bend & looks like a banana hand! Legs too. It's distorting my joints quite badly now and I am negative for RA. I was not this bad before C. It did not work as pain control either. I rue the day I ever took that stuff.

[cookie]

Pixi:
The pin & needles and prickling sensations started 10 days after cymbalta dosage increase. My shrink says prickling sensations and itching have nothing to do with cymbalta. I read that your symptoms got better when you decreased dosage. Do you think the prickling sensations, itching will get better if I decrease dosage????? I am afraid that C triggered this and won´t go away even if I diminish dosage. What treatments are available to treat neuropathy?? is neuropathy reversable????
I am not overweight either.

[Pixi]

cookie, on 28 November 2011 - 02:04 PM, said:

Pixi:
The pin & needles and prickling sensations started 10 days after cymbalta dosage increase. My shrink says prickling sensations and itching have nothing to do with cymbalta. I read that your symptoms got better when you decreased dosage. Do you think the prickling sensations, itching will get better if I decrease dosage????? I am afraid that C triggered this and won´t go away even if I diminish dosage. What treatments are available to treat neuropathy?? is neuropathy reversable????
I am not overweight either.

Like most of them, your shrink sounds like an ass. They have no idea what it's like, just read how fabulous it is & hand it out like sweeties. Most pple working in psych are nuts themselves. It attracts them like the plague for some reason & we are their labrats.


When I decreased, my neuropathy improved a lot. I even stopped wetting myself a bit. I still have it, but nothing like it was on Cymbalta. The medical cure for neuropathy is guess what? Cymbalta! Yes, it's true. It's the latest wonder cure for it despite that fact that in some ppl it triggers it off if ur sugary and even makes it 100 times worse. Go figure. I guess it's like snake venom - it's also the "cure" according to medicoland.

I think if u slowly decrease ur dose over many months - u will improve, but there will be days when it's worse b4 it gets better and u have to hold on. Keep ur sugars & carbs right down. Treat urself as if ur a T2 diabetic and u can't go too wrong. High sugars & Cymbalta - a recipe for neuropathy! Once you've got neuropathy u have to manage it by diet is best. No, it doesn't vanish as your nerves will be fried by now, but it can improve & not be so miserable, allow life to start again.

[cookie]

Pixi:
Could you describe your neuropathy symptoms????? you mention neuropathy is not reversible, but you also said it improves with diet and decreasing C dosage. Doesn´t that means that neuropathy in fact is reversible?

[Pixi]

cookie, on 28 November 2011 - 09:59 PM, said:

Pixi:
Could you describe your neuropathy symptoms????? you mention neuropathy is not reversible, but you also said it improves with diet and decreasing C dosage. Doesn´t that means that neuropathy in fact is reversible?

Improves is not reversal sadly, so sorry if I somehow came across as stating it was - that is not what I meant. Neuropathy is a disease of the CNS and once ur triggered or damaged, ur damaged. The nerves are tiny & run everywhere - they get fried. I have never heard of it being reversed - meaning completely normal, healed & symptom free, but u can improve the intensity of the symptoms by cutting sugars/carbs which irritates it & getting off or cutting C down slowly if that is what has caused it. I know it did this to me. Insulin resistance & diabetes also cause it. I believe that in some of us, C triggers it. If ur nerves are sensitive before it, they may get targeted by it. I have no proof other than what I've been through & figured out for me. Even on the leaflet warnings - it's not recommended for ppl with diabetes or epilepsy etc. After dx of IRT2 & TLE (dejavu episodes & a horrible creeping feeling all over and sudden fear/weirdness all in the same moment as well as thinking ur going to pee ur pants) I'd point this out to my Doctors, who just said it's fine, don't worry, C is harmless "just a little something to take the edge off ur depression" (as I'd lost my 3rd baby pre-term & later, my husband took off), so I trusted them with my body & my mind. They know darn well it interferes with the CNS, that's why they are plying it as a treatment for the very thing it causes in others. The adverts are sickening.For me, C exacerbated it terribly. As I weaned, the intensity of the prickles, the pins & needles, burning feeling & constant buzzing in the limbs became less. It quietened, that's why I think there is hope for others going thru it. I would have days where I hardly noticed it & days when it would seem to flare up & keep me up all night with restless legs too. I have it badly in my feet (constant) & lower legs & in the eyes as my sugars are all over the place & bend my lenses to legal blindness at times. It made me lose sensation in my body. I could not feel when I needed to pee, so developed stress urgency incontinance, which is much improved after the wean, but catches me offguard still, like the occasional brain zap when I am too tired or had insomnia for nights on end. I could not feel my bladder filling and all my skin was numb, like my emotions. I can hurt myself and not feel it, like kitchen burns or scalds in the shower. It's like a delayed reaction. I'd wake up with a Palsy - like Bell's Palsy (numb droopy eye & one side of the face) which would always pass in a few hours. Definitely ruined sex life as can feel nothing much to this day other than a dull touch sensation, certainly not sexy, just annoying so I stay single/celibate now as lovers do not understand this & it causes poor relationships! Hope this is descriptive/candid enough of the neuropathy symptoms I live with. It's much more tolerable after C, but I know it will never suddenly reverse itself. I keep the carbs down - bread, rice & pasta trigger it off and so do sweet juices & soda, cakes etc. Apples seem safe but I get tired of watered down apple juice I can tell you! You have to play around to find what works for you. I wish you great healing Cookie! Take care & try again when u feel ready, a tiny bit at a time & feel positive about it - one day, the pill will be empty and you'll be alright after this horror & I feel ur neuropathy will likely lessen a lot. Get it checked out by a Neuro. I did and had no reflex reactions it was so bad at the time. Still, no one mentioned the C or coming off it! Now I have slow reflexes, so an improvement, not a reversal. I also fail the Romberg's test & have crap balance as C fried my tired brain. I still lurch into walls, misjudge doorways etc -, something I never did before C. I need a break from all my posts/typing here as have just relocated and so much to get done before the holidays & I am very tired (very hot here atm), but will be back with updates as & when things unfurl and I continue to get less toxic. Coming off Cymbalta is a long process and I expected, after the weaning was over, to suffer from odd things a while longer. It's been 6 months now and I am much improved compared to when I was on it. If I wake up completely restored - this forum will be the first to know.

