Anyone Else Trying Savella For Fibromyalgia? (Page 2)

This is a new medication that just came out for fibromyalgia. I have several other conditions involving spinal degeneration , herniated discs, arthritus, etc.
I've been taking this medication for a little over 2 weeks now and have worked up to the full dose. My biggest symptom seems to be upset stomach but I don't know if it's from the Savella or from de-toxing from 7 other medications that I've been on for over 10+ yrs.
Is there anyone else out there that has started this medication that can give me any information that they may have on it?

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Suzanne-i did take levaquin-3 times right before I was diagnosed with fibro-I though I had found correlations of them as well....I even considered talking to a lawyer but never did. What have you found?

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I am really hopeful here! Beginning Tuesday this week, I have noticed decreased pain. In fact, Tuesday was the first pain free day I have had in years. Everyone around me has commented on how much better I seem to be feeling. AND it's true. Today I begin taking the 50 mg bid.

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Savella contains the active ingredient Milnaciprin, this is an SSNRI antidepressant, that has also been shown to be effective for certain types of pain.

The various symptoms being described could be caused by this medication, the other medications your on or are stopping, or a combination of both, since some medications can cause side effects to be synergistic.

Common regular side effects can include: nausea, drowsiness, headache and anxiety.

You can read more on it here:

https:/­/­rxchat.com/­wiki/­Savella/­

Is there anything else I can help you with?

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I continue to be getting good response with Savella r/t pain. The pain I have now is hardly noticable compared to what it was before Savella. I had been on many various meds in the past w/ no relief. My only side effect is intense hot flashes! No, I'm 63 years old and have already been there. My fiance said he couldn't keep up with me this weekend. I am moving so much better, have more stamina, and I even have pain free days.

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I was taking Savella for about 6 weeks. I had a horrible experience. I discontinued it 2 months ago and am still attempting to recover. I experienced many of the same symptoms as Jessica. I can particularly identify with the buzzing sensation & increase in anxiety and in depression. I also had the sensation throughout my body, particularly my head, as one has when the foot falls asleep. I experienced weight gain also. Pelvic pain began soon after I began taking it and continues. I am very concerned about the welfare of those taking this medication.

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I was put on Savella , started to take it Friday night. I have awful nause, stomach and abdomenal pains, and heavy sweating. My pain seems decreased- DDD, chronic OA and chronic LBP. Been seeing a Pain Management Dr.and on Vicadin and had Thermo genic procedure to stop the pain. I have little desire to eat,
I want to give it a try, but the nausea is really bad....

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I have been on Savella for 7 weeks now (100mg twice a day for the past 5 weeks). I had always taken Ambien, so sleep was never a big problem with it. I did go through the hot flashes but they subsided after 2 or 3 weeks. I was able to discontinue my 40mg of Prozac. I'm not sure if the Savella is doing much for the pain, as I still have to take Darvocet daily. I have fibro., DDD, and spinal stenosis. I'm 60 yrs old

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Suzanne, I am curious as to what correlation you have found between the use of Levaquin and FBM. I have been on Levaquin many times as I am allergic to other antibiotics. I am really interested in how you arrived at the possibility there may be a correlation.

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I've just been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, although this is not a concrete diagnosis so far. My doctor started with Cymbalta then moved on to Lyrica. Both made me beyond emotional, with Lyrica being worse, and neither giving any pain relief. I just started on week 2 with Savella. So far I've not noticed any significant change in the amount of pain I'm in. Still around a 7 (on a scale of 1-10). This is where I'm typically at on any given day. I'm also experiencing several side effects. Major nausea, although eating prior to helps a little, decreased appetite, horrendous headaches with extreme sinus pain and altered mood (feeling very BLAH). I have my doubts that I will continue taking Savella as there are no benefits to trade for the side effects. I'm wondering what my doctors next step will be.
****Side note: I also take 50,000 iu of Vit D as part of my therapy****

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Like Rebecca, I ,too take the Vit D. and 4g of omega 3. I have been put on a gluten free, dairy free,diet to see if we can pinpoint the cause of the inflammation with fibromyalisis. The diet is very difficult, but I am coming along. I will return to the Dr. in Dec. to see how this has worked.

