![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by former poster on August 20, 2013, at 20:43:36
I haven't posted for months. I'd like to share my experience with Savella. I'm from USA and Savella isn't approved for depression here but I managed to convince my Pdoc to prescribe it.
This medication often seems under-prescribed. Over a year on Milnacipran, (Savella) at 100-150mg daily dose. It has been effective on my depressed/anxious state. I can honestly say it causes the least cognitive impairment of any antidepressant. It works like a lifejacket for me, increasing function, concentration. Effective on chronic depressed/anxious states and situational induced depression/anxiety.
Reduces anger, rage. anxiety, despair, feeling of doom. Reduces some symptoms of social anxiety. Improves sleep quality, except at higher dosages. I have reduced my Clonazepam dose over the last year and have even forgotten to take it for a few days and have done quite well. This is amazing for me because I have been on benzo's over 30 years.
Unfortunately all antidepressants have some trade-off. I have experienced the following side effects:
1. Excessive sweating
2. Mild to moderate ED and decreased libido
3. Nausea, headache often but transient.
4. Possibly reduced athletic ability, fatigue150mg/day dose was more effective than 100mg/day dose but difficult to tolerate the side effects for me.
Hope someone can benefit from this bit of information. Air traffic controllers, musicians, elderly ...anyone that can't tolerate cognitive side effects should be given a non-fogging option.
Posted by Phillipa on August 20, 2013, at 21:59:25
In reply to Savella, (Milnacipran) conclusion:, posted by former poster on August 20, 2013, at 20:43:36
I will alert Joef To your post. Glad you are doing so well. Phillipa
Posted by Laney on August 20, 2013, at 22:24:00
In reply to Savella, (Milnacipran) conclusion:, posted by former poster on August 20, 2013, at 20:43:36
Is it expensive??
Posted by Tomatheus on August 20, 2013, at 22:29:51
In reply to Savella, (Milnacipran) conclusion:, posted by former poster on August 20, 2013, at 20:43:36
Former poster,
Thank you for writing about your experience with Savella (milnacipran). I'm glad that you've been doing well, and I hope that your response will continue. Savella does seem to be a bit overlooked with it not being approved for depression in the U.S., but it's good to hear from someone who's doing well on the medication.
T.
Posted by former poster on August 20, 2013, at 23:44:19
In reply to Re: Savella, (Milnacipran) conclusion:, posted by Laney on August 20, 2013, at 22:24:00
>>Is it expensive??<<
Sorry I don't remember how much I paid. If you are in Europe Ixel is the brand name for milnacipran. If you are not perhaps you could order it?
I believe Savella is quite expensive since there are no generic equivalents in USA. I wonder if it will go down in price since it's active metabolite Levomilnacipran will be available in Dec?
Posted by former poster on August 21, 2013, at 1:11:33
In reply to Re: Savella, (Milnacipran) conclusion:, posted by Tomatheus on August 20, 2013, at 22:29:51
Its funny really. The condition I was prescribed milnacipran for, chronic pain, didn't help at all. But it worked on the depression/anxiety. I wish I could tolerate the side effects at the 150mg dose. Hopefully the new lesmilnacipran will be an improvement?
Posted by bleauberry on August 21, 2013, at 17:02:32
In reply to Savella, (Milnacipran) conclusion:, posted by former poster on August 20, 2013, at 20:43:36
I haven't posted in a while either, so I guess I'll join in.
I was on Savella several times, earlier this year for a few months.It did a better job for me than any other ads did, with fewer side effects, but after a while the same old lack of motivation thing that I used to get on ssris sort of came back gently. I felt better the whole time, but not very productive. Sleep was awesome. Always tired, but could never tell if it was the lyme or the med, probably both.
My dose was only 6mg 3 times per day. Somewhere along the line I became super sensitive to even tiny doses of many things, mostly anything that has anything to do with serotonin.For anyone new to antidepressants or looking to switch after a couple ssris, I think savella is under utilized. It should be one of the first line choices, in my opinion. Problem is, it is not approved for that in USA, so its potential use and benefit is not realized.
> I haven't posted for months. I'd like to share my experience with Savella. I'm from USA and Savella isn't approved for depression here but I managed to convince my Pdoc to prescribe it.
>
> This medication often seems under-prescribed. Over a year on Milnacipran, (Savella) at 100-150mg daily dose. It has been effective on my depressed/anxious state. I can honestly say it causes the least cognitive impairment of any antidepressant. It works like a lifejacket for me, increasing function, concentration. Effective on chronic depressed/anxious states and situational induced depression/anxiety.
>
> Reduces anger, rage. anxiety, despair, feeling of doom. Reduces some symptoms of social anxiety. Improves sleep quality, except at higher dosages. I have reduced my Clonazepam dose over the last year and have even forgotten to take it for a few days and have done quite well. This is amazing for me because I have been on benzo's over 30 years.
>
> Unfortunately all antidepressants have some trade-off. I have experienced the following side effects:
> 1. Excessive sweating
> 2. Mild to moderate ED and decreased libido
> 3. Nausea, headache often but transient.
> 4. Possibly reduced athletic ability, fatigue
>
> 150mg/day dose was more effective than 100mg/day dose but difficult to tolerate the side effects for me.
>
> Hope someone can benefit from this bit of information. Air traffic controllers, musicians, elderly ...anyone that can't tolerate cognitive side effects should be given a non-fogging option.
Posted by former poster on August 23, 2013, at 14:05:34
In reply to Re: Savella, (Milnacipran) conclusion:, posted by bleauberry on August 21, 2013, at 17:02:32
Bleauberry.. Good to hear you are getting results with Savella too. 18mg a day seems like it would give good cognitive enhancement effects and some stimulation. Did you discover that dose yourself or was it prescribed? Often a medication will have a completely different effect at small dose. Do you find this to be relevant?
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.