Struggling with Medication Withdrawal and Weight Gain

Cymbalta is a beast to get off of.

Thank you so much!

Hi Buggybee, I'm currently on Lyrica for my fibromyalgia and it definitely made me gain weight because it increased my appetite. My best advice for not gaining weight on new medications is to try a high protein and high fiber diet (I'm actually a dietitian). This type of diet was really helpful because it kept me feeling full and prevented me from eating everything in sight. Also I found that an anti-inflammatory diet was the best thing for pain in general. One of my favorite things to do for pain is to drink some type of turmeric tea which is natural and won't be as hard on your stomach as tylenol or ibuprofen would be. I hope this helps!

Thank you everyone for the tips. I do wanna clarify that I'm officially off the meds and doing much better!

I went through the exact same thing on duloxotine. It was incredibly discouraging for me at the time. The best way I could help both my pain and care for my mental health was taking baths. Make it fun too! Get bubble bath or bath bombs and just sit in the bath for a bit. It's not a fix all by any means, but it helps ease the pain for me for a bit.

Hi Buggybee, what you’re going through sounds so familiar to me. I tried so many meds and treatments and suffered from side effects without knowing if the meds were the reason or not. Like Angie said, I think you should ask the doctor that prescribed your medicine if weight gain is a common side effect (I try to always ask my doctor about common side effects of any med he prescribes me). Regarding the fibromyalgia, the thing that helped me the most was exercise. I asked a sports trainer for an easy sport program, and I raised the level every month.

Hey BuggyBee, I can really relate to the sensation of not knowing your body anymore, and I'm sorry to hear your'e going through this. I would actually recommend pressing the reset button and try to see how you gain control over how you feel and look. I would go to a PT and get advice regarding sports you can do both to strengthen and to lose some weight. Then, I would visit a nutritionist in order to build a menu you will feel good about. Lastly, I would go see your doctor and let him know the side effects you suffered from and how you feel. It may sound long and frustrating, but I think it means everything to start gaining control over your own body and learning again what feels good. Good luck!