1. Community
  2. Mental health
  3. Amitriptyline

Use of Amitriptyline 10 mg for sleep, any advice?

Posted , 6 users are following.

karen99499
karen99499

Hi

?I am 56. Have been suffering with IBS for a while and my doctor has now prescribed 10mg Amitriptyline to help me sleep. I am always wary of taking drugs, but I am willing to take these if they will help me cope with this ongoing problem, (pain, shakes, tiredness). I am very interested to hear of your experiences and any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Best wishes, thank you

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • postaldogg
    postaldogg karen99499

    Posted

    I take 10 mg nightly. I am currently off of it as I am taking muscle relaxer for back injury and you can't take both. I have always been a terrible sleeper and I will tell you at just 10mg my sleep really improved.It puts me into a deeper sleep. give it some time

  • gloria55119
    gloria55119 karen99499

    Posted

    Hi Karen, I took Ami for several years..also at 10 mg at night for all over nerve pain from AS....Then it was banned here in Indonesia so I had to go cold turkey and stop it...it worked well for me apart from a few side affects...but WOW coming of it...has been a nightmare...I would never take it again....the withdrawal was so bad and it still affects me 4 months later....
    • karen99499
      karen99499 gloria55119

      Posted

      Thank you so much for your reply. Very interesting , best wishes. 
  • postaldogg
    postaldogg karen99499

    Posted

    Everyones reactions are different. I stopped my 10 mg cold turkey and the only thing I noticed is I wasn't sleeping as well

  • amanda59745
    amanda59745 karen99499

    Posted

    Hi Karen i took amitriptyline for  one year then took another 11 months to get off 10 mg. Yes it made me sleep really well  easily 12 hours, i took it for nerve pain. The problem with it is it stopped working at 10 mg so i increased to 20 mg then again increased to 30 mg which, made me too groggy the next day so reduced back down. Then like i said took 11 months to get off the drug as this was horrendous and like Gloria 2 months later even after a very slow taper i still get some side effects. I never had IBS before amitripltyline but the withdrawal type symptoms seem to mimic IBS  for me, i have had awful abdominal cramps, nausea diarrohea , constipation and many more. I will never go on this drug again  but, some people swear by it, we are all different and i know others who take it for IBS. x 
    • karen99499
      karen99499 amanda59745

      Posted

      Thank you so much for sharing this info with me.  Best wishes, God bless you and your family. 
  • thomas44921
    thomas44921 karen99499

    Posted

    Hello,

    I took it for 6 months at 10mg, then 25mg then up to 50mg as a migraine preventative.

    I also have anxiety problem so not sleep is something I am use to.

    Amitriptyline was brilliant, at 10mg it put me into a deep sleep and I woke up feeling more refreshed than I had in years. Only side effects I got was a dry mouth.

    I couldn't stand 25mg though, I was to sedated and couldn't shake the tiredness all day and at 50mg it was insane, body shakes, tremours, nausea, sweats. Went back to 10mg and was fine for 6 months.

    It also helped my TMJ as I grind my teeth in sleep, it was nice waking up headache feel for once.

    I stopped taking them though as after a few months I became very flat and just uninterested in things on them. Side effects started showing with longer term use.

    Withdrawals are fine if you taper slowly. I didn't and went cold turkey. That was hell.

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.