[Pixi]

PS: By "buzzing", I mean it feels like being plugged into the power socket on a low voltage. Sometimes my teeth feel like they buzz too or my lips. Do get the sharp shocks too which can make a limb jump or feel stabbed, but definitely the buzzing electricity is the one that annoys me the most and is constant in my feet no matter what I try to alleviate it. Keeping them cool in the heat and using a blanket bed frame to keep the sheets off them helps a bit, but it's always there. Was much more "buzzier" on C, so an improvement or quietening, but not reversed - I can only hope for that miracle. Bye for now y'all. x

[cookie]

Pixi:
I read that most antidepressants cause prickling sensations as a side effect. How can I be sure it is just prickling sensation (as a side effect) or a full developed neuropathy that won´t go away????

[Pixi]

I'm a retired mortician (due to disability), not a Medical Doctor, so my posts are my opinions and from what I have read about over the years or personally experienced. Fully developed neuropathy is severe, not just prickle sensations, shocks or tingles which could even be an indication of a cardiac matter if it's started very suddenly. It is quite virulent & spreads if the cause is not found. It's a disease and a lot of info not found on Google searches can be found at Diabetes Daily on the Neuropathy boards there. People sometimes have to undergo amputation eventually when their foot or leg becomes gangrenous over time - often from some small injury they cannot feel so aren't aware of. Something is causing your symptoms and if you're not IR or a dx'd T1 or T2 Diabetic, it could well be the C over such a long period of taking it that is the culprit. It set me right off & quickly after maybe 2-3 months of starting C. I complained to my GP and was told I was already on the cure for it! It just got worse and worse with the C, not better. Only as I cut down & weaned right off did I feel an improvement in neuropathy, so I know it was the drug which started it. Other medical conditions cause it too, but Diabetes is the number 1 cause. Get checked by your Neuro or see an Endo about sugars if they are too high. Blood Glucose Test kits are not overly dear, so maybe buy one, monitor for a couple of weeks & see if that is the problem. Elevated sugars often causes neuropathy. The maximim recommended time to be on C is up to 6 months (short term) - not 6 years. I keep reading about folk who have been on it or other anti D's many years. Why are their Doctors being so negligent? Eli Lily state 6 months on their leaflets, I believe because they know the body needs a break to recover from their horrible drug, but they provide no weaning programme either! They only trialed it for 9 weeks & then flooded the market as it's a lucrative business in a depressed world. Instead, we find Doctors just refilling prescriptions on auto-pilot without a care for the overall wellbeing of that patient. Some people I know have been on Prozac since it came out as the new wonder drug in the 80's & they are seriously screwed up now it's saturated the very core of them. That's just crazy in itself & the medicos are at great fault. You wish to try weaning off C again - so only you can take the plunge & cut down on some grains and see if these symptoms improve. I think over time they will, but just go real slow & expect no overnight miracles. It may feel worse before it gets quieter. Good luck.

[AprilMayJune]

cookie, on 28 November 2011 - 02:04 PM, said:

Pixi:
The pin & needles and prickling sensations started 10 days after cymbalta dosage increase. My shrink says prickling sensations and itching have nothing to do with cymbalta. I read that your symptoms got better when you decreased dosage. Do you think the prickling sensations, itching will get better if I decrease dosage????? I am afraid that C triggered this and won´t go away even if I diminish dosage. What treatments are available to treat neuropathy?? is neuropathy reversable????
I am not overweight either.

The symptoms of neuropathy do get worse with increased dosage. I was on 60 and did ok for a while but after a few months started having neuropathy, asked if I could decrease to 30mg and the neuropathy went away. A lower dose will help. I took cymbalta for neuropathy pain, not depression and it did help. I have been off of it for two weeks and two days, not feeling so hot now, pain wise anyway. I feel much more alive and happy except for the pain. The neuropathy is worse now than it was before I started taking cymbalta but I am going to give it at least a month to see if it will improve before I go back to the dr.

[Kim1969]

My buzzing, tingling, aching body pains and leg cramping started after I weaned off cymbalta. Tho I had sore hands for several years prior but no tingling. Now 1 year later I still have no help from drs. The pain is like the flu. I have started getting infections in my fingertips which is a concern - 3 in 3 weeks. I don't have diabetes and I have been tested for so many things! Am told I have fibromyalgia and that cymbalta is the treatment! I am investigating this board to see if cymbalta actually caused this pain.

[cookie]

Kim:
I reduced cymbalta dosage and the symptom went away. Have you done the 2 hours glucose tolerance test to rule out insulin resistance?

[Kim1969]

No I haven't recently done a glucose tolerance test. Just had random blood prick tests. They are on the low side. My mum has type 1 diabetes.

[cookie]

I did the glucose tolerance test and showed I have problems with insulin and sugar