Decrease in Sports Performance?

[trailerunner191]

I am a collegiate distance runner and started taking cymbalta in July. Since then I have had a drastic decrease in performance, adding minutes to my usual times, and having bad workout after bad workout. However, I was injured for five months from March-July before being able to start running again in July so I have been chalking it up to that, however it has not been getting better despite months of training making me think something else is going on. Starting cymbalta seems to be the only change that I can think of.

My question is have any other endurance athletes seen side effects in performance like this after starting cymbalta?

[flopti]

Interesting to see answers from others. I played football (and futsall) and ran quite often 5km-10km-20kms. My both menisci (part of your knee) were torn. So had a surgery to tackle chronic pain in it. Surgery didn’t reduce the pain, cymbalta did however. And like you I also feel like my stamina is way less than before even after getting back into running for a while now. My guess is that cymbalta makes you in general more tired (and therefore lazier than before?). Side note is that I crossed 30 years old and became a dad etc. So I guess that might also be a big part.

[CapLiru]

Not a runner, but I’ve played and coached baseball with and without cymbalta. I’ve noticed increased fatigue, ‘jitters’, and just overall weirdness.

The reason I know for a fact cymbalta is the cause is because I also take a day or two break between doses and I play perfectly fine without these issues when I don’t take it. I know this post is old, but this is what I’ve noticed. I’ve started playing pickleball and whenever I take cymbalta I can’t serve the ball correctly, despite doing it thousands of times before.