After doing some drug interaction research after Monday's appointment, I learned that the Sinex nasal decongestant spray I've recently been taking doesn't play well with Savella. According to drugs.com, there is a "moderately clinically significantly" interaction between these two drugs. Here's the exact interaction wording:
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| Be careful with SNRIs and other drugs that can affect blood pressure and heart function! |
As you can see above, there is a serious risk of blood pressure problems and pulse and warrants getting off Savella and SNRIs altogether, which is my current plan. Again, I have learned all of this without any help from my fibro doctor. My fibro doctor was the one who told me to try Sinex for the nasal congestion I mentioned during my last appointment. What's more, he didn't tell me that it should not be used for more than just a few days - this I learned from my primary care doctor on Monday. I'd been taking it for a couple of weeks. This is the last straw. I can't trust him.
Knowing all this now, it is not much of a surprise to me that I am feeling some relief after having stopped taking Sinex since Monday's appointment, and having skipped my first dose of Savella last night. My head feels much better today and I actually slept for a change!
Thanks to others who have had to wean off SNRIs and shared the experience online, I have developed a month-long plan to wean off Savella.
The full regular dose of Savella is one 50mg tablet, twice a day, resulting in a 100mg per day dosage. Starting last night, I will eliminate my bedtime tablet each day for two weeks, resulting in a 50mg per day dosage. Then I will eliminate one morning dose every two days for another two weeks, resulting in a 25mg per two-day dosage. It's not perfect, but I'm hesitant about cutting the pills in half right now, as I have not been able to confirm that it's a safe thing to do. One person reported a worsening of heart problems after taking a cut Savella pill and warned against it. I will continue to look into this as necessary and watch for those odd withdrawal symptoms. If withdrawal (or "discontinuation") symptoms become problematic, I will try increasing dosage a bit to reach a happy medium as my body adjusts. (If you can point me to something about this on the web, please leave me a comment about it!)
With this plan worked out and symptoms seeming to calm down a bit now, I feel a bit more in control of my body's chaotic messages. This is, of course, not to mention all the "usual" fibro symptoms and pains that I can't escape. My hope is that, with fewer side effects complicating things, my fibro might be easier to manage.
Things are still stressful, though, because there is a lot going on at work as well as at home. Lots of projects are coming fast and furious at work because the market is changing and it requires action. As a member of my company's IT team, I get to be affected by all of these sudden and very urgent changes, even when they turn out to be reversed later due to new information. It's already happened and it will happen again. I just need to deal with that. It's going to be a long year.
A family member's health, though, is also suddenly very poor, but we aren't exactly sure of the diagnosis yet. He has his own chronic health problems, so the implications of his new symptoms are serious and worrisome. I am doing my best to stay strong and take care of his needs while my health seems to stabilize, though I also don't know how my body will handle being off SNRIs long-term.
My schedule and fibro doesn't allow me to do much of what needs to be done at home, much less handle all these additional challenges. I don't have much choice, though, but to try to keep calm and carry on, so that is what I must do.
Best of luck Benia. It's a long row to hoe.
ReplyDeleteThanks much!
DeleteFound some information on the "Discontinuation of Treatment with Savella" at drugs.com:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.drugs.com/pro/savella.html#s20
How did you do with weaning off savella?
ReplyDeleteActually did pretty well. I went slowly and the waning of side effects helped me feel better, bit by bit. I am glad I got off before something serious happened.
ReplyDeleteI have decided to do the same thing. I was on both Lyrica and Savella (200mg) I have stopped the Lyrica and started weaning the Savella. I take 100 mg twice a day. I've decided to continue the morning dose but cut the evening dose to every other day for two weeks, then I would like to cut all evening doses. I'm hoping to then cut the morning doses to every other day for two weeks and then just twice a week until off completely. I'm really scared of the side affects, I have no more sick time left at work. But I figured if I am in pain constantly on or off the pills why take them? I have been very depressed and crazy violent thoughts. I want off these pills and just deal with the pain. I feel like there are no doctors left that understand at all!
ReplyDeleteI thought I read somewhere that trials for Savella were only for a short time, so long-term effects were not known for approval. Although I initially thought it was helpful (after I got over my nightmare with quitting Pristiq to start the Savella), after just six months, I started spiraling with side effects. To be fair, I had the Sinex complicating things for me, but I didn't feel nearly as well as I do today, now that I'm off Savella as well as many of the other drugs and supplements I've been taking for Fibro. Today I just take one medication for Fibro - Cyclobenzaprint (generic Flexeril) - which helps with reducing muscle spasms and its side effect of drowsiness is helping me sleep. (I only take it at night.) I have decided that drugs cause more problems than they solve, especially the newer ones, and I don't trust in the medical community nearly as much as I used to. I am my own advocate and no one will be more motivated to help me feel better than ME!
DeleteTake care and I wish you luck in weaning off and hopefully staying off with fewer symptoms!
Hi There. Just thought I'd my put info on here for you. I was on Cymbalta and last time I weaned off I developed Fibro. GO Figure. So having had Savella in adbundance leftover from my doc's idea of trying that before ending back on Cymbalta, I decided to use Savella to wena off Cymbalta (because that is WAY more horrific to wean off.) However, after extensive research I began taking amino acids and malic acid with magnesium supplements before the whole weaning process. I eliminated refined sugar, using agave in my coffee in stead, coconut/almond milk for coffee too. Eliminated alcohol. Changed to meat and veggies only food, snd even sleep with one pillow instead of my usual two pillows at night. (natural not processed foods with chemicals or alterations) and so far my fibro symptoms have been reduced by 80%. Now I know its not that way for all but Ive tried so many other things since 2005 before fully understanding SNRI's and SSRI's and my disgestive tract and my central nervous system, I also learned about finding the causes of - instead of treating - the symptoms of fibro and so far (God willing) this seems to be the right path for me. I saved the titration packs the doc gave me so perhaps you can get some sample packs from a doc and see about using those to "titrate down"?
ReplyDeleteHi Kim. Thanks for sharing. I'm done weaning and doing a lot better now, but I do hope that your comments will help others who find this page. I'm glad you figured out what works for you.
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