Oh boy. You asked so I'll tell ya. I too have fibromyalgia and arthritis plus I had a bad case of shingles a couple of years ago which ramped up the pain considerably so my dr. started me on it several months ago and I must admit that in the beginning it did help. After about a month and a half, though, I got stomach cramps, severe enough to double me over and they lasted for several hours. I put up w/that for 2 weeks (why, I have no idea; desperate, I guess) and I called my dr's. office. He was out of town so the medical asst. or whatever she was told me to stop taking it. I said "Shouldn't I be weaned off it?" She said "No, just stop taking it."

WELL. I got these "brain zaps" for lack of a better word. Imagine how your arm feels when you hit your funny bone in your elbow. That's what was happening in my head, hundreds of times a day. If I looked down, they weren't as severe but if I moved my head in any other direction, they were so frequent and painful that at times I actually drooled. I laid in my bedroom w/the lights off for 3 days and nights and after about 10 days, the brain zaps finally stopped. I got on the Internet to look up these brain zaps and apparently, they're a very common side effect when you go off Cymbalta, at least if you go cold turkey the way I did. My dr. swears he never heard of such a thing, so I directed him to the websites that discussed the subject and he says that he cornered the drug reps and they swear they never heard of such a thing either. I told him point blank "They're lying." I should have been weaned off it, even though I was only on it a short period of time.

I just had my regular checkup yesterday and he wants me to start high intensity training. Yeah, ok, I have days when I can hardly navigate and he wants me to do that kind of workout. I will NEVER take any type of psychotropic drug again, I don't care how good it's claimed to be. Oh, one other thing....I gained 9 lbs. in that month and a half and it's welded to me now. I can't get that weight off for anything. It's supposed to be "weight neutral". Another lie the drug reps told. I still have a problem in rooms that are too brightly lit, especially w/fluorescent lighting; the brain zaps come back. When I went to my dr's. office, they had to turn out all the lights in the room where we had our consultation. I suppose that there are others who have done well w/Cymbalta but I clearly am not one of them. I feel bad telling you all this because I know how desperate I get, just wanting a good night's sleep and a day free of pain. But you asked and I felt you should know. Good luck and let us know how you're doing.