Cymbalta

[Guest guest]

Fran, you are correct. Cymbalta is available in 20mg capsule. In all my years practicing I have never seen the 20mg, didn't even know it existed. But it is out there.Beth in OKOn May 22, 2010, at 7:40 PM, Fran Barron wrote:

Cymbalta does come in 20mg doses. I just picked up a prescription for a neighbor at a local pharmacy chain and it was for 20mg capsules that she takes once a day.She's been taking this dose for almost 2 years now.FranFrom: Mike and Jan <mjpittso (DOT) com>Subject: Re: CymbaltaSpinal Stenosis TreatmentDate: Saturday, May 22, 2010, 12:59 PM

Roaslie or anyone else,

I recently mentioned that Dr. Wonderful (not) wanted to start me on Cymbalta once I reached 2400 to 3800 of Gabapentin. As I understand him, to get to where I am pain free with the Gab. and then start the other.

He gave me 7 samples of 30mg and then 7 samles of 60mg with the prescription for 60mg. Said to take one per day at noon.

As a side bar to this I saw my primary care doc. nurse practioner later that same day and she recommend going slow and maybe even taking 20mg to start. Also take at bed time until I get used to it. Unfortunately, I should have asked for a prescription for the 20's from her and now it's too late since we are leaving Monday am for our hopefully 2 month motorhome trip.

I have just been online and read all the side effects of Cymbalta and not impressed. My husband and I do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner and then socially with friends on various weekends. I do not want to ruin my liver or any other part of my body.

I believe I saw in past posts that you take Cymbalta. How did you start it with dosage and what about side effects?

I guess since Doc Wonderful says I don't have SS and he thinks my pain is a mystery I am really reluctant to take anything more than the Gabapentin until I can really find out what is going on with me.

However, in the meantime I cry all the time. I am so frustrated as well as my husband.

Any help or is really appreciated.

Jan (JP)

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> > Have they ever mentioned the word Sciatica? That is usually when the pain goes down to your foot and then the numbing in the foot is nerve damage. This can be part of spinal stenosis. Hope Fran will answer you. I got sciatica so bad that suddenly I could not get out of bed. That is when I finally had a Laminectomy but until that point you might try pain shots administered under anesthesia. Some people use Lyrica but I couldn't. This manifests itself in different ways. I could not stand for very long in one place or walk for any amount of time-which like you I was able to do. I did both epidurals and physical therapy before having the neurosurgeon do my back. Oxycoton helped me towards the end and I had read about it here but I did not want to take that for very long.

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[Guest guest]

Beth,I had thought the same thing until today. I asked the pharmacist if the 20mg dosage was something new and he told me that had been around since Cymbalta came on the market and was the original dose prescribed to start and then increase to 40gm a day.It wasn't longer before larger doses where being prescribed and the manufacturer started making 30mg and 60 mg capsules, supposedly to make it easier for the patient to take and no doubt make more profit for the manufacturer.From what the pharmacist told me though, he is getting more and more prescriptions for the lower dose now, of 20mg, and more and more patients are having their dosage decreased as well. Apparently there are more and more complaints about side affects with patients and they and

doctors are decreasing the dosages for their patients.FranFrom: Mike and Jan <mjpittso (DOT) com>Subject: Re: CymbaltaSpinal Stenosis TreatmentDate: Saturday, May 22, 2010, 12:59 PM

Roaslie or anyone else,

I recently mentioned that Dr. Wonderful (not) wanted to start me on Cymbalta once I reached 2400 to 3800 of Gabapentin. As I understand him, to get to where I am pain free with the Gab. and then start the other.

He gave me 7 samples of 30mg and then 7 samles of 60mg with the prescription for 60mg. Said to take one per day at noon.

As a side bar to this I saw my primary care doc. nurse practioner later that same day and she recommend going slow and maybe even taking 20mg to start. Also take at bed time until I get used to it. Unfortunately, I should have asked for a prescription for the 20's from her and now it's too late since we are leaving Monday am for our hopefully 2 month motorhome trip.

I have just been online and read all the side effects of Cymbalta and not impressed. My husband and I do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner and then socially with friends on various weekends. I do not want to ruin my liver or any other part of my body.

I believe I saw in past posts that you take Cymbalta. How did you start it with dosage and what about side effects?

I guess since Doc Wonderful says I don't have SS and he thinks my pain is a mystery I am really reluctant to take anything more than the Gabapentin until I can really find out what is going on with me.

However, in the meantime I cry all the time. I am so frustrated as well as my husband.

