High Blood Pressure Savella (Top voted first)

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I JUST BEGAN THE NEW PRESCRIPTION DRUG FOR FIBROMYALGIA THIS WEEK CALLED SAVELLA IN PILL FORM. MY BLOOD PRESSURE HAS RISEN FROM AN AVERAGE OF 122/70 TO 155/85. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS PROBLEM? WILL IT REGULATE BACK DOWN AFTER BODY ADJUSTS. OTHERWISE SURE FEEL A WHOLE LOT BETTER THEN WHEN ON CYMBALTA FOR SAME DISEASE.
COULD IT BE A WITHDRAWAL EFFECT FROM THE CYMBALTA? I WENT OFF THAT 24 HOURS BEFORE STARTING SAVELLA. HEADACHES, JITTERY, HYPER WERE NOTICED IMMEDIATELY, THAT IS GETTING BETTER EACH DAY.

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1

Your experience parralels mine. I transitioned from cymbalta to titration pack of savella in one day. Very rough withdrawal. Worked my way up to full dose of Savella in October. BP was rising at half dose, Dr. thought at full dose pain would be lessened and BP would fall. I have always had very low BP until 50s, now 53 BP had been in normal range until beginning savella. Now, since Dec. and full dose BP is in the abnormal range. PC said drop back on savella 2 weeks ago, so taking 3/4 dose. Still have ringing in ears high heart rate, headaches and BP was high, so seeing PC in 5 days. Savella seems to be the culprit.

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47

Savella raised my blood pressure from 120/68 to 165/92. I never took another capsule of Savella. AND I never will. Cymbalta did decrease my pain level but weight gain and swollen legs told me to stop that one as well. Older meds are usually safer. The Pharmaceutical industry wants our money, hence the newer patented EXPENSIVE meds are prescribed. Please see a qualified MD.

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50

Me too, was on Davella for about 7 years and this year my blood pressure was sky high. Weaned off Davella and now it's back to normal. But, the pain is unbearable.

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7

My B.P. has dropped some, just not as low as it used to be. Saw my Dr. this week. I am doing so well on the Savella at 12.5 mg we are staying at that level and increased a new B.P. medication to only 5 mg as I was on such a low dose of 2.5. The sweats have diminshed a great deal, unless I am active. I have lost over 10 pounds of water weight, massage therapist is amazed at how my body has changed - and who would know better since I see her once a week. Our goal is to go to once a month, which now looks feasible. I do have headaches, but then have had daily since a whip lash at age 13. Diagnosed as tension headaches from neck stiffness. The Cymbalta was terrible stuff and I would not recommend for anyone. Now that I am off, I have discovered how very much of my life and mental abilities it took from me. I hope this helps someone out there who is struggling with Fibro. My energy level has greatly increased and pain decreased. What more could I ask for?

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42

I think the headaches come from the high blood pressure. mine has never been high and now it is 186/112 I had rather go on BP meds and stay on Savella then stop it. savella basically gave me my life back. the other 2 out for FM are crap when it comes to helping with the pain. I don't know how they got approved for that reason. Just saying.

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45

My BP went out of control, 200/108 and I hd to stop the best med I ever took for fibro. I was so disappointed.

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49

Exactly what I experienced. I was taking 100 mg daily of Savella...I was willing to suffer through the side effects getting started with it and they finally subsided..BUT my b/p ( which has been well controlled for nearly 30yrs on med) went sky high. So high I could feel it. I felt awful so started monitoring it regularly ( strokes run in my family) I was upset that when my Dr. And I discussed it , he just wanted me to double up on my b/p med AND add another one! What? I decided to get off it pronto, cold turkey and am now going through withdrawals way worse than the tapering onto it were. Much more pain, sweating profusely, nerves shot, insomnia, acting mean, etc. I know I am going to prevail in this just like I did getting off the duloxetine( which I turned out to be allergic to). Going to stay on a double dose of my b/p med until the end of the week then drop down to my usual dose, all the while closely watching my b/p. Hopefully in a couple more weeks I will feel back to my normal self. I would rather live with my pain every day until I die than be a guinea pig for anymore chronic pain medicine.

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51

I was in the ER for the same thing. I love Savella,, but, it putting my heart rate over 100 andy blood pressure, which is normally low,is 1 65/100 or higher. From what I read, meds help with some people, but not all. I've had to quit Savella at only 25 mg! On blood pressure meds now, because it's still high and back in pain. I was on Savella for almost 2 months. What a miracle drug, if it weren't for the side effects.

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2

Thanks for your reply. I am doing well on the Savella now with the exception of two side effects. Periods of sweating during the day and night and B.P. has risen. My M.D. is keeping me at 12.5 mg which I don't feel needs to be increased at this time. Most concerned about the B.P. and sweats. Will see M.D. in a couple of weeks for re-check.