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Like Rebecca, I ,too take the Vit D. and 4g of omega 3. I have been put on a gluten free, dairy free,diet to see if we can pinpoint the cause of the inflammation with fibromyalgia. The diet is very difficult, but I am coming along. I will return to the Dr. in Dec. to see how this has worked.

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I started Savella one week ago and at first it cause nausea bad (no pain though) but my doctor said thats a side effect until your body gets use to it. She was right i had nausea for three days and now i feel great no pain and I have a little sweating but lots of energy and no pain....I just had to say it again no pain....For those with Fibromyalgia the words no pain are a God send. So yes it was rough at first but after your body gets use to it, you'll feel better trust. Just hang in there. Thank God for Savella 80 % less pain

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Started Savella three days ago. The 12.5mg pills were making a definite difference to my pain levels with no side effects. Went up to 25mg this morning and got severe nausea - but I hadn't eaten yet. Will try eating first (per some of the other comments) and see if that helps, otherwise going back down to 12.5 2x/day.

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I've had FM, CFS, CP for years and haven't found any one thing that works well. I think it probably started when I was in my 30s but no it was not something anyone knew about then so I wasn't diagnosed until much later. I've had multiple traumas which I believe started these symptoms. I was in remission for a number of years, but had another trauma a few years ago and it all came back with a vengence and I haven't been able to get it under control since. I think perhaps age and multiple traumas have finally caught up with me. If I take a small amount of pain meds. every 4-6 hours I have much less pain. Dumb as it sounds I often forget to take the meds. until the pain starts. Duh! I am very, very sensitive to drugs. I've tried many and the only one that helps at all is the very old amitriptyline. I've found that many of the older drugs cause me less side effects. I think the newer drugs have stronger chemicals or something. Just a guess. Unfortunately nothing helps the profound fatigue I have sometimes. I have some fatigue all the time, but ocassionally, like visiting my children out of state recently, puts me in bed for a week at a time. As you all know (I assume you all know) exercise is absolutely necessary for FM whether it be light or not so light. I was in PT for several months and it helped a lot because the therapist knew lots of little tricks that helped. My insurance would no longer pay so I've continued on my own with a maintenance plan. It doesn't seem to work as well because I can't do some of the things I did with the therapist and I have a hard time gauging how long or difficult I can tolerate on any given day. When the Fatigue gets really bad and I can't exercise the FM flares really badly. It's a catch 22 situation. RE: Vit. D supplements. My Rheumatologist believes in it and takes it herself. She did blood work about 6 months ago and included Vit. D level. Mine was extremely low. I started taking Vit. D immediately in fairly large doses and I did see a difference. In fact, while I was visiting my children I forgot to take my daily supplements. I believe this is one of the reasons when I returned home I had a really, really bad flare of CFS, FM, CP. I 've started taking it again but haven't been taking it long enough to notice a difference yet. I saw my Rheumatologist today and we discussed the latest treatment, Savella. She thinks, perhaps, I could take it and told me to come home and do some research on it and we would talk about it the next time I see her. I love that she is so cautious and understands my sensitivity to drugs (almost all drugs). She just returned from a conference and went to all the lectures on FM, CFS and CP and said this is the treatment she is most interested in. I asked her about the recent articles I've read about the retro-virus that's come up AGAIN. She doesn't think the studies are adequate yet so she's very skeptical. I hope she's right, but will continue watching for info about this in the future. Thank you for sharing your experiences with Savella. I've started a Support Group here because I have lots of experience facilitating groups. Unfortunately the people who have attended so far are so depressed and have so many diagnosis that they only want a quick fix. I don't know how much longer I'll continue this group. I need some positive support and feedback. Any suggestions on what might be a good way to get this group going would be appreciated. Thanks again for all your posts.
Long Play (I'm using this name because it's an old nickname I was given many, many years ago. Only a couple of people know why. I prefer to remain anonymous for now.)

