Experiences with Cymbalta

I'm on Cymbalta 30mg/day since November 1. I'm due to increase the dose to 60mg/day on November 15. The psychiatrist told me that he would start me on 30mg/day in order avoid severe side-effects, but he warned me that in my case, such a low dosage would be subtherapeutic (which means that it wouldn't actually treat anything). Despite that, I felt that it worked marvelously during the first week (placebo effect, perhaps?), but since last Sunday I started feeling anxious and panicky again (heart worries!) in the morning, when I wake up. I'm now afraid that the drug won't work even when I switch to the 60mg dosage... It seemed so promising! I'm crossing my fingers for this drug to work!

You changed your mind about Venlafaxine then? Still good to hear you've had some success already. It is far too early to judge but I think you did the right thing but starting low and building up slowly. Don't be in a hurry - it might be 'sub-therapeutic' but that's a detail as long as it continues to helps. Good luck and keep us updated on progress.

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Originally Posted by KK2613

You changed your mind about Venlafaxine then? Still good to hear you've had some success already. It is far too early to judge but I think you did the right thing but starting low and building up slowly. Don't be in a hurry - it might be 'sub-therapeutic' but that's a detail as long as it continues to helps. Good luck and keep us updated on progress.

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Not really. I'm still reluctant in regards to SNRIs (such as venlafaxine and duloxetine). But I had no other option. I've been on several SSRIs, so there weren't much options left. And I would never take a tricyclic. The psychiatrist came up with this option as the best. I told him about my concerns regarding noradrenaline, he reassured me and I gave in. So far, I haven't experienced any heart-related side-effects. I experienced some nausea on the first two days of treatment and that was it. I would prefer to not take any antidepressant but the psychiatrist told me it was essential for a successful treatment. I've been diagnosed with GAD, panic disorder with agoraphobia, health anxiety and mild depression. I just want to get rid of these anxiety and panic symptoms now, so I'm fully committed to treatment and to trust my psychiatrist and doctors. For some reason though, some of those awful symptoms resurfaced - mildly - on Sunday. The psychiatrist told me to contact him if I felt any odd symptom, so if these symptoms persist I will give him a call. I might need to increase Xanax (I'm on 1mg XR twice a day) or to increase right away the Cymbalta dosage. I'm going to start CBT on November 18, hope it helps as well.

It depends what you are taking it for.

If you are prescribed this for depression it doesn't state a taper is needed but if prescribed for GAD, the manufacturer states in the leaflet that the starting dose should be 30mg with a taper up to a standard dose of 60mg normally coming soon afterwards.

I found the 30mg gave me a couple of days of side effects and then it did help me for about 7 days. Then it dropped off as if I wasn't even taking it. After this I went up to the 60mg dose which as far as I know is the standard. I suspect this is part of getting used to the dosage and a clue to confirm when the increase os most likely needed.

Junot - See how the 60mg goes. Something you need to consider is what I said before about this one, it can cause andrenaline rushes and increased anxiety which for me came when I went to the 60mg dose but I have spoken to a guy on here who had all that at 30mg, so you may not experience them at all...but I want you to be aware because I know how you are going to react if it happens and it will be a time when you will need to just fight through day by day until it passes, which for me was 8-10 days and then it just dropped.

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsTerry

Junot - See how the 60mg goes. Something you need to consider is what I said before about this one, it can cause andrenaline rushes and increased anxiety which for me came when I went to the 60mg dose but I have spoken to a guy on here who had all that at 30mg, so you may not experience them at all...but I want you to be aware because I know how you are going to react if it happens and it will be a time when you will need to just fight through day by day until it passes, which for me was 8-10 days and then it just dropped.

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Hi there!

I've been on 60 mg for a few days now. I didn't experience any side-effect (that I am aware of) and I'm feeling much better than I did last week. Yet, there are still some periods of time when I feel somewhat anxious, worrying about my heart, especially when I wake up. I guess that it might be related to the fact that my last panic attack occurred a few minutes after I woke up in the morning. Now every morning I always fear another one. Be it as it may, overall I feel immeasurably better and relieved now than before taking Cymbalta. I hope it keeps improving.

Thats great news Junot. It sounds like you won't be experiencing the nightmare I did, which was at least a fairly short one.

Its early days, just use it as your springboard to recovery because no medication cna do that, that has to come from us.

Hi there, I started duloxetine in April 2012, and started to feel better after about 2.5 weeks at 30mg.. then after going up to 60 and about another 2.5 weeks I was MUCH better.. the drug really got me out of a very deep hole.

I hope you are atill improving.

Hello - I have taken Cymbalta twice and both times it helped me immeasurably. It makes me feel quite weird the first couple of days. Both times on the first night of taking it I have had nausea and just felt really crap but it passed pretty quickly and it was worth it.

Side effects once on it were vivid dreams and night sweats but this was a very small price to pay for having my life back.

I am not on it at the moment but would not hesitate to take it again if my anxiety came back to a point where I could not manage it myself.