Cymbalta

Hi All,

I’ve kicked off my Cymbalta trial today at 10 mg following a 5 day washout period from Paxil. Here in Australia the smallest caps are 30 mg. I sat at my desk this morning cutting lines of beads using a credit card then was pouring unused beads back into the capsule with some paper folded into a funnel. Good job none of my work colleagues saw me! :shock:

Anyway, I’m hoping this thread is a success story.

Scott

Mate

Good luck with it - I hope its the 1 for you. What happened with Paxil - did you have to ditch it?

I havent heard Cymbalta being recommended by many docs - do you know something I dont?!

Just got to Perth, WA to see my Gran - great to be in civilization. Given all the flying and late nights, bizzarly I’m hovering at around 80%. Bladder is damn painful, but guess I should be grateful. Couldn’t score any 37.5mg Effexor in Thailand - so will give all meds a rest till I see Hain. I am bit sick of ‘self testing’! Just hope he’s got a few more up his sleave for me!

Let us know how you go - are you hitting verapamil? If so, hope it doesnt block you up. I’ve been a 3 a day man since I came off - its great!

Luke

Scott ,

I hope this is a success story for you also. I am assuming since you say it only comes in 30mg and you are counting beads it means it only comes in capsule form. Here I know it comes in 20mg…either way I really hope this works for you.

Best of luck with this trial.

Tammy

Good Luck…

good luck, Scott! Just wondering, what made you pick cymbalta? all the best.

Hi Scott,

Best of luck with Cymbalta. I really hope that it makes a difference for you. I started out at 20 mg and the side effects were tolerable. After 7-10 days, I barely noticed them. I started noticing changes in MAV symptoms at 2-3 weeks and after 8 weeks, felt about 95% better. I really hope this does the trick!! Please keep us posted!

:slight_smile: Colleen

HI Colleen,
I’m so glad you are doing well on Cymbalta. I am just beginning my journey, but I am curious as to the other drugs you tried before Cymbalta? I just started verapamil less than 2 weeks ago.
Thanks a bunch!
Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Before Cymbalta I tried nadolol (helped the dizziness a little, but had bad headaches), vivactil/protriptyline (made me REALLY dizzy and out of it), and verapamil (made dizziness worse, but I think I started off at too high of a dose for me…120mg). Best of luck with verapamil. Nance had great success with it and is feeling good again!

Thanks all,

Luke – Paxil did my gut in. Diarrhea became a daily occurence and constant pain in my stomch and lower gut. I felt good on it despite the headaches. Bugger about your bladder. What the hell is that anyway? Probably related to your migraine just like it causes IBS.

Colleen - thanks for the tips. I know what you mean about feeling jittery. I woke at 3 am feeling quite freaky and panicky last night. In the end I took some valium – something I haven’t needed for a few weeks now. Did you have an increase in headache when you started?

Cheers … Scott :slight_smile:

Good luck Scottie,
fingers crossed this will be the one.
jen

Hey Scott,

I didn’t have any increase in headache…or if I did it was minor. The first few days with the jitters are the worst…hang in there, it will get easier!

Scott - just wondering what made you decide to take Cymbalta over other meds. I didn’t realize that doctors recommend it.

Hi Lisa,

SSRIs all seem to cause me myalgia and cause emotional disconnect. Paxil was really bad for the latter. I was a zombie for a week on 5 mg. I know this might have cleared up but I couldn’t take my gut being torn up either. While Effexor did cause me to have heel pain and some muscle spasms, I felt very normal psychologically –– no freaky emotional deadening. Finally, Colleen has had a good result with it and no side effects. It’s a new SNRI so I’m hoping this one won’t cause troubles.

There’s nothing in the literature about this med and migraine but it’s such a relatively new med on the market, they may eventually come.

Scott 8)

Hi Scott,

Thanks for replying. I wish you lots of luck. Do you feel that as long as you can tolerate the SSRI/SNRI, they are all effective for MAV?

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for the good wishes. No, I don’t think they all work for everyone. And in some people some seem to work while others do not. I don’t understand why that is exactly but it’s like they have some specific action in some people. For example someone may find lexapro is great for their anxiety while another will say it jacks them up badly. Still another will see MAV symptoms go on lexapro and it’ll do nothing in another person.