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I am a 28 year old, single mother of one. I have what's called a Chiari 1 Malformation. I have now developed Fibro along with it and Carpel Tunnle. I tried Cymbalta for about 6 months and it worked for depression, but not the Fibro pain and it also made me gain around 20-25lbs. My Rhuemotologist took me off of the Cymbalta and has prescribed me Savella. He says that it should help with the pain, but also make me loose weight? I just started it 2 days ago, and so far I've experienced an upset stomach for a little while after taking the pill, and sweating around my nose. I'm also experiencing the same yawning effect as I did with the Cymbalta. Once I yawn, I continue yawning every 5 seconds for up to an hour or so! Does anyone else experience this yawning thing? I will post again in a few weeks after I've allowed the Savella time to kick in.

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Lisa, I am familiar with Chiari. It almost ended the careers of two of my friends. One almost allowed a surgeon to operate on her for this defect, but fortunatley found out soon enough that he was a quack so she didn't go through with it. She's very glad she didn't because she found other ways to treat it that helped. She has not developed Fibro. I can't imagine dealing with both. I look forward to your post after you've taken Savella for a period of time. My Rheumatologist has told me it's up to me and I'm doing as much research as possilbe before I make the decision. The experiences of others who have FM, CFS will help me make the decision more than anything thing else. Thanks everyone for your posts. They help a lot.

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Hi - I haven't posted in a while.. but stay reading. I have been on savella 2 1/2 months. Now up to 100mg 2xday. I have carpal tunnel, neurophathy, recently found out I also have raynaud's syndrome, and I am sure I'm missing a few. I have been doing well, still doing physical therapy (aqua therapy is great for fibromyalgia) and have been getting trigger point injections every 3 weeks. This combination has been very successful. I wish I could get more than 6 injections per visit because the trigger point gets the needle, but unless the next one in the line gets an injection, it is not as much relief. So far, I'm doing well. I could complain, but it's not really necessary. I need to get I.V. iron for anemia (feratin level is 6) so after that, I should have a bit better of a memory. Anyway, just a short little update for the new girls. Also, I am doing some research on the effect of grounding (and the lack of it) appears as though it has an effect on fibromyalgia. Talk to ya'll later.

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Lori, I'm very familiar with the term grounding but wonder if it's the same as what you're referring to because I can't imagine how this could effect FM. I'm open to new info, but this is a little hard for me to accept and wonder if I'm misintrepreting what you are saying. Thanks for sharing your results of all your treatments. Can't imagine having anemia along with all others we have. I already have too little energy. Being new to this site I look forward to reading others posts.

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HELLO EVERYONE!!!!! THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE WRITTEN IN COMMENTS AND SHARED THEIR EXPERIENCES. This is Teresa and I posted the question in late August. I just want to give you an update about me. After stopping zoloft and 6 other medications I started my Savella treatment. At the time that I posted the question I was due to get my refill. I was just miserable from detoxing from all my other meds. It took well over 6 wks to rid my body from meds I've taken for 14 yrs. Any way--I haven't been able to get my Savella renewed because of Insurance, mix ups at my Dr office, etc. I have to drive 70 miles to see my Dr. What a mess....I'm hoping to have the Savella this week. I've stopped my zoloft so I'm ready for it. My Dr. started me on morphine sulfate in July, I take 200 mg extended release (12 hrs) then one 30 mg 3X's a day. It has brought my pain level down more than anything I've taken so I recommend that if you're suffering. Early this morning I tripped on a carpet and cracked my left shoulder bone---oh---it hurts so bad. I have hearing loss and vertigo and have been having loss of balance for about 5 yrs. now. Ive fallen down quite often. I must go for now it is painful to type. Once again, THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE TAKEN PART IN THIS DICUSSION. I look forward to all of your posts perhaps with SAVELLA and each other we can learn and help and support one another. After all SAVE is in SAVELLA!

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Hi Teresa, thanks for starting this thread. It really helps me to read others' experience and realize how lucky I am. To long play, yep, probably you are correct, grounding.. as in direct contact with your bare feet on the earth. If you google Earthing or the name Clint Ober, you will find the study he did. His book called Earthing will be out January 2010. It makes a lot of sense, and presents a whole new thought process. How many people here have Seasonal Affective Disorder? It will be interesting to see how mine will be this year, given the fact that I am on a Vit. D prescription. I also notice with the savella and wellbutrin s.r, and no longer on the lexapro that I am in a much better overall mood. Long post, sorry.. ramble ramble. That's me, the left handed right brained virgo with a short term memory problem. -Lori

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