Call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects while taking Cymbalta:

nausea, pain in your upper stomach, itching, loss of appetite, dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes);

feeling like you might pass out;

agitation, hallucinations, fever, fast heart rate, overactive reflexes;

very stiff (rigid) muscles, high fever, sweating, confusion, fast or uneven heartbeats, tremors;

easy bruising, unusual bleeding;

painful or difficult urination;

headache, trouble concentrating, memory problems, weakness, feeling unsteady, loss of coordination, fainting, seizure, shallow breathing or breathing that stops; or

severe skin reaction:- fever, sore throat, swelling in your face or tongue, burning in your eyes, skin pain, followed by a red or purple skin rash that spreads (especially in the face or upper body) and causes blistering and peeling.




hmm i think the doctor was wrong....he tried to say Cymbalta did not cause those reactions..

My money is still on Cymbalta being the cause, although Nortriptyline is still a possibility. It's one or the other. If you search the web, you will find people that have had similar symptoms to you with Cymbalta.

If the tramadol was the cause, your symptoms wouldn't likely go away if you're still taking it! Don't need a medical degree to figure that one out. Simiple "cause and effect" principle at play here.

If rash goes away and your doctor is still interested in these two drugs, I'd be darn sure you reintroduce only ONE at a time. Introducing two drugs into your system at the same time is not good general practice. First of all, you don't know which one is helping if you get relief. And also, you don't know which one is responsible for side effects too! I'm leary of any doctor that does more than one thing at a time unless it's an emergency and then you throw the kitchen sink at it.

Gotta always be your own health care advocate. Do your own research and get multiple opinions. ALWAYS. Never be afraid to challenge opinions from professionals, even if it ticks them off. I've walked away from a number of doctors because they didn't know crap about CRPS. Some tried to pretend they did, some flat out admitted they knew little and have treated NOBODY with it. Disappointing, but this is what we are ALL dealing with.

You need to ask your doctors/therapists/etc. some point blank some tough questions. The first one is this: How familiar are you with CRPS and how many people have you treated with this condition? Please, please people....commit this sentence to your memory and don't be afraid to recall it when you are interviewing people for your treatment "team". And don't be afraid to walk away. This condition is widely misunderstood, even by professionals.

Good luck!

I got a severe rash to a different medication than the combo that you are on, songbird. I swelled up so severely and had to get a steroid shot within 10 hrs of the ingested dose; as soon as I got the steroid shot the swelling subsided~ be aware that after you get a steroid shot you may be more emotional and sensitive than usual.

How many hours after taking it did you get the rash? If it happens within less than 2 hrs after a new medication, you can suspect the new medication of causing the rash. That's why you should just take ONE NEW medication at a time.

If your breathing gets more difficult and if you swell up you may need to take some Benadryl, Atarax and may need Emergency attention and a steroid shot.

Whatever you do, don't take a SECOND dose of the medication you suspect of causing the rash!

One med introduced at a time is VERY important.

Jumping in here....I can really empathize with your itching. I've had RSD for 17 years now and what's bothering me the most in the last few months is the itching I'm having for the first time (always another adventure!) I not only have the "RSD RASH" on my leg that doesn't respond to any anti-itching cream but the best thing I've found for it is OTC Eucerin anti-itch cream - not great but better than nothing - and I also have itching from the fentanyl I've been taking for years and years now. Wish I could get off of narcotics but nothing else really works. And it's scarey b/c I'm getting more and more tolerant to the drug which makes it not as effective anymore.

I hope the itching calms down with the prednisone. This is awful and keeps me awake at night as well.

Hey Songbird,
I'm not a physician or anything but in my experince with trying Nortrityline it caused me to ich too. I switched to Amitriptyline and the itching subsided quite a bite.
I'm presently doing Cymbalta like you along with 600 mgs Gabaptine 3 x daily.
Hopes this helps and I wish you well...

I am late coming on to this thread, but the family of TCAs...tricyclic antidepressants, like nortriptyline... have a photosensitivity warning on them. Exposure to sun or tanning beds may cause a skin reaction. If your redness is confined to exposed skin, you might consider sun exposure as a culprit too.
http://www.wellnesspharmacy.net/photosensitivity.pdf
My son had a rash from imipramine which he used for a year for ADHD when he was a child. We had to discontinue it.

It is really not wise to take both Cymbalta AND nortriptyline.
Either one or the other should work. But together that raises the potential of serotonin syndrome. Cymbalta can also affect the liver, and then if that happens the metabolism of other drugs, may be affected.