amitriptyline withdrawal

I am in England. Have you tried mindfulness?x

Hey Amanda how are you doing? I see we have an updated site, my husband became really ill so I have not checked in for quite some time. I see you are back on the ami , sorry to hear that you have sciatica. I still have the vertigo, buzzing brain zaps stuff, but I do have gaps so it is easing off a bit. Anxiety comes and goes but not too bad. I am seeing a naturopath/microbiologist who is amazing and helped enormously in getting me off the ami. I am just a year off now but wow what a long arduous journey it has been. The aches and pains are back from the fibro just hoping that they stay at a reasonable level because then it is easier to handle as I don't want to go down the pharmaceutical road if possible. Have you heard from Sheena? Iam amazed that this thread is still going hey.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Sammy xxx

Hi Sammy, i am really in a lot of pain with this sciatica, i have had it since May down both legs. I resisted ami for months as the many GPs i saw all tried to get me to go back on it but, became desperate . I have never experienced pain like this for such a long time, i needed to sleep too. The sad thing is it hasn't helped much and i have had to add in tramadol. I had no long lasting effects from ami and hope this sciatica starts to heal soon so that i can start to reduce off of ami again. I have been on it a month now. I hope your husband is ok. I have not heard from Sheena

was on 20mg for 1.5 years stopped cold turkey 5 weeks ago and have had terrible leg aches and knee joint pain any help with a withdrawl timeline would be helpful going crazy

Hi Paul....just a thought....I am getting more constipated also as I am withdrawing...and I think its because I'm not drinking as much because the higher amounts of Ami made me really thirsty and I drank a lot more. Now I have to remember to drink and stay hydrated. So it might be cause you're not getting adequate fluids. Just my two cents!

I do drink lots of fluids, including liquorice tea to help with constipation and also taking fybogel and ducloease.

Still constipated 😦

I do go every day, sometimes more than once but very hard stools, sometimes like rabbit droppings.

HI Paul

Maybe try taking a good quality magnesium every day, I take 1000mg a day it definately helps. Start with a dose of 500 MG if you take too much it will give you diarrhea. so its easy to gage if you are taking too little or not enough.

Sammy xx

Thanks, just ordered some Magnesium Citrate from Amazon will give it a go tomorrow when it arrives 😃

Hi anita i am sorry to say this but, i am back on ami and have been for about 6 weeks. i have sciatica had it since may and have refused ami several times from the many GP visits , but, i gave in , in desperation from this awful pain. The worst thing is i am on 10 mg and it has not helped yet x I will start coming off it in the next couple of weeks i think. how are you doing?

Hi Rob, Hang in there! the symptoms will ease up. I recognise everything you have described when I was in withdrawal. I also had a pill cutter and cut my pills into teeny tiny amounts from 5mg to 2.5mg, and stuck with this until I was over the worst which took approx 3 weeks. i have been off amit since around June, and have just tapered off my last med. was on a cocktail of meds and its taken me a year to come off all of them, have been med free for nearly 3 weeks, and the withdrawal symptoms have been hellish. i have been signed off work for last 3 weeks. dizziness and uertigo has been a massive problem for me coming off meds. keep strong.

thanks paula

did u ever or have u ever taken meds for the vertigo?

my dr thinks its important and i am not sure

as i am already taking 1 mg a day of ativan for anxiety

today was even worse

woke up fine

and by noon i thought i would need an er visit

as my heart feels like its coming out of my skin

and i get weak in the legs and think i am gonna pass out

went to pharmacy

and pharmacist said some ami withdrawl patients have similiar problems

then those getting off oxy

for real?

Hi Rob, I was given meds for my vertigo and only take them when the room is spinning so bad that I want to be sick. Thankfully that hasnt happened alot.

I get moments of everything moving, just had an attack before coming online lasts about 5 minutes.

Main problem is dizziness and the vertigo feeling you get when looking down from a height. I went to a show recently and was quite high up and had to leave.

I have tinnitus from meds and sensitivity to sound.

other type of dizziness I get is bumping into things, not being able to walk properly.

I try not to take meds for it, and have seen a huge improvent since coming off all my meds, am still in withdrawal so will take time to settle.

Rob, my experience withdrawing from ami was hell, have written alot on this forum about it.

thanks paula

the vertigo meds have worked re spinning and feeling faint

but

i have terrible head pain in back of head

which i am attributing to ami withdrawl

dont know if i can stick it out or go back on a small or tiny dose

Hi it is amitriptyline it is awful but, you will recover i promise just do not increase it x

increase it?

no bloody way

i am off it 100 percent

and refuse to go back even on the smallest dose

rather suffer now then more so later

thanks for responding back!

rob from canada

Hi Rob, stick it out....it does get worse before you feel better, too easy to go back on them. I thought I had a knee problem as suffered terribly for over a year. Then one day I realised the pain had gone, didnt put it down to meds. Have also suffered terribly with hemiplegic migraines, headaches, pressure pains in my head, sensitive head. All gone, still wary they may come back, time will tell.

will do paula

thanks for your encouragemnt

i need it

ill pray for u and hope u do same for me

xx from canada

Thank you Rob, I will do. I have been thinking about your head pain, withdrawal gives me alot of tension in my upper back which affects my head, and I find massage really helps, its worth a try.

i had no headaches last night

had a decent sleep

woke up with no headaches

so feel like i am getting there

now

i have to get rid of all my anxiety in chest

maybejust maybe i am getting there and worst is over?

day 5 update of no amit

had a bit of the brain fuzzies during the day

but forced myslef to do a small workout and get fresh air

had a xmas event last night with 30 people and feared anxiety may get the better of me

so took have a lorazepam before i went

stuck it thru and had a great time with no issues

even had 2 beersmy first in ages

came home fell right asleep

but woke up after 4 hours with horrible dreams and chest anxiety

tossed and turned for hours

2 steps foward!!! 1 back!!!

day 5 over and my pharmasist estimates i have about half of the amit out of my system

day 7 update

good days bad days

felt good yesterday but have awful dreams which wake me up at night

anyone else have these?

also i woke up feeling fine then progressivly felt worse as time went on

legs at times buckle out on me

and get searing hot pains thru my legs and arms

anyone?

can i just be having anxiety

1 step foward

3 back

no amit for 7 days

Hi Rob

Just thought I would write to see how you are getting on, I too have been on the hamster wheel of ami and its not pleasant. I am 1 year 4 months off and still having head buzzes/vibration but there are gaps so we do heal it just takes time. I too have heaps of anxiety but that too comes and goes. I see you take 1mg of Ativan which is approximately 10mg of valium however what I found to be a problem with ativan was that it is a very short acting benzo and only stays in your system for a few hours and because of that that is where alot of problems arise because you are always going into withdrawal when the dose wears off. This happened to me so I crossed to a long acting benzodiazapine diazepam which lasts longer in your system. Just thought this information may help you.

take care

Sammy