So, I started my first real medication for FMS and my headaches (the others have been natural supplements and stuff that just didn't help at all) because I have my first real doctor (not that peds are not real doctors!). ANyway, it is amitriptyline. I am starting on a "baby dose" of 10mg. I went back and read some posts about it and most of you seemed to really not like it at all. Is this still true?
I have taken it for about 4 days now and haven't seen any adverse affects. I haven't had one of my "almost every day" headaches either, but that could easily be a coincidence because I do have a stretch every now and then for about a week when I don't have a real bad headache every day. So, we'll see about that soon.
Is it good I haven't seen side affects yet or is it just too soon? I'm not any more tired than I was before hand, or groggy. It's all about the same.
Anyway, I guess I just want some thoughts and stuff.
__________________
Diagnosed with:
Fibromyalgia
Mitral Valve Prolapse
Tachycardia
High Blood Pressure
Nummular Eczema
Depression
Esophagitis
Solar Urticaria (but not officially yet)
Last edited by GodsGirl4ever06; 08-24-2006 at 08:37 PM.
i took amitrptyline off and on for years for different reasons. i loved the drug. made me feel goo. put my pain at ease, helped me sleep. i stopped takin it becasue i was doing good and it was time. when i was dx with fibro it was the first med the dr. tried. totally different reaction. nightmares, and just felt weird. tried it's sister nortriptyline. same reaction. difference in time being i now have diabetes and it seeems to react like that in people who take the BP meds i take. i'm sorry for that becasue i found it to be one of the most helpful drugs ever prescribed to me. good luck with it. i hope you get the same benefit i did for years.
Hi Julie, have you left for school yet? How is your Mom doing?
I took amitriptyline several years ago, as ICC stated it was the first drug prescribed and my doc says it is the standard for fm. It worked fine for me for a few days, and I was on a low dose, but it started to give me that drugged hung over feeling the next morning and I really just felt sort of.....well.....like, just kind of ho-hum and deep sighing and not with it. It did help me sleep a first but that didn't last long. I really hope it helps you, it is a very old drug sometimes called elavil. Let us know how you are doing.
Thanks for your responses ladies! I really hope this works for me too.
And Glojer, I am leaving for school is exactly 1 hour from now! How exciting! And I move in tomorrow morning!
As for my mom, she is actually in more pain now than she has been the whole time. They said she would be because all of her nerves had been cut off or something and now they are coming back so she actually feels the pain. Her whole right side of her head also feels like that pins and needles feel like when your leg is waking up or something and the doctors said that would last about 3 months. So, ick.
Yeah . . .
Anyway, I would love to hear from other people out there!
__________________
Diagnosed with:
Fibromyalgia
Mitral Valve Prolapse
Tachycardia
High Blood Pressure
Nummular Eczema
Depression
Esophagitis
Solar Urticaria (but not officially yet)
Hi Julie
I started with 10 mg 10 years ago i am now up to 50.
It is a very good drug for fms for many reasons.
It does help with deep sleep and does take the edge of the pain.
I did put on15 lbs on the onset but that was it for weight gain..Many people don't like it because it makes you crave carbs.
It took a good week for me to get use to it..i would feel hung over in the morning...but now i dont notice anything...but i wouldnt go without it for anything.
I just started the amitriptyline 5 days ago. The first few nights I slept like a log, even falling back into sleep after my alarm went off in the morning. That's something I've NEVER done. Anyway, about the third night, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and slept on and off till 7:00. And now that's how every night has been. I took 10 mg. at first, but after the third night, started trying 20mg. Didn't make a difference. I see my doctor again this week, so will ask if I need to increase dosage. It freaks me out to be taking a narcotic at all, and if you'd asked me to 2 years ago, i'd have said NO WAY. But now the pain has gotten to the point that it's really affecting my life, and I'm willing to try it. I have several loved ones in my family that have abused drugs, and I have a fear of becoming dependant. I've told all my friends to keep an eye on me!!
The following user gives a hug of support to shabbyanne: trouble1968 (03-08-2011)
shabbyanne----elavil is not a narcotic. it is an older anti-depressant. if ever you want to stop taking it you do have to wean yourself off but it is not addictive like narcotics.
Well, I'm definantly starting to notice the extreme sleepiness now. It IS helping my pain and headaches, but, my goodness it is making me so tired. I feel like I'm just gonna have to choose -- less pain and headaches, but extreme fatigue or more pain and headaches but actually be awake when I need to be . . .
__________________
Diagnosed with:
Fibromyalgia
Mitral Valve Prolapse
Tachycardia
High Blood Pressure
Nummular Eczema
Depression
Esophagitis
Solar Urticaria (but not officially yet)
try to keep taking the elavil until your body gets used to it. i had the same problem at first on 25 mg. very sleepy all day. it did pass in about a month when my body got used to it. try taking it earlier in the evening if you'r ehaving trouble getting up in the morning. i used to have to get up at 5:00 a.m. so i took it right after dinner. fell asleep around 9:00 which was good for me since i got plenty of sleep but wasn't drousy in the morning. try playing with the time you take it.
I've been taking it a few months now, I can't complain, haven't had any problems yet. My arthritis dr. put me on it to help me sleep, I can't say for sure how much it helps me sleep, some anyway. But I haven't had any bad side effects from it that I've noticed.
