anyone have experience with cymbalta

i want to start taking cymbalta for bipolar depression and chronic pain and wondered if anyone takes this, what the side effects are and how it helped with pain and depression. i take prozac and lortab and would like to get off the lortab and can't take prozac all the time because it makes me severely anxious if i'm not in a major depression. any advice or experience stories would be helpful.

[Narnia41]

I've taken cymbalta for over 2 years, it works well for depression and anxiety but without a mood stabiliser it induces mania and mixed episodes for me.

I have chronic pain too which is why it was prescribed, though I can't say it's made any difference.  There are those who say it's been a lifesaver with their pain so it all depends how you react.

Word of warning though....it is extremely difficult to get off this drug so speak to your doctor about this first!

[billgonz1]

I too have chronic pain . I take Celexa , Seroquil , Oxycodone . I have been on oxycodone for years . I would love to get off the pain meds. Side effects are almost as bad as pain . Can Cymbalta cut down pain meds. My sig.other has been on Cymbalta for years and loves it . Could my pain meds. effect my AD meds.I still have mixed episodes ? Most of the time . Bill

[velvetvenus]

i take adhd meds along with a host of other meds for various reasons but i've heard cymbalta helps with pain so i'm hoping it will help enough to get off pain meds. i don't know if you will be able to get off pain meds but it's worth a try, maybe we can at least cut down on them! narnia41, posted above, said it didn't help and may cause mania which i don't need, and is hard to get off of. i don't know, i'll try it if my psychiatrist lets me, if not i'll find another one, he's not very good anyway. he is always against changing my meds even though they don't work well.  good luck