HOTFLASHIN

I am on Cymbalta. Cymbalta was working great for me at first, but after 4-1/2 months on it, the pain relief decreased by about 40%. I talked to my doctor about it and he said I had three choices. I could stay on Cymbalta but up my dosage from 60 mgs a day to 90 mgs a day. He said that increase might be permanent, but it could be temporary depending on how the higher dosage works for me. He said that sometimes, there is a period of time where everything levels out and the pain relief doesn't seem as strong and upping the dosage a little could jump start it into working like it did in the beginning.

The second choice was to change to Savella. He said that while Cymbalta works by putting more norepinephrine in the brain and also seretonin, the Savella only works on the norepinephrine neurotransmitter which is supposed to cause the body not to feel as much pain. He said that it is very much like Cymbalta with mostly the same side effects.

The third suggestion was Lyrica which I absolutely refuse to go on because of the side effects, especially weight gain. I know people who have gained 10 pounds a week! How depressing would that be??? I have gained 8 pounds on Cymbalta in 4-1/2 months and the weight gain seems to have stopped!

I decided to go with the first option, which was increasing my Cymbalta dosage since I was already used to the Cymbalta and the worst side effect, excessive sweating, was a side effect on Savella as well.

Hang in there! If you give yourself time to allow your body to get used to the Savella, maybe it will be just the ticket for you!

Hugs and love,

Pamela