medication reactions

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Purplesix8

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01/2013
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Hi everyone. I just started taking Cymbalta. The doctor has me taking 30mg every other day. I have only taken two pills so far. I am having trouble staying awake. Two days of not being able to function normally. Plus it causes me to have stomach problems. Has anyone had similar problems?
 
Purplesix8,
Side effects of medication can be hard to handle. I have not taken Cymbalta, but generally with any new medication there is a timeframe of adjustment. I would say let your doctor know what you are experiencing and he may offer suggestions to improve the issues your having. Some meds say take with no food, but often times taking a pill with a meal or even a slice of bread can help settle down stomach problems. Try taking one pill every three days, instead of every other day, then work back to the orginal med plan.

Sometimes new meds just do not agree with us at all and a change must be made. Ask your doctor if anything mentioned above would be safe to try and follow his instructions. If pain persists or you develop hives or rashes, contact your doctor right away and stop the medication. Just be safe and help your doctor to help you do so. :)
 
I also recently started taking Cymbalta. I have lots of experience with these types of meds and went straight to 60mg everyday. I take mine before bed and have been sleeping really well. When are you taking yours? If in the morning, try switching to bedtime. I did notice a sluggishness in my thinking at first but that seems to have passed. I have less pins and needles in my back and my pain level has decreased slightly. All meds have side effects and we all react differently to them. Give it some time and stay in touch with your doctor. Hope you feel better soon!
 
Cymbalta never agreed with me either. It was one of the first scripts that my doc wrote for me. I tried it for a few days and gave it up. Too many side effects and not enough pain relief.
 
my dr recently increased my cymbalta from 30 to 60 mg. . in the beginning, I had mild nausea, which decreased my appetite. it also made and still makes me drowsy. they definitely help with the depression and anxiety I have. meds affect everybody differently and there is a time frame where your body needs to adjust. so try and hang in there if you can.
 
Both Cymbata and Lyrica and a couple other meds used in Fibro treatment I can't remember the name of I reacted badly to. Mostly they made my everyday symptoms increase ten fold. They made me unable to work or even perform everyday functions. On lyrica I even felt like I'd got bloody Alzheimers!
 
I tried Cymbalta, but I had to stop using it because of the many side effects... I've actually stopped taking other meds recently becuase of the same reason. I just hate the fact I need to take some of those meds so bad, sometimes the decisions I've to make are what makes my current condition even harder for me. Sometimes I wonder if I'm making the right decision... but of course, all the doctors will tell you you need to take this opr that med, and that you're crazy for thinking x med is giving you y symptom.
 
Hi Trellum, I was taking the Cymbalta at night before bed. I am only on 30mg every other day. It made me a zombie. I only had two doses. I stopped it and finally after two days without it I am finally able to function properly. But, I still have to call the doc. Figured I might wait a week and try again to see if I have the same reaction. Thanks for the advice.
 
I haven't tried Cymbalta and probably won't. I'm extremely sensitive to practically all meds - the "1%" side effects listed might as well been written to describe me perfectly. About the only med. I can tolerate is tramadol HCL 50mg - I cut them in half and take 25mg 4 times a day. Doesn't do much but dull the pain during a flare up but keeps me (kind of) going and relatively sane. I find practicing Zen meditation every day and using a tens unit to be almost as good at any med. docs have tried to put me on.
 
just wondering if anybody has asked the doc just to prescribe a pain medication. I don't tolerate most drugs, but I can tolerate a couple of pain medications because I've had them in the past for a back problem I've had for 15 years. I asked my doctor if instead of Cymbalta (which has WAY too many side effects for me) he'd prescribe pain med that I have tolerated in the past. He wouldn't, gave me Liberax which he said would relax me.
There's no doubt in my mind that I know my body better than my doctor and I know what works for me. I also know what medications to stay away from because of what they do to me. I'm not a pill popper, have refused many pills doctors have tried to give me but Fibromyalgia is something I don't know how to deal with. I'm not young anymore, have been retired for several years but have tried to stay active and healthy but this has thrown a real snag in my normally active lifestyle.
 
