Posted by Rocket Jackson on April 14, 2006, at 15:58:41
In reply to Cymbalta-does it work???? HELP!!!!, posted by Mandy on April 14, 2006, at 13:33:01
Hi Mandy,
I tried Cymbalta last summer for anxiety (an interesting med choice on the part of my pdoc for this condition) and found it for the most part to increase my anxiety without any beneficial effects. I took it in the morning and experienced the same fatigue later in the day, only to then experience insomnia at night (requiring Ambien). I gave it about a 6 week trial before calling it quits.
In my opinion you should give it at least 6-8 weeks for potential benefit before moving on to another treatment. This should be around the time your pdoc returns. Anecdotally it doesn't seem to be a terribly effective med for depression (and definitely not for anxiety in my experience), but that's just based mostly on feedback from forums such as these. I know it's frustrating, but I'd definitely give it a little more time to see if it really might work for you.
If you try an evening dose, definitely watch for insomnia if you don't already get it. It seems to be quite activating.
Best of luck. I'm sorry it isn't working out as you had hoped so far, but keep your fingers crossed for some positive effect either from Cymbalta or another med in the future. If the SSRIs and SNRIs don't end up helping, you may want to eventually suggest a trial of an MAOI (Nardil or Parnate... or even the new EMSAM) to your pdoc. They seem to work pretty well for many.
Good luck, and keep us posted!
RJ
poster:Rocket Jackson
thread:633099
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060412/msgs/633135.html