SAVELLA Reviews (MILNACIPRAN HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.0 (158 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare SAVELLA with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on SAVELLA: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR SAVELLA | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | depression | F | 42 | 1 years 100 2X day | 5/19/2010 | 3 | I cannot stand how sleepy this medication makes me feel. Does this change eventually?? I cannot afford to be sleepy. I have 2 small children and my Dad is dying of Pancreatic cancer. Just lost my mother 3 yrs ago so this is devastating. I can't distinguish between the pain that I have and my abnormally high ANA results or just plain depression. All I know is that this makes me sooooooo sleepy and yet I do not sleep well. If someone could tell me that this passes after I get used to it, then I will continue to take it. Otherwise, I'm ready to trash it. Thanks | F | 46 | 14 days 50mg 2X day | 5/16/2010 | 5 | FMS | HBP, disorganized thinking, irritation and impatience, high levels of joint an muscle pain with each dose increase for about 3 days | My husband and I are both on Savella for FMS. I tend to be depressed and anxious, he tends to be depressed and flat in affect. I started 2 weeks before him. I had high blood pressure, and the other side effects mentioned but stuck with my dose. He had high blood pressure and the same side effects; but he went back down to 12.5/day on his dose. He is coming off Cymbalta 10 mg qd. He ran out of Cymbalta and two days later started taking Savella at 12.5 qd. 5 days later he went to 25 qd. His blood pressure and heart rate increased. Instead of moving to twice a day dosing, after 2 days he opted to cut his dose to 12.5. His BP has remained high with the reduction. He is having a lot of memory issues and his pulse is 102 compared to a normal level of 68. I am on twice a day dosing at 12.5 per dose and am feeling much better. If I am late on my dose, I feel agitated and hyper, though.I put my gender down as male since I am mostly reporting on my husband. There are no male reports so I am hoping to see some soon or to see someone check in on their progress. The posts are mostly pretty old. | M | 60 | 21 days 12.5 2X day | 5/11/2010 | 4 | fibromyalgia, other chronic pain | nausea, scalp itch, sore gums, raging yeast infection, all over itching, drying of the mucosal lining of my nose. | I had all of these side effects within three day of starting the titration pack. They were intense; my fibromyalgia is worse. I decided I could deal with nausea if the pay off was going to be pain reduction. I took tons of fluconazole for the yeast infection which lasted a week. I still take generic zrtec for the all over itching. My sore gums lasted a couple of months, but I found if I took my medication as near 12 hours apart as I could get, the better off I was. I was pain free for six weeks, then I started feeling some old familiar pangs. My PCP added Lyrica in case I was headed into another dark period. The side effects for it have been much harder, more severe. Savella helped me be and feel clearer than I had been in years. I felt like me again. I'm hoping once I adjust to the Lyrica, the Savella will still do that for me. | F | 41 | 3 months 50mg 2X day | 4/26/2010 | 1 | diabetic neuropathy feet, fibro | We all are different, have different reactions to medications. Savella has been pretty bad.Before starting Savella, I have lost almost 100 pounds, due to dieting and going to bed hungry, that is just what it takes for anyone in my family to lose weight or stay the same.I once took Lyrica and it added about 40 pounds onto me. I went off it and started on CYmbalta.I heard it blocked REM sleep, that is really not good.I searched the net and found conflicting info on the topic. My doctor said not all people's REM sleep was affected by it.I didn't gain back any weight on Cymbalta, in fact, it may have helped keep it off. With Savella,I have had dry mouth, been depressed and in a bad mood.I have had this feeling of doom in the pit of my stomach that will not go away, even when I'm "having fun and laughing", it's still there!It seems to not even be connected to me,just a general feeling of impending doom.I read on another post the same feeling and couldn't believe someone else was | I couldn't believe that people wrote they have lost weight on Savella, but i guess it's because we all have different body systems that react differently to meds. Wish I could find one to get rid of the pain and help with weight loss,and give me all