Savella, Day Two

Last night was deeply not fun.
The evening dose of Savella gave me insomnia. Worse, I was having mild hallucinations throughout the night, which seemed to replace any hope of dreaming. I don't even know if my brain bothered to cycle through REM. Between the hours of two and six, I tossed and turned, woke up every hour, had racing thoughts, smelled and tasted things that weren't there, and experienced visions of animated Salvador Dali paintings whenever I closed my eyes. Getting up to walk around increased my heart rate in ways it shouldn't have. I was dry everywhere, but drinking water and applying moisturizer and eye drops barely helped. I finally fell into some kind of sleep just after six in the morning.

I woke up again shortly after nine. I grabbed the phone and called the neurologist's office, spoke to a receptionist, and left an urgent message for Dr. Lin. I fell back asleep groggily. The phone rang just after ten. I was told to not take the evening doses, but to take today's morning dose only and then see what happened throughout the day, and then call again later this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I took another blue 12.5 mg pill and lay back down

I decided to try to sleep again. I woke up just after eleven, and realized I wasn't getting any more sleep. I took a shower. My pulse was still rapid. My joints and head ached, I went downstairs and made breakfast. My pulse was still rapid. I went back upstairs and began typing this entry. My pulse is still rapid. I'm not sure I want to take that long walk I had been planning. Because there is some good news: I feel energized, and my pain is slightly less.

So. The good news is that I have less fatigue, lots of energy, and slightly less pain. The bad news is that I have dry skin, eyes, and mouth; my heart is racing; I'm light-headed; my head aches, my joints ache, and I barely slept last night. For now, the negative effects of Savella are outweighing the positive. But I want to keep trying for a while, with just the morning doses.

Savella, Day Two, Addendum

I just want to point out that I am not stopping this drug after two days of a test pack. I am not going to give up just because I had side effects the first day. That's ridiculous. But I'm not going to be taking it twice a day, since I don't feel I need an evening dose. My neurologist agrees. The plan is to take it every morning until the sample pack is finished, then see the neurologist in a month and make a decision about whether or not I want an actual prescription. I think I may ask for a smaller dose than she initially wanted, but I will see how I do on the high doses.