Generic Name: Cymbalta for Back Pain (duloxetine)
Cymbalta for Back Pain Reviews
"I woke up bent over with lower back pain every morning, which led to sciatica pain for 2 years. Turning over in bed feeling like a 50-lb weight was attached to my lower back started around 3:00 am and felt like a tight ball every morning that needed some air released. After trying 3 different medications, I started Cymbalta. Within two days I was pain-free in the morning and my sciatica pain eventually disappeared as well. At one point, I couldn't sit or stand for more than 15-30 minutes without getting up hunched or feeling like my back was giving out. My quality of life had been taken over by what was becoming a 24/7 literal pain in my back. For me, as time went on, it not only left me pain-free in the morning, it also removed the nerve pain in my left sciatica. It was/is a Godsend."
"I started 30mg Cymbalta 3 weeks ago for my neck and lower back pain. I feel so much better now. I went through weird side effects and lost appetite. I was afraid to take this medication after reading the reviews but everyone is different. I’ve been able to work and workout without pain. Cymbalta worked pretty well for me."
"I had previously gotten steroid injections for DDD and hip problems, all caused from an earlier undiagnosed injury as a child. Later in life, it turned into severe arthritis and facet joint issues. I am only 38 years old. The injections made me feel like a puffer fish, and my weight ballooned from fluid retention. However, they got my inflammation down. So after speaking to my doctor and not wanting to resort to these injections again, she tried me on Cymbalta. At first, I will say side effects were odd and I felt awful. It helped immediately with weight loss, however, and after 2 weeks, I started to level off and be able to do things I hadn't done in almost a year. I literally couldn't bend to pick up my baby. Everyone is different, but I have pretty severe back issues daily, and for this to be as positive as it was after the first 2 weeks has made a great impact on my life."
"I am blessed to have this medication available to me. I do have anxiety and fibromyalgia along with the back pain. The first 2 weeks, I did not think I was going to be able to endure the side effects of Cymbalta, but I toughed it out, and I am so glad I did. My life is back, and I can function like an almost normal person. There is no way for me to tell you how happy I am to be sharing this with the world!"
"This medication saved my life. I had been suffering from a back injury for years, and the last 4 years were the worst. I've done everything except surgery. I started gaining weight because my back pain limited my daily life. The final straw was after having a child I couldn't walk for 2 months. The amount of narcotics it took for me to even stand was a fight with these doctors. Seems like it's a fight to get help with the pain. I finally asked to try Cymbalta, within 2 days I was taking only a 1/4 of my other medications to help me stand. I've been on it for 8 months, and from the day I gave birth I was 270lbs, I am now at 150, my daughter is only 10 months old. I'm just out of pain and can do things any normal 31yr old can do"
"Prescribed for back pain. I was told I have to start with 30 mg and in a week increase it to 60 mg. After two days on Cymbalta, I knew I would never make it. I got sick almost immediately - stumbling, brain fog, diarrhea, jaw pain, headache, and nausea. I told my doctor I wanted off, but she said to take it 'a few weeks' before I went up to 60 mg. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, so I stayed on it for a few more weeks, but didn't get better, and it actually got a lot worse. I called my doctor's office and told her I wanted off. There was no way I was going up to 60 mg. Since I had never increased the dosage, I immediately went to every other day for a week, then stopped. The withdrawal was every bit as bad as the reaction to the pill. There is finally a slight alleviation in the symptoms, so I've decided just to wait it out. MY RECOMMENDATION: My experience is this is the worst pill I have ever taken. Bottom line? DON'T TAKE THIS PILL!!!!"
"This medication, Cymbalta, has turned my life into a nightmare. I’ve been on 60 mg for about 10 years. It helped maybe the first year with back pain and my depression, the last two years, the depression has gotten worse, along with the back pain that I take methadone for. I tried to stop taking Cymbalta, and it was worse than anything I could ever imagine: zap feeling in my head and body, horrible nightmares, loss of interest in life. It got so bad I had to start taking it again and have no clue on how to get off of it. Feeling hopeless."
