"within two days of starting cymbalta, i had &#039;flashing lights&#039; in my peripherals (which didn&#039;t go away for two years) and nausea. not that big of a deal. but on day three, i was hit by an insane attack on what i assume was my central nervous system. i felt like my chest was in an ice bath, my internal temp dropped several degrees, my groin felt like it was on fire (burning/cramping), i started shaking and sweating and went into full blown panic. after taking a week off, i tried the drug again. same thing. absolutely awful. my doctors/pharms had never heard of these side effects, which were worse than my symptoms (anxiety-related feeling of throat/tongue swelling).

i switched to effexor (snri), which finally worked."