Posted by bleauberry on February 27, 2010, at 17:56:26
In reply to Savella - Patients Evaluate Sides, posted by bulldog2 on February 25, 2010, at 17:17:02
My opinion expressed here numerous times is that Savella is overdosed at normal doses.
As with the previous poster, I found very small doses to be quite impressive. My largest dose was about 18mg per day (6.25mg three times). To get that dose requires customizing your own capsules (if from overseas) or splitting pills (if from USA).
I stumbled on a couple pubmed case stories where the therapeutic dose in those cases was 20mg. But in our own doc's office, the target is 100mg as fast as possible. Yikes.
At askapatient those ratings are based on fibromyalgia, not depression. For that purpose I do not have any experience with what appropriate doses should be. But it is obvious that whatever the appropriate dose should be, those people were given too much too fast.
Nothing works for everyone. Every drug will produce bizarre intense side effects for a minority of people. It happens. All drugs. No miracle cures. But in the case of Savella, I personally believe that many of those people who did poorly were victims of doses that were increased too high too fast. They might have done just fine by splitting the starting dose...12.5mg...in two, and take 6.25mg twice a day for a month before doing anything else.
When I saw the prescribing instructions with the starter pack I was frieking out. That is way too aggressive. That is begging for unwarranted trouble.
Just my opinion.
poster:bleauberry
thread:937881
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100216/msgs/938121.html