amitriptyline withdrawal

Hi Tiffany, Amanda, Sammy, Edie and All out there,

                                                                                   Again I've been away from wi-fi for a week and trying to follow what's happening you all of you on my phone.  I'm on a real computer today which makes catching up with stuff easier.

Tiffany, sorry you're feeling no good today.  The one thing I haven't had with this withdrawal is nausea which seems weird as it seems like a very common symptom.  I hope the nasty nausea passes for you soon.

Amanda and Sammy - I hope you are both still doing well.

I'm all packed and ready and heading of to Chile, Cuba, Portugal and Paris tomorrow.  I think most of my luggage is made up of sleeping pills and powders (naturopath, over-the-counter, Melatonin and Temazapam from the GP).  So, it's all natural apart from the Temaz which I will only be taking in desperation.  However, in the last week I have had some 6-7 hour sleeps and the nights that I've been waking up I've only been awake for 2 hours (instead of the usual 4) which is quite acceptable at this stage. 

As of tomorrow I will be back to just using my phone and limited wi-fi but will still be checking up on everyone and will send short updates when I can.

Well done everyone.  It's now over a years since Amanda started this thread and we're still hanging in there.  I am so happy to be off Ami :-)

Thanks everyone 

xox

Hey Sheena 😊

I'm happy to hear your sleep is slowly improving! What an adventure you are having!😁 sound amazing! Yes hopefully this will pass soon. Now i have headaches, nausea and anxiety all normal according to everything I have read. On the bad days I just take it easy and breathe. I have some natural remedies for sleep and anxiety so that helps 2.8 tonight and 13 days until I'm off of it completely then the real healing can start ???

Hi Sheena glad your getting a little bit of sleep and glad your positive re being off of Ami. Im still fine apart from peri menopausal issues now and still a sore neck but, i too am so glad to be off of Ami xx

Hi Sheena nice to hear from you and so happy that your sleep has improved, mine is still a bit crappy but that is due to menopause lol. Still get spacey vibration feeling on and off but am now tapering of the diazepam so I suppose to be expected, but overall still glad to be off the ami.

Wow we will have to change your name to the something more exciting your like a true traveling Wilbury. Hope you enjoy your trip will keep you up to date with everyone's progress, I think we have all done extremely well.

talk soon xxxxx

Hi Sammy,

How often are you taking the diazepam and how much? Does it help? I've got the Temazapam which I think is the same thing. I did try 10mg a couple of times when I wasn't really sleeping much at all and it didn't seem to do anything. I had 20mg one night which helped a bit. I'm going to try them once or twice a week while I'm away especially for the first 4 weeks when I'm sharing a room.

Didn't sleep much last night so will be taking my pills including

Temazapam on the plane tonight and hopefully get some sleep on the 13+hr flight.

xox

Hey Sheena Diazepam is a long acting benzo, I have been trying to get off this for years and this is why they prescribed the ami because no one really understood the withdrawal effects of the Valium. So diazepam is the devil that started this rollercoaster of meds. So all up I have been on this for 12 years. 

They are similar but diazepam is slightly more longer acting than temazepam. I just want off all the drugs so I'm probably not the best person to ask lol although if it helped with sleep I think I would probably stay on a low dose. 😁 Happy flying ?? 

Hi Sammy,

At the moment I'm only taking Temazapam about once a week as I definitely don't want to exchange one problem medication for another. I've got to take at least 20mg for it to work at all. I'm going to start on the Melatonin tonight and, if that works, l might not need any more Temazapam. Fingers crossed xox

Hey Hails The getting up to pee is par for the course I'm afraid, not everyone gets this side effect but I certainly did they call it nocturia sometimes if you eat about 10 sultanas before bed it helps sounds weird but it helps.

