Hi I have never posted on here so hope I am doing it right! I was wondering if anyone had ever tried lyrica and cymbalta and if so what dose worked for you? I am 29 female and have had em for about 4 years. I have raynaulds too but can live with that! The em disables me my life is deteriorating massivly. I have been on lyrica for about 2 weeks now and it helps a bit of a night but I still have to put my feet up high up the back of the settee all evening. If I do nothing all day and stay indoors it’s fine but as soon as I try and do something like hoovering or pop to the shop ( I say pop to the shop as I haven’t been able to go in any more than 1 shop for a quick pint of milk for years)they flare badly! I have heard that cymbalta taken at same time as lyrica helps so I have a prescription but wanted your views first. Thank you and sorry for going on xxx
Hi Kate,
You have posted correctly and never apologise for ‘going on’, not that you did!!
I am not the person to answer your question but I know there are members who take lyrica and cymbalta and hope you get some answers. Meanwhile you could try searching in ‘Discussions’ by just typing in lyrica cymbalta in the search box and see what comes up.
Good luck
Nel
Thank you x
Hi Kate, I took Gabapentin and cymbalta together for about a year, the only really negative thing I noticed was adding cymbalta with my high dose of gabapentin (3000 mg) it almost sedated me. I hear that Lyrica and Gabapentin are similar so not sure if they would work together in much the same way. There may be some old discussions about them so you could search them both to see.
Good luck
Laura
Hi Kate,
I'm about to add Cymbalta (Duloxetin) to my Pregabalin (Lyrica) therapy. How did it work for you?
Right now I take 450mg pregabalin daily (225-0-225) but my doctor advised me to lower my dosage before taking Cymbalta. What was your pregabalin dosage when you added Cymbalta?
I hope you or others can help me here.
Thanks :)
Hi Kate,
I have taken them both separately but never together. On their own I didn't get any real benefit so I have stopped taking them altogether. My doctor has always worked on the premise of only taking one new med at a time so She can tell what is helping or not. I have tried most everything so far with no success so I think I will ask her about combining some as I read that others have had success with more of a Polly pharmacy approach.
I hope it helps. Please keep us updated :)
Thank you.
Alina
I have been taking Lyrica and Cymbalta together for about 5 to 6 years. They work really good for me, I take 225 mg of Lyrica 2 times a day and 60 mg of Cymbalta once a day. My main medical problems are diabetes, diabetic neuropathy and Fibromyalgia. I am waiting to find out if a neurologist will diagnose me with EM. I have gone off the Cymbalta for a while and noticed the pain back in my feet and hands a lot worse than it was before stopping the Cymbalta, and I learned real quick not to go without my Lyrica. I can not get out of bed if I don't have it. People are different on how medications affect them so I would say try and see how it does for you. Good Luck!
I KNOW it’s been 839 days since anyone posted on the topic of taking cymbalta and Lyrica together, but I’m planning to ask my EM doc to add cymbalta to my Lyrica. I’m on fire so what the heck? I’m ready to try anything. Any body else have experience, positive or negative. I’d love to hear about your experience. Patricia aka Satochan
This is an old post but wanted to thank all for suggestions. I have taken Lyrica and Cymbalta separately in the past with no positive results but suggested to my doc that taking the prescribed combination mentioned in this post might be helpful. It has been three weeks and I am thrilled to say I have socks on today! Of all the things I have tried this has been the best for me. It took a week or so to adjust to the meds but my feet and hands stopped burning immediately and my mood has gotten much better. Thanks all.
I take Lyrica and Cymbalta together (and previously took gabapentin and Cymbalta together). I take 600 mg of Lyrica and 100 mg of Cymbalta. With the Lyrica, I have found that taking 150 in the morning and 450 at night helps with some of the fogginess I was having. It has helped some - I have both Renauld’s and RM along with neuropathy (lucky me!). My pain mgmt specialist also added Topomax earlier this week - so far, I haven’t really noticed much improvement with it 
PS: THIS DISEASE SUCKS!! Ugh
Mike24,
I hope the meds work for you I have been on gabapentin 3000 mg a day for about 2 years now but started at a really low dose at first for cervical fusion that caused lots of nerve pain and I take Cymbalta to and been on it for a while as well so Im looking for someone to first identify that I have EM for sure and then second help to find something that may help that im not already on maybe I will need to switch to lyrica since I have never been on that.
Dear 4 Nuts Mamma,
I know it’s been a while since you posted, but…did you ever try the Lyrica/Cymbalta in combination? I started adding the Cymbalta today and have already flared. I’m going to give it a few days to calm down and hope for the best. The Lyrica 150 2X a day makes me search for words and is quite embarrassing. Have cut the Lyrica to 75mg 2X a day and fog brain is gone. I’ll see what transpires migraine relief wise and flare wise.
