Milnacipran vs Venlafaxine

i work in the medical field and was diagnosed little over a year ago with fibromyalgia. I'm bipolar as well so depression/most meds don't coordinate with my system. my form of treatment to deal with the pain(for about 8 yrs before i knew the true cause)was alcohol(not during pregnancy of course!). after diagnosis i had exhausted almost all forms of relief for this condition, physical therapy, deep heat, electric, lyrica made me a zombie, cymbalta made me super manic and so on.. it was so discouraging. my son was suffering because i couldn't get out of bed after work. Savella so far is the ONLY thing that has successfully turned my life around! relief out-weighs the side effects. i got past the nausea by eating right before or taking it with milk, the constipation stage is rough but it's all just adaptation, eating healthier. at my dosage now i've acquired the tachycardia.. but my dr(who's been with me all the way) agreed that Savella has given me my life back. so he has me on a low dosage of a beta blocker recently and so far my heart rate's normal again. it's a terrible illness to struggle through and i wouldn't wish it on anyone. the most important thing to do is keep yourself informed and work with your dr. it was also helpful for me to keep track of the days, activities, muscles and pressure points that trigger the most pain :)

I have Fibromyalgia, CFS, and Severe Anxiety Disorder. This medicine has helped me so much with my constant pain that I am now able to work again. I do still have pain and will knock myself out if I do too much, but it has done so much for me. It has actually helped with my fatigue by how much pain it relieves. Although, I was first on a higher dose and it made me even more tired. I also have Bipolar and Lyrica made my mood unstable. This is the first drug that has really made any improvement with my pain. Hope this helps someone.

i've always had occasional anxiety and had been taking Citalopram to keep it under control. i had to go off the citalopram for the Savella. i expected to have some anxiety during the switch. Unfortunately the anxiety attacks continually got more frequent and more severe the longer i was on Savella. By the time i convinced my doctor to change my medication i was taking 3 Ativan per day and still having anxiety. It did moderately well controlling my pain at first but not great. The effectiveness diminished over time.