Any help or is really appreciated.

Jan (JP)

> >

> > Have they ever mentioned the word Sciatica? That is usually when the pain goes down to your foot and then the numbing in the foot is nerve damage. This can be part of spinal stenosis. Hope Fran will answer you. I got sciatica so bad that suddenly I could not get out of bed. That is when I finally had a Laminectomy but until that point you might try pain shots administered under anesthesia. Some people use Lyrica but I couldn't. This manifests itself in different ways. I could not stand for very long in one place or walk for any amount of time-which like you I was able to do. I did both epidurals and physical therapy before having the neurosurgeon do my back. Oxycoton helped me towards the end and I had read about it here but I did not want to take that for very long.

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[Guest guest]

Jan,That's a very interesting response from the Medco pharmacist. might have better results from a tablet from a different manufacturer.What that says is that one manufacturer makes or may make a better product than another manufacturer, At least at this time.Of course those are the same pharmacists that where telling my husband's neurologist that he was wrong about the result differences between the generic form of neurontin vs the name brand neurontin and that there is no difference between how a capsule and a tablet is absorbed in the body.This was a neurologist that had participated in a 2 year long study with his patients on the affects of the generic versions of neurontin and his results where very telling on how poorly the generic form worked vs the

name brand drug, and this doctor had the exact same results as other neurologists across the country. And it was an independent blind study done, not funded by any drug manufacturers.So I wouldn't put a lot of weight in what the pharmacist says about the difference in tablets from a different manufacturer. or that tablets would work better than capsules because it is also known that the capsules work better than the tablets.But on the info about the dosage itself, the pharmacist was right on the money and increasing the dosage with 600 mg capsules is too much of an increase at one time as well.You shouldn't need more than what you are taking in the garbapentin to get any relief from the pain.If you do, then either one of 2 things is going on. The garbapentin is not going to help you at all or the generic form of the drug is

not working but the name brand might work.What concerns me is that you are being prescribed medications to ease your pain, not getting any results with the meds, and just told to increase the dosage, add more meds, but at the same time, the doctor prescribing the meds has now changed your diagnosis. Telling you that you don't have one thing, but not diagnosing your problem now.Without a proper diagnosis, it is not a good idea to just randomly start taking meds of any kind to relieve pain.You could be swallowing medications that are pointless for you to take, not providing you any pain relief because they are not the correct meds for you and could very well be causing you far more harm than good.Besides, some of the side affects of Neurontin/garbapentin can be back pain. So are your symptoms worsening because of the meds you are taking to

help relieve the pain and not doing so?I don't know, none of us know and apparently the doctor you are using doesn't seem to no or IMHO care if it is or isn't.FranFrom: Mike and Jan <mjpittso@...>Subject: Re: CymbaltaSpinal Stenosis Treatment Date: Saturday, May 22, 2010, 3:23 PM

Fran,

Thanks for quick response to my questions.

I pretty much have decided not to take the Cymbalta. I understand that sometimes when one has chronic pain, they need daily meds. But on top pretty high dose of Gabapentin, it just doesn't make sense to me. I don't want more bandaids on my mystery problems!

I did talk with a Pharmacist at Medco yesterday about the dosage amount Doc Wonderful thinks I should get to. She advised that 2400 would be the most amount people should need to take. That very few people take more. I am now at 2100mg per day and really finding no more relief and the only way to increase more would be to add another cap which would get me to 2400. She did say that I might have better success with the 600mg Tablets Mfg. by Teva.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to get those from Medco until they arrive in California where I had the new script. sent. However, I am as I write this having the local Safeway fill a previous script. for the 600 mg tabs. Maybe this at least will make a small difference.

No one ever really commented or stressed to having a glass or wine or so, but I will double check with Safeway when I pick these up.

I really do fill even more down since I increased the Gab. 4 nights ago. So will go back to 1800 mg and see what happens.

