I have just started taking a low dose of Cymbalta. I am seeing mood changes, but not sure about any pain relief. Will update in a few weeks after an increased dose. Please feel free to share your updates about being just diagnosed! I would love to hear your stories. <3
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Hi Lynn, thanks for sharing!
I hope duloxetine/Cymbalta goes well, and you tolerate the side effects.
(If not Iād go/stay lower than docs may recommendā¦)
Iām wondering if a hindsight from me back to when I was just diagnosed would fit here, too, like what was necessary, what I could have done betterā¦
In short I felt it necessary (I felt obliged to my employer) and unavoidable to give docs/meds a chance for half a year or so, but I started getting better when I was thru with that and do my own thing, tracking, analyzing and influencing symptoms and their triggers / treatments.
I wish you the best on this. Sadly, I have yet to find any prescription that works to control pain for me. A year ago, I finally got to try Lyrica and initially the results were quite good but after a couple of weeks the dose I was taking plateaued. When I asked about raising the dosage, my doctor told me there was no raising of the dosage. From there she suggested Cymbalta and I spent about 2 weeks experiencing nausea. I decided to just stop taking it as the nausea was not easing. I hope it works for you!
If I were hoping any typical meds would help, Iād go for amitriptyline and nortriptyline next, cos they have just as much evidence as duloxetine/Cymbalta and pregabalin/Lyrica. But after lack of success with amitriptyline and before that two Cox2-inhitibors, metamizole and tilidine I decided the docs have had their game with me, but Iām no longer game for them.
Supps didnāt help with fibro stuff much, except the amino acid neurotransmitter GABA for serotonin, but other supps helped for other symptoms/diagnoses and these are also some that are supposedly good for fibro.
But the most and best help so far after 4 years of 100s of treatments I have to say is from a med again, however low dosed = LDNā¦ So I hope you find one that helps you some day. Donāt give up until youāve tried the 100s of treatments in all 5 treatment āareasā!
Do give the Cymbalta a good 6 weeks to work. The only med that worked for me was a combo of Cymbalta with Lyrica. Best of health to you!
Hi,
I donāt think I am noticing much of an effect from the Cymbalta besides maybe some mood stabilizing. What side effects did you have?
I am in a situation where I also feel obliged because I am under military contract to work, though I canāt. May I ask for more detail on what you mean by doing your own work at tracking symptoms and such?
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Hi,
yeah not really any change for me either. I am still going to wait a couple of months but it doesnāt seem like the Cymbalta is going to do anything. I may try Lyrica but my employer is government and my insurance is weird about meds like that. I am curious, what was your dosage of Lyrica?
Thank you for the words, kind stranger.
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Thank you for all of this information, I have gone down a rabbit hole of looking into drug information, and I have some great things to look into now.
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Sure, Lynn! ĀÆ\ _(ć) __/ĀÆ
If youāre up to reading quite a bit, I detailed my experiences on this here: Fibromyalgia References: Triggers, Symptoms, Treatments - & Hunting & Tracking them - #39 by JayCS, on the rest of that thread I have lists of these which help identifying what is possible, and on my daily blog entries over the past >3y yo can see different examples of how I do it, which will be very different to others: JayCSās Fibro Blog
But if you prefer, I could summarize and focus them according to what you need at the moment.
This is a summary of the best review of the main fibro-meds I know to date, incl. links: 2022 review: Amitriptyline compared with pregabalin, duloxetine and milnacipran. 2012-2019: Gabapentin NO evidence!
Iād be glad to help with all further queries!
Iām sorry, I canāt remember what my dosage was on the Lyrica. Interesting you mentioned the government employer~ Iām retired military so I use Tri-care and they are crappy about ānewā drugs as well.