Newly Diagnosed-Anyone else on Savella?

Hey there,

My name is Amanda and I just got diagnosed a few weeks ago. I've always had strange problems and everyone always thought I was a hypochondriac! Its almost a relief to finally have a "reason" why I hurt so bad. I have been a poster child for fibromyalgia as of late so I knew I had it before I even went to the doctor. But of course no one believed me!

The doctor put me on Savella and it has turned me into a roller coaster of emotions (I've never been moody), it makes me nauseated, and my body actually feels worse. I find myself LOOKING for reasons to be mad at my poor boyfriend. I have only been on it just over a week. I'm still on the titration pack so not even up to a full dose. I can't decide whether to say forget this crap now and go back to the doc or try to stick it out a bit.

Is or was anyone else on Savella and what were your reactions?

Hi Amanda. I was also recently diagnosed a couple of weeks ago. I have been on savella for 9 days and I don't like it very much. I went back to the doc today because I was in so much pain, and he told me to stick with the savella a little longer. He also put me on Neurontin. The savella makes me feel pretty bad to, it isn't helping for sure. I am in so much pain and my doc won't give me pain relievers. I don't know if I'm going to keep taking it.

Hi everyone,
I'm a 25 year old male who was diagnosed about a year ago. I haven't been put on Sevella, but I was put on Paxil to start. If your doctors ever recommend this to you please read up on it before accepting it. It has some major side effects that sound similar to the Sevella. Paxil made me very dizzy, gave me an upset stomach and abdominal cramps and aches, headaches that lasted forever, increased pain, and ultimately it changed my mood. My wife and co workers couldn't stand it, I was either really upset, or really angry, and only sometimes happy or normal feeling. It wasn't worth it at all. I was able to get the doctors to put me on Lyrica after watching the commercials and asking them about it. Lyrica at first will give you the same nauseous feeling for the first couple days while you body gets used to it, but it went away for me. It helps out with managing the pain and my Cymbalta also helps. The Cymbalta tends to really help me out with my anxiety. By no means do these pills take the pain completely away but the Lyrica and Cymbalta have been the two main medications known to help combat Fibromyalgia, so it might not be a bad idea to mention them to you physicians. I have other posts listed in the "Living with Fibromyalgia" and the "Fibromyalgia Symptoms" section. Even though I have been diagnosed over a year ago, I am still having new symptoms every week and have pain levels like a roller coaster. If anyone happens to read my other sections could you please let me know if you are experiencing any of the same things. I am also just looking for someone to talk and relate too.

I had asked my doctor about the "non-antidepressant" drugs for fibro but he didn't even hesitate with the Savella. I'm glad to hear i'm not the only one who's medicine makes her angry! They probably won't give you other pain killers because the Savella is supposed to help with the pain. It seems like there is a lot of stuff you shouldn't take with the Savella too...like taurine for example which is in all energy drinks. I was downing energy drinks like no other because of the lack of sleep I miss them.

Have you noticed this with any of the other meds Andrew? I want to try the Lyrica I think. That was the only one that wasn't an anti-depressant...I'm sure my doctor will say the same thing though...stick out the Savella a bit longer. I hope I can without scaring everyone away with my bad moods!! Eek.

No, I haven't noticed anything negative with the other meds like Lyrica, except for the week that it takes for your system to get used to the medication. You will normally feel a little naseaous and very dizzy especially the first day on Lyrica. The doctor told me to take it before I go to bed and it should last the entire night and into the next day. Also with taking it at night, it helps me to sleep soundly instead of waking up every half hour to every hour trying to find that "comfy" spot in bed that my body likes. Be very careful getting up in the morning the first time because my head was spinning like crazy and I almost fell right to the ground. Not fun. It is nice to not take an anti-deppresent, they all seem to give me the Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde effect and I don't like how it makes me feel, I completely understand what you are going through and trust me, you are not alone in regard to being an emotional roller coaster, b/c I am one too. If you don't mind, could you please read my other posting that I have in the "Living with Fibromyalgia" section? It has my name listed as being the most recent post, and if you could please let me know if you are going through some of the same stuff that I have listed? I just want to be reassured that I'm not alone or a "special case" with some of my stuff. Thank you very much, and I hope that I am helping you out, I know that I greatly appreciate having someone to talk to who can relate, b/c it seems like nobody else can and nobody else understands what I am going through.
Take care,
-Andrew.

Amanda,
Thank you very much for reading my post and leaving some great suggestions. I will take your advice and try to just deal with one thing at a time and I do agree with you that stress does bring on some crazy stuff, maybe even phantom pains just because of thinking about other options. I'm glad that we have been able to connect and discuss things here. It might sound odd, but I look forward to getting on here and seeing if any new messages have been posted. Talking really helps to calm my nerves and I hope that it does the same for you. I hope that you have a great rest of your week, I pray that every day that goes by is another day of research on treatment for Fibromyalgia. Have a great night!
-Andrew.

Amanda,
I googled Savella. Almost everyone complained that it made them "bitchy." I've already got that problem so I decided it was a dangerous road.
Good luck.