Thanks Jan

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[Guest guest]

Fran, That's very interesting. You know, I have taken the Cymbalta for a few years now, and it has helped me a lot. I have never suffered from any side effects from it at all. For me, the gabapentin was an entirely different story. At higher doses it did help with the nerve pain, but the side effects were too much for me to handle. I felt like it made me "stupid"--I couldn't think straight at all, and the drug has such a short half life that I could feel it wearing off after just a few hours. I also developed a tolerance to it very quickly and needed more and more of the drug to achieve the same amount of pain relief. And the weight I gained while on the drug was another negative for me. I won't take gabapentin again unless it is just for a very short period of time. Beth in OKOn May 22, 2010, at 8:12 PM, Fran Barron wrote:

Beth,I had thought the same thing until today. I asked the pharmacist if the 20mg dosage was something new and he told me that had been around since Cymbalta came on the market and was the original dose prescribed to start and then increase to 40gm a day.It wasn't longer before larger doses where being prescribed and the manufacturer started making 30mg and 60 mg capsules, supposedly to make it easier for the patient to take and no doubt make more profit for the manufacturer.From what the pharmacist told me though, he is getting more and more prescriptions for the lower dose now, of 20mg, and more and more patients are having their dosage decreased as well. Apparently there are more and more complaints about side affects with patients and they and

doctors are decreasing the dosages for their patients.FranFrom: Mike and Jan <mjpittso (DOT) com>Subject: Re: CymbaltaSpinal Stenosis TreatmentDate: Saturday, May 22, 2010, 12:59 PM

Roaslie or anyone else,

I recently mentioned that Dr. Wonderful (not) wanted to start me on Cymbalta once I reached 2400 to 3800 of Gabapentin. As I understand him, to get to where I am pain free with the Gab. and then start the other.

He gave me 7 samples of 30mg and then 7 samles of 60mg with the prescription for 60mg. Said to take one per day at noon.

As a side bar to this I saw my primary care doc. nurse practioner later that same day and she recommend going slow and maybe even taking 20mg to start. Also take at bed time until I get used to it. Unfortunately, I should have asked for a prescription for the 20's from her and now it's too late since we are leaving Monday am for our hopefully 2 month motorhome trip.

I have just been online and read all the side effects of Cymbalta and not impressed. My husband and I do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner and then socially with friends on various weekends. I do not want to ruin my liver or any other part of my body.

I believe I saw in past posts that you take Cymbalta. How did you start it with dosage and what about side effects?

I guess since Doc Wonderful says I don't have SS and he thinks my pain is a mystery I am really reluctant to take anything more than the Gabapentin until I can really find out what is going on with me.

However, in the meantime I cry all the time. I am so frustrated as well as my husband.

Any help or is really appreciated.

Jan (JP)

> >

> > Have they ever mentioned the word Sciatica? That is usually when the pain goes down to your foot and then the numbing in the foot is nerve damage. This can be part of spinal stenosis. Hope Fran will answer you. I got sciatica so bad that suddenly I could not get out of bed. That is when I finally had a Laminectomy but until that point you might try pain shots administered under anesthesia. Some people use Lyrica but I couldn't. This manifests itself in different ways. I could not stand for very long in one place or walk for any amount of time-which like you I was able to do. I did both epidurals and physical therapy before having the neurosurgeon do my back. Oxycoton helped me towards the end and I had read about it here but I did not want to take that for very long.

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[Guest guest]

That's pretty much the experience I had with Neurontin, too. It gave me very little relief. It made me incredibly sleepy. Once I had been on it long enough for the sleepiness to settle down some, it made me feel "stupid" too, and very soon wasn't giving any pain relief at all. The only thing I didn't have with it was the weight gain.www.OldElmTree.com - Right Where You Belong. From: Mike and Jan <mjpittso (DOT) com>Subject: Re: CymbaltaSpinal Stenosis TreatmentDate: Saturday, May 22, 2010, 12:59 PM

Roaslie or anyone else,

I recently mentioned that Dr. Wonderful (not) wanted to start me on Cymbalta once I reached 2400 to 3800 of Gabapentin. As I understand him, to get to where I am pain free with the Gab. and then start the other.

He gave me 7 samples of 30mg and then 7 samles of 60mg with the prescription for 60mg. Said to take one per day at noon.

As a side bar to this I saw my primary care doc. nurse practioner later that same day and she recommend going slow and maybe even taking 20mg to start. Also take at bed time until I get used to it. Unfortunately, I should have asked for a prescription for the 20's from her and now it's too late since we are leaving Monday am for our hopefully 2 month motorhome trip.

I have just been online and read all the side effects of Cymbalta and not impressed. My husband and I do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner and then socially with friends on various weekends. I do not want to ruin my liver or any other part of my body.

I believe I saw in past posts that you take Cymbalta. How did you start it with dosage and what about side effects?

I guess since Doc Wonderful says I don't have SS and he thinks my pain is a mystery I am really reluctant to take anything more than the Gabapentin until I can really find out what is going on with me.

However, in the meantime I cry all the time. I am so frustrated as well as my husband.

Any help or is really appreciated.

