Quite scared to start amitriptyline

Hello Chelsea

​You are wise to question meds such as these before blindly taking them. Yet bear in mind that each individual reacts differently and for some they are helpful without too many side effects especially on a low dose. Amitriptyline was initially for treatment of depression - this is a very old drug and over time it proved helpful for pain and has been prescribed for such. You may be quite sensitive to certain drugs as you describe shaky feelings on a lowish dose of Citalopram. I guess it depends on how much pain you are suffering and the fact that you already get headaches as to whether this drug could be a good or bad thing. I do know this from experience; if you decide to take them at a low dose and stay at a low dose you may find it tolerable without too many problems. You could try at 10mg for a trial period of say 2/3 months and then decide what is best for you. If you do, bear in mind that you should not just suddenly decide to stop them cold turkey because they are already in your system and you need to cut down even on 10mg slowly with the help of your GP. They did help with my pain a little but I was very unfortunate to have an extremely rare side effect that meant I had to stop immediately. Read the leaflet that accompanies the capsules thoroughly and ask your GP any questions you need answers to before taking them.  I hope this helps and wish you well

I lost my whole reply. I have taken Amit.for 26 years and am at 75mg. I take it at night and I get great pain relief for my pelvic nerve pain. I have also been  takeing  citolpram in the morning at 30 mg. with no problems .  Amit gives you an antidepressant and a pain reliever together. It is routinely used as pain relief for people like me who are allergic to any opiads or nerve pain relievers. Take it at night and use the sleepy factor as a good thing. Starting at so small a dose should not take long to get used to it as far as feeling droopy. You probably will need a little higher dose to make a noticible difference. It took me 20 years to get to 75mg. It is an old tri-cyclic as apposed to the newer and far as I am concerned scary new serotonin uptakes. I recently went on Cymbalta instead of citolapram, because it is supposed to be a great pain reliever. I did not feel it and tried to go off of it to take a higher dose of Amit.. The doctor gave me a step down and I did not know the withdrawal effects until I took the last pill. Looking back I had blackouts on the drug, one time driving. Because I do not metabolism meds normally I was having withdrawal effects while taking it. Cymbalta is supposed to be a pain reducer, but its withdrawal effects have led to billions of dollars in law suits. Lilly made 50 billion dollars on this evil drug.

I have a doctor who does my drugs to make sure we can see the effects based on my genetic tests. Your doctor has prescribed an older but very effective med. Too many doctors will prescribe the new expensive meds because they get paid to prescribe.

You could not get a smaller prescription to try it out. You may need a bit more to really know it's effect. Ask your pharmacist if that little pill can cause you many problems. Since you are going from one antidepresent to the other your brain will not have such a withdrawal. I did not have the horrific withdrawal from Cymbalta  because I am still on the Amit.. If you need pain meds Amit. will not be like an addiction to a narcotic, although I have heard withdrawal from Cymbalta is worse. You can not miss one day or you go into withdrawal with  Cymbalta. I have never felt that problem with Amit. 

If your doctor prescribed it you should ask him all the questions. If you are taking a few drugs you can go to an interaction drug site on the Internet to make sure there is no conflict. 

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I'm currently on a 10mg dose of amitriptyline reduced down from an initial 50mg dose which I was on for about 18 years. I have a condition called CVS (Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome) have had it since I was 6 years old simply put I used to get bouts of vomiting which would last anywhere from 24 hours to 48 hours and when I first started having these bouts would end up in hospital on a drip (IV fluids) as nothing would stay down and I would end up dehydrated these bouts would come on every 2 to 3 weeks the childrens hospital became my 2nd home for a few years early on. I eventually found a pediatrician who was an absolute godsend and after being on several different medications over the years I was eventually put on Amitryptiline at around 17 years old. My current doctor has reduced my dose down and am now on 10mg a night on top of treating my CVS it also helps me sleep aswell. I haven't had an episode of CVS for about 12 years now so this medication works for me but also my original pediatrician did tell me that in all likelihood I would grow out of it so hopefully that is the case. There are side effects as with any medication, the only one that ever effected me was cotton mouth (very dry mouth), it just means that I always carry water with me to keep from getting too dry and keep hydrated which is a good idea healthwise anyway so its not to much of an inconvenience for me anyway. I would have though your doctor would have given you a run down on this medication when it was prescribed to you, although its becoming abundantly clear to me that doctors these days unless you bother to actually ask questions yourself are in so much of a hurry to get you in and out they don't bother to fully explain everything to you its basically here's your prescription see you next time.

Hello Chelsey, Although it is an anti-depressant it is also used for relaxation so before bedtime is the best time to take it. It has been found to be of benefit to migraine sufferers and that is why I was prescribed it. I have recently halved my dose from 10mg to 5mg after many years. It has really worked for my migraines which were blighting my life. All the very best.

I was prescribed then for headaches and migraine. I was on 10 mg. the doctor told me that was a homeopathic amount. She said that it treats headaches in lower doses, and is prescribed in higher doses for depression. It worked brilliantly for headaches, for 6 months, and then I needed more, so I stopped, but then some people have been on it for years. I found it's the coming off that caused the problems. Mainly joint pain. As Elizabeth said, everyone reacts differently. Good luck. 

Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to reply. I guess I was just nervous of any side affects but so far on day one there hasn't been any other than the sleepiness but I've benefitted from that with the best nights sleep in ages!

It's took the edge off my pain but it's still there quite badly, it's really early days though so hopefully once it's in my system I'll feel more benefits.

It's interesting to see that this med is used for so many different things, must work wonders!