My mistake. I was thinking of my darvocet when I was talking about a narcotic. Blame it on the "fog"!!! I've upped my elavil to 20 mg. and it is a big difference from the 10mg. I sleep like a log at night, but feel like I need a nap during the day.
I have been taking 100 mg of amitriptyline for a year now.If I skip a pill accidentally i feel like hell the next day
I too take amitriptyle and have been for 2 years. The doctor started me at 25 mg then uped it to 50 mg. This was to help me sleep and for pain. I had terrible "sweet" cravings with it and weight gain. Last week the doctor cut me back to 25 mg. I now wake up after only 5 or 6 hours of sleep and have had terrible muscle aches and joint pain since. I wonder if it's from the reduction of the drug? My doctor tells me I have fibro and myofacial pain syndom with osteoarthritis in my lower spine. Lately I have had terrible knee, ankle and wrist pain. I also take 9oo mg of gabipentin daily for nerve pain. In between doses I usually take EXS Tylenol and sometimes resort to T3"s. Does anyone out there have a relief for fibro and the pain that goes with it? I work in nursing and I'm finding it harder and harder to work my shifts without pain and taking medication for that pain. Does anyone have any answers for me? I am desperatly trying to find a way to live a normal life relatively pain free!
Hi there all. I actually started a thread yesterday about this drug..it worked great for me in the beginning, then stopped working great..I was at 75mg when I decided enough is enough..I have gained probably around 10-15 pounds. I am already 20 pounds overweight, and happy at THAT weight but am a bit uncomfortable at this weight..I also was craving chocolate bad at night..add in a bad bout of colitis and you've got trouble..I wasn't sure if weaning off needed to be done, I haven't taken it in 3 nights, back to trazodone, but I noticed this morning the most horrible upper body pain I have ever had. We are in the third day of a rainstorm, but even during bad weather I have never felt so bad. I noticed transient headaches, but nothing that I would medicate for. So this morning I took one 25mg pill, to see if it is the withdrawal causing the horrible upper body pain. I am still going off the drug. I liked it in the beginning, but it stopped helping me sleep and I am not willing to go any higher because I need to get this 15 pounds off before going back to work..if the only side effect of coming off is pain I will muddle through it, it was the side effects you get from wd of ssri's that made me nervous, those side effects are awful..Good luck kids and much love!!
peace and love
Sandra
The Following User Says Thank You to tooolgrl For This Useful Post: sydney56 (03-07-2011)
So, I started my first real medication for FMS and my headaches (the others have been natural supplements and stuff that just didn't help at all) because I have my first real doctor (not that peds are not real doctors!). ANyway, it is amitriptyline. I am starting on a "baby dose" of 10mg. I went back and read some posts about it and most of you seemed to really not like it at all. Is this still true?
I have taken it for about 4 days now and haven't seen any adverse affects. I haven't had one of my "almost every day" headaches either, but that could easily be a coincidence because I do have a stretch every now and then for about a week when I don't have a real bad headache every day. So, we'll see about that soon.
Is it good I haven't seen side affects yet or is it just too soon? I'm not any more tired than I was before hand, or groggy. It's all about the same.
Anyway, I guess I just want some thoughts and stuff.
I have been taking amitriptyline off and on for about 9 years. I started off on 25mg and moved up from there. I was orginally put on it to control migraine headaches which it cut mine in about half. So I was thankful for that, but after so long it stopped working. I went off of the medication for a while and then was put back on it about 2 years ago. I am now up to 150 mg at bedtime. I don't really have any side effects from it now but the first couple of days I was very tired and groogy. Now it doesn't effect me at all, it doesn't help me sleep anymore but as I found out when I ran out of most of my meds and had to wait 2 weeks to get them filled. The stuff does help!!! I didn't realize how much my meds helped until then. The pain was double what it is everyday. So I hope that the amitiptyline continues to help you!!!!
I am have a laundry list of drugs I take to treat the fibro and other things. I am taking 150 mg of amitriptyline and I wake up off and on most nights, just depends on when I take it before bed. As far as the narcotic I have been off and on various ones for the past 9 years due to surgeries and fibro, plus other syndromes (diseases), whatever the doctors want to label things at the time. I have not become addicted to any of them, but I also share your same concerns. What I have done is I am taking Tramadol on a regular basis and I take ibuprophin 800mg at least once a day, sometimes twice, and I will take Vicoden when the pain gets really bad!!! When I say really bad I mean in tears, have to have help to get up. Nothing ever makes it go away, it is always there but the meds help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shabbyanne
I just started the amitriptyline 5 days ago. The first few nights I slept like a log, even falling back into sleep after my alarm went off in the morning. That's something I've NEVER done. Anyway, about the third night, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and slept on and off till 7:00. And now that's how every night has been. I took 10 mg. at first, but after the third night, started trying 20mg. Didn't make a difference. I see my doctor again this week, so will ask if I need to increase dosage. It freaks me out to be taking a narcotic at all, and if you'd asked me to 2 years ago, i'd have said NO WAY. But now the pain has gotten to the point that it's really affecting my life, and I'm willing to try it. I have several loved ones in my family that have abused drugs, and I have a fear of becoming dependant. I've told all my friends to keep an eye on me!!
The following user gives a hug of support to trouble1968: sydney56 (03-08-2011)
Re: Amitriptyline and me 
