I have duloxetine sitting in my cupboard which I have been prescribed for pain, nerve and bone/muscle. There is so many horror stories and I am quite nervous to try it. I do not have depression or anxiety and I do not want to end up with it by taking a medicine for pain. I am also worried about missing a dose/discontinuing but what I’m most concerned about is it changing who I am as a person, I do not want to end up not caring about my family or becoming apathetic or reckless or manic. I have a detail orientated job so I need to be sharp. I am also concerned about driving. Does anyone who took it purely for pain and not for depression or anxiety have any feedback. I know there will always be some really extreme cases so I am looking for middle ground really. I would love to feel how I feel now in my brain but without the constant pain dragging down life and making me unable to do things.
Did duloxetine help your pain without changing you as a person?
Question posted by Charley701 on 8 April 2025
Last updated on 11 April 2025
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3 Answers
All those worries don't seem warranted IMO, but if your only reason is pain, then NO, I would NOT take Cymbalta for pain relief, as it's help is negligible, at best for that. I'm a chronic pain patient and also have very mild depression/slight anxiety, so it's worth it to get the 5-10% help with pain due to the other conditions. I understand that providers are hamstring with what they will/won't prescribe for pain these days, but it doesn't diminish the fact that people have pain conditions and must find pain relief. Period.
Thank you, yes my drs are useless and there is no way they would prescribe typical pain meds long term, to be honest things like codeine or otc meds don’t work for my pain, it’s a combo of nerve and joint or muscular pain. I’ve been offered lamotrigine/lactimal by a neurologist but although it seems to have well tolerated side effects there is a risk of a really bad skin/system reaction which scares me as I can be sensitive to medication. I’m sorry to hear your pain isn’t controlled, I thought duloxetine was meant to be really good for pain.
Hi, Charley!
As to whether it will help with your pain will depend on your response to the medication. I'm posting you the User Reviews for duloxetine:
https://www.drugs.com/comments/duloxetine/
As for changing you, antidepressants work by correcting certain abnormalities within the brain and it's neurotransmitters. If you not wired for depression/anxiety it shouldn't affect your normal brain function, I wouldn't think.
You may initially have side effects (including psychiatric) but they generally resolve within the first couple of weeks. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about side effects and be sure to read the Patient Information sheet that should have come with your prescription.
Hope this helps some!
Regards, Wildcat
Thank you, I have read the reviews and the good ones make me think it’s worth a try and the bad ones put me off completely. I used to suffer with depression when I was younger which is why I think I’m worried about taking it. I don’t want to wake a sleeping lion I guess. I’ve seen some horrifying reviews about how it changed some people completely, they no longer cared about their family, they ran up huge debt as they just didn’t have that normal self control and that is scary.
It's a dilemma for sure and certain. For whatever help it might be this is from the Professional Info. It shows that in the majority of cases 10% or far less of users have reported that side effect.
https://www.drugs.com/sfx/cymbalta-side-effects.html#professional-info
Good luck in whichever road you decide to travel.
WC
I Charley 701:
I've been on 150 mg of Duluxotine for about 5 years now. I too have heard the horror stories. It has been my experience that it does slightly help but not to any great degree in my opinion. I am usually in a 7 outta 10 pain level every day and over the past 2 years have gotten progressively worse to the point of not being able to simply stand for longer then a minute, and can only walk about 10-15 feet before having to sit down.
My pain decreases to 50% in a sitting or laying down position. So I am on the extream side of the pain scale.
In my opinion, I wish Ida never taken it cause now I am facing a new Pain clinic which will for the 3rd time take me off all these meds and start from scratch. To say I am petrified is an understatement.
The only thing that has helped me tremendously are spinal injections in my vertebral joints.
The only problem with them is you can only have 1 joint at a time done, and by the time you have 6 done you need to start over. I would highly recommend them instead of drugs taken orally.
This also will depend on if your doctor will recommend you for the treatment.
I hope some of what I have written helps in some small way.
I’m so sorry you’re in so much pain, it really does suck that there isn’t much that’s helpful when it comes to pain and then once pain becomes chronic it’s just a bad continuous loop that feels very hopeless. I have actually had cervical facet injections before which was a traumatic experience for me and I didn’t find helpful. I am pleased they help you. I know coming of duloxetine and a lot of these meds can be really tough so doing it for a third time I can imagine is very frightening. I hope it’s third time lucky for you though and that they find a medication which you fine effective.
Related topics
pain, fibromyalgia, duloxetine, chronic pain, nervous, muscle, prescription, bones, nerve, bone
Further information
- Duloxetine uses and safety info
- Duloxetine prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Duloxetine (detailed)
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