Increased alcohol use on Cymbalta

I can't  believe i've found this site. I have recently upped my dosage of cymbalta from 60 to 120 and while it has helped my depression i am currently sitting here with a broke tibia, fibula and ankle that happened 2 week ago  falling out of a shopping trolley  after a quiet drink with work mates. I am 48 years old. I don't actually drink that much either. A month or so back i fell and cracked my tooth on a radiator also drink related i was so out of it my husband and friend had to bring me round and i hardly remember any thing in the morning. I  drink hardly anything and i am known for being abit of a laugh but this is actually scary. I'm going to see my doctor about either changing anti depressant or at least dropping the dosage.

I also had the experience of increased drinking with cymbalta.  I found this website, and after I read what was happening to other people,  I felt so much better.   I thought I had become an alcoholic!  Doctor put me back on my old antidepressant about 3 weeks ago, and my desire to drink has faded.   I can also just drink 1 beer and quit,  something I couldn't do while taking cymbalta.  My advice to anyone with this problem is to switch to zoloft.   It doesn't seem to cause that craving for alcohol. Years ago I took prozac for about a year, and it also increased my alcohol intake,  though at the time I didn't make the connection. Good luck to all with this problem,  and GET OFF THE CYMBALTA!

I can't believe that I never made the connection between Cymbalta and my blackouts.

I have been on Cymbalta for 3 years and at first was having fun getting so drunk off a couple glasses of wine with my roommate, but the next day I would have no recollection of the end of the night, which was scary, but we were home and I simply thought I drank too much. Lets flash ahead to present day so I can share some of the things I have done lately, hmmm where to begin...

I am drinking vodka and club soda now, going to bars all the time, I have blackouts every single time I drink, I fall asleep at the bar, fall down all the time, I am covered in bruises and have a huge lump on my head as I am typing this from last night when I fell asleep at the bar, slept on a bus bench while waiting for my ride home, hit my head on the concrete, then when I did get home I wet the bed, seriously I wet the bed. I call my boyfriend horrendous names like pin penis and loser, break up with him, throw things and storm out of the house and walk to the bus stop. (the only way i even know what i did last night is because my boyfriend filled me in this morning)

I am on my way if not already an alcoholic and I'm scared of what I have become capable of and I need to stop this destructive pattern before I hurt myself or god forbid someone else. Today i am skipping my Cymbalta and starting a step down to ween myself off, I tried the cold turkey approach but got so sick i thought i was dying so every other day, every second day, third day etc. hopefully will work better. as sad as this sounds i am comforted to know i am not alone and other people are having similar reactions. Reading the stories on this site may have saved my life so thank you, thank you, thank you. Please share your story with someone and know that you are not alone.  

Your comment sounds almost like I wrote it! Never was a drinker, and then went on Cymbalta, some months into taking it I now find myself drinking alot and having the urge to continue! It is scary, I too have a husband that has noticed and it really bothers him, I am going to the Neurologist and asking about this issue and hope and in the last two years gained about 20 pounds! I am going to the Neurologist and talking about this issue and hopefully getting taken off Cymbalta!

I have noticed an increase in my alcohol intake this last year and fear I'm becoming an alcoholic. I always drank moderately before but now, I feel like my drinking has gotten out of control. I never made the connection between the Cymbalta I'm taking and the increase in drinking. I'm glad I found this message board because apparently, others have experienced the same thing!

Whoa! I was always able to handle my drinking pretty well.  In fact, I loved having fun, and it always included alcohol.

I was so unbelievably lucky to find this site because I never put the increasingly disgusting way I drank down to anything but my selfishness, and hereditary alcoholism.

I was so ashamed...wait for it..I went all the way to another province to attend rehabilitation for the summer.  on my holidays!  It was like being in jail.

But no one there thought anything at all about the drugs they doled out to us because they were prescribed by a doctor. Since then, I have not drank for one full year,  except for a small binge, during which I stopped taking -----cymbalta.

I went through the brain zaps and enormous tummy aches, and of course quit drinking again. All this does is gives me a little hope..that some day.....maybe at Xmas--I can have a drink and not make an arse out of myself. Thank you all. I love you guys.

I have been on Cymbalta for for 16 months. I have to agree with all the comments that since taking the meds, my alcohol consumption has gone up.  Apparently Cymbalta and alcohol affect similar chemicals in the brain.  I find that this combination of alcohol and Cymbalta promotes bouts of depression.  I take my Cymbalta in the morning and have a drink of 2 at supper.  According to my caregiver, this is acceptable but not the best for the liver.

I did the same things, I was throwing things at my husband, I kicked the refrigerator repeatedly, denting it. Drinking excessively, telling him I wanted to leave him, crying, and waking up with little to no recollection of the events, furthermore, no matter how much I drank I had no headaches or hangovers in the mornings, I was right as rain! Now my husband and I are both concerned for my safety, I'm going to go and see what I can do to switch to something else and he would like to stop drinking with me out of support. I know I have been putting him through hell and I cannot help but feel horribly guilty. Cymbalta seems to contribute to alcoholism, I was a social drinker and now I only dont drink once or twice a week, the higher my tolerance is the higher my intake gets :( This almost made me cry but I am so relieved that I'm not the only one out there!

