Posted by bleauberry on February 12, 2010, at 17:16:04
In reply to SLS - Miss Ya, posted by bleauberry on February 10, 2010, at 17:29:29
That is encouraging the doctor is considering Savella. I thought I was the only fan of that drug.
For the symptoms you described, Scott, Savella did really well for me.
As big of a fan as I am, I still am not completely sold on Savella monotherapy. The more astounding case reports or small studies I've seen involved combinations with Risperdal, or Pindolol, or other SSRIs/SNRIs.
To me Savella feels like it works in regions of the brain that other meds don't.
Are you still taking Abilify and Nortriptyline? If you are, I can't help but wonder...always suspicious, ya know...if one or both are actually preventing other things from doing what they do? I mean, yeah, I know Abilify is "supposed" to help ADs work better, but it doesn't mean it will for sure, it doesn't mean it won't actually become a roadblock months later, and it doesn't mean it if it does good for several months that it will still be doing that 2 years later. Ya know? My gut instinct and logic just tells me that any antipsychotic, Abilify or not, at your dose, is going to be blocking too much stuff. I don't think its partial agonism overcomes that kind of blockage. If those dopamine receptors are blocked too much for too long, symptoms like the ones you described would be easily predicted. I think maybe that's why low doses of APs are used for AD augmentation. Ya know, 2.5mg-10mg abilify, (personally I think 1mg-5mg is the range), 5mg Zyprexa, .5mg-1mg Risperdal, etc.
Anyway, hopefully Effexor will kick in one of these days real soon. In the meantime, I like the idea of considering Savella as a backup plan. Based on what I know of this drug, I would not swap Effexor for Savella. Instead, I would lower the Effexor dose and ad Savella to it. And if still taking Abilify and/or Nortriptyline, I would have to put them in front of the jury to make a judgement as to whether they were pulling their weight or not.
Wishing you a smooth day! You're one tough guy.
poster:bleauberry
thread:936604
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100204/msgs/936855.html