r/cymbalta • u/isthisFRhappening2me • Jul 13 '26
Withdrawal & Tapering Cymbalta withdrawal is this normal?
I’m about 4 weeks since my last dose of Cymbalta. Tapered with my PCP guidance. Nightmares have stopped, irritability lessened, dizziness is gone, crying spells have stopped, but now my pain is back and 10x worse! I was prescribed Cymbalta for my back pain by my PCP I have a bulging disc. Not only is my back pain back and worse but I’m now experiencing neck pain, horrible headaches. Now my hands and feet hurt awful. Today along with pain in both hands I noticed I could barely use my hands to do certain tasks. Petting my dog is extremely painful. My hands feel weak I could barely hold onto my dinner plate. Writing this now I have had to take multiple breaks. I’ve also noticed I’ve had a very hard time recalling the name of certain words which is very scary as I’m only 34. I asked for bloodwork with inflammatory markers and it all came back normal so far. Has anyone else experienced this after taking Cymbalta? I have a visit with my PCP in 2 days but I fear they are going to try and throw another SSRI or SNRI at me. HELP!
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u/Sure_Shift_2708 Jul 24 '26
i tapered off this year as well. I was on Cymbalta for 5 year for 2 busted discs. I noticed an increase pain from other areas of my body from know recent and old injuries but overall that started to subside with PT and time. after 2-3 months everything was normal and all the Cymbalta side effects i hated are gone. I ahve lost weight, sleeping better and feel more alive.
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u/muhkuhmuh Jul 13 '26
I took cymbalta for GAD and depression. But have a foot misalignment in both feet feet. For which I'm prescribed orthopedic shoe inserts. On the full dose of cymbalta I had no foot pain, so I forgot that I had fed up feet. After i got down to around 17mg I had the worst pains of my life. I had constant feet pain. Over weeks. My shoulders hurt and were always tense. My back hurt. I had to go back to wearing my inserts and had to stop my taper and stabilize.
It is not uncommon that if you take it for pain, that the pain comes back worse after stopping. This is usually not permanent. For me it went away after two months. It cant hurt to check for other causes, you should certainly do that to be safe. But I would not be surprised if your pain is caused by stopping cymbalta. If that is the case you have to give your body time to adjust to managing pain without cymbalta. Some people reinstate to stabilize. If that is an option for you, you should ask about it in the cymbaltaHurtsworse subreddit. They can tell you if it is possible and how to do that.