False Advertising? Not Really.

Nothing irritates me more than Lyrica and Cymbalta commercials.

Take Lyrica and you'll be out gardening and making jewelry. You'll have your old life back. When the commerical comes on, I have this overwhelming urge to throw the remote at the television.

I guess I get irritated because I didn't have a good experience taking Lyrica. Actually, I regret to this day that I ever took it. There are many who benefit from taking it but I don't know very many. Most people that I've talked to feel the same as I do.

Having an invisible illness is hard enough without the misconception that just taking a certain medication will make everything all better. Even those who take the Lyrica and do well, don't have their lives back.

As for Cymbalta, I have been taking it for quite some time now. For my fibromyalgia. Not depression. I tried taking it on it's own for depression and fibro but unfortunately, it was just not effective enough to control my depression. I will say it does help with my fibro pain.

It comes with it's own set of side effects. Weight gain and fatigue are the ones I have experienced. I take it at night because it makes me too drowsy to take during the day.

Also, if you've taken it for awhile, stopping it isn't so easy. It will be a longer process of titrating down and it's not fun. I also urge anyone with clinical depression to talk with your doctor about taking another antidepressant along with the Cymbalta. My pharmacist told me that the literature even states that it should be used in conjunction with another antidepressant.

I understand that drug companies have to make their products sound appealing and wonderful. It's all about making money. I just want to put out the reality behind the medications. The thing with invisible illnesses is that they are in fact, invisible. On the outside we look fine but truth be told, our bodies have betrayed us. We fight pain, so much pain that no pill can fix.

If it was only that easy.

Comments

[NotablyNicole]

Those commercials are very annoying. It only shows one side of fibro. Those that have very mild symptoms and find fibro to be more of a nuisance vs a life changing illness. They do not show the person who cannot get out of bed, can barely walk to use the toilet, or is still in agony after taking enough pain meds to knock out an elephant. Granted, it's all about money. They won't show that second person because they are selling this dream of their product "curing" us. Good post chicka.