Has anyone heard of or tried Savella? My Pm doc gave me samples of this med to try when I saw him on Friday. Supposedly its a new Fibro med. I am really hesitant to try this medication. Its a anti-depressant based medication & I dont take those type of meds well. I have tried them all & have severe side effects from them. SO I am afraid of taking this. I am thinking I am going to call my psyciatrist before I start this. I take a bi-polar med at a low dosage for sleep & depression because i cant take anti depressants. I am upset that my Pm didnt really listen to me when I talked to him about my concerns regarding this med. I would really like to know if anyone has taken this & had any problems or had good luck with it. Thanks so much
Hugs, Denny

I'm sorry I can't offer any insight on this specific medication but I think you have good cause to question this. I agree that you should see your psyciatrist before starting a medication like this with your history.

I too am very sensitive to medications and it took 2 very severe allergic reactions for my pm doctor to finally listen to me and stop using the shot gun approach to prescribing. One reaction caused my white blood cells to be destroyed making me very sick very quickly and the other reaction cause severe tinnitus, vertigo and hearing loss.

I am very very hesitant to try any new medications now, especially a new drug that is just on the market. I don't believe that new medications, especially those being used off label have been fully studied for all possible side effects and interactions.

Always trust yourself first and foremost as you know your body best and get a second opinion if your doctor doesn't listen to the concerns you raise.

MsL

This med is similar to Effexor. Only it has more SNRI effects, I believe. It can raise blood pressure.

I am attending a pain conference all day Fri --10hrs.
One of the speakers will do Fibro. The last time I went, 2 yrs ago, this drug was in trials, and only available in other countries.

It will be interesting what is said about it on Fri. I'll come back to this thread if anything new or exciting is shared.

It is an antidepressant, and if you are bipolar, you should clear it with your psychiatrist.

Another frustration - not being heard. When will start to be listened to? I think of all the months wasted trying to get diagnosed because none of the doctors went outside of their own specialty box and heard I HURT. And the times trying to get across that the medicine is going to cause an accident because while on it I just don't see those red lights! My pain MD is unhappy with me because he doesn't want me to be on any pain medication and my family MD is willing to prescribe it --when the PM MD took me off it I was about 1 day short of suicide because of the pain and my family MD came to my rescue. Not that I take my own advice, but ask questions until you get answers - what are the side effective and how will it interact with my other medications. There is a website, I don['t have the address, but you can put in your medicines and it will indicate how they interact. Hope you get good answers. Lynnie "ONE MOMENT CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING!

A few weeks ago I saw a Phys Asst at my PCP office when I went in for a blood pressure check and lab work papers. He wrote the name of the med down for me and mentioned that is was brand new and suggested I ask my anesth. about it at my next appt. All he knew was that it was a fibro med that was also being marketed for chronic pain.

Based on how the other meds in this category work, I would think you would need to take it for about at least a few weeks to see whether it works for you or not, right?

I am pretty happy with Cymbalta, so I don't know whether I would want to switch. Nor have I done any research on Savella yet.

Sandy

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I have a call in to my psyciatrist & am waiting for him to call me back but it really doesnt matter. Yesterday I went & saw my primary care doc. He does almost all my meds including my pain meds because my Pm doc doesnt listen to me very well. The first thing I talked to him about was the Savella. My doc was not happy. He said under no circumstances should I be taking this medication. we have tried medications in the same catagory as this (I thought so) & & the effects were nit favorable & that was before I was taking a medication that the pamphlet says can conflict with this medication. I also got some wierd news & wonder if anyone has seen this or if this is happening to them. I have shrunk 3/4 of an inch in a year. I am going in for lab work today & after that we will see what tests need to be run. But thats a lot of height to lose in a shirt amount of time. I dont know what to think. Thanks fo all the help.
Hugs, Denny

Denny and all...I'm new here and looking forward to discussing fibro, med's, etc. My pain mgmt dr. put me on Savella over two weeks ago. First few days, I had some minor side effects (flushing, nausea), but nothing too serious. Until four days ago. After lunch I started to experience a sudden, rapid heart rate increase (I felt like I was being choked). My hubby said I turned beet red and my carotid artery was bulging out of my neck! It finally subsided 2-3 minutes later, but it seemed like an eternity. As luck would have it, I had an unrelated dr.'s appt. a few hours later. While I was in the waiting room, it started again! The nurse rushed me to the back, took my blood pressure and it was 190/150!!!My normal is 105/70. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack or stroke. I'm on no other med's, so my reg. physician took me off the Savella. It took me three days to detox and it was extremely unpleasant! (and remember, I was only on it for 15 days!) Anyone wishing to try this med, please be very careful and if you've had a bad reaction to other SRNI's before, you probably want to avoid this altogether. This stuff scared the crap out of me!

Peanutwiggins, First & foremost I am so sorry that ghappened to you. I can only imagine how freigtened you were. Thank God you had a doctors appointment already scheduled. At least you were at the doctor when happpned so they could witness what was happening to you. Thank you for sharing the information too. I have bad reactions to anti-depressant medications. My POm didnt listen to me. I am so glad two other of my doctors over ruled him & said no I could not take this medication. If it hadnt worked I would not have wanted to go through the withdrawal syp[toms you did. I hope you find other medication that helps you.
Hugs, Denny

Sorry.... the conference I attended had very little on Fibro and Savella.

The speaker was Russian, with a thick accent, and no one could understand him. His specialty was dopamine receptors in the brain and opiate response. So I am sorry, no new information on the clinical advantages to Savella.

He also had oxytocin information and estrogen links to pain. But I will have to study the handouts of the original studies for a while on this one. His accent was so thick, he was impossible to understand. And he talked to fast and ran words into each other!

I've just checked, I'm in Europe and Savella or "milnacipran" isn't in the medications list of the official Belgian (just one itty bit of Europe) pharmacy site. We're lagging a bit behind, I guess. Maybe it is already available in other European countries, I don't know.