Cymbalta

[doggboy]

SO I just have a quick question if anyone knows, but my wife has been on zoloft for the past 8 years up to 150mg for about the last year.  The doc just switched her to cymbalta since the Zoloft has not been working,  but for some reason he said to start with 30mg for a week and then go to 60mg.  Now she took the 30mg this morning but she feels like he is starting her off on to low of a dose even though it is a different drug becasue she is not feeling to good from stopping the zoloft.  Basically has anyone that is taking Cymbalta start off at 60mg first, I really don't think it is going to hurt her, but just wanted to know.  Also her sister was prescribed Cymbalta from her Phsycologist at 60mg, so we just think that our primary that put her on it just really does not understand, and he did say that she should see a professional that he does not know much about this stuff, which would explain why he is starting her off with the lowest but from stopping the high amount of zoloft causing a withdrawl.  

Sorry for the run on sentence.

[lola200677]

Hi
Iv been on numerous types of antidepressants and for me the SNRIs worked best. However. People react differently to these types - my mum went on it and it did nothing for her. I went on it and it was ok, but when it was increased to 60mg I started having manic episodes!! As in random euphoria and so much energy it was like I was on speed and I became insomniac until I went back down to 30mg. These types of antidepressants I believe are much more potent than SSRIs. Reason being that not only do they affect serotonin but also noradrenaline (hence me getting hyper and manic) but obviously this won't happen to everyone. I was just sensitive to it more so than ssris. Make sure you get regular liver function tests though as this drug is not good for the liver (reason I was taken off this medication) also make sure there are no cardiac issues (reason I had to come off all SNRIs and switch back to SSRIs which didn't work as well for me). Good luck, I hope I could help. Just keep an eye on the things I mentioned - they can be very real on some people. I don't wish to scare you because as I said they are good antidepressants but CAN carry health risks.

[riderdee]

I was on Zoloft for many years, at the end taking 200 mg.  Doc started me on Cymbalta 30 mg, dropped me down to 100 mg of Zoloft.  After a month or so stopped Zolodr, increased Cymbalta to 60 mg, then I needed 90 mg.  I did have a couple weeks of extreme depression before upping the Cymbalta, but it seems to be working now.  I feel better on 90 mg of Cymbalta, than I did on 30 mg of Cymbalta and 100 mg of Zoloft.

[anree]

Cymbalta and Zoloft are two different types of AD's. Cymbalta is a SNRi and Zoloft is a SSRi. I had very bad withdraw when I stopped Zoloft. So my Dr. had me wean off it. From experience ( 2 x's I had to stop taking Zoloft ) I would HIGHLY recommend slowly getting off the Zoloft. I don't think that it can be 'switched'.

[Hensley258]

I must first explain to you that switching medications can be VERY difficult.

I know because I have had to switch AD medications about 6 times now since I was diagnosed with Severe Depression about 16 years ago. These meds don't stay effective forever and most likly your wife has slowly built up a tolerance to Zoloft. In which case this will render the medication "non-effective."

That being said, her doctor was wise to switch her over to another medication like Cymbalta. 30Mgs of Cymbalta is a good starting point and this gives him option to ramp the dosage up as needed.

Regardless of this fact, Cymbalta, May or may not be an effective medication for her. I tried Cymbalta for 7 weeks at 60Mgs per day (after 4 years on Effexor) and in my case it did NOTHING to help with my condition.

Some people respond to Cymbalta and some don't, Your wife may not ever respond to Cymbalta, as some people don't.

If after a full 6 to 8 weeks your wife is still not responding to Cymbalta, then she really needs to switch to another medication.

Don't panic! There are many other options out there,

How is she doing now?