Savella was used for years before it passed FDA here.

This link gives some of the countries where it was first used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milnacipran

I believe it was in Japan also before US. Many papers on PubMed are from Japan and China.

not sure if this is at all related, but my mom shrunk 1" when she collapsed a vertebra having me...she had a lot of back pain from it, not that any of us would neccessarily know the difference (i probably wouldn't, anyhow).

Hi, I used to be 5'3'' and now I'm 4'10''. I was so shocked. I might be a dwarf now: Mine is happening because I'm losing bone and crikey, I have trouble remembering nouns. the pads in my backbone.(?) Spending lots of $$ at the tailor.later, val

Hello everyone. I was prescribed Savella in June 2010. My pm dr said that it was a brand new med for fibro and she thought it would be a good addition to my regime. When I first began taking this med I had to start at low doses and work my way up to 100mg per day. Right away it worked wonders! I was even able to wear high heals for the first time in 4 yrs. Savella increases a persons blood pressure so I was told to cut back the dose as soon as I experienced severe nausea because that us a sign that my blood pressure was to high. The first two weeks I experienced flushing and sweating episodes but they stopped for the most part after I had been on a steady dose of 100mg per day. At that time I felt awesome and I loved that the med gave me energy. However, my blood pressure stayed at high levels so I stopped taking it. My dr told me to cut the dose down and now I take the 25mg pill twice per day. Although most the time I take only 1 per day and it still works great at a low dose. It also helps my pain meds to work longer. The reason this med increases a persons blood pressure is because it has epnerepherine in it. I hope this helps, but becareful when starting this medicine as you need to monitor your Bp and start at really low doses (10mg per day is what I started with).
Sarah

Dear Denny,
I tried Savella for almost 2 months. My Rheumatologist (who I was trying to get a new opinion and a new perspective on CRPS) told me it was related to Cymbalta (which I had already tried and it had made me an insomniac so I was told to get off of it), but considered it to be better since it was developed later when doctors understood more about antidepressants. I am fairly sensitive to medications as well. I started out at 12.5mg and soon found that I could not handle anything over 12.5mg 2x/day because I would get so nauseous I wouldn't be able to eat. Also, whenever I tried increasing it, I felt like my burning pain would increase. It is hard to say; it could have been coincidental since my burning pain often goes up and down for no reason. Anyways, after losing weight and still not becoming accustomed to it, I dropped the med. If you do try it, I really hope it works for you! Please let us know how it turns out.

Hi Sarah

My daughters PM doc just started her on this med. 12.5 for 28 days. He also compared it to cymbalta but thought it works better. She tried cymbalta but it did nothing for her pain. She just did a 5 day epidural were she found some relief in the hospital but 2 days after the precidure the pain came back. Hopfully she will find some relief with this new med.