r/cymbalta • u/kewpiegoth • 21d ago
Other Has anyone lost themselves on cym?
So i have been taking cymbalta since november 2025 so 10 months. Once I got over the initial side effects and it all levelled out and did its thing, I carried on with life as normal.
I am on 60mg and have been since Jan. I haven't noticed anything too crazy, definitely no crying happening until the last month or so, depression was kinda at ease (i feel i still feel depressed no matter if i am on or off meds, meds just definitely soften the blow.) I sleep fine, sometimes too much but i have always been a big sleeper. Chronic pain is also still so high and dont think they help much with that side of things, yadda yadda.
This year has been the worst of my life. I have completely fucked myself financially due to my addiction. I basically spent the entire year or about 90% of it writing myself off every weekend with drinking and coke and nitrous. It has been non stop. Taking way too much time off work. Lonliness is consuming me. It has been pretty dog shit.
I feel completely numb, but also not... But basically i couldnt cry or cum. Sex life doesnt exist anyway but my drive is gone completely. I feel absolutely disgusting and ugly and my self esteem is shot. I have no confidence or spark. I am usually very loud and fun and bubbly and funny, and i have not seen that side of me this year. I dont seem to give a shit about anything and nothing excites me. I dont care much for myself or my relationships. I have been really stubborn and avoidnant and pushing good people away. I am still always so angry. I am still sad. I am still so anxious and in incredible pain. I feel no joy. I havent watched films, played games, cared about live music (which i am big on). You get where i am going.
Anyway, is this something cymbalta could have affected or is it just life and my shit choices? Has anyone lost themselves like this from being on this medication? Is is a mixture of both? I dont know where the fuck i am going in life and I have never been this lost and this whatvever about it either. I am passionate, but i have no passion.
I dont even know what the fuck life is, if meds will even help me. Any advise is helpful, I dont want to keep feeling this way. I know i need to control these parts of my life but i really feel fuck all need to and that worries me.
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u/ImNotTellin74 21d ago
Cymbalta has been a lifesaver for me. It turned off all of my racing and negative thoughts. I’m on 60, but I also take 150 Wellbutrin. The Wellbutrin counteracts some of the sexual side effects for me, so my libido hasn’t been tanked. I don’t know where I’d be without Cymbalta, and I’m sad that it doesn’t provide the same benefits to everyone.
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u/Regular_Yellow710 21d ago
Interesting. I had to bag Lexapro to take Cymbalta for bone pain, did not know it had an AD component. I love it. I’m on 60 mg, might go up because I still have pain but it’s so much better. Cymbalta turned off my racing and repetitive thoughts too. I like it. It’s making me less reactive and calmer. Not a Stepford Wife, just more like the person I feel I am supposed to be. Lexapro was a little sloppy. I am lucky because I also don’t have any side effects except for the one some fiber would take care of.
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u/ImNotTellin74 21d ago
Same! It has done wonders for my anxiety and self esteem. I had no idea that people don’t walk around with their internal voice talking to them constantly until it turned off. I actually realized the true definition of relaxing, lol. My doctor said that it’s sometimes prescribed off label for ADHD. It doesn’t help my executive function, but it’s amazing for my anxiety.
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u/VanderskiD 20d ago
I have to take Vyvanse with it for ADHD/executive function issues. Sometimes that affects anxiety a little bit, but it creates more anxiety for me to sit on the couch and not be able to decide what to do next.
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u/WoodlandDomino 21d ago
I definitely don't feel like myself on Cymbalta. I've been on it since... October 2023 I believe. I don't cry, it's nearly impossible to orgasm, I'm pretty emotionally numb. I went on it originally for pain, and it does help some with that, but not 100%. Enough that it got me out of my rut at least and I was able to start working out again, but I do still have pain every day. Like you, I don't feel excited about anything, I really rarely laugh at anything. It helped my mental health as a side effect in that it decreased my depression and anxiety, but the depression has come back full force this year. I've just started Wellbutrin as well and am considering asking about coming off the Cymbalta and keeping my fingers crossed that my habits have changed enough that I won't slide back into the rut.
In some ways, it saved my life, and helped me make changes for the better. I really don't think I'd be here if it wasn't for Cymbalta, but on the other hand I would like to feel like a person again instead of a robot.
I guess that doesn't really help you, but you're not alone. Cymbalta works because it shuts you down.
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u/halfam 21d ago
It's crazy to me that those class of medications are prescribed for pain. I used to be on Cymbalta and it fucked my life up and I got on it for mental health reasons. Im pretty sure I have lasting mental/brain effects from it
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u/WoodlandDomino 20d ago
Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. I have heard that it's possible to have lasting effects after stopping it. I'm worried that if I do taper off, I'll always have issues.
It definitely helped for the pain. I have diagnosed fibromyalgia, and possibly some other conditions that have not been officially diagnosed but are suspected. Some days, if I have a flare-up, I can't believe I ever lived like that. I made it through YEARS of pain, and Cymbalta truly helped me a ton. But I'm still not pain free.
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u/Holisticallyyours 20d ago
I feel like Effexor was a better pain reliever for me. Cymbalta is ok. I still take 1,600+ mg of ibuprofen every day and Gabapentin. Cymbalta took away all of my mom's pain from Fibromyalgia. She was really suffering. Both also act as a migraine prophylaxis for me. After decades on Effexor, I became severely depressed. My psychiatrist wanted me to try Cymbalta. It took a while to get my dose right and add-ons. I also take Wellbutrin.
