BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Have you been helped by Cymbalta?

Hi,

Since the FDA has approved 3 medications to treat fibromyalgia, have you been helped by Cymbalta?

Hello,Newbe here. I have been on Cymbalta for 9 months 60mg, and the only benifet is keeping my mental state of mind calm. No help with pain!. DX'ed in Oct.08

I was on Cymbalta for several years it was great for my mental state of mind and some pain releif, but not close to enough.

i have been on cymbalta for a couple of years - yes it has helped me mentally and is supposed to help with the pain. i am not sure that it does, but helps me mentally.

I was put on a trial of it, after one dosage I had such a bad reaction to it that my dr and I haven't tried Lyrica. Gabbapentin is also useless on me.

Cymbalta was prescribed for two reasons, nerve damage in my back going to my legs and fibromyalgia. I got so ill, nauseaed, vomiting and horrible acid. It got so bad I couldn�t even keep water down. I was put on a suppository for nausea and then switched to the same nausea medication in pill form once I could hold it down. I had the same reaction to Neurontin. I am not about to try Lyrica. Never again, I will stick to my morphine, hydrododone, Flexeril, and motrin.

Hello, I have tried Lyrica,Cymbalta and Savella for F.M. all three were a nightmare for me,, omg,, i almost killed myself driving, fell asleep everywhere,hallucination,, I believe that these three medications have NOT BEEN AROUND LONG ENOUGH, for those of you that can take these meds and are helping you, god bless you,, i am still suffering,, i was just diagnosed in September, took 15 years to do so, now all i am trying is Gabepentin, because i want to get offffff of the pain meds,, hydromorphone 4mg q4-6hrs,fentanyl patch 100mcg q48 hours, Soma 350mgs q8hrs, and xanax 2mg bid and one prn., I am in therapy for depression, but yet to start antidepressant, because my doctor wants to see how i do on the nuerontin (Gabapentin) i cant live this way.... my lower back is branded by heat packs i have to wear everyday because of the trigger areas (oh and i get injections every 4-6 weeks) at night i sleep with ice packs,I have been suffering for so long, there is a pamphlet out by the american red cross that states "very rarely does F.M. WORSEN" two years ago i could ride a bike, now i cant sit on one. Last year i got a scooter, today i cant use it, six months ago i could drive a standard car, now it is painful. I believe that article that F.M. does not worsen is very wrong. I am begging for anyones advice as to what they use for medication to treat their fibro, I am ready for antidepressant (zoloft) as soon as the doc gives it to me. but right now, I NEED HELP PLEASE WITH WHAT TO TRY FOR THE FIBRO, CAN ANYONE TOSS IDEAS AT ME? thank you so much,, I am new here, this is my first time posting, and looking forward to helping others as well, I hope you all have a low pain day

Well I guess those meds aren't so reat afterall. I've gotten mixed reviews. Sounds like the docs are just patching up the symptoms. If nothing is working for you, have you thought about an underlying illness causing the fibro? Hypothyroidism, sleep apnea, and polymyalgia rheumatica are conditions that can cause fibro and unless thoses are treated, you won't get better. I found out mine was hypothyroidism even though my levels read normal. Some doctors use t-3 therapy to treat an undiagnosed thyroid problem and many have found relief after bening treated.

Hope this helps.

