Learn About Duloxetine (Cymbalta)

Precautions

Ladies, take precautions with this medication! Are you pregnant or breastfeeding? It's not the right one for you or your baby. Ask your doctor for an alternative! You also need to watch your mood and thoughts. This medication causes suicidal thoughts in some patients. Your doctor helps with this for at least four months. Remember those regular checkups! Your doctor's also going to screen you for bipolar disorder first. This medication triggers manic episodes, even rapid-cycling ones! Ladies, you also need to avoid drinking alcohol and smoking. They don't react well with this medication! Smoking even makes it less effective.

Medication Interactions

Ladies, what meds do you take? Write them all down, even the supplements and vitamins! Your doctor needs the list to prevent medication interactions. MAOIs are a huge class of antidepressants, but you can't take one with duloxetine! They'll cause a severe interaction. The only way to do both is to wait 14 days after stopping MAOIs and transition!

Tell your doctor about other antidepressants you take, ladies. They're not good matches for this one if they impact your serotonin! You'll be at a higher risk of serotonin syndrome if you take both. Interactions also come from diuretics, heart meds, migraine medicine, and even anti-inflammatories! Even herbal remedies like St. John's Wort interact with duloxetine.