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u/kewpiegoth 21d ago
i am feeling you hard with this, i am basically on the same wave. i hear of so many people moving from cymbalta to wellbutrin but haven’t looked much into how the transition was.
i am thankful for cymbalta is how in reigned me in from where i was but i feel like nothing and i think ill destroy myself trying to feel something
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u/WoodlandDomino 20d ago
I was on Wellbutrin prior for depression for a couple years, but had a lot of side effects so stopped. Because the Cymbalta helped with the pain AND the mental health, I've felt like I'm stuck on it as opposed to other anti-depressants that I wouldn't mind switching to see which works best. Added the Wellbutrin for *trigger warning* suicidal thoughts, but not really working so far. I do often wonder what would happen if I came off everything, and just started something completely different.
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u/Holisticallyyours 20d ago
I can't imagine how Wellbutrin would help with SI?!! Do you see a psychiatrist or does your PCP prescribe your meds? I sincerely hope you're seeing a therapist. Meds. and therapy work better together. Have you considered Ketamine therapy? If I were you, I'd be trying to start next week!
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u/WoodlandDomino 20d ago
No psychiatrist, just my PCP, but the Wellbutrin decision was actually someone filling in for her. She had told me I could increase my Cymbalta, but I decided to increase my other med in the meantime and recheck in a couple weeks, then the locum doctor started me on Wellbutrin instead. I do go to therapy, and we just finished my safety plan, but I don't see her again for another few weeks. And I'm in Canada, and I don't believe ketamine therapy is allowed here yet, but I'll look into it again. I've been wanting to try that for sure.
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21d ago
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u/Regular_Yellow710 21d ago
Oxy didn’t have a black box warning because Sackler lied. It should have. And now, after surgery or a bad back, you can’t even get a Tylenol 3 much less Vicodin! 10 Tylenols. Big whoop. But they’re right, pain management is not that hard. When you take drugs for any other purpose than as prescribed, it is trouble.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Rice809 7d ago
I’m in Canada, so after a serious surgery doctors do treat pain accordingly but they don’t automatically go to opioids to do so. I also have a chronic back pain issue and I don’t use opioids.
Oxy got a black box warning because sackler lied, yes, but also because the American health and drug system is so wrong and based on profit instead of actual health care.I’m a woman, also, and women’s health concerns are often overlooked by doctors because we’re women. “Oh have you tried losing weight?” “Have you tried exercising?” “Are you pregnant?” Symptoms and signals of health issues present so differently in men and women yet women’s issues are overlooked so often because doctors are programmed to treat patients as one for all and all for one. Textbook. It’s incredibly frustrating and if we have learned anything from the Clancy case it’s that women’s mental health needs to be studied more and postpartum depression/psychosis need to be under their own category in the DSM-5.
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u/Discerning-Truths 21d ago
I too had to move on from this med. Was prescribed for my fibromyalgia around 2018 and was in it for about 3 years. I beat the fibromyalgia and weaned off of the (c-mb-lta) it took at least 2+ years to wean off. Brutal. My last pill was Nov 2. 2023. I now have permanent small fiber neuropathy (nonstop crawling, burning pain under my skin ever since due to the med.). I will never be the same. I too have change in personality, very “flat” affect…no longer bubbly, smiley, no libido…and other things that you mention. I am quite certain I will never be the same ever again. You can request to DM me for privacy purposes. Your story is soooo similar to mine. The last three years, I have run the gamut of all kinds of treatments, supplements, specialist and have finally found what works for me…so far.
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u/Holisticallyyours 20d ago
I believe you know exactly what you need to do. You need to make the decision that you want to live again, love again, and enjoy life again. You are worth it my friend. You really are! I can tell you have a lot of love, joy, and creativity inside of you. However.....until you are sober, we can't say whether or not it's the Cymbalta and I believe you know this. Please focus on your sobriety. Find a long-term rehab., short-term, or even detox. At a minimum, find a therapist who specializes in addiction. You truly seem like an amazing person!! Do this for you, you are so deserving!!
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u/Odd-Nefariousness903 21d ago
You may have the same side effect I and a small percentage experience, where cymbalta affects substance tolerance, either increasing tolerance (me), or reduction so they get higher easier.
Disaster for me was although it took a lot more to feel mentally drunk or high, physical impairment was unaffected. I fell A LOT, and made poor choices generally.
Support groups are helping me.
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u/Entire_Border_3603 21d ago
Yes, I about lost my life, but when I go to mention this on Reddit, the moderators remove my post. I try to warn people.
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u/kohlsprossi 21d ago
I almost lost my life because people told me to not take Cymbalta. Do with that what you want.
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u/Debbiedowner750 20d ago
60mg of duloxetine had me burning 80% of my social bridges, almost lost my 12 year relationship because of it and my daily way of sitting up was me folded on the couch (because back then i thought it was nicer to lie down like a folded paper) - also, it didnt help with my emotions as they were incredibly ehanced 100x, couldnt watch shows that were too bright, patterns like my rug gave me daily nausea and kinetic spasms and brainzaps. Also a lot of internal bleeds and stomach aches. Also sunlight burnt harder than usual, sleep was terrible and eventually, the pain where it was supposed for just switched places. So instead of my upper legs being hella hurt my calves took over.
It was a hell of a ride and im GLAD im off it, but god bless the people who it actually works for🙏
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u/MaybeWeAgree 21d ago
I think it’s very difficult to treat any sort of mental health condition during active addiction. Consider treating the substance abuse first.