Fibromyalgia Support Group

Hello I'm new to this forum. This is my first post. I've recently started Savella, and in doing so I had to come off my Effexor. Not only do I have fibromyalgia, but I also have chronic migraines and depression/anxiety disorders. I'm 18 years old, and I started taking Effexor at age 14. When my migraines started at age 16 or 17, my neurologist upped my Effexor dosage from 150mg to 225mg to help with the migraines. I'm not on it for depression anymore, as that's not really a problem. It's mostly just the migraines. But now, I've developed fibromyalgia as well. The Effexor never did anything for the fibro, and the migraines were getting worse and worse, so my doctor suggested I come off the Effexor and start Savella. It sounded like a wonderful idea. I've heard such great things about Savella. So my doctor gave me two titration packs of Savella, so instead of the normal two week titration I would take four weeks to get up to the 100mg a day dose. While getting on Savella, I would come off my Effexor gradually as well. I was never warned about the terrible withdrawal symptoms that could come along with weaning off Effexor.

I'm on day 3 of being completely off Effexor and on 100mg of Savella. Day one was fine, really. Day 2 is when it started. I became light headed, dizzy, nauseous, overly emotional, weak, disoriented, uncoordinated... If I move my eyes too fast I get even more dizzy than normal. I'm too scared to drive, or even get in the shower. I can barely walk without holding on to anything. I have the urge to cry every five minutes, and I've broken down and cried for hours at least four times today. This is absolutely terrifying. These withdrawal symptoms didn't appear until after work hours yesterday. I can't talk to my doctor until Monday. All I can do is sit at home and feel like crap.

I guess I'm mostly wondering if anyone has dealt with this in the past? If so, what can I do to get relief? I've read many accounts of symptoms a lot like mine from other people weaning off Effexor. Apparently this is the norm. I can't stand it. I'm really quite worried about starting a new SNRI, Savella. What about when/if I get off of it in the future? Will I have withdrawals like this again? Has anyone weaned off Savella and experienced anything like this? I'm scared to start any new medication now that I know the hell I can go through by quitting one.

Sorry for the lengthy post, and thanks for taking the time to read it.

-Lauren

Hi,

Welcome, I am relatively new to the site too, but have found it very supportive and informative, and I hope you have the same experience. Wow, I am sorry you are going through all this at such a young age, but you sound very mature in your discussion. I guess sometimes somethings make us grow up faster than...?

I was on effexor a long time ago and do not remember anything about it....I have been disabled for a long time and on numerous meds over the time period, many I can't recall.

I do wish you luck and I'm sure someone else will share with you their experiences too.

When I saw this site, I just knew I had to join. I don't know that all the medical issues have made me grow up faster, or if I was just lucky to be a naturally mature person haha. I have a great family and everything, and that's helped with a lot of this. I'd rather go through all this now, before all the important things in life really start, and get it under control. The migraines have made highschool pretty difficult though. And my school's an International Baccalaureate school which is harder than a normal school anyway so its pretty crazy.

That's how I've been with migraine medicines. I've been on so many I don't even remember them. I'm on so many medications as it is, with the fibro and migraines, and IBS (don't think I mentioned that earlier). I'm on about 8 different medications currently, about 18 pills a day. That's more than my grandparents. It's insane.

Thank you Good luck to you too!

Hi, I didn't wean off of Elavil, I threw it the hell away with extreme prejudice, and it wasn't Effexor, so I'm not being helpful. Can you take a couple of days off work:? Oh, wait, I ran out of Savella a couple of weeks ago and had a hella tiem getting doc/pharm back on track, and the only thing that got me was the fibro pain got worse, so I knew there's a diff between being on and off of it. No other effects for me. Hang in there.

I luckily don't have a job yet. Only school. And I have letters from the doctor and stuff so I won't get in trouble for missing too much school because of the pain. So I'm sure I'll be taking a few days off school while I'm getting off Effexor.

And it's good to know that missing Savella didn't really mess with you other than the pain got worse. I know when I would just miss one Effexor, I'd get sick. I'm glad to know Savella won't do that to me.

Also, I couldn't stand the withdrawal symptoms anymore and I took an Effexor last night. I feel much better. I won't take another one until I can't stand the symptoms anymore. I'm going to call my doctor tomorrow and find out what he thinks I should do for this. But he told me to go from 225mg, to 150, to 75, to nothing. And after reading up on weaning off Effexor, I know he should have given me smaller pills than 75 so I could wean off slower. I'm pretty upset that he didn't. We'll see what he says when I call tomorrow

Hello and welcome laurenw I haven't taken Effexor or Savella so can't help you with any of that, just wanted to say HI and welcome to the group. There's a wonderful bunch of younger fibro-warriors on here as well and you'll make a lot of friends who understand what you're going through. feel free to post about anything and anytime. Hugs and Love.

Hi,

What did your doctor say? Just checking on you....

Thank you faeriemama

And Lucky, he actually told me to go back on the Effexor and stop the Savella. Which kind of made me mad because I was having the issues going off Effexor in the first place because he told me to do it wrong. So I made an appointment to go see him some time in a week or so, I'm not sure exactly. We'll see what happens. I'm thinking about going to a different doctor