4 replies to this topic

[nugget]

I've been on Cymbalta for about 2 years.

It worked a miracle on the extreme depression that it was prescribed for. It was horrible when I took it for the first time (60mg), I had to take a day off work. For the first few days I felt like I'd been poisoned. I had a massive headache, sensitivity to light and noise, vertigo and some awful sensations in my head whenever I moved quickly. It took a while to start feeling functional again, weeks maybe, I don't quite remember.

After most of the side effects had settled down I was just left with a fuzziness in the mind, I felt rather stupid compared to my normal self, and all the muscles in my neck and throat felt tight. I also had great trouble getting a good night's sleep until I decided to try taking my daily dose in the morning instead of the evening. Then I began sleeping for a whole night at a time for the first time in months. I gained weight, but for me that's a symptom of being happy, I just eat more when I'm happy. When I'm seriously depressed I lose interest in food and lose weight.

I remembered thinking at the time that it was going to be hell to come off this stuff. Knowing what the symptoms were like from just being late from a dose I made sure I always carried a spare or two around with me in case I ever forgot and that habit paid off many times!

I decided it was time to come off cymbalta fairly recently. Things have been going very well for a long while now and I feel like everything has levelled off. This would be in the sense that I was improving for the first year or so but have just been stable for about the second year. I've also started to grind my teeth, which I think may be a symptom that says it's time to come off this drug.

At the moment I'm in a job that I like with good people and a very nice partner. So I figured it's an ideal time to see how things go without it. If I became depressed again without it and didn't get better then it's a sure sign that I still need it. I explained all of this to a doctor and he thought it sounded like it was time. He prescribed 30mg capsules and instructed me to step down off the 60mg ones.

So I took the 30mg capsules for about a month. It was a bit rough stepping down to the lower dose but I was only suffering badly for about a weekend or so. Having done that and no longer feeling any ill effects of stepping down I decided to stop.

Have I caught the flu or what!?! I felt so damn sick I was never sure if I had caught the flu or if it was the withdrawal symptoms. I had stopped on Tuesday and by the time Saturday came around I was feeling so sick that I decided to go to the emergency department at the local hospital and wait for a doctor. After a few hours of staring at the wall I saw an English doctor who told me that I'm ok and I just have a flu-like virus that is going around at the moment. He said that the aches and pains were a dead giveaway and I tried to explain about the pamphlet in the box but he told me
"These drugs are all from America and they list every symptom any patient has ever experienced because they'll get sued otherwise. You're going to be fine, you've just got the flu".

I didn't really believe him but I was glad that I was examined and my blood pressure was ok. So I did a Google search when I got home and found all the answers here.

I just hope this doesn't last too long, I need to go to work!! My boss will think I'm useless!

I've never been tempted to take any more Cymbalta because I don't want to prolong the process or replace the "coming off it" symptoms with the "going on it" symptoms.

I can't say that going on Cymbalta has been a regret, it's by far the most effective antidepressant I've ever taken, but I'll never go on it again if I can help it, it's just to painful and scary.

I haven't had any significant psychological effects (yet) other than feeling a bit blue or grumpy at times, but mostly just the physical state is making me feel bad.

[nugget]

Oh, also I've read some dramatic things about the COST of Cymbalta on this website.

I've never paid more than $32.80 AUD for it here in Australia. We have a thing called the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) that caps the cost of approved medicines to that price (few drugs are not covered, like experimental, ineffective or extremely expensive ones). It's one of the few good things that our crippling tax system pays for. Everybody is eligible too, so as long as you are a resident or citizen there is no discrimination.

I noticed that the full cost listed on a packet of 28 doses of 60 mg Cymbalta was $50.42 AUD. Is that the same as the US price? It just sounded like it was awfully expensive over there. The USD and AUD are hovering around parity at the moment, but to give you some idea of the cost of living in Australia petrol is $1.50 AUD per litre here which translates to gas being $5.68 per gallon. A 750ml bottle of Jack Daniel's costs about $30 AUD and it's about the same for a steak in a good quality restaurant. A typical small home in a normal suburb is about $375,000, a nice roomy one with a garage is $500,000. A new Holden (GM) V8 family saloon is about $50,000. Also note that the average wage/salary in Australia is higher than in the US because of the cost of everything.

[Karla]

On the cost of things here. cymbalta here in Kansas, USA is running about $190.00 USD for 30 pills. GAs is $3.36 a gallon. 750ml bottle of jack daniels is about $24.00. Homes cost on average $250,000 on low end. Minimum wage is just under $8.00 an hr. We live by Kansas City, Kansas.

[freeme2]

I got a severe cold with flu after stepping down from Cymbalta 90mg to 60mg. It lasted almost 6 days. I was in bed most of the time. I would get up and not have any energy at all. I couldn't figure out why I had only seconds of energy. I had the worst sore throat, GI problems, throbbing headache that wouldn't go away, nausea, extreme dizziness, and all the aches and pains. It was awful.
Most likely you get an inflammatory response from the cymbalta.. yuck...
I hope you feel better soon.

[Torie]

I'm glad to hear it was effective for you with depression. It was for me too, and I'm glad because it means the experience wasn't ALL bad. Here in BC, Canada a month's worth of 60mg is $142. I'm lucky I have insurance!