my REM sleep! I'm giving Savella another week if I can stand it that long.The pain was worse today than it has been in a very long time.I would rather die or lose REM sleep than gain back another ounce of weight. I feel that Savella has made me start gaining weight back,and I seem to have blurrier vision. | F | 48 | 9 days 50 2X day | 4/18/2010 | 1 | fibromyalgia | nausea, anxiety, hypertension, shortness of breathe, dizziness, severe panic attacks | had nausea for the entire time. After two trips to the ER in one week for severe panic attacks my rhumetologist stopped the Savella to see if it was the med that caused the problem. i have been off Savella for only 48 hrs and my breathing has almost returned to normal. Panic is gone and it feels good to feel good. the pain was completely gone before i had to stop. the doctor said to expect severe rebound pain, this has me almost as worried as the panic attacks. we will try some other medications in two weeks, i am not looking forward to the other possiblities and their side-effects. Savella did great at removing the pain but the side-effects make it impossible for me to take | F | 55 | 4 weeks 75 mg 1X day | 3/18/2010 | 3 | IC (Interstitial Cystitis) | Tingling/cramping sensation in my legs. Sounds easy enough but it makes trying to fall asleep at night rather difficult. | I believe Savella is working for me (calming my pelvic floor muscles) but I may have to stop taking it or decrease my dose if I can't get rid of this annoying side effect. | F | 27 | 3 weeks 12.5 MG 2X day | 3/15/2010 | 4 | Chronic Pain/Fibromyalgia | Take it with food, and don't take it too late in the day. The titration pack was HELL on EARTH: nausea, dizziness, light sensitivity, feeling spacy, brain fog, nervous, jittery, light-headed, hot flashes. Thankfully it didn't last long. Now, it's just a bit of occasional nausea when I first wake up or if I take it without food. | This does "take the edge off". I am still in significant pain, but it seems to rearrange things in my brain to bump up my pain tolerance. I've been able to stop using tramadol, which has been good for me. The pain, while not gone entirely, is more of an annoyance now. I seem to bounce back quicker from bad days also. | 33 | 2 months 100 mg 1X day | 3/8/2010 | 2 | Fibromyalgia | Weight loss (yeah!), couldn't take a nap during the day no matter how hard I tried. Harder to sleep through night even though I'm on a prescription sleeping med. | Savella replaced Gabapentin and Doxipen along with my anti-flammatory med put 40 pounds on me which I could NOT take off. I lost 15 lbs without even trying, kept 10 of them off. Switched back to old meds because Savella didn't control the pain nearly as well. However, it really helped the chronic fatique during the day. However, I'm sleeping better at night now without it. | F | 57 | 5 months 60 mg 2X day | 2/27/2010 | 4 | Fibromyalgia | Much more energy, little bit of nausea at first, some sweating and heart palpitations | I am currently tapering off of Cymbalta. I am on 30 mg for the next 2 weeks and then I will be done. The Cymbalta worked great for pain reduction but caused more fatigue. I currently take Lyrica 75mg 3x per day in addition to the Savella. | F | 49 | 17 days 50 mg 2X day | 2/24/2010 | 1 | muscle pain misdiag of fibromyalgia | Slurred speech, out of it, feeling of doom, slow muscle control, confusion | Too scary for me to continue. Only took 2 doses 12.5 at night then 12.5 in am. Took about 6 hours after 2nd dose for side effects to stop. Did not notice if pain was gone as these side effects were greater than the pain. | F | 43 | 1 days 12.5 mg 1X day | 2/23/2010 | 1 | Chronic neck/shoulder pain | Nausea for first 3 days, sweating so severe I could not get out of bed. I lost 10 pounds in 6 days. | I am so disappointed that my body cannot tolerate Savella. By day three, I was pain-free. The sweating was not your usual "increased sweating" posting we see here, however. This sweating was so severe, it was like having a slow-dripping faucet above my head. I'd get a hot flash, followed by a new round of sweating. This sweating does NOT stop. It was from my head to my ankles. The cool air in my house would hit my skin and I'd go crazy--FREEZING to death!! I had to stay in bed all day. I never thought that sweating could be a dibilatating condition. I'm glad it's over. I lasted 8 days on Savella. I found out from others on this drug, that if your body reacts in this manner, it does not go away after a few days. If I'd been assured otherwise, I would've kept on going. | F | 44 | 8 days 2X day | 2/5/2010 | 1 | chronic pain | Let's see, where do I start? I was on Savella 2 weeks before I called my dr. and said I couldn't tolerate it any more. Scalp tingling, rapid heartbeat/palpitations, hot flashes. Then I mistakenly took an NSAID (ibuprofen) and have been bleeding an entire week, even after stopping the drug. I found no relief whatsoever, and because of the bleeding, I cannot take anything else that might get me through the pain. I have extreme headaches, shoulder and neck tightness and pain, but until I can reach my dr. again, I can take nothing for my discomfort. | F | 60 | 14 days | 1/30/2010 | 1 | post viral syndrome / fibromyalgia | intense scalp burning, mood swings, rapid heart rate, elevated b/p, | I started the titration pack and only got up to 25 mg/day. The scalp burning was terrible. I also had crying episodes. The good thing was the pain was decreased by 85-90% until the 2nd week of 25mg/day. Ended up in the emergency room with Seratonin syndrome (HR 180, BP 180/98, extreme agitation, etc.) Was told that this could have killed me. I really wanted to try to stay on the meds due to the pain relief but the side effects would have killed me. Hope they can come up with something that helps as well without all the terrible side effects. | F | 46 | | 1/12/2010 | 2 | FM | Fast Heart Beat, excessive sweating and smelling in the armpits, insomnia | I thought this drug was doing pretty good. I did the titration pack and although the first week or two was a little rough, I was desperate to keep taking it to help with my pain. I was on this about 5 months before I had no choice but to stop. Over the five months, my pain didn't go away, almost like taking a sugar pill, and I ended up very depressed, no energy (worse than the CFS I already had), and generally sad or mad most of the time. | F | 45 | 5 months | 1/11/2010 | 1 | Fibro | Hot flashes, sweating and fast heart beat. | I was happy at first about Savella, but it ended in disaster. The weirdest thing happened. After three months of taking Savella, I started self-destructing and cutting myself. I don't know why or anything, but it does similar to prozac where it makes you think and do weird things. This is a newer drug and there is so much hype, but it does not do anything at all for pain. I was not depressed and did not need a antidepressant, but Savella made me want to die. It was so weird. Other than that there was no real side effects but there were hot flashes and fast heart beat. Be care with this one please. | F | 40 | 4 months | 12/22/2009 | 4 | Fibro/Myofascial pain syndrome | Initially, nausea, hot flashes, flushing, difficulty sleeping, mild headaches. Got through the first two weeks and all side effects have been easing up. PLEASE give it at least the full 2 weeks. This med really may help you. | Finding after 2 weeks my energy is increasing and my pain is easing up to the point I can take less Soma and oxycodone as well as celebrex. Definitely better then Lyrica, side effects are more tolerable to me then they were with cymbalta. Overall, very happy with this medicine so far. | F | 37 | 2.5 weeks | 12/11/2009 | 4 | Fibromyalgia | Main one was periodic nausea, & it seemed to lessen my appetite. The other was how it affected my mood. Spent 3 days crying when I first got to 100 mg, so had to adjust the dosage a few times. | Savella has been the best medication I have been on for FMS. Once I found the right dosage for me, it has helped alot with the pain & fog. As mentioned I have had some mood changes with it, and am currently adjusting the dosage again to see if that improves. My pain & fog has been severe for years, & this medication has overall helped more than anything I've been on. It has saved my life in regards to giving me the first real break from FMS symptoms I've had in years. | F | 37 | 9 months | 12/10/2009 | 5 | Fibromyalgia | Nausea,hot flashes, sweating, tachycardia, insomnia, HOt flashes seem to last more than the other side effects. No longer have nausea or insomonia. Side efects get better the longer you take it. | Almost immediate improvement in pain. Taking with food, lots of fluids and dosing early in the day helps. Ride out the side effects and it will be worth it. There is not a medication made that does not have possible side effects. I would recommend it to others that have already tried all the other medications for fibro. | F | 54 | 2 months | 12/6/2009 | 2 | Fibro | Sweating, Headaches, Upset stomach, Diarhea, | Does not help with pain at all, Does help some with energy but keeps you awake more than normal. | F | 33 | 4 months | 11/15/2009 |