Posted by bleauberry on March 5, 2009, at 17:52:31
In reply to Lyrica, posted by Justherself54 on March 5, 2009, at 10:47:51
Like any other med, Lyrica is a miracle for some and a disaster for others. I don't know any more to say than that. Each person has to do their own trial and error. Can it work, or has it worked for others like you? Yes. Will it? Maybe, maybe not? Will it make things worse? Maybe, maybe not. Not much help I know, but that is the nature of the beast.
Hey, here is a wild idea to ask your doctor to try. I know it sounds way out there, but it actually isn't. Dead serious. Ask for a two week trial of 200mg Doxycycline, starting at 100mg for 4 days. All the fibro treatments in the world only attempt to ease the symptoms. Doxy has a good shot of getting at the cause...an unknown undiagnosable pathogenic chronic infection. The number of bacteria that could do that are numerous.
Aside from its ability to kill a wide range of hidden infectors that cause pain, fatigue, inflammation, and mood problems, Doxy is also a very good anti-inflammatory at sub-antibiotic doses such as 25mg to 50mg. Well documented at pubmed. Don't take this antibiotic suggestion lightly. Like I said, I'm really serious about this one and would not bother mentioning it otherwise. I think EVERY fibro or chronic fatigue patient must be tried on Doxycycline or Tetracycline, even blindly with no "apparent" reason to try an antibiotic.
Outside of that, this is the month Milnacipran is released to pharmacies in the USA. It has been in years of FDA trials for fibro. It passed. It is also a very good antidepressant elsewhere in the world, where it has been for many years. It has a long and strong track record.
Its name in the USA is Savella. Not sure of the date of its release, but it is supposed to be this month. You can sign up at the Savella website for notification of release.
I have browsed through forums of people who were in those clinical trials. I can't recall a single failure. All found the drug of significant benefit in pain, fatigue, mood, and sleep. The primary side effects were urinary complaints for men, drop in appetite, and in some people an increase of blood pressure. It is a weight neutral to weight loss med, very rarely a weight gainer.
I've tried it and was very impressed. It even did better than ECT and was working within 2 weeks at a subtherapeutic dose. Based on what I know of Lyrica, I think Savella is a tamer safer simpler yet more effective drug for fibro and mood. And unlike Lyrica which is mysterious and new, Savella is straight forward and time tested.
I guess what I am saying is, in my opinion, Doxy and Savella should take high priority over Lyrica.
poster:bleauberry
thread:883903
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090304/msgs/883949.html