It can make you pee 3 or 4 times a night, hopefully as time goes on it where's off a bit, I am down to once or twice a night. Hope this helps xxx

Yep. I went on Ami to stop peeing every 5 seconds, and it worked like a charm. I was SO thrilled because before Ami, I was getting up around 8 times a night, which makes it  impossible to go back to sleep. But then I started having weird side effects from the Ami, so I quit taking it.  I’ve been off it for several months now, maybe 5 or so? I’ve lost count. But the frequent peeing is just now kicking in and I’m peeing like crazy. BUT there is another drug my urologist gave me and it’s called Urispas (Flavoxate). It’s an older drug, kinda of like Pyridium that you’d take for a bladder infection that causes your bladder to spasm, but there is no dye in it, so it’s just a white anti-spasmodic pill. Either way, it’s a BIG help and I only have to pee once or twice now in the middle of the night. Would LOVE to not have to pee at all during the night, but twice a night is a lot better than 8 times a night. See if your doctor will prescribe Urispas for you. I’ve never had any side effects from it and it’s non addictive, so there will be no withdrawals should you decide to stop taking it for some reason.  Good Luck!!!

Hey Campbell,

Some people were able to get the liquid form of amitriptyline. I am not sure where you are but I'm in Canada and the liquid is not available here. I bought a pill crushed and a fairly cheap jewellery scale off of Amazon. So I crush my pills and then weigh them which has worked great for me. Others have used a water titration there is a post with instructions on this forum. Hope this helps 😊

Glad your having some good days Tiffany, just keep focused and remember you will feel better soon xxx

Hi Tiffany wow go you! I'm so pleased for you, one more week to go and you are off thank goodness I can imagine how relieved you must feel. I'm so happy that you have had no more fainting episodes or dizziness.

My advice for anyone: do your homework before taking pharmaceuticals, yes they can be life saving but they can also be detrimental, and Drs haven't the time to research the truthfulness of the trials of these drugs, they believe everything the pharmaceutical companies tell them.

Take carexx

Hey Sammy 😊

I expect that I will have a few rotten days here and there once I'm off but at least there is no more going into my body!!! Unless it's a severe case where I NEED a med to survive they will have a hard time convincing me to take any meds after this! Even though i feel like garbage today I know I'm better off without this stuff! How are you?

Thanks Amanda 😊😊 I hope you are still well ?

Hi Sammy. 

An update from the 76year old me.

Ami. reduced from 25 to 20 per night, 3 weeks ago. Feeling ok and no side effects.

Codeine reduced to only 8mg per night instead of 30.  Slight constipation, but dealing with that. 

Sleep pattern improving, and if I have a not so good night's sleep I know that working on my PC or Laptop  late at night is to blame, or maybe it's the wee cup of tea at midnight.

At 76yrs, our systems become child like, hence the caution and respect for any medication.

I'm learning to play the piano!!!! and find that practicing for about an hour before going to bed helps me sleep. No to TV, PC, and TEA

My RLS is manageable. Severe restrictions on Coffee, Chocolate, and anything that has Sugar.

I'll  update with more positive results.

God Bless.

 

Hi Thistles

Well done every decrease is a step in the right direction so glad for you.Just remember at any time that you feel effects stay at that dose and give yourself time to stabilize, that is the most important thing I have learnt over time, it is better to come down gently and smoothly.

Go you with the Piano, I learnt way back when I was 6 but don't play now, but my daughters play beautifully all self taught and very gifted. My mum went back and learnt againin her late 60's and loved it. 

I am pleased that everything is going well for you.

take carexxx

Hey Tiffany

Wow the countdown is now on, not long now and you will be rid of this horrible med, so pleased for you.

I am going through another rough patch, the ami reeked havoc on my ears right from the beginning but no one put two and two together so they have gone from leaking fluid constantly to being dry as the Sahara with ear eczema, the tinnitus is roaring at the moment and the itching is annoying but the worst is vertigo, so frustrating, hopefully it doesn't stick around for to long. I can still do most things but bright lights especially in shops is a big no no. Anyway glad to hear you are doing so well.

Take care xxxx

Hi Sammy

Oh no I'm sorry to hear that some issues have popped up just when you think it's all over. That has been my experience this week a couple days feeling decent then a couple crappy nausea, headache, emotional days. Just when I get my hopes up BAM. I was pretty upset at first but then I remembered even though I tapered slowly it's not like it makes the withdrawals non existant! Some people took a year to get off of 10mg much slower than my 50 days and they still experienced crappy days at the end too. So I just need to power through these bad days. Today my nausea was not great but I also had slight burning in my throat and lots of burping...im guessing this is another withdrawal symptom? Ugh ill be so happy when this is over. Last dose tonight finally!