Have a better2018 & stay cool⛄️😎
Hey there,
Sorry for the slow response I’m still trying to figure out how to make sure I dnt miss replies to conversations hahaha. To answer your question though I haven’t tries Lyrica. Once they mentioned maybe switching to that instead of Gabapentin but they said it was much more expensive and they just kept me on it, but I’m at the max dose and it’s not doing anything for me. I have been on Cymbalta for about 3years now and it is not helping I originally was put on both drugs to control nerve pain from my cervical problems. I think I will ask my pain dr on thurs when I go what she thinks about me switching to the Lyrica the problem is I haven’t had a confirmed diagnosis of the EM no one ever seems to know about it but maybe this new pain dr will be willing to listen and help me. I hope that the meds work for you that would be awesome and maybe If I switch I will have more luck maybe I have just been on the gabapentin to long for it to do anything anymore. Let me know how the meds work out and I hope you can stay cool also.
Have you looked at Erythromelalgia,org? I got my dr’s Name from the org. Evidently cymbalta and Lyrica in combination at the lowest possible doses is helpful in reducing flares. I’m giving cymbalta another try by cutting the capsule in half. I’ll see what happens. This is an orphan disease and there are 7,000 of them so you have to research online and not fool around with a dr not educated in this horrible disease. Hope you’re having cooler days.
I found one dr shes a dermatologist and shes only like 30 min from me so I’m gonna try to get in to see her. For my area there were only 3 in Arizona one I cant see due to insurance but thanks for the info. Ya I have already scene 4 dr in like a 6 month time span and none could help so hopefully this will be the one.
Dear Mof4N,
Have you seen the dermatologist yet? I can’t wait for you to get your formal diagnosis and proper treatment.
I had reduced my Lyrica intake by half and after about 3 weeks my fog brain was better but I’d start burning shortly after noon. Finally decided I’d rather live with the goofyness than burn. Oh well.
Hope life is treating you well. ‘
Patricia
Dear GG,
Years ago 20ish? My neuro put me on Topamax to see if it decreased the number and intensity of my migraines. It helped but I got an interesting side effect…I lost about 25 lbs.
Because of the EM I’m on Lyrica. The 12-22 days of migraine are GONE!!! I’m a little goofy with brain fog. Tried to decrease the Lyrica from 150 a.m & p.m to 75 and I was less foggy, but the burning increased; so I’m back on 150 X2. Just added Cymbalta to the mix about a month ago. There’s been a bit of research re taking Cymbalta & Lyrica together working better to ease the pain of EM rather than each alone.
I’m still flaring almost every afternoon, but the pain has gone from an 8-10 to a 2-5. Lucky me.
I hope you are doing well and keeping cool
Patricia
Satonchan,
The day of the Derm is finally gonna get her lol. I go this Friday so fingers crossed. I’m hopeful that she will beable to finally give me a diagnosis. She is one of only like 2 in my area that have treated EM so I cant wait to get to talk with her. As the weather starts to warm my flares are pretty regular and it’s only been like 80s ugh not ready for 115 heat. Last night I could not sleep my thighs my arm and my face of the side i would lay on felt on fire and i would switch back and forth and it heated up no matter what. I cant seem to get comfortable no matter what i do trying to sleep threw the night is the worst. What started as just hands and feet and some face is now over the last 2 years spread to other parts of my body and its driving me insane. My pcp that gave me the referral told me to try one asprin and a magnesium tablet but so far it’s not doin anything. How are you feeling? Ya i have heard that lyrica does cause brain fog but like you said i would rather deal with being goofy that on fire. Maybe after your on it a while your body will adjust and the fog brain will go away.
Satochan,
Just wanted to tell you I saw Dr. Nguyen today she was great. She listened to me and looked at all my pictures. She looked me over from head to toe and asked if i had this that and the other, she could tell something was goin on already because the waiting area was really warm and i started to flare just waiting to be called back so she got to see first hand. When i got in the back it was very cold so felt much better then she ran my hands under the hot water which once again sent me into a flare. She said i most defiantly had EM and she knows how rare it is and how few doctors have even heard of it but she was ready to get on the phone to a friend she has at the Mayo clinic to figure out what we should try first. So she put me on a baby aspirin once a day Zyrtec once a day and told me to keep takin the gabapentin and the antidepressant so i go back in 4 weeks to see if any of this helps at all then if not she will move to the next idea she says unfortunately the meds are trial and error of combos till something hopefully works. I was just happy to finally have the actual diagnosis. She asked how i came to think i had this i said i did my own search and read a lot and then joined this group and it all just fit.