Jan (JP)

> >

> > Have they ever mentioned the word Sciatica? That is usually when the pain goes down to your foot and then the numbing in the foot is nerve damage. This can be part of spinal stenosis. Hope Fran will answer you. I got sciatica so bad that suddenly I could not get out of bed. That is when I finally had a Laminectomy but until that point you might try pain shots administered under anesthesia. Some people use Lyrica but I couldn't. This manifests itself in different ways. I could not stand for very long in one place or walk for any amount of time-which like you I was able to do. I did both epidurals and physical therapy before having the neurosurgeon do my back. Oxycoton helped me towards the end and I had read about it here but I did not want to take that for very long.

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[Guest guest]

Fran

I think you hit the nail on the head. If Doc Wonderful doesn't know what's

wrong with me, why keep increasing the drugs.....What an attitude. I could only

guess that since we have this trip coming up and until I could see a

neurologist, this is his fix.

I did drop down last night (bedtime) gabapentin to 600mg rather than 900mg but

took 1/4 of a vicodin. My back pain and leg pain were horrible all day

yesterday, so not sure what was going on. So far this am, my back pain and leg

pain are minimal. So I don't know if the increase of the Gabapentin was/is the

problem.

I talked with my daughter last night. She is 39 now, at the age 32 had her

brachial plexius nerve severed She reminding me of how horrible she felt on

900mg of Neurontin a day. She doesn't take anything anymore, she could not

handle " how it messed with her mind " .

Jan

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> > > > Have they ever mentioned the word Sciatica? That is usually when the

pain goes down to your foot and then the numbing in the foot is nerve damage.

This can be part of spinal stenosis. Hope Fran will answer you. I got sciatica

so bad that suddenly I could not get out of bed. That is when I finally had a

Laminectomy but until that point you might try pain shots administered under

anesthesia. Some people use Lyrica but I couldn't. This manifests itself in

different ways. I could not stand for very long in one place or walk for any

amount of time-which like you I was able to do. I did both epidurals and

physical therapy before having the neurosurgeon do my back. Oxycoton helped me

towards the end and I had read about it here but I did not want to take that for

very long.

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[Guest guest]

Hi

I take 60mg cymbalta. have for a year. started the first 6months at 30mg. the only side affect I had was being kinda sick to my tummy, but that did wear off after about a month. I myself can not say enought good things about cymbalta! without it, I am in so much pain that I feel I have been hit by a mac truck. its also has calmed me down. another plus! not everyone will react to meds the same way. you should start low dose and work up. Shanna

Visit my eBay Store For Childrens WearSpecializing In Christening & Communion @ http://stores.ebay.com/Kavis-Christening-n-Communion-Store

From: Mike and Jan <mjpittso@...>Subject: Re: CymbaltaSpinal Stenosis Treatment Date: Saturday, May 22, 2010, 9:59 AM

Roaslie or anyone else,I recently mentioned that Dr. Wonderful (not) wanted to start me on Cymbalta once I reached 2400 to 3800 of Gabapentin. As I understand him, to get to where I am pain free with the Gab. and then start the other. He gave me 7 samples of 30mg and then 7 samles of 60mg with the prescription for 60mg. Said to take one per day at noon.As a side bar to this I saw my primary care doc. nurse practioner later that same day and she recommend going slow and maybe even taking 20mg to start. Also take at bed time until I get used to it. Unfortunately, I should have asked for a prescription for the 20's from her and now it's too late since we are leaving Monday am for our hopefully 2 month motorhome trip.I have just been online and read all the side effects of Cymbalta and not impressed. My husband and I do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner and then socially with friends on various weekends. I do not want to

ruin my liver or any other part of my body.I believe I saw in past posts that you take Cymbalta. How did you start it with dosage and what about side effects?I guess since Doc Wonderful says I don't have SS and he thinks my pain is a mystery I am really reluctant to take anything more than the Gabapentin until I can really find out what is going on with me.However, in the meantime I cry all the time. I am so frustrated as well as my husband.Any help or is really appreciated.Jan (JP)> >> > Have they ever mentioned the word Sciatica? That is usually when the pain

goes down to your foot and then the numbing in the foot is nerve damage. This can be part of spinal stenosis. Hope Fran will answer you. I got sciatica so bad that suddenly I could not get out of bed. That is when I finally had a Laminectomy but until that point you might try pain shots administered under anesthesia. Some people use Lyrica but I couldn't. This manifests itself in different ways. I could not stand for very long in one place or walk for any amount of time-which like you I was able to do. I did both epidurals and physical therapy before having the neurosurgeon do my back. Oxycoton helped me towards the end and I had read about it here but I did not want to take that for very long. > > > > lie> >>

[Guest guest]

Shanna,

Thanks for your information.

