Cymbalta (Duloxetine Hydrochloride) is one of the most popular antidepressants in the United States, treating a variety of mood disorder and pain symptoms. However, many Cymbalta users claim they suffered severe withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing the medication.

Approved in 2004, Cymbalta is prescribed for a variety of purposes including patients suffering from: anxiety, diabetic neuropathy, muscle pain, and stress urinary incontinence. Cymbalta is manufactured by Eli Lilly & Co., and has garnered billions for the company since its release. Before the release of generic Cymbalta, the brand name variation had earned the company $5 billion a year. This drug works by managing neurotransmitters and hormones, allowing ideal balance in the body. However, patients were allegedly met with the exact opposite when their Cymbalta prescriptions ended, experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms.

Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms can include: headaches, dizziness, suicidal thoughts, blackouts, and the infamous “brain zaps.” Brain zaps are an electrical sensation patients feel in the brain, due to uncontrollable neurotransmissions. While it is unknown as to what exactly causes the signals to cross so badly, Cymbalta and other antidepressants are often associated with them. Patients report that nausea and headache often accompany this side effect. Patients have reported that these Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms can last weeks after discontinuing the drug. After receiving numerous reports of these injuries, the FDA declared this group of symptoms Cymbalta discontinuation syndrome.

Overview of Cymbalta Withdrawal Syndrome Symptoms

While these withdrawal symptoms vary in range, sometimes being minor and some being debilitating, causing a severe disruption the patients’ lives. Cymbalta withdrawal syndrome can take a patient out of work for months, require intense therapy, and even hospitalization in some of the most extreme cases. Many patients have complained that they were not adequately warned of Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms, with doctors agreeing that patients and the medical community did not have adequate understanding of the risks of these withdrawal symptoms, or how harmful they can be. Other critics of Cymbalta complain that the risks of the drug may outweigh the benefits, and should be recalled from the market.

A non-profit group called QuarterWatch, a reporting service for the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, confirms this worry. In the first quarter of 2012, the group had reviewed 48 FDA injury reports of Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms, noting that a significant number of them required hospitalization. Additionally, several scientific inquiries have illustrated this concern, noting that their results indicate Cymbalta causing severe and lasting withdrawal effects.

One of these studies was conducted in 2009 and published in the French medical journal Prescrire, which found that Cymbalta’s risks outweighed its benefits due to the severe side effects. It is important to note that this study compared Cymbalta to other antidepressants and their own side effects, which led the researchers to recommend that physicians not prescribe Cymbalta at all.

In the same year, the FDA declared that Eli Lilly had not provided sufficient information regarding the possible withdrawal symptoms. In fact, the FDA noted that Cymbalta’s warning label instructed doctors to have patients continue with their Cymbalta prescription if they started to experience symptoms. The label further stated that doctors should gradually decrease the dose, to insure that the withdrawal symptoms would not return; this did not work in extreme cases.

The concern of Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms has become widespread news at this point, with patients and physicians now very wary of the drug. For patients who received this notification too late, most have decided to take legal action against Eli Lilly for failing to warn them of Cymbalta withdrawal symptoms.