"Do not take this drug Cymbalta! I am a 64-year-old female, otherwise healthy. I have L5 radiculopathy. After 6 days (6 pills 20 mg), I felt terrible. Sweating, dizzy, extremely fatigued, depressed, queasy. I would rather experience the discomfort in my left leg, foot, and low back than feel the way I feel right now or the potential side effects of waiting for this to 'kick in' and trying to come off of it. I'm doing a liver detox for a week and can't wait to get this out of my system."
"I have fibromyalgia, the pain was so bad that I wanted to die! I started taking 30 mg and worked up to 60 mg. After one week at 30, I could already tell a difference. At 60 mg, I no longer have any pain, and I'm very happy. The only side effect I have is a decreased sex drive (I'm male)."
"I was prescribed Cymbalta for sciatic nerve pain in my lower back. I had severe pain down my left leg, surges of heat in my left foot, and numbness down the left side of my lower body. I was in physical therapy, which helped, but I couldn't make it through an 8-hour workday without leaving in pain. My neurologist prescribed Cymbalta and said that it might also help with my bouts of depression and anxiety. I started on 30mg and upped to 60mg to increase the effect. I've never been happier, and now I can live a normal life. I still get some sciatic nerve pain at night. I do get terrible night sweats. I also get 'brain zaps' occasionally (search the web for that one). I'm concerned about getting off the drug as I've read horror stories."
"Been on 30mg Cymbalta 1x/day for just a week. Helps a lot with my back pain, almost like it's not there, and I don't obsess about it constantly. I've had 2 lower back surgeries for herniated disks over the past 15 years. So far, a wonder drug with only minimal nausea at first and some fatigue. Never took any other medicines except Aleve in the past, but that just didn't cut it."
"My doctor prescribed Cymbalta to me for my back pain. After 4 days, the awfulness started. This med is terrible! Dizziness, nausea, messing with my brain, anxiety, loopy. I don't recognize myself. I didn't have this before. Can't take it anymore because I feel like it will cause mental illness. Horrible."
"I have been a nurse for the past 30 years, and my job requires me to be on my feet for 90% of the time I am at work. Also, at times we have to do heavy lifting, and yes, we learn safety techniques to do this, but sometimes you still end up with a back injury. I myself suffer from lumbar stenosis, and after about 10 minutes of standing, I begin to experience very heavy lower back pain, and sometimes both my legs get numb. So my neurologist prescribed Cymbalta 30mg once daily, at first, it was amazing, I had zero pain for the first time in 5 years. But it was short-lived, after about 1 month, the excruciating pain was back, so the dosage was adjusted to 60mg once daily. Again, it worked wonders, but after 1 month, the pain was back. So this medication did not work for me."
"I suffer from several disc herniations and bulges from an automobile accident. I also have bone spurs on one of my vertebrae. Due to the workers' comp case and doctors over-prescribing oxycodone, which is the only pain medication out of almost 40 tried that helps my pain, they prescribed Cymbalta to replace my oxycodone. They have cut my dosage in half and gave me Cymbalta, which I took for the first time. They think oxycodone is such a bad drug? Taking Cymbalta, I was so high and hyper, my heart beating out of my chest, skin crawling, and it did nothing for pain, and I really thought I was going to die. If I drove, I probably would have killed someone. I never felt anything except pain relief from oxycodone???"
"Took about 3 weeks for this medicine to kick in before I noticed anything. When it did, the pain was intense for a couple of days, but I stuck with it, hoping things got better. They did! I was able to stand longer, walk longer, sit longer, and lay on my side all without intense pain. The pain was still there, but it made dealing with the pain more tolerable. I've been on this medicine for about 10 months now, but dealing with this terrible pain for nearly 3 years. I've tried just about every medicine available, and this medicine with Elavil and Oxycontin/Oxycodone works like magic. I now use Cymbalta with Elavil and Morphine and have had no issues."
"Never before had serious side effects. Never posted an internet comment. Continued side effects including constant nausea, constipation, erratic blood pressure, balance/dizzy problems, and poor sleep, erratic heartbeat. The first time I was dizzy and kept walking, then I fainted. Subsequent dizzy spells resulted in bed or couch time as I couldn't walk for 4 hours. I ceased this medicine after 12 days, and yet it took a month to completely recover."
