Savella

[CScalise]

Good Morning. I have had Fibro since I was 30 and I am now 65. I have managed the brutal ups and downs my entire life up until now. The past 6 months I have been bedridden and in the worst pain I've ever experienced. I've come to the point several times where I feel like I don't want to live any longer. I have an extremely positive attitude and I love my life. I have a beautiful garden and I am an artist so these two things keep me going even when I can barely think straight or walk. However, I can barely push through the pain and exhaustion these days and am wondering how I will live out the rest of my years in a condition as this. I have tried Lyrica and Gaba and came off both of them within a week due to severe side effects that felt worse than the actual disease. I am at the point where I feel I NEED to try Savella with the hope that it will give me some semblance of relief. I am not happy about it as I am not one who trusts the Pharmaceutical industry, nor to I like take medicine. But I feel I must try this one last Rx and hope that I can at least get a bit of normalcy back so I can actually live a life and not just exists, which is what I am doing now. If you guys could send some positive vibes my way I would truly appreciate it. If any of you take Savella and have had a positive experience, would you be so kind as to let me know. It would really help ease my fears. Thank you.

 

[sunkacola]

Sorry, I have not taken Savella so I cannot help there. Savella is an antidepressant, so it has all of the attendant problems associated with that . i have heard bad things about Savella, but cannot speak from experience. Sine you have already tried others without their being able to help you, I would suggest you try other things rather than going onto another medication, although of course this is up to you. I personally don't recommend medication to people, as I believe that there are much better ways to manage fibromyalgia, no matter how old you are, what your symptoms are, or how long you have had it. Please read my post here and think about trying some of these things to help you to manage the symptoms. :

My advice for managing fibromyalgia (especially for newcomers)

I am not a doctor or anything, just a person who has lived with fibromyalgia for several years now and has done a lot of research and trial and error experimentation. What follows is just basics. There are a lot of variations. You will find your own versions of everything I say, as this is not a...

www.fibromyalgiaforums.org

And I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Jemima]

Sending abundant positive vibes!

Have you looked into natural supplements for your condition, CScalise? I'm also inclined to react really badly to medications, but have managed to get a really good selection of supplements together through experimentation that make a big difference for me. We all seem to get on with slightly different things, but several people here in the forum have reported making breakthroughs with things like GABA, magnesium, vitamin D, boswellia, CoQ10, etc. Could be worth exploring!

If you do give the Savella a go, good luck with it. I hope you find relief very soon!

 

[CScalise]

Thank you. Jemima. I have tried Gaba, high doses of Magnesium, I take Vit D daily. The two others things you mentioned I have not tried. I am not thrilled about taking Savella or any other medication, but at this point my quality of life is so bad I feel like I need to at least try it. I'm not very hopeful that it will work, but I'm desperate at this point. I eat an extremely clean diet with no sugar and almost no carbs because I am diabetic. So I know it isn't food or drink and I am quite active when I'm feeling well. Unfortunately feeling good has not been part of my vocabulary for quite some time. I need a somewhat better quality of life to continue. Thank you for your response to my post. I truly appreciate it and I hope you have a great day.

 

[Melbrla]

I take Savella for FM. My dr prescribes the highest dose but advises me to take the lowest dose possible. He feels this gives me a feeling of control over this condition.

I actually have not taken it in several months but I feel a flare coming on, I think due to covid stress. I am not planning to take the jab until it has long term effects validated. But with all the mandates, I am getting worried that my employer will try to force my hand. I am a colon cancer survivor. I fought hard for my life in 2006. I think I should be the only person that has a say in whether or not I take the jab. Sorry, I did not mean to make this about Covid but I wanted to explain why I think I'm starting to have a flare. STRESS

Back to Savella. I found it to be very effective. Especially in how I could control the dosage depending on my symptoms. I previously took another medication prescribed by my PCP. It helped but not nearly as much as Savella. I did not have any side effects from taking Savella. The only thing I did not like was that I am not supposed to take NSAIDS while on Savella. I am somewhat of an orthopedic mess so I always seem to have some need to take an NSAID.

I wish you luck in finding a medication and or supplements to help you feel better.

