I started taking cymbalta for anxiety today. I took it for 1 day last week then stopped, this time I am going to give it a fair trial.
I'm anxious to know if cymbalta has helped anyone with agoraphobia, panic, phobias or any anxiety in general.

Hi Tbone ,

I am so pleased to hear that you are going to persist with your medication , I have no personal experience with cymbalta ,
but I know there are many members who take it on the forum. What I do know is that it takes time for medication to take effect , there maybe a period when your system adjusts to it , and you may be tempted to stop , but do persist and if you have any questions about possible side effects etc. just get back to your Doctor .

In the meanwhile I am sure other users will share their experiences with you . Keep posting about you how get on .

best wishes hedge

I have GAD and take 60 mg. of Cymbalta a day. I've been on it a little over two months now and it has helped my anxiety tremendously. I had some start up SEs, like dry mouth, agitation and restlessness, and insomnia (which I still battle), but these didn't last too terribly long (about two weeks) and I was glad I saw it through. Good luck!

Thanks for your responses.

As far as side effects, I've had diarrhea, dry mouth and have felt a bit light headed at times.

On the positive side - I feel much much calmer, not so irritable. I always have klonopin in case I feel more anxiety than usual.

MaddieLouise - Happy to know you're doing well on it and the side effects subsided with time.

Yeh Tbone, I had the lightheaded feeling too for awhile, and was glad when that one went away. A friend of mine had a funny perspective and satirically said, "Just enjoy it while you can". That helped put a humorous spin on it, although I was glad when that one subsided!

MaddieLouise - that's a funny way to look at it. I'm actually in the middle of online traffic school(which I am totally innocent) as I type this reply.
I find that kinda funny too. Hey, if I'm able to multi-task the cymbalta must not be all that bad:) Hope I feel that way a week, month, year from now.

Anyway, day 2, feeling a bit sluggish, had a headache but some advil took care of that, my teeth feel a bit raw, still light headed, and best of all no more diarrhea! I am happy with the calming effect, haven't felt this relaxed in a long time.

I was in the post office today and felt buzzed standing in line. Maybe that's a perk....just kidding.

I really hope this stuff helps and when I have the money I'll get CBT therapy. I put off an important business call today to give my body another day to adjust. So I am banking(literally) on feeling a little more up to par and adjusted tomorrow. Either way I have a strong felling about this one and will do my best to see it through.

By the way, I'm supposed to take 20 mgs of seroquel at night to help me sleep. another thing I like about cymbalta is I got a halfway decent nights sleep last night and I only took 0.5 mgs of klonopin. I have never been able to sleep this early into an ssri / ssnri before.

Are you taking or ever taken seroquel before? If so, how does it or did it make you feel? I will probably only take it if I absolutely have to....but who knows.....

all the best,
T

Sounds like you're making progress. I've never taken Seroquel, but if you do a search on the boards, many people have posts about it. Hope it continues to go well for you.

Ive looked into taking seroquel before. It seems to be really effective for sleep at low doses. Of course everybody has different experiences with it. Like trazodone, I think there may be an adjustment period for the first few days for alot of people so if you take it and wake up hungover or really groggy, give it a few days before you give up.

I might have to ask for something to help me sleep, also. I'm still having issues with that, and I thought going back to work would help it. I'm really tired at night, but then I get a burst of energy once I go to bed.

I'd also like to add that if cymbalta is helping me with my anxiety, that is saying an awful lot! I had to wait it out, though. I still get the jittery feeling everynow and then right after I take it, but for the most part my anxiety has calmed down a whole lot.

Cymbalta day 4 - was feeling jittery an hour after taking it but have since calmed down. Feeling mellow and more alert, able to concentrate better than the first 3 days. The anxiety comes and goes, sometimes even feels stronger as I adjust to the medication, but that's ok.

Didn't sleep as well last night. Still have not tried the seroquel, will if insomnia gets out of hand.

Maybe it's wishful thinking but I can't recall having this good of a start with any seratonin type drug, and I've tried most of them.

Peace to all,
T

Hi americandancer,

I can go to sleep, but wake up about every 2-3 hours after that until morning. I'm not taking anything for sleep any longer. I just couldn't seem to get the Ambien dosage right. 6.25 is not strong enough and 12.5 is too strong. The sleep I was getting just wasn't refreshing. I feel better in the mornings waking up every two hours (ha!). I'm just going to keep going this way and see if the insomnia improves. Getting to sleep is progress, so I'm hoping with time, I'll settle down. Are you taking 30 or 60 mg. now?

I had some success with trazodone while I was on lexapro and I might try it again if my sleep doesnt improve on cymbalta. Its a pretty common med to use for insomnia related to AD's. Might be worth looking into.

maintainin - I've heard a lot of good things re: trazadone. If I have a hard time sleeping tonight; I'll try the seroquel tomorrow. If I have ill effects from the seroquel and it persists over a long period of time maybe I'll ask my pdoc about trazadone.

Why did you switch from lex to cymbalta? How has the cymbalta been for you?

lex was making me really fatigued and I had some gastro issues on it as well. I'm only on day 8 of the cymbalta. My biggest complaint is upset stomach and loss of appetite but that is getting better. I'm not sleeping well, but I wasnt anyway before I got on the cymbalta. I cant do ambien, it makes me really groggy and more depressed the next day so I'm on lunesta right now, hopefuly temporarily. It works pretty well. If I find after a while that Im still not sleeping better I'll probably see about getting back on the trazodone.

Hi MaddieLouise! I'm still at 30mg. I was taking the 60's I had left over, but ran out and my current prescription is for 30. I was scared I'd run out before my appt. for next week, so I went back to the 30's. I plan on asking for 60, since I felt so much better at that dose. I usually haven't had problems getting to sleep on cymbalta, and I still don't totally blame the med. I am finally on a schedule, but with that schedule comes the back to school and afterschool activity stress. I actually was able to sneak in a quick 15 minute nap today, and feel so much better. That may just have to be the way it is for me. Everytime I am on cymbalta for awhile, people make comments about how well rested I look.....weird, huh? I think it's because I am actually calm, even though I'm not sleeping straight through the night. I'll take that! If I take a xanax, I sleep fine, but I'm just scared to keep on doing that. I'm like you, though, in that I wake up just fine and feel great!

maintainin, I've tried trazodone before....for me it was like a female viagra! Very weird, for me. I'm sure my hubby would love for me to take that again!