Insomnia from Cymbalta/Duloxetine

[janey50]

Any advice, anyone, please on whether to carry on trying to take Cymbalta? It is currently giving me such bad insomnia that I can't function normally, and can't evaluate any possible improvement in my anxiety and depression because I am SO SO tired. Seems like a bloody useless drug so far (6 weeks) as it just made me exhausted from the start and now can't sleep as well! Help!

[raphael]

Hi

it took me a little while to get into a sleeping pattern. I did not have too many probs except excessive sweating at night but I did have a few when I came off so when it is your time do it slowly and you will b fine

[joannap]

hi. i am on citalopram and had 2 weeks of hardly any sleep - it drove me up the wall - my sleep started to get better by week 3 but is still a bit hit and miss. i think they advise up to 8 weeks for improvements so check with gp if you don;t feel its working after then. x

[Ellen70]

Hi Janey, though the four months of Cymbalta were a waste of time for me, I did not have sleeping problems.

Now I have tapered off it and took the last dose about five weeks ago and I have been in hell ever since. My emotions are all over the place, I have abdominal pain and diarrhroea and just cannot sleep at all. I have been on about 15 anti depressants over the last 22 years and this is the worst withdrawal I ever got. Thank god for my therapist who does energy healing on me weekly which means I have two good days out of the week.

Hopefully you might find the reverse though and be able to sleep when you come OFF the cymbalta. If you are tapering off then, as has been said, do it slowly and try and have some support from others in place.

Take care

Ellen

[Yvonne]

Hi All

I'm just coming off the wonderful Duloxetine/Cymbalta having spent a year on the stuff.

Just could not sleep at night, when I did finally nod off i

[Yvonne]

Got cut off last night when I was typing the above message - I'll continue now.

I didn't find the Duloxetine a very good medication- useless for panic/anxiety, helped my post Seroxat depression and seemed to lift me out of the hell I was in to a degree.

I just could not sleep at night, when I finally did nod off I would wake a few times in the night needing to wee - constant feeling of pressure on the bladder - really horrible. Strange cos this med is for urinary incontinence.
I felt zombielike most of the day on the med, completely lethargic and weak.

Coming off it now - have done it mega slowly. Same symptoms as described by someone above; emotional liability - crying over anything, getting highly stressed about the most minor things. Not nice but same old same old discontinuation as I had after Seroxat but NOWHERE NEAR AS SEVERE.

I'm on 20mg now - will be off it completely by next Saturday - good job too I say. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can cope with my panics without meds because I don't want to try any more meds which just don't seem to work for me post Seroxat.

Take care all.
Yvonne