Roger Johnson Weblog

SAVELLA plus TRAMADOL

I have been on Savella for over three months now, long enough to write this informed-user opinion. I switched to Savella from Cymbalta when a fibromyalgia flare had been going along, wide-open, for over six weeks. Cymbalta had worked well for about a year, just as Lyrica had been effective for about the period It is no secret that anti-depressants often work well, then, without warning, can drop the user into a deep,dangerous well. It seems that they can stop helping f/m sufferers in the same way.

For disclosure sake I also take Buspar and Remeron which were added to augment Cymbalta, mostly for anxiety and depression.

Back to the f/m tale; the flare was going on so long and at such a high level, often being between 5 and 7 for much of the day, that the doctor at the pain clinic suggested Savella; recently approved for f/m only. But Savella didn’t alleviate pain, although I have little or no depression. Tramadol was added, on as needed basis It is a synthetic opioid, as are hydrocordone and a bunch of others that I am not familiar with using.

I don’t like taking opioids, they may make me drowsy and are constipating. There is also my fear of addiction. However it turned out that Tramadol doesn’t make me dizzy or drowsy; I was advised that there is little chance of addiction when used for pain relief. Perhaps it is also because I have never been addicted to anything except tobacco, which I no longer use.

The result of Savella twice a day, and Tramadol every six hours, has been to get my pain under control; daily bouts of discomfort became shorter and less intense. About a week ago I reduced the dosage of Savella to 25% of what it had been (it is very expensive), and am using far fewer Tramadol as well. The f/m flare has dropped off of the radar screen of pain, to levels of <2; the occasional burst of return is handled nicely by the occasional Tramadol; which I found to be friendlier than imagined.

Whether or not this combination will work for you I have no more idea than the guy in the moon. What I do know is that f/m will continue to be that gift that keeps on giving; I do know that if you find yourself a doc who treats f/m seriously, there are a bunch of things that can helpful. As I have written a number of times, the key to handling f/m is to search for the most effective pain doctor in your area, alway looking for the best; doctors in other fields are a good source of referrals.

I like to think that f/m is one of the things that makes this trip of ours interesting; without a variety of scenery this would become a boring voyage.