Diagnosed today. Cymbalta?

[Styna]

I was just diagnosed today with Fibromyalgia. The doc sent my blood in and will know by Thursday if everything else is eliminated, but she said she's pretty sure it's Fibro and "severe depression".

She prescribed Cymbalta, which I started taking today (30mg for a week, then 60mg for two weeks, then go back to see how its going).

Problem: I'm a self proclaimed hypochondriac, so after taking my first Cymbalta, I'm sitting here waiting to have a seizure or something.
What are the chances that I'm going to have extremely adverse side effects from it? Has anyone here had really bad side effects? Has it helped anyone?
Also, I was reading that Cymbalta can increase suicidal thoughts?? Even though the Doc said I seem to be severely depressed, I really don't consider myself anymore depressed than anyone else. Should I be worried? I'd really rather not kill myself :-/

Also, before the pain got so bad I had to stop, I was doing 30 min of yoga a day. Should I try to continue doing that, or would it just make it worse?
The worst place I have the pain is definitely in my knees as of right now. Shoulders, elbows, and neck pretty bad, but knees are the worst.

Also, how do you deal with people who don't understand? Many of my family members have the "its all in your head, so get over it" mindset, and I really don't know what to tell them to try to make them understand. These are the same people who have denied my anxiety problem since I was 8 because "its all in my head" so, naturally, why wouldn't the fibromyalgia be? -.- people.

Thanks everyone!

[Styna]

-mommyandwife - thank you for your help. I'm sorry that it had a negative effect, but I'm glad you seem to have things under control now. Keeping a journal is a good idea, thank you.
Thankfully, the new doctor I'm seeing is pretty wonderful. She's surprised my old doctor didn't consider this diagnosis back in November - simply gave my some hydroxyzine and said "get more sleep." That's the same dr. who said I was bringing the anxiety attacks on myself. So I'm used to people not believing those things, but with something like this... I don't know. It makes things even more frustrating than they need to be.

DeeJaye45 - I say that because when the symptoms of fibromyalgia started developing, which was back in August of 09, the symptoms didn't hit all at once. Everytime I heard of something new that matched one of my symptoms, I was utterly convinced I had it (however, at the time, the two worst symptoms were chronic fatigue, my hands and feet going numb, and shaking in my hands.) I was thoroughly convinced a had a brain tumor, parkinsons disease, multiple different types of cancer - especially after my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and I don't remember what else. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was on the list at some point, but not Fibromyalgia.
Within the last few months the pain began, the ridiculous headaches (and I'm prone to migraines, but I've never head headaches like this), the fluttering in the chest, jaw pain, crazy dry eyes, and awful weakness.
I honestly thought the doctor was going to tell me it was some kind of cancer.

Did the Cymbalta seem to help you at all? It's great that it didn't have a negative affect, either way.

I'm going to have them read the booklet my Doctor gave me on Fibromyalgia, hoping it may help them understand a little bit.

Thank you guys for your help!!

[DeeJaye45]

Why do you say you're a self proclaimed hypochondriac? As for the cymbalta, I took it with no problems & iI have a very long history with bipolar disoder & depression. It didn't make me feel any more suicidal than I had before. The suicide risk is typically higher for teenagers who take the antidepressants. As for continuing the yoga, go for it. Moderate exercise is beneficial for fibromyalgia. Just because you can't see fibromyalgia or anxiety or depression does NOT mean it's all in your head. Sometimes family members or friends, sometimes even professionals don't understand.

[mommyandwife]

Cymbalta works for some and doesn't work for others.  Personally, after a while of taking it I did start having thoughts of death.  I thought it was because my pain was so horrible and nobody seemed to understand.  But my husband pointed out to me that I hadn't been acting this bad before I started taking Cymbalta.  I would ask someone to watch you or even keep a journal of your thoughts/feelings throughout the process so you can look back and monitor any changes yourself as well.  The journaling helps too when you have to explain why it didn't work.  Especially if you ever have to switch doctors and you can't remember that far back (fibro-fog).

As far as yoga goes, I hear that it is tried and true helpful for fibro sufferers.  I myself don't have the time or resources to learn all the poses.  I just do stretching when I get a chance.

People not understanding is always going to be there.  I myself have suffered with depression and anxiety and my doctor seems to think it's a possibility of why I have the pain.  She recommended counseling, especially if you have ever been through any physical/verbal/sexual abuse.  As far as I am concerned, yes, my depression could be causing the pain.  I didn't think myself depressed because I wasn't crying all the time.  But I am however under a serious amount of pressure daily in my life and have been for a lot of my life.  You can only handle so much before it starts exhibiting symptoms in your body.  You know the commercial about the depressed wind-up lady that never wants to get out of bed, etc?  That was me about 6 months ago.  I have come a long way in my treatment. Now I take multiple medicines and the combo seems to help pretty good.  That includes a mood stabilizer, depression pill, savella, and two different pain medications.

Watch out for the depression worsening and make sure you talk to the doc ASAP if you start even thinking suicide or wanting to die. Take care!