I am so sensitive to medication that I would be more inclined to start with 20mg

of Cymbalta and work up if I need to. I spoke to the nurse at the Doc

Wonderful's office and told her what I would like to do (rather than jump from 7

days of 30mg and then full speed ahead to 60mg) and she argued with me that they

come in 20mg. She finally looked them up and said oh yeah I guess they do, but

the recommended dosage is 60mg. She is going to check with Doc W and get back

to me tomorrow. If he says no, I will call my GP and see if the nurse pract.

will do the above.

Do you or did you take Neurontin/Gabapentin before or during starting the

Cymbalta?

Glad you are getting relief and feeling better.

Jan (JP)

> > >

> > > Have they ever mentioned the word Sciatica? That is usually when the pain

goes down to your foot and then the numbing in the foot is nerve damage. This

can be part of spinal stenosis. Hope Fran will answer you. I got sciatica so bad

that suddenly I could not get out of bed. That is when I finally had a

Laminectomy but until that point you might try pain shots administered under

anesthesia. Some people use Lyrica but I couldn't. This manifests itself in

different ways. I could not stand for very long in one place or walk for any

amount of time-which like you I was able to do. I did both epidurals and

physical therapy before having the neurosurgeon do my back. Oxycoton helped me

towards the end and I had read about it here but I did not want to take that for

very long.

> > >

> > > lie

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>

[Guest guest]

Hi Jan

I did not take any other meds except for ibuprofen 800mg with my cymbalta. I am not into strong meds for pain. I do know if I do not take these 2 meds in the morning, I will feel really bad by mid afternoon. I have been off work for a year now. When I was working I was active walking most of the day, cleaning etc. I worked for Petco. I did all the cleaning of animal cages 2 times a week. even though I had some pain, I feel the active work kept me going. Now I feel like my legs do not want to go much. I can not walk for more than about 10 min unless I am in the store holding onto the basket. My sister says get a cane, as she has the same problem I do... but worse. she had surgery. she is alot better, but she is not as phyical as I am. I still go a couple times a day, taking my son in law to work and picking him up, plus my daughter and I watch a couple little ones in our home. lifting the baby is ok but I can not hold her for long before my

back starts to hurt.I will be going to my pain managment dr next month. I also plan to apply for disability. They also think I may have fibromyalgia due to all the pain I have all over my body daily most 24 hours. I guess everyone is different in their pain level and tolerance. also everyone reacts differently to meds. as I told before, my only reaction to 30mg cymbalta was sickness to my tummy for about 2-3 weeks I think.. then it went away. when they upped my cymbalta to 60mg I had the same thing, but only a few days. Now I could not live without my cymbalta!

Shanna

Visit my eBay Store For Childrens WearSpecializing In Christening & Communion @ http://stores.ebay.com/Kavis-Christening-n-Communion-Store

From: Mike and Jan <mjpittso@...>Subject: Re: CymbaltaSpinal Stenosis Treatment Date: Monday, May 24, 2010, 8:58 PM

Shanna,Thanks for your information. I am so sensitive to medication that I would be more inclined to start with 20mg of Cymbalta and work up if I need to. I spoke to the nurse at the Doc Wonderful's office and told her what I would like to do (rather than jump from 7 days of 30mg and then full speed ahead to 60mg) and she argued with me that they come in 20mg. She finally looked them up and said oh yeah I guess they do, but the recommended dosage is 60mg. She is going to check with Doc W and get back to me tomorrow. If he says no, I will call my GP and see if the nurse pract. will do the above.Do you or did you take Neurontin/Gabapentin before or during starting the Cymbalta?Glad you are getting relief and feeling better.Jan (JP)> > >> > > Have they ever mentioned the word Sciatica? That is usually when the pain goes down to your foot and then the numbing in the foot is nerve damage. This can be part of spinal stenosis. Hope Fran will answer

you. I got sciatica so bad that suddenly I could not get out of bed. That is when I finally had a Laminectomy but until that point you might try pain shots administered under anesthesia. Some people use Lyrica but I couldn't. This manifests itself in different ways. I could not stand for very long in one place or walk for any amount of time-which like you I was able to do. I did both epidurals and physical therapy before having the neurosurgeon do my back. Oxycoton helped me towards the end and I had read about it here but I did not want to take that for very long. > > > > > > lie> > >> >>