I was diagnosed with fibro nearly ten years ago, although I am pretty sure I had it at a lessor level for several years before being tested (by a doctor who knew what she was doing, thank goodness). MY doctor did all the blood work and even an ultrasound to rule out the possible "mimic" diseases. A good "fibro doctor" will continue to test for other possible diseases annually and keeps an open mind to other issues popping up. Fibro, being an auto-immune disease, may not *cause* other diseases but can certainly leave you more vulnerable to them. A doctor who has studied Fibromyalgia and other auto-immune diseases in depth and knows how to accurately judge fibro's "trigger points" and other "tells" is so valuable, as is a doctor who will at least agree that fibro IS a disease and needs serious attention. I've tried more multiple treatment options and medications over the years than I care to count. Most did nothing except make me more tired, but a couple gave me serious side effects and had to be discontinued ASAP. Some helped with the pain (for a while) ... but kept me to dopey to function normally. But even if they worked - pain is only one PART of the overall combination of symptoms that can make up fibromyalgia. It is beginning to be a "button" for me to listen to those advertisements for drugs that claim they will relieve the PAIN of fibromyalgia ... as if *pain* is all there is to it. How simplistic. Supposedly, you take this magic drug (have you read the side effects? Yikes!), then you can go about your day just like normal! Yeah, right ... unless your chronic fatigue is acting up, or the IBS is flaring, or your cognitive function is fuzzy ... <sigh>. Heaven forbid a weather front blow in, with it's invariable drop in barometer. I have managed to avoid the seriously heavy duty pain meds (morphine, hydrocodone, etc.) so far, but am just one level down <sigh>. My management regimen has been pretty stable for about four years now. I take hydroc/APAP (vicodin with Tylenol) as needed during the day which doesn't make me groggy and Celebrex (in the morning for my osteoarthritis), plus calcium, vit. D, vit. A and a med that has proven helpful for IBS (knock on wood). At night, I take a different pain med that also helps me sleep, plus Doxepin, which is actually a mild antidepressant but I take only a small 10 mg. dose (beginner dose) because we discovered purely accidentally that it completely controls my Restless Leg Syndrome. Go figure. I used to have RLS a minimum of several times a week - some weeks it would be literally nightly - I suffered with this for 20 years. When I got on the Doxepin, the RLS stopped within two weeks ... and never came back except for one month when I forgot to renew the Doxepin. Boy, did I get that corrected asap. The RLS cleared back up and I am careful NOT to allow my Doxepin to run out. I do have a prescription for Ambien for nights when my regular meds don't cut it, but try to minimize taking it. The same with Zanex - I have bouts of anxiety that can be disabling. I used to depend on the Zanex, but have discovered that sitting and grooming our quiet, cheerful Icelandic Sheep dog, giving hugs as needed and just talking to her and sometimes crying into her fur - has actually lowered my need for anxiety meds. Go figure. "Abby" now goes just about everyplace with me (not into restaurants, grocery stores or places like that - she is NOT a certified service dog), but it's amazing how my anxiety levels have lessened since allowing/encouraging her to help me. Well, that is my story. I probably should have introduced myself at the beginning <smile>. I'm a bit of a mess, but I am coping. AND ... although those of you with fibromyalgia may not want to hear this ... I did find (after fighting it tooth and nail for several years after it was recommended to me) that one single thing that helps my fibro the most, even on the bad days ... <cringe> is regular exercise. No heavy weight lifting or anything like that - but gentle walking (if you don't have a treadmill (and I don't ... yet <g>), walking in malls works fine during the winter months if it's snowy or icy outside, and walking trails or parks are wonderful the rest of the year. Join a gym if you want, or go to the local swimming pool. ANY regular exercise IS going to help you feel better. I didn't believe it (didn't want to - I was too tired and sore and hurting to even *think* about exercise when this first came up) ... but have to admit, I am a convert. I walk our dog, Abby, for an hour every day when weather permits. Some days we walk pretty darn slow ... but we walk. Cheers, Deb & Abby in Alaska

I know this is an older topic but I wanted to add that I've been on Cymbalta since July of 2012 and really feel like it has made a difference. Gabapentin (Neurontin) and Lyrica did not work previously. Savella also did not work. I agree though that it doesn't take all the pain away by any means.

From what I've learned in Pain Management classes, the meds we take are not very effective, only reduce pain by about 30%, but can, for some, make it easier to get to a place where they can manage the pain. The pain won't go away; there is no magic wand out there (yet), but you can learn to live with it better through mindfulness, meditation, pacing, exercise, positioning for sleep, and careful challenges to limitations. I use the Melt Method by Sue Hitzmann to deal with the fascia element, which is the main problem in fibro, and find it quite helpful. No, it doesn't relieve ALL the pain, but I am able to participate in more activities for longer periods of time, and for me (fibromite for 38+ years, dx'd 14 years ago) this is very wonderful. I am now more stable, and even seeing a few improvements, but it is a work in progress, and requires vigilance and commitment to make this work.