"Do not recommend. It made my back pain somewhat diminish at a major price. Side effects: short-term memory loss, severe headaches, severe hair loss (my shower drain clogs from all my hair that is falling out!), chronic numbing/tingling right arm, dental issues, body odor, extreme sweating and body heat spikes, complete loss of sexual interest, extreme fatigue, insomnia, malaise, more hair loss, constipation, confusion, technicolor disturbing dreams, felt like I had the flu, ocular issues of dry scratchy eyes and floaters with flashing lights, weight gain. Had to then take a Benzedrine to sleep, migraine meds, and a chemo nausea control drug. Had no get up and go. Flatliner. Just weaned myself off of Cymbalta and feel like myself again!"
"This medication is a nightmare for me. It did help a tiny bit with the pain, but it had side effects. I became more depressed while I was taking it, plus it made my already moderate to severe tinnitus extremely bad - it sounded like a million crickets were chirping along with several lawnmowers in my head at all times after the first few days on this med. I am now being titrated down, and I will never take it again. It also totally wiped out my short-term memory. I'll deal with the pain in other ways, this just isn't worth it! I'm glad it works for some people, though."
"I have had chronic low back pain for over a year now. The doctor at the pain clinic said, 'Cymbalta is now FDA approved for low back pain.' It didn't help my pain at all and gave me the worst nausea, no sex drive, insomnia, random sweating, and stiff muscles. This is it!"
"I've been taking Cymbalta (90 mg) for three years because of back pain. I have four fusions in my lower back. I tried to go down to 60 mg because of the unfortunate side effect with orgasm, but I upped it back to 90 mg when my pain level went up. The biggest issue is feeling dehydrated all the time - I have a very dry mouth. I also seem to take more time to heal and get over respiratory infections."
"I started taking Cymbalta as a last resort for radicular sciatica pain. I had surgery and tried many medicines. I've been on Cymbalta for 1.5 months (5 days - 20 mg, 5 days - 40 mg, 1.5 weeks - 60 mg, 2 days - 40 mg, 2 days - 30 mg). I experienced most of the side effects (nausea, lethargy, somnolence (sleeping 18-20 hours a day for 3 weeks), from that to insomnia to today's date, flatulence, constipation, tingling all over, throat pain, blurry vision, nightmares, night terrors waking in drenching sweats, profuse sweating, hair loss). This is the weirdest medicine I've taken. I took Fluoxetine for years with no unusual side effects or withdrawals. I am reducing because of the side effects of night terrors, sweats, etc. It does work for pain, but the cost is high."
"After having tried a few other combination depression, pain medicines, this one finally seemed to work, and I got far less tired, or other side effects I'd gotten from the others. So far, I feel this is the best one I've tried, it has also helped with my mood."
"I took Cymbalta 30 mg for 100 days and it ruined my life. Since I quit I suffer from PSSD, which is persisting Sexual Dysfunction after the use of SSRI or SNRI. I have no libido - I am asexual now. Before I was more on the hypersexual side. My Penis is numb. I cannot feel, when somebody touches it. My penis and testicles shrunk maybe 1/3 to 1/2 in flaccid state. I have severe Erectile Dysfunction. Even Viagra etc is not working. I am 39 and have lost my girlfriend due to this. I have lost my sexuality, my personality, all my hopes for living a normal life. It is the worst that has ever happen to me. Stay away from all SSRIs or SNRIs!!!"
"Doc prescribed Cymbalta for nerve pain resembling shingles. Entire right torso front and back feels like I had been drug on asphalt behind a truck! I also have severe diabetic neuropathy in my feet and hands. 1st day on cymbalta I was a little nauseous with a noticeable headache. Had trouble sleeping. I didn't hear alarm so overslept. 2nd day (today) still can't sleep. Even with ambien. No change in pain levels yet. Going to try taking it before bed tonight. Hoping it will work for me. Would like to get off gabapentin. Taking 2400 mg per day which can't be good for me! Thanks for listening."
"I am using Cymbalta for like a week now. I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and been suffering 8years. Cymbalta was a answered prayer to my pain till I started having another upper back pain. 2 days ago I stop using Cymbalta and my upper back pain was gone."
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