just wondering if anybody has asked the doc just to prescribe a pain medication. I don't tolerate most drugs, but I can tolerate a couple of pain medications because I've had them in the past for a back problem I've had for 15 years. I asked my doctor if instead of Cymbalta (which has WAY too many side effects for me) he'd prescribe pain med that I have tolerated in the past. He wouldn't, gave me Liberax which he said would relax me.
There's no doubt in my mind that I know my body better than my doctor and I know what works for me. I also know what medications to stay away from because of what they do to me. I'm not a pill popper, have refused many pills doctors have tried to give me but Fibromyalgia is something I don't know how to deal with. I'm not young anymore, have been retired for several years but have tried to stay active and healthy but this has thrown a real snag in my normally active lifestyle.

The only pain medication I've ever managed to get for fibro was Tramadol. It's a very mild painkiller. It helps somewhat, but it in no way makes a great impact. Many doctors are very hesitant to put someone with fibro on narcotics. They don't want them to get addicted, which is funny, because you absolutely become dependent and somewhat addicted to the other drugs that they give you for fibro. I'm not even going to muddy this thread with what happened to me when I was on Lyrica and missed doses. Just going to say, it wasn't very pretty.

As for the original question from the original poster, I took 120mg of Cymbalta and I LOVED it. There were certainly side effects for a while, but it evened out after a few weeks. It didn't make me tired, and I lost weight on it, which I needed to lose anyway. I wasn't exactly heartbroken about that particular side effect.

Medications just effect people in different ways. This medication just might not be right for you. If you've just started, I would try to stick with it past the initial few weeks to see if symptoms dissipate. If you can't, and it's too much, just let your doctor know. Hopefully they can find something that works.
 
Hi Trellum, I was taking the Cymbalta at night before bed. I am only on 30mg every other day. It made me a zombie. I only had two doses. I stopped it and finally after two days without it I am finally able to function properly. But, I still have to call the doc. Figured I might wait a week and try again to see if I have the same reaction. Thanks for the advice.

Sorry to hear that :( That medication made me feel so weird as well, like mentally numb! Try to switch to another medication, but you must bear in mind a lot doctors claim x or x medication has no bad side effects, but most of the times that's not even true. Sometimes I wonder if they do it on purpose or they're totally ignorant of the meds they prescribe! Either way, you should always run your own investigation online... that's how I found out a med I had been taking for two months was causing my hair to fall out.
 
I'm on cymbalta now.. I started at 30 mgs then my dr uped me to 60 mgs per day I take it in the am,not with food because it makes me feel sick..I'm currently weaning myself off ..way to many side effects..I feel like I'm lost most of the time..I know there is fibro fog but I'm worse on the cymbalta..after doing a bunch of searching on the Internet I learned how bad cymbalta can be for you..there is a whole site of people struggling to get of antidepressants....it's pretty scary...I'm going to try natural ways to deal with my fibro..including marijuana ( no it isn't legalwhere I live) but I'm tired of my dr saying try this then try this.....how good can that be.
A lot of people can't take cymbalta...let your dr know exactly what you are experiencing and do it soon
Good luck and keep us posted
 
I've heard that Cymbalta is a miracle for some, part of a cocktail for others (to balance the side effects) and intolerable for yet others. I was part of that last category. I was on 60mg for 4 months before I decided to wean off (took it in the AM, since PM floored me). Took me a week off work (and a useless week on work) to start the drug, and a solid 3 weeks off work to get off. I felt like a drug addict, coming off heroin. And I've never done drugs.

Lyrica turned out to have easier side effects, but the benefits weren't worth it. So now I'm pill-free.

I'd say try to stick it out for 6 weeks if you really want to give it a chance, because the full effects of the drug won't be apparent until then. However, if you're miserable and a zombie and can't function as a human being, forget the 6 weeks. See your dr and tell them everything. They can help you find something you'll be more tolerable to.

Ps. I don't get the "taking one pill every other day". Cymbalta's half-life is 12 hours, which means after the 12 hours, the pill is only half effective. It's not recommended by the pharmas, but some people open the pills and split the dosages themselves, to make a 15mg pill that you can take every day. Might be a way to level out the side effects.
 
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