For me I had a MAV killing effect both from Cipramil and to a lesser extent St John’s Wort. There’s something about modulating serotonin in me that makes a direct impact on MAV. I am optimistic that if I can handle whatever side effects come my way on Cymbalta that it will work. So far, at day 3, I can say that side effects seem to be negligible. By now on Effexor I was already feeling it quite a bit with headache etc. I won’t say any more on this though because I’ll jinx myself! :shock:

How are you doing at the moment?

Scott 8)

Thanks for responding, Scott. I have been doing horribly. I haven’t been posting as much, as my eyes are very out of focus. My symptoms keep on progressing, and it is nearly impossible to walk with the extreme disequilibrium that I experience. I’m very down at the moment. Oftentimes, I do not see a light at the end of the tunnel. It was great, though, to read about success stories on this site. I’m still off meds, and trying to pursue pregnancy, but quite ambivalent about that idea. I just don’t want this illness to get in the way of having children, and doctors have told me that pregnancy helps this condition 75% of the time. I sure hope they’re right. I also have an appt with a very good endocrinologist in a few weeks. I’m quite interested in addressing the hormonal role in all of this, as well as speak to him about pregnancy as I have polycystic ovaries which can make getting pregnant a bit harder.

Hi Lisa,

I’m really sorry to hear you’re feeling so lousy at the moment. It’s just not fair at all. Sure hope that looking at the hormonal issues help.

I’m doing poorly on Cymbalta. I’ve been on it nearly a week now and the lousy feelings started on Sunday. It’s been escalating and is very bad today to the point where I’m heading home early. I have an overall very sickly feeling everywhere, headache (of course), and a very sore gut which has been escalating since Friday. My head feels so “thick” I can barely take in what people are saying to me let alone work on this computer today. I am not taking the dose today … on Friday I have to sit on an interview panel and simply cannot feel like this while trying to interview someone. I wouldn’t be able to function. I can’t remember feeling this bad in the head where I was unable to process information.

No idea where I’ll go from here.

Scott :?

Oh mate…so sorry to hear Cymbalta isn’t doing you much good. That’s a real bummer. What’s your next step - Topiramate?

I know what you mean about the work situation - when I was trialling Lexapro & Ami it made working so difficult - not that it wasn’t hard already. My big fear when I get home is that I won’t be able to handle working again with this junk- it makes me so miserable. I think you do great just keeping the work going. Good on you.

I’ve had a pretty good run the past few weeks, but have crashed majorly the past 2 days. Really stuffy head, bad internal motion, vision & balance all over the place. Feel like I have flu and dizziness! Can never tell whether I have a bug or not - think it’s just part and parcel of this sh*t. It makes me feel real depressed when I have a good run & it gets very bad. I’m leaving Perth tonight (long flight - great!) for Koh Samui to meet some friends - hopefully I will start getting back to a baseline. I’m med free until I see Hain in August -so guess I will have to wait it out. Really need to have this under control by next year…

Anyhow - enough about me - hope you start feeling better again. Make sure you crack on and keep searching for something that will work - I know how hard it can be.

Take it easy.

Luke

Scott and Luke,

I’m really astounded at how much you guys keep doing despite feeling so rotten. I know that for me when it’s been really really bad I’ve had no option of pushing through. For example, last year I was visiting my ex BF overseas. I was in a bad MAV period (but as yet undiagnosed) but miraculously got mostly better a few days before the 36 hour plane journey there (which I’d been dreading). I was fine for a week or so, then came down with a “bug” - stomach variety. There was a bad local bug going round so of course I assumed it was that. Whether it was all MAV or a bug that kick started MAV I don’t know. But it got so bad, like I felt like I was dying (not being dramatic) - felt really unwell, dizzy, shaky, out of it and kind of like I wasn’t attached to my body. I couldn’t stand up. I ended up having to delay my trip home by a week and the flight back was hell.

Anyway, the point of all this is, kudos to Scott and Luke for pushing through as much as you both do. But I do think there comes a point when pushing through just isn’t possible any more and you have to take time out.

I hope both of you feel better soon!

Cheers
Vic

Sorry to her Scott…Try and stick it out as these meds takes a while to work…Maybe take a benzo temporarily…

If this does not work you may want a break from SSRI’s …I think your idea of starting verapamil slowly this time might be a decent idea… The side effect profile is pretty good and it works to a point on a lot of us… It also can work quickly on some (myself included)

Feel better