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Amitriptyline (Endep) - very weird dreams

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jade25629
jade25629

This is my first post here. I have been suffering severe chronic migraines for the past year and a bit and severe chronic headaches with occasional migraine for the past two and a half years. I’m 25 and I live in Australia. I haven’t had a headache free day since October 2015. I’ve seen four neurologists over the years and I found one in May last year that seems interested, even though there’s currently no cure, she is trying to help the best she can. It seems we have come to the end of the line with current treatments until new treatments start coming out. Botox injections failed and many other medications either didn’t work or had terrible side effects. Massage, acupuncture, etc hasn’t worked either. 

My problem now is with my night time preventative, Endep. I’m up to a 50mg dose now. While it seems to be making a bit of difference with the severity of my migraines, I’ve started getting, on most nights, very weird dreams.  If anyone else gets this, is there anything that can be done about it? I would really like these weird dreams to stop. It scares me to try to come off it and on to another one, because if a migraine were to hit while I wasn’t at home, I would probably need to call an ambulance. Has anyone been able to come off it and on to another preventative? I have spoken to my GP about this and will mention to my neurologist when I go back in June. 

Thanks 😊

0 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • heather24624
    heather24624 jade25629

    Posted

    Hi Jade-

    I’m on nortriptyline which is similar to Amitriptyline.  How long have you been on it?  I believe after a little while the sedating properties can wear off... I’m wondering if you were to switch to taking it in the morning that it may help with the nightmares???? 

    I’ve been on many different meds as preventatives and am currently up to 35mg per night.  I’ve actually had a number of headache free days.  I’m still working through the side effects of my dose change (25 to 35 last week), but I’m hoping that things even out in the next couple of weeks and I can stay on this dose.

    • jade25629
      jade25629 heather24624

      Posted

      Hi Heather

      Thanks for your response. I’ve been on it consistently since May last year. Started on 10mg and have gradually built up to 50mg. I don’t think I’ve been on it long enough for the sedating properties to wear off. About two hours after taking it, it knocks me out. But good to know for the future. 

      Headache free days would be amazing smile

      Good luck. 

  • Guest
    Guest jade25629

    Posted

    Hi Jade,

    I am on Nortriptyline, which as Heather mentions, is the same class of drug as Ami. I started on Ami but felt so tired and had really scary vivid dreams too. I switched over to Nort and it has helped me a lot (though I'm still not 100%). I am currently on 40mg and will probably stop at 45mg as that is where is seems to be most effective for me. I have tried to go off this med a few times too and every time I go down on my dosage, my head pain comes back and I feel terrible. I have been on Nort for about 11 months now and I only occasionally have vivid dreams but I am no where near as tired as I was on Ami. Maybe you could talk to your doctor about switching over to Nort? A lot of people say that they tolerate it better than Ami, but then a lot of people swear by Ami too. See what your dr or Neuro suggests. I also live in Australia and have found it really hard to find a good Neuro, I am onto my 3rd in Sydney now. She is good and has a good knowledge of dizzy symptoms too.

    • heather24624
      heather24624 Guest

      Posted

      Hi Jen-

      Was wondering why you tried to stop nortriptyline a few times?  Also, what symptoms do you experience when you increase your dose?  I’ve been on it for three months now.

    • Guest
      Guest heather24624

      Posted

      Hi Heather,

      Unfortunately, I still suffer side effects from Nortriptyline such as dry mouth/eyes, constipation, dizzy and some tingling. I find it difficult to work out which are symptoms that I am suffering from and which are side effects. So I did try to go off it to see, but as soon as I went down on the dosage I started to get the nasty head pain return. I now just have to weigh up which is worse. At the moment I am staying on the nort for a bit longer to see how things go. When I increased the dose up to 75mg at one point, the side effects did worsen, I did have some very vivid dreams, very dry sinuses and eyes and it made me feel generally weak and woozy. What about you, do you get any side effects?

    • heather24624
      heather24624 Guest

      Posted

      I had some blurry vision, a little dizziness at first and dry mouth.  My house started sounding very hoarse so after six weeks of still having a migraine I decided that I wanted to go off of it.  It didn’t go well.  So, I’m up to 35mg now for the past week.  All of the side effects went away a little while ago but when I reduced initially I got tinnitus and anxiety.  It hasn’t gone away yet with the updose. I’m just keep hoping that it will soon once this dose levels out.  But, I haven’t really had a migraine since I went back up.  So I’d like to stick with it - minus the anxiety and tinnitus of course!
    • heather24624
      heather24624

      Posted

      I just reread my post - my voice started sounding hoarse smile
    • Guest
      Guest heather24624

      Posted

      I think it is working for me too. But I have found that there is a lag of a week or two between going up on the dosage and the symptoms subsiding. So it seems to be a slow working drug, but definitely one worth sticking with if the side effects are not too bad.
    • jade25629
      jade25629 Guest

      Posted

      Hi Jenjen

      Thanks for your response. When I was first started with endep at 25mg, the dose was too high for me to begin with and I was very tired all the time. I stopped taking it only after a few days, that was January 2016. Last year in May I finally found a good neurologist, fourth time lucky smile

      As I have learnt, not every neurologist is able to help or wants to help with migraines.  She started me at 10mg and we gradually built up to 50mg. It’s only been in the past couple of months (after about 5 months of being on 50mg) that the crazy dreams started. 

      How did you go with coming off endep and on to the other one or were you just able to stop endep if you were not taking it for very long? 

      Changing over is definitely something I will consider. Good to hear that the other one seems to be working for you. 

  • jennifer08041
    jennifer08041 jade25629

    Posted

    jade25629, not sure if you are still checking this, but did anything else end up working for you? what you went through post Oct 2015 sounds like what i am going through now. Would love to hear if anything helped.

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