Duloxetine, marketed as Cymbalta by Eli Lilly, is indicated for major depressive disorder, to relieve pain associated with fibromyalgia, diabetic neuropathy and now, for management of chronic musculoskeletal pain. Duloxetine failed the US approval for stress urinary incontinence amidst concerns over liver toxicity and suicidal events. Four for five.
Cymbalta was prescribed to me nearly two years ago for treatment of ADHD. It hasn’t been all that helpful and I decided that since there wasn’t enough good to offset the bad, it was time to quit.
I finished the last of the final prescription on September 28, 2010. Since then I’ve been able to surface into the relative sunshine of purgatory from the desperately dank depths occasionally. It’s possible that the Lilly bean-counters and litigation people believed the huge revenue potential outweighed the law suits that they must have anticipated, given their experience with another of their horror trips, Zyprexa®. It’s also possible Lilly failed to conduct proper testing protocols.
If the FDA would not approve Cymbalta for stress urinary incontinence because of “liver toxicity and suicidal events” one can only wonder why it’s been approved for human treatment of any sort; in any event, withdrawal from the stuff clearly demonstrates that there are experiences worse than death, or liver toxicity.
