Posted by yznhymer on October 8, 2004, at 22:43:14
In reply to Re: Cymbalta side effects - stick it out?, posted by Cairo on October 8, 2004, at 11:27:08
> I'm on day 4 of Cymbalta 30mg and have been experiencing muscle tremors all over my body, most noticeably in the jaw and hands, but I also feel as if my legs are going to give way and I'm going to double over because my abdominal muscles feel trembly. I've also always been easy to startle, but I jump out of my skin now at the slightest provocation. My systolic blood pressure has been elevated, anywhere from 132 to 146 during the day. Diastolic is ok. In the morning before I take my next dose, BP seems to go back to normal. There's also hot flushes and sweating.
>
> I'd be willing to stick this out to see if the side effects decrease, but I recently injured my neck and have been receiving injections for an annular tear. The physical therapist I see 3x a week said that my muscles have particularly tight and hard to release this week (since starting Cymbalta). I don't need more muscle tightness to mess up my neck.
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> Any suggestions? I'm already on Skelaxin for muscle relaxation. Should I stick with the Cymbalta, or is this not the drug for me? I had similar experience with Effexor XR at really low doses and gave that up because I don't do well with SSRIs (tried Prozac, Celexa, Lexapro - all disrupted my sleep terribly and gave me flu like symptoms).
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> I also take Desyrel 100mg for sleep and have Fibromyalgia. My psychiatrist wanted to try Cymbalta rather than nortriptyline.
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> Thanks!
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> CairoHi there...
I don't have any advice for you but I am at about the same point in Cymbalta therapy... day 5 on 30mg daily.
Day 3 I felt pretty bad. Two days later I can say I feel much better. I initally had some tremors but these have disappeared. The increased anxiety I was feeling 2 days ago has eased off considerably, though not completely... I find I'm clenching my teeth a bit. The daytime sleepiness has as eased off a lot as well. I still notice a marked decrease in appetite (and compulsive eating).
On the down side, I'm practically dead below the waist. If that doesn't resolve itself somehow, this is not gonna be a viable long-term therapy. I was also surprised with constipation this morning. Not fun at all but something I think I can ameliorate with some dietary adjustments. Besides, this too may resolve itself.
I can't really speak to the antidepressant benefits yet. Yesterday I felt as though something was shifting. I had the sense of being less fragile, more solid. I'm looking for improvements in energy, motivation, the ability to enjoy things, patience... less anxiety and irritiablity. Relief from the aches and pains associated with this depression would be nice too.
Whether I stick this out is still up in the air. I want to give it a 2 month trial. But I guess I'll be making a decision week by week. Right now the sexual dysfunction has me the most discouraged...mostly because I have never had this side effect lessen with time on other ssri's and it seems the most difficult to ameliorate.
Good luck to you,
Mark
poster:yznhymer
thread:400373
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041007/msgs/400621.html