How Can Cymbalta Fight Diabetic Neuropathy Nerve Pain?

Cymbalta is an SSRI antidepressant which was being prescribed off label to diabetes patients who were suffering from diabetes nerve pain known as diabetic peripheral neuropathy. The FDA approved Cymbalta for treatment of diabetes neuropathy but does Cymbalta’s pros outweigh it’s cons?

Cymbalta is a dual re-uptake inhibitor of serotonin and norepinephrine. It is this characteristic that causes Cymbalta to drastically reduce pain. I have been checking out some message boards in which people who began taking Cymbalta saw a great improvement in their pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. If you’ve never had nerve pain, you just can’t imagine how painful it is. Pretty much nothing gives you relief. That is why Cymbalta is becoming so popular to treat the pain.

Not only does Cymbalta relieve some of the nerve pain associated with the diabetic peripheral neuropathy but since it is an antidepressant it is also providing a better quality of life to those suffering from both pain and depression. The risk of depression is raised in diabetes patients.

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After reading up on the subject of Cymbalta for diabetes peripheral neuropathy I started coming across a lot of message boards containing messages from diabetes patients who were in the process of weening off of Cymbalta because it was no longer working for their pain. Why were they needing to ween off of Cymbalta? Because the Cymbalta withdrawal is pretty severe. So severe, that even though people are slowly weening off (I’m talking taking a couple of months to ween off) they are still experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms.

I have found a site that lists a possible 85 Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms. Some of these are minor and just irritating such as canker sours but other withdrawal symptoms can be quite sever and disruptive to daily life such as a buzzing in one’s brain. I have seen those called brain zaps or brain shivers. Try walking around with what feels like electric shocks in your brain and see how normal you appear.

So to me, it seems like in some cases the Cymbalta works for diabetes peripheral neuropathy for a couple of months but then it takes up to 3 more months after realizing it doesn’t work anymore to actually be completely off of the Cymbalta. Is it worth it? That is really up to the person that is going to be taking it. I understand that diabetes nerve pain can be almost intolerable so I can see why someone would want to try anything that might possibly work.

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