Cymbalta Ruined my Life

[SqueeLewis]

This medication was prescribed for nerve pain. Started out slow so didn’t notice too many side effects. Then they bumped it up to 120. That’s when constant fatigue, irritability, un controllable anxiety. When I finally realized I needed to get off this med turns out you have to ween off of it. That’s when it got insane. You go through withdrawal symptoms. I felt like I had no control of my emotions, my actions, unable to calm myself. I thought it would be done after the last pill. Turns out you can have withdrawal symptoms for up to 6 weeks. My marriage is in the pits from this. I’m normally not an angry person. But this made me into a monster. Now I’m stuck here trying to pick up the pieces.

[Allen5280]

I'm sorry this has happened to you. I far to well, know what damage medications xan leave a person with.

[Helpmeup]

I know exactly what you are going through. About four months ago, I posted about my horrible experience trying to taper off Lyrica. My doctor gave it to me for nerve pain, and within two weeks, I was screaming at everyone, including my poor puppy! I was beyond angry and could not control it. It was so scary. I called my doctor and got a low dose to taper off of this nightmare drug. It took me a month or two to really feel like myself again. I was really angry that my doctor never mentioned that extreme anger and anxiety were common side effects. Hang in there. Have a little patience (I know it's hard). It will get better and you will get back to "normal".

[CatsandCars in reply to Helpmeup]

I took Lyrica and quit because it was hard to function. I was so tired and spaced out - and then when I tried to stop taking it I had flu like symptoms and feelings of impending doom. Thankfully it didn't make me angry so I went off it very slowly. Nobody told me it was hard to get off of, either.

[CatsandCars in reply to Helpmeup]

You know when you get mad at your pets, there's a real problem!

[SqueeLewis in reply to Helpmeup]

Man before Cymbalta was Lyrica for me. That one too gave me uncontrollable anger and anxiety. Feel like doctors should give you more warnings on side effects and monitor you closely weekly for the first month.

[kmiroslateee in reply to Helpmeup]

Natural Antidepressant - tonzes.com/restilen.htm I began taking these a few days ago and my mood has improved drastically. The first day I took 2 pills and by the following day, I felt much better. I now take 1 per day and I haven't cried once in the past few days since taking them. I pray they will continue to work. This time, my sleep hasn't been affected by the pills. I am able to sleep a good 8 hours without drowsiness.

[Curlygoats]

I am so sorry, I have a friend who is going through the same thing. It will get better

[Onslow729]

So are these the same medication as

Gabapentin or the later nerve pain drug’s Pregabalin ?

If they are try to stay off them.

Look up on google exactly what these drugs actually do !

They can at the higher dose completely ruin your life and those around you.

[CatsandCars in reply to Onslow729]

Pregabalin is Lyrica, sort of a cousin of gabapentin. Cymbalta is an antidepressant often prescribed for pain.

[CatsandCars]

I am so sorry you are going through this nightmare. Having MS is hard enough without all the darned drugs and their potentially terrible side effects. I have not taken Cymbalta, but I do have anger issues and anxiety. It can be so hard to feel like you're going crazy, and you can't escape from these overwhelming emotions that aren't you. I hope you are able to return to being yourself soon. 🙏

[Elizt3]

I took cymbalta about 12+ years ago as I searched for a med to help with nerve pain. It did nothing and I took six+ weeks to wean off of it. I felt very strange as I weaned off. Took a few more weeks to feel normal again. After five + different meds, gabapentin is the only one that helped (some).

[Sue_1955]

I'm so sorry to hear this about your use of cymbalta. My daughter who is 47, just sent me a text saying her dr is bumping up her dosage. I was against her taking this drug because of what I know about it, but she has such nerve damage and pain from having back surgery 2 yrs ago she said this is the only thing that really helps So now I'm really worried after ready what you went thru. I pray you're doing better and that you have fixed your marriage due to what happened being on this drug!

Sue_1955

[SqueeLewis in reply to Sue_1955]

I hope things are going well with your daughter and she is not experiencing terrible side effects.

As for my marriage we ended up getting a divorce. She couldn’t handle my constant ups and downs from MS. Cymbalta was the icing on the cake.

After stopping Cymbalta and being off it for months I am thriving and feel great. I still deal with nerve pain. I just use medical marijuana to help with the pain. I pretty much gave up on what the doctors kept prescribing me.

[Humbrd]

I didn't know that about that medication. I'm so sorry that you're going through that. I hope everything goes back to so-called normal soon.

[Reddoglover1]

My husband has severe major depression. He has taken cymbalta on and off for quite awhile but would never keep taking it continuously. It took me awhile to realize his outbursts coincided when he abruptly quit taking the 20 mg of cymbalta he would get really hateful towards me with words. In January 2024 he had triple by pass surgery and for whatever reason the dr that prescribed the cymbalta a few weeks after his surgery upped the prescription to 60mg . By the middle of March I knew he quit taking it, first he gets irritable with our dogs and a few days later he starts having his angry word outbursts towards me. This time he was getting really mean kicking at me threatening to hit me to the point I contacted his friend and told him about what was going (in Feb he had just prayed over our marriage). It was getting worse and I just stayed away from him. I got up one morning and asked him a question, that’s when I went through the most terrifying 45 min in my life. He was cutting meat and just flipped into someone I had never seen before. He was yelling and screaming pointing the knife at me I was in a spot that I couldn’t get by him this kept going on next thing I knew I was flying over a kitchen chair landed hard on my right side. (He had picked me up by my throat and threw me). He walked away after yelling at me some more. I got up was getting dressed he came back started screaming at me again and walked away I shut the door and locked it he came back started pounding on the door, his last words to me on the other side of that door “the cops will be coming to pick up body parts” then he left the house. The cops came, he went to jail, I have the house through a protection order, and lost his job in maintenance from the same clinic that prescribed the Cymbalta. I know that if he would of come through that door he would have killed. My story is completely documented with domestic violence, law enforcement, the clinic and the leasing office. I just recently went through extensive shoulder rotator cuff surgery do to this incident.

[SqueeLewis in reply to Reddoglover1]

So sorry you had to go through that. Cymbalta really does change a person’s brain chemistry I feel. I learned that if you are taking other psych meds with cymbalta those meds will not be effective anymore. I hope things work out for you and hope your husband is able to get back to normal. This is a terrible drug to navigate. Wishing you the best.