Recently diagnosed and been prescribed amitriptylene

Hello Azzarh,

I stoped taking them because they made me feel exactly as you describe, like a hangover without a drop touching my lips.  I even tried half a tablet, but that still made me feel yuk.  

The effects may wear off with you eventually, good luck x

 

Hi Azzarh,

Amitriptolene or Elavil did not work at all for me. I think I really didn't give it a fair shake however. I just couldn't take the baggage with it. Dry mouth and nose and like you, the hangover effect and insomnia. It's part of the tricylic anti-depressants which really affect me adversely. I think I tried every one out there with no luck. The only med I could tolerate was a small dose of xanax for sleep. 

Doctors seem to be prescribing Gabapentin more often these days. Gabapentin is the generic form of neurontin, an anti convulsion type of med dealing with pain from never endings and such. I found a lot of relief from that med however it made me so irritable, that I had to get off of it. 

I hope you find something that works for you and your pain diminishes. I do know that the change of seasons for me are the very worst. This time of the year, especially, I am suffering miserably.  October and April are the two tough months for pain. Not sure if the change of season brings barometric pressure changes that affects the body's sensory abilities or what.

I wish you the best and stay in touch. 

Hi, I take Amitriptyline too.  I find it makes mefeel the exact same way. It helps me sleep reasonably well though and helps with most of my symptoms unless I get a really bad flare up. Hate feeling like this though. 

I had the same reaction to it. Couldn't handle the side effects. I had to use supplements because I have reactions to most meds. Have you tried magnesium, tumeric, malic acid, l-acetyl carnitine or any supplements to see if those work better . they worked for me but you need to talk to your doctor or find a wellness doctor of some kind like a naturpath....

Hi Azzarh,  I have just come back from seening a rhuematologist who day confirmed my Fibro. She discussed painkillers with me but I have decided not to take any and try alternatives.  What I do take is Dosolepin which is more or less the same as the Amitriptylene.  I have been taking them for 16years and started at a much higher dosage than I am on now. Yes they do take time to get into your system and cause a number of side effects but I found these do almost stop when you have been on them a while.  I did tell the consultate that  I wanted to carry on with these as they do help me get some sleep and can help with the pain.

Maybe if you had a smaller dose it would be better for you.  I understand what you mean about side effect this is why I don't want to use the other meds given for Fibro. 

Hope you this helps and take care

I use to take amitriptylene and felt the same way

after discussing this with my doctor I was told to take it a couple of hours before going to bed and this made a big difference

hope this helps

Thank you everybody.

This is still very new to me and I'm not very good with keeping to medication regimens.

It is now 16:40 and I still feel very tired, almost like not sleeping after a night shift as opposed to the fatigue I've had with the FM.

It's reassuring to know these meds have had the same effect on other people suffering from the condition.

I think I need to give them a go a little longer and see if the side effects subside.

It's taken over two years to get the docs to recognise I have a problem so I feel I should continue with the meds to avoid further delays with medical sceptics!

My GP advised that symptoms would level out after a few weeks but I was so tired i just could not wake up in the mornings and it left me feeling weird all day.  It obviously did help me sleep overnight but did not really touch the pain.  I have since been switched to Nortriptyline which did take the edge of the pain and is not so bad with the tiredness.  However, having been taking this for some months now the benefits are wearing off, despite increasing the dose, so they will have to look at something else at my next rheumatology appointment. There are a number of alternatives to Amiltriptyline that have been mentioned to me, but you may need to give it at least a monthy to see if the fuzziness decreases.  Good luck.