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Cymbalta

Posted , 9 users are following.

judytal
judytal

anyone taking this ?  Does it help with the fatigue/ weakness?  Any noted side effects? 

Thanks for any help.

judy

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • ptolemy
    ptolemy judytal

    Posted

    Why are you taking cymbalta? Have you got fybromyalgia?
    • judytal
      judytal ptolemy

      Posted

      Not yet.. Rheumatologist suggested It to me.  I'm waiting for lab results again.  
    • ptolemy
      ptolemy judytal

      Posted

      I am just taking steroids for PMR. A friend takes it for fybromyalgia though. Are you taking pred? 
  • jean39702
    jean39702 judytal

    Posted

    This is freaky!!!  Just yesterday my practitioner “suggested” that Cymbalta could help me deal with the pain.  Not the pain of PMR, but the other muscle pains resulting from the condition e.g. myofascial pain, bursitis, etc.  He also, very subtly (but not really) suggested that I may be dwelling too much on having PMR and thinking and analyzing things too much.

    I’m sorry, but I am doing just fine dealing with this illness and doing what I need to do to manage both PMR and other spinoff conditions.  Bowen therapy helped me recently sort out and deal with pain that may not be PMR. 

    In the process of sorting things out over the past 4 months, while travelling extensively; spending time with my grandchildren; taking care of the house (large dust bunnies only); making healthy and delicious low carb home cooked meals for hubby and me; and otherwise enjoying life;  I have only dropped a total of 1.5 mg (from 15.5 to 14).  Oh, and most of my muscle pain over the past 5 months has been due to my inability to continue aqua exercise due to the closure of our local pool during a labour strike.

    My practitioner is concerned that I’ve been on prednisone for a year and am only down to 15 mg from 40 mg.  He’s concerned that I insist that I have learned through these forums and my own experience that I have to drop in small and slow steps.  He forgets that it was determined that I had PMR for almost 10 years prior to diagnosis.  He also doesn’t recognize the possibility that I may have/had GCA without temporal involvement.  I had undiagnosed totally bilateral legs issue for 10 years prior to diagnosis and had a totally melt down in the first week of diagnosis and treatment at 25 mg.  I also had major neck and shoulder and upper back involvement. 

    Sorry, this has turned into a definite RANT! 

    Anyway, I did the research and I DON”T NEED ANOTHER DRUG!!  Particularly one with such significant side effects.  Many that are identical  to some symptoms of PMR &/or the side effects of prednisone.  I'd never be able to tell what was what!

    Cymbalta may have a place in treatment and be a necessary and helpful medication for some people, but at this point I say NO THANKS!

  • LayneTX
    LayneTX judytal

    Posted

    I took it for depression and doc thought it might help me sleep due to back pains... It was AWESOME for stress!!! I could put up with people and just feel so relaxed mentally! But it made me so tired. More than the PMR.

    THEN! After only 6 weeks my insurance said they would NOT pay for it unless I tried 3 other generics first. I tried one other and felt like a zombie, started to try another but decided I didn't want to do anymore drugs.  This was before PMR and Pred.

    I've lessened the stress so I don't feel as depressed or stressed. 

     

  • dan38655
    dan38655 judytal

    Posted

    Judy, is there any chance that you can build an exercise regimen to take the place of the swimming?

    I'm thinking that getting outdoors and such would be a good thing to at least try before taking another prescription.

    I would recommend taking advantage of any available "high-energy" potrtion of your morning hours, as the opportunity for exercise motivation can indeed be fleeting!

    • jean39702
      jean39702 dan38655

      Posted

      Dan, I think you may have meant this response for me. 

      Yes, I am now doing exercises in an attempt to rebuild some of the muscle strength I've lost in the last few months.  The trick is finding the right amount to do without overdoing.

      Furtunately, I'm heading to our home in Panama next week for a month and will have access to a pool again!biggrin

  • Judygirl
    Judygirl judytal

    Posted

    Isn't it enough that we are taking prednisone without putting

    more poisons into our bodies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

    I recommend dealing with our problems in a more natural way.

    For instance someone complained of heart burn, if your don't

    have a physiological problem then stop eating fatty foods which

  • Judygirl
    Judygirl judytal

    Posted

    I'm cut off when I sound impatient, so sorry.

    I sometimes

    wonder why we don't exercise a little more caution with

    drug taking, many times we have TV advertising that a drug,

    widely advertised as the best thing since sliced bread, now

    causes cancer - probably a misnomer but nevertheless I

    recommend not being a guineapig for these pharmaceutical

    companies.   My apologies for expressing my frustrations, this

    is  certainly not the place to do it, however, time and time again

    slow reduction of prednisone is advised and rest, gentle exercise

    and no stress, to my mind, is the best way to handle PMR.

    • EileenH
      EileenH Judygirl

      Posted

      "My apologies for expressing my frustrations, this is  certainly not the place to do it,"

      If this isn't the place - then where is? On the other two forums here in the UK we actively encourage people to express such frustrations  - you are in a safe place amongst people who fully understand what you are going through.

      I couldn't agree more with you - one of the common causes of hospital admission in older people is what is called polypharmacy - mostly due to the use of drugs to manage the side effects of other drugs when a far more sensible way of dealing with things might be to try another primary medication or merely accepting this is a side effect and once you are better it will also go away. An uncle was hospitalised while in Spain and the doctors had a fit at the 10 or 11 medications he was taking. They stopped the lot and gave him what he REALLY needed. He went home 30 lbs lighter (no fluid retention) and on a single tablet per day feeling better than he had for years!

      It seems to be beyond many doctors to look at a list of drugs and realise it is not the right way to go - so it behooves us to put up a bit of resistance. Mind you - although polypharmacy is a problem in the elderly in the UK too, the use of something like Cymbalta in this context is very unlikely to happen in the way it does in the US since direct advertising to the patient is not allowed. The trouble is - your doctors believe the marketing junk too! I've worked on the periphery of medical marketing for many years, translating reports during the clinical trials stages. What the doctors say during the trials and what the marketing people say are rarely recognisable as the same rolleyes

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