I have had thee worst experience of my life. I'm a 29 yr female. I have had my bout with depression, and drinkng excessively when I was in my earlier twenties and in college. I have started taking cymbalta for 7 weeks now, quit taking it I think three days ago. I went out with a few co workergs to have a few beers. Beers is all it was, I'm long grown from my college days when it was nothing but shot after shot of hard alcohol. I had maybe at the most 7 bottles of beer. I went home and went to sleep. The next morning came, and around 815 in the am I took a sleeping pill, turned of my clock (because of the ticking) and went to the restroom. I went back to bed hoping I cld sleep till noon at least. I had no hangover, and felt fine when I layed down, I came too around 10pm that evening, no memory of it at all. The whole day, gone. I cldnt believe it. I cldnt understand it either. The next day, I woke up again and cried and cried, I was so scared, what if something bad had happened?! Something was not right, its just not right, never have I ever blacked out without a memory, ever! Even when I was drinkng back in my ccollege days.
I guess, I layed on my couch all day, got up only to refill my cup with wine, I had made many calls starting around 9am that morning. I didn't use the bathroom, I didn't eat, I layed on my couch made beligerent phone callls and drank wine till ten that night.
The next day aafter the black out day, I cldnt eat, I cldnt drink and it burned when I peed, and the side my my stomach hurts like hell, still. I looked at the amount of wine I drank throughout the whole day, it was a box wine...ik ik. Anyways there is a little over than half of it is gone. I am 6'2, 230lbs, I know on any given day I cld drink that whole box of wine and still be able to know what I am doing although intoxicated. But never wld I be blacked out. I blacked out before any of it consumed. Something was just not right. I quit taking the cymbalta. Its been nearly three days, maybe because I don't know if I took it on the blk out day. So two for sure.
The withdrawls are hell, but there is no way in hell wld I ever take cymbalta again. I got a doctors appt. Tomorrow. I am going to tell her everything. So not only does alcohol mixed with cymbalta mess up ur liver, I have had blackouts, the worst just a few days ago, and the withdrawls are hellish. If it wasn't for finding all these forums for cymbalta, on what the doc, and officials say, I wld hv thought I was loosing my mind. This experiece was a nightmare, wished it was, but only difference u can remember nightmares. This one day, I can't remember the slightest second of it. Duh, don't mix alcohol with meds. I feel violated. And so scared. But all is well and I dumped all my meds. And terrofied to consume any alcohol for any reason at anytime. As far as I am concerned, I quit it all.

Like you I found I could drink five times as much as usual, think I was fine, but friends and family report how horridly drunk I was. Only to wake in the morning hangover free and feeling fine. Good to read these messages, because I thought I was reacting to events by drinking heavily now I wonder if the Cymbalta is playing a part in it too. My drinking patterns and behaviour when drunk have definitly changed since I started taking it. Thanks

I took Cymbalta for over 3 years starting on a low dosage and eventually brought up to 120mg a day. I had a lot going on in my life. My drinking increased and had all the symptoms of everyone else. It was a nightmare and had no idea why this was happening. I just took the meds. I was also prescribed another med (Welbutrin) and take LaMictal. Lots of meds right? Well I was feeling so sick...oh and I was switched to Vtbriid. I decided the hell with all of it....got all the meds out of my system.  In the meantime, I was tested for ADD and not only do I have ADD, I am alcohol free and have never felt better in my life. My body reacted opposite to anti-depressants. It all caused so much trouble with certain members of my family, and I hope someday those fences can be mended.

I thought I was going crazy until I saw a therapist over the weekend and he said that cymbalta could be the reason I have been craving some much beer.

I am taking cymbalta for a short period now and have not taken a drink. Maybe if while taking cymbalta try not to take alcohol as it is a known depressant and it will not help us. I drank on lexapro and ended up feeling wired and like that drinking a lot more than usual.When docs changed me to cymbalta i made a decision not to drink and try give myself a fighting chance to beat depression. When people who dont know my illness ask why i am not drinking I tell them i am taking a break from it to save some money and they accept that. I feeling little better since i stopped drinking, it just a suggestion that may help you guys. It can take long time to heal depression, so guys keep heads up and keep the doctors informed of any side effects.

How do you feel when you read a post and the thoughts, feelings and experiences within mimic your own. Am I glad? Yes that I'm not in it alone but sorry that your life is a mess like mine.

I knew coming off Cymbalta would be a nightmare. Over the 5 years I have been on it I have at times inadvertently forgotten to take it and WOW the side effects, more particularly the dizziness which leaves you sick. Pop a Cymbalta and all goes away. However I started reading some post on withdrawal symptoms and started thinking this drug is doing me more harm than good. I am weaning off of Cymbalta by using another anti depressant but the side effects are still bad.

What I can tell you and why I started this google search is that my THIRST for alcohol has decreased since being off of Cymbalta. I was out of control, I would have a drink then BAM I was drunk and I would awake to the stories of my drunken exploits, aggressiveness, wasted money etc.

I hope you have broken the cycle and are off Cymblata now.

I have used Cymbalta in the past and it saved my relationship, my job and my mostivation in life in general.... i took myself off them feeling my life had improved.... my feonce' left me... but for different reasons... i left my job and am back where i started so my Dr put me back on.... and i took the first 60mg when i was sick and ended up pulled over at a petrol station with people coming to get me and my daughters mother coming to get her!I just took some a few hours ago having not taken any since then (a week or so ago) and am now feeling all tingly and sick in the stomach... its tolerable atm, but i have a really big feeling that it has something to do with both times ive drank redbull after it???I love red bull and live on the stuff... but i think it might be incressing the side effects?Ps: i wish i had of read this before taking it again... you guys scared the sh*t outta me O_O