Last week I started taking Savella for Fibromyalgia. I am on my 5th day and the last two nights I've had really violent and bad dreams. Is this something that others have experienced or maybe just coincidence?

Drugs with the SNRI portion, which Savella has a good bit of,
stimulate higher norepi levels in the brain. Increased norepi/adrenaline cause nightmares in some people.

Effexor, Cymbalta, and Savella all are combination serotonin reuptake and norepi reuptake inhibitors...meaning they increase these neurotransmitters in the nerve synapses.

Savella is the strongest norepi type of the 3. Discuss this with your doctor, and maybe a dose reduction would work for you?

How's it going otherwise? I see it may take some time (weeks?) for Savella to reach full effectiveness. Vivid dreams have been reported, but dreams can't harm us, they tend to fade quickly after waking, and in the case of medications that have this effect, they tend to abate, so it's up to you how bad they are, and whether they're bad/disruptive enough to not want to continue.

Just a personal observation; I've tried meds that produce vivid dreams and some that gave me nightmares, and I make a distinction - vivid doesn't necessarily equate to bad/nightmare, and whether it's one or the other can be influenced by other factors like diet, general mood, etc. Either way, they've always abated.

Just some thoughts to mill over; calling your doc to ask/discuss is reasonable.

Doc

Last night was much better. My dream wasn't gruesome and like something out of a horror movie like they had been the two nights before. I wonder if it's because my body is beginning to adjust to the Savella?

In regards to the dosage, I'm on a very lose dose. I am on an atrition pack for the next two weeks with increases in dosage every two days. Other than the dreams, I really haven't had any issues with the meds. I woke up this morning and for the first time in a really long time I felt like I had the hands of a 37 year old and not a 97 year old. My fingers didn't ache and there was zero stiffness. The muscles in my leg have ached and felt sunburnt on the inside for a week and today it's totally gone. I'm hopeful the meds are working and things will keep improving. Big improvement considering I was near tears on Friday with a flare.

That's all good news and very encouraging. You may (subject to discussion with your doctor) even be able to level off at a lower dose than expected!

Pleasant Dreams!

Doc

I recall trying this med per my Dr's advice (for my pain/depression).
Wow. I became like Dr Jekyl/Hyde - very irritable, to where I actually acted out. One instance was when I was driving out in my pasture checking on my horses and something or other sparked an 'anger' nerve. I turned into a road rage fanatic (road rage in a pasture ) and ended up screwing the whole front end of my truck. sheeeesh.

Anyway, I hope you do well with this and the nightmares dissipate.

Rae

Hi, I've been on savella for about 6 months. 100mg 2x per day. It has helped me about 75% which is very good for me. I have had or have side effects but for the most part they all go away. I still have a loss of appetite and at three months the severe sweating began but I have lost about 30lbs which is good for me. I was told to try taking over the counter menopause supplements for hot flashes for the sweating and it has helped tremendously. Although now at 6 months it seems that the sweating has slowed down quite a bit. But I was also hoping that at 6 months I would be better but I'm still on 10mg of Methadone 2x per day. I wanted to be off of it completly and only taking celebrex for flare ups but thats not happening. nothing else has helped before this and I tried everything. Only heavy doses of narcotics have helped and I don't want that so I am thankful for what the savella has done so far. I hope you continue to get better as the months go by. Everyone is different but don't give in too quickly, the side effects come and eventually leave so hang in there!