I am a 39 year old woman who has had migraines since puberty and possibly before. I started Cymbalta about a year and a half ago if memory serves correct (which often it does not, thanks to Cymbalta). It was slow progress. I started at 20 and slowly worked up to 60. I had no side effects going on and immediately saw a reaction in my neck pain, the duration and severity of my migraines, and an increase in energy and positive mood.
My doctors suggested I increase my dose to see if I could get even more relief from pain and so eventually i found myself on 120 mg. It seemed like a MIRACLE. My migraines were down from 3 to one to two days. They were completely manageable with pain meds where as before they responded to nothing.
But about two months ago... I started noticing weight gain that seemed weird. I have always been a very thin person. This was 20 lbs of what felt like soft tissue. Meanwhile I was exercising more that I had ever had a week. 6-7 days a week of intense Pointe work (ballet). I started having trouble making it through the lesson. I was short of breath. I woke up exhausted every morning. I went and had my blood tested thinking I was anemic. Turned out my TSH was up to 3.8 having always alternated between 1.4-2.5 this seemed odd.
I decided to go off of the Cymbalta. I have been weaning 20 mg a week. After the first drop to 100, I felt great!! The second drop to 80, not so great. Although I was already losing weight. This week I a down to 60 and I have had a migraine for 4 days and horrible neck pain. I have lost 8 lbs in two weeks and that soft layer is gone.
i am wondering if maybe i should re think going completely off and go back up to 100, see how my thyroid reacts etc because I cannot take this pain. I am killing my liver with all the pain meds anyway.
stories, advice??
