Upping dose and now feel side effects

Thanks so much for your reply!

I felt good on 30 and 60 mg although slightly jittery, but now on 90 mg the nervousness/jittery feeling is severe yet I'm exhausted. Such a weird combination?

Crossing my fingers. How are you feeling now and how long have you've been on it and what dose?

I would be nterested to know if you find 90mg more effective.

Lilly (The manufacturer of original brand Cymbalta) stated that there was no therapeutic benefit in doses exceeding 60mg. (but that was never qualified as to whether it meant for depression or anxiety or both)

However we all know that meds affect people differently and Dulox is also scripted off label for other conditions such as pain & fibromyalgia. Who knows what the therapeutic range is for that?

No worries. I have been on a lot of different antidepressants and I'm very sensitive to dose changes and really think you can't judge until at least 3 weeks on a dose.

I actually moved down from 90mg to the 60mg because I was too spaced out and felt no mood benefit. It has stopped the constant crying and feelings of panic so for now I'm taking that as a sort of win!

Be aware if you go down or come off Duloxetine or similar, you can get quite unpleasant withdrawal symptoms like gastric symptoms, dizziness and 'electric shock sensations in the head if you are sensitive like me. They do pass but can be horrid for a few days.

If you find a drug that helps you it can be an amazing thing but its not always easy getting there! ?

The last psyche I saw said I would probably need the higest- even higher than recommended by the makers - dose of whatever I was on !!

However with Duloxetine I've stayed with 60mg because it wipes me out...and I've been on all sorts of high doses and combos of stuff. One of those things I guess.

Truth is they dont REALLY know how many of these drugs work anyway !

I had my best ever years on the max dose of Citalopram but it dodnt work whem I went back to it sadly.

Hi Steve,

For now, no I don't find 90 mg more efficient. On 60 mg I had and inner trembling and restlessness and it has just gotten worse on 90 mg. On the other hand: I'm only tomorrow 3 weeks in my treatment so most probably these are just side effects, right? 

What kind of side effects have you had - initial and when increasing dose? 

Many hugs to you!

Yeh

I had a couple of amazing days on Duloxetine.

It really was a light switched on moment but it didnt last.

It was very inconsistent.

I gave up because the fatigue was unbearable (somedays i could barely move).

Fluoxetine has been the easiest for me, no side effects at all but its very mild. Nothing spectacular but it kills fatigue dead and gives me energy and some motivation spikes on the odd day. I still feel i need something more though (higher doses of fluox made no difference)

However, because its one of the most activating of the SSRIs, i dontbthink it would be good for someone with anxiety. I get very shakey some days🤤

Yes definitely

You've gone up to 90mg quite rapidly, over just 3 weeks, so undoubtedly you're going to get more side effects than gradually increasing.

When i took it i increased from 30mg to 60mg hoping it would be less tiring but unfortunately the lethargy and exhaustion got worse. I developed hypothyroidism at the same time, not sure if it was a coincidence or whether the duloxetine caused it.

I still feel anxious especially between 4-8 pm (really not sure why it's like that?) and jittery in the 90 mg dose which I've been in for a. Outlet if weeks now. I feel better from where I started but to be honest: just not good enough!

I know my psychiatrist will up my dose to 120 mg but I doubt it'll work.

Sorry to be so discouraging ... 

I believe the therapeutic dose is 40 mg for Cymbalta (and 60 mg for Duloxetine), so you might consider upping your dose? What I've found tremendously great is to combine with Mirtazapine for the night. I am sound asleep within 20 minutes ;-)