Elavil - Fibromyalgia Message Board

dawn2 · 01-15-2002, 10:03 AM

My doctor just switched my meds cause he felt I wasn't getting deep sleep. He has put me on 20 mg. of Elavil. It doesn't seem to help, but I've only been on it for 4 nights. The doc also said, it tends to give you weight gain - oh greatttttt - like I need one more thing to battle! Any comments would be greatly appreciated! TX Dawn2

danam · 01-16-2002, 06:04 PM

Hi, I am also on Elavil. It seems to work well for me. The one thing I do like about it is that it doesn't leave you feeling drugged the next morning like some of the other ones do. Maybe give it some time and (or) see if you can add 10 more milligrams. I have gained some weight while being back on Elavil. Which isn't good but, if you are aware of it, that may help. See if you can add one Tylenol PM with the Elavil. I know the benedryl will make you sleepy. I am not sure if you can take both but, you could see. My mother takes a half a pill of Ambian. I know some Dr.'s won't prescribe it to us because of the chance of addiction. But, it works really well.
Dana

dawn2 · 01-17-2002, 08:59 AM

Dana:
Thanks for your input. I'm still fighting sleep. I will try the second 10 mg. I do get the groggy feeling tho and I also get brain fog bigtime with it. Did you notice that at first? The Benedryl - I total react the opposite from the norm. It puts me in high gear instead of making you drowsy. They found this out at the ER one time when I had a allergic reaction to something and they gave me Benedryl - I couldn't sleep for over 24 hrs! Go figure!! I'm going to give it a few more days and see what happens. Thanks, Dawn2

aryahl · 01-22-2002