M.E. and high doses of Amitriptyline.

Im amazed you can tolerate that high amount.. Usually i only take 10mg a day.. but am currently talking 20mg due to flare caused  by menopause. Most people i speak to only take a small dose as thats whats best for managing symptoms. From what i know its only given at high dose to use as an anti depressant when the newer drugs cant be tolerated.  I would be very wary of talking such a high dose myself so i would go with what your doctor says,

I found amitriptyline helped me to begin with. I was sleeping 14-20 hours a day, i was prescribed 50mg and i started to need less sleep. Ive recently increased it to 100mg, but my dose is heightened due to another drug i take so im probably taking the equivalent of 200mg. I have no side effects other than shaking but i think that is down to the canderstartan i started to take. I had two different opinions from the neurologist and my gp. My neurologist said not to go over 50mg amd my gp said i can go up to 200mg. If there are no/little side effects and it is improving your quality of life then i cant see why you can't have the higher dose. I was prescribed dexamethasone for a week due to a very bad episode of what the neurologist is saying are migraines and i was able to walk up the road without having an attack, it was so amazing that im even thinking about purchasing them for long term use as at present i am bedbound most of the time and cant get outside. Does anyone know if its really unsafe to take steroids long term? If they cant figure out a medication that can help im so desperate to get better that i want to buy dexamethasone. Anyone tried this before?

My doctor has put me on only 10mg but I haven't started taking it, I'm a little cautious of the side effects. I have cfs for a year and a half, I was housebound and now bedbound. I just want to feel better and not be stuck in this black hole.

How has the medication helped you and what were your side effects?

Hello philsey, I too am on 200 mg of Amitriptyline. I started taking it in 1992 after a virus left me with M.E. and totally unable to sleep at all.  It was and still is a life saver. Of course that was a much lower dose. Every time I’ve had a relapse the doctor has upped the dose or I’ve asked to up the dose.  Years ago the leaflet inside the packet said the maximum was 200 mg so that’s what I’ve always believed. I don’t think it says now though. But I really need to up the dose too because now I’m housebound and when I get awful relapses I get to the point where I’m desperate to take more as it most definitely helps. Since last September I’ve taken 225mg for a few nights at a time when I get that dreaded feeling that I’m going downhill again and it’s really helped!

Sometimes when my husband collects my prescription the pharmacist says that’s a very high dose, are you sure that’s right? But no one seems to understand that the anticholinergic property of the drug is the only thing that makes me drowsy and gives me sleep. When I first took it I was told it would take a few weeks to work, but the v first night I zonked out for 12 hours! It’s not the antidepressant effect I necessarily need but the v much needed sleep. 

I found one website where it said “inpatients could take 300 mg” but I wouldn’t risk it personally. Sorry I don’t have a definitive answer for you. It’s something I’ve debated about for years. I thought I was the only one on 200.