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3

Your experience concerns me a great deal. I was on Cymbalta for 6 months. Each month, my blood pressure increased, until it reached dangerous levels, 184/113. Like you, I had always had low blood pressure, in fact 120/70 was a high reading for me, unless I was in great pain ( i am 48). I was experiencing terrible constant headaches on the Cymbalta. For three days, I took 1/2 doses, then none for one day. My headache all but disappeared. I started the Savella at the 12.5 dosage, I was dizzy and the headache is coming back. Today is day two, and I have the same symptoms. If Cymbalta caused me to have high blood pressure, and that occurs in < than 1% of people, it seems as if the Savella is causing the same problem, and that it occurs in 5% of people. Is there anything else that I can try that does not have this side effect and does not cause sexual disfunction? I've been on Prozac, and while that is OK to help what's eaten by pain, it did not diminish neurological symptoms, and it was detrimental to my love life

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4

Sorry to hear of your High Blood Pressure problems, it is scary. I am 64 and have been Hypertensive and on B.P. lowering medications since my late 30's. It being genetic. Many different medications and trials to finally find the right combinations which has kept me in the 'perfect' range for several years. Cymbalta never increased my B.P. It just caused so mamy other side effects and now know it was taking quality of life from me. I too suffer from no Libdo but that stems from breast cancer and taking druge to kill all estrogen in my body. Savella, even though has raised my B.P. and not in the dangerous range, is right now my lie saver. I feel great. Thus will see if the Dr. will continue to keep me on the 12.5 mg dosage. I still have a few bad 'sweats' during the day and night but that too is diminishing. I am just monitoring my B.P. and it has dropped some since I wrote my first comments. Good Luck!

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5

Thanks for your input. I decided to quite the savella and not go on any replacement drug for now. Hopefully i will be able to do without. It is a tough go right now, but with time maybe my body will adjust. One less med would be great. If not, I think I will go back to Cymbalta at a lower dose. Savella did not seem to be for me, and as I do not have Fibromyalgia, Cymbalta is helpful for the neurological pain I do. Good health and Best wishes.

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6

It is hard to say which could be causing a raise in your blood pressure, since it could be either of these factors, stopping one med or adding a new one. It could even be a combination of both.

What does your doctor think and advise?

Savella contains the active ingredient Milnaciprin, it is an SNRI that is effective at reducing some forms of neurological pain.

Common side effects may include: nausea, drowsiness, dizziness and headache.

There is more information on the medication here:

https:/­/­www.medschat.com/­wiki/­Savella/­

Are there any questions or does anyone else have more information to add?

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8

I'm still not taking any SRNI meds. My doctor was okay with the change. I am not having all the side effects, however my pain level has increased. My blood pressure has decreased on 150/80 as 10 days ago, and I think it is lower yet now.
I may try Cymbalta at 10 mg does if the nuerological does not calm down. Thank you for all the feedback.

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9

Re-Posting submitted 1-16-10, I will give an update after I see this one makes it.

Last Monday, Jan. 11th I visited my PC about blood pressure and heart rate elevations since starting Savella. (See post 1/6/2010 for details regarding discontinuation of Cymbalta and starting Savella.) I called all of my other Doctors and obtained my BP and heart rate readings taken in the past two years. Most readings were taken monthly, as I had mentioned my readings before 40 had always been really low. Since both parents and siblings are treated for high BP, this was something that I always paid a great deal of attention to. I had noticed that after a hysterectomy at age 40 my readings were higher for me, but always in the normal or low normal range. This was even the case during 1 year of treatment with Cymbalta. It was very obvious that by the time I reached half dosage of 12.5 daily my readings were climbing. I discussed this with both a D.O. that I see for manual therapy and women’s wellness specialist that I saw in October at my annual exam. Both encouraged me to increase to the full daily dose of Savella. It was hoped that the pain relief that I would receive when stabilized on Savella would lower my blood pressure. I will digress to say that when I started Savella using the titration pack and reached the full dosage I did have mild nausea and some headache which persisted, I dropped back to half dosage and this improved. I was encouraged to gradually increase Savella to the full dose because of that experience. I very slowly increased to the full daily dose. Nausea was not an issue this time. What I did notice was my heart rate seemed high and I was prone to headaches. It was hard to fall asleep because of my heart rate. I was at the full dose for one month. Pain seemed lessened but I could tell when my BP was rising and sometimes would experience palpitations. At this time I called my PC and began dropping back to half dose again.
Anyone being treated for chronic pain has a multitude of factors and medication regimen, so I hesitate to say that my experience would be true for others. For instance to combat fatigue I take either Ritalin or Focalin. I was taking this and premarin prior to starting Savella with no increase in BP or rate. When I saw my PC, I was taking half dosage of Savella, although my BP was not as high as it was at a full dose it was still high. My options were take a mild BP med. or taper off of Savella. I am opting to taper off. I realize that this is going to be a true test of how much Savella did provide in pain relief. For those whom it has reduced pain to a 0-1 I am very happy and I am glad that I gave it a try. The greatest benefit was getting off of Cymbalta, I did not realize what an emotion stealer this med is until I was off of it. I feel like I missed a year of living as myself. Savella did help with energy and libido. (Libido was enhanced as I began the med. although this may just be the case of beginning to feel like myself again.)
Here is the greatest gain through this journey. There is hope, hope that things can improve. By researching and accessing credible studies, (Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins) and reading experiences of others on various forums I found a small population of people who were tested for vitamin D deficiency. Several who were found to be deficient when treated improved. I asked my doctor, was found to be deficient and I have started treatment for this. I would encourage anyone reading this to research vitamin D deficiency and see if this could be influencing your health. I will let you know how it goes as I decrease Savella.

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10

I am not taking any SRNI meds still. However, my pain level has become problematic. It is interferring with my sleep, which inturn causes more pain. I see my doctor next week, and I think I will go on a low dose of Cymbalta. Hopefully, at a much reduced level my blood pressure will not increase, and I will have a reduction in pain. I will post the results.

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11

Please see my earlier posts, especially going directly from Cymbalta to titration pack of Savella. This was very difficult and I would not advise anyone to try and go from Cymbalta to anything without a very slow tapering off of Cymbalta first. Your blood pressure readings are very similar to what I experienced after beginning Savella, as I said the transition was scary, I think a great deal was withdrawal from Cymbalta. Once those symptoms subsided (including increased emotions, which I attribute now to the transition from emotions which were dulled by Cymbalta.) I did see a brief time of feeling more normal and decreased pain. This was when I was almost on a full dose. After reaching the full dose however the headaches and ear ringing outweighed the benefits for me. I did try to adjust to the full dose slowly but never had any decrease in BP to normal. My PCP offered a low dose of BP meds and continuation of Savella, I opted to go off of it and manage with pain meds only. Yesterday I went back after 3 weeks off of Savella and 8 weekly doses of 50,000 IU of vitamin D. I do not know the result of blood work yet, so I don’t know if D levels are normal now, but my BP was normal and better yet heart rate went from 90 back to 73.

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12

Cymbalta gave me hallucinations.
After off of it one year, the fibromyalgia pain was terrible, have had it 30 years. Savella was started and worked up to two 50 mg tablets per day. then i got hot flashes. tapered off, flashes stopped. pain increased. I started it again but within 3 days i was red and hot and yesterday had a mental episode where i thought i was falling, husband said he had to sit by me on the bed while i grabbed the covers tightly and didnt even know where i was, thought i was falling off a mountain. stopped savella abruptly today after phoning doc and will see him next week. has ANYONE had any mental episodes?

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13

Please see earlier posts, many people have found this website when they experieced almost the same effects. Transitioning without tapering from Cymbalta is very difficult. Be kind to yourself during this period. Your BP and heart rate on Savella should be monitored closely by your doctor. Savella allowed me to feel emotionally more like myself and I realized that on Cymbalta I was emotionally dulled, I did not realize this until I was off of it. Savella reduced pain well, but because of BP and high heart rate I chose between adding a BP med or just managing pain with pain killers. It is a trade off and only you can decide which works best for you. For some a very slow titration to the full dose of Savella works. Some do not have the BP issue and some regulate back to a normal BP. For me my BP did not return to normal until I was completely off of Savella and I reduced the dose very, very slowly. From any of these meds, lyrica, cymbalta and savella do not stop them abruptly. Hang in there.

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14

I was diagnosed with FMS approx. 10 yrs. ago. Up til recently, I would just suffer with it when it flared or take pain pills until I could function without them. Recently my dr. started me on the Savella titration pack. I built up to the max dose of 200 mgs a day. Aside from the constipation which was horrible and like nothing I'd ever had before in my 50 years...the other side effects were horrible. I too experienced the falling phenomena - literally, off the couch onto the floor. At work, I have occasionally fallen out of my chair in my office! Always a continual feeling of dizziness and/or unsteadiness. The unsteadiness and fear of falling became so bad that I am still afraid to get back on my treadmill or walk far without something to grab onto. The sweats also were terrible; literally, my shoulder-length hair would be soaking wet. My clothes would be soaking wet. I took to packing along extra unders when I'd go to work. The sweats caused serious rashes, similar to heat rash, under my arms, under my bra straps and around my waist where my waistband would be. I spent 3 days with a killer-headache when I finally broke down and called the dr. By that point, the heart palpitations were intolerable and combined with everything else, I was prepared to live on pain meds. before subjecting myself to anything else. I'm so saddened that the Savella didn't work; but I can't live my life with those side effects either. I wish everyone else well and congratulate those who can tolerate the drug.

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