 

[CScalise]

Thank you Melbria for responding to my post. I have tried everything humanly possible from Vitamins, Supplements, etc. I have managed to live with it for a very long time. However, the past 6 months I am almost completely debilitated. I am going to try the Savella although I'm not thrilled about it. I'm happy to hear from someone that has at least tried it. I am just looking for a little relief. My hope is that the side effects are not worse than the condition. We'll see. Thank you again everyone for responding. I appreciate it.

 

[Melbrla]

Thank you Melbria for responding to my post. I have tried everything humanly possible from Vitamins, Supplements, etc. I have managed to live with it for a very long time. However, the past 6 months I am almost completely debilitated. I am going to try the Savella although I'm not thrilled about it. I'm happy to hear from someone that has at least tried it. I am just looking for a little relief. My hope is that the side effects are not worse than the condition. We'll see. Thank you again everyone for responding. I appreciate it.

Feel free to message me if you like

 

[seniorzala]

Vérszegény?
B12 rendben?
TSH rendben?
Serumferritin rendben?
e-GFRi rendben?
D3 rendben?
HbA1C rendben?
CRP rendben?

Sincerely:by seniorzala

 

[Jemima]

Vérszegény?
B12 rendben?
TSH rendben?
Serumferritin rendben?
e-GFRi rendben?
D3 rendben?
HbA1C rendben?
CRP rendben?

Sincerely:by seniorzala

More test suggestions!

Anemic?
Is B12 okay?
TSH okay?
Is serum ferritin okay?
e-GFRi okay?
D3 okay?
HbA1C okay?
Is CRP okay?

 

[Uhura]

Keep trying. Remember if you have bad experiences with Savella, you can go off it but at least you will know you have tried.

Please don't give up on life. We are here with you.

 

[CScalise]

Thank you Uhura. I appreciate your kind words. I'm not giving up!

 

[NY Farmwife]

I'm so sorry about all this superpain you are experiencing. Go ahead and try the Savella at the lowest dosage available, and see what happens. Your doctor can slowly titrate the dosage up if needed. It did nothing for me in a 2 month trial, but I am glad that we tried it anyway. I'm assuming you are being closely monitored by your medical team during this extreme change in your pain level. If not, please do so. There are so many other things that could be going wrong. Just because you have fibromyalgia, doesn't make you immune to other problems--anything from kidney stones to arthritis, to cancer, and everything in between. It's time to rule them out. Another choice is a pain clinic. There are pain medications that can help you. But there are other pain clinic treatments available, too. Acupuncture, nerve blocks, radio frequency ablation, an implanted nerve stimulator or a TENS unit, to name a few. Please rethink medications. If a temporary medication can lower your pain level, you will be able to move more. If you can move more, your fibromyalgia will ease up. Whatever you have been doing for the past 6 months is not working. It's time to try something different. Please keep us posted on your progress. You should not have to stay like this. There is help. You just have to go find it.

 

[DGN]

I am sorry to hear of your recent debilitating flair. Thanks for posting and requesting support. That in and of itself suggests you are going to carry on. I know when any of us reaches out for support, it helps others. Your reflections helped me today as I was feeling the sadness and frustration of a recent flair. It sounds like you have the experience and internal resources to work through this flair. It will pass! It always does. Perhaps instead of thinking of the intensity of the recent debilitating symptoms, think only of just managing this day and if that's too much, just this hour. Anyone can fight the battles of just one day. Adding the suffering of 6 whole months, together with an unknown future, would bum anyone out. I try to take it one day at a time. Like you, and many here, I have experienced decades of suffering with persistent pain. But I know that focusing on the thoughts of suffering clouds the many many moments of joy. Art and gardening sound awesome. Even bedridden you can look at the art you created. I don't know about Savella. It's a tool. You have a large tool box. Perhaps it will add to your arsenal. I find entrenched flairs require a multi-modal, full throttle, response: improved nutrition, meticulous sleep hygiene, somatic exercises (including breath work, tension-energy release, etc.), gentle movement and reaching out for support. But...., don't give up before the upswing happens. At times I also feel the pull of that ultimate white flag. But, I tell myself that it is just my resiliency to pain decreasing - as it does with persistent pain over extended periods of time. I remind myself that my decreased resiliency is more than off-set by my ever increasing tools, in my ever expanding tool box - like this forum.

 

[CScalise]

Thank you for your suggestions and thoughts.

 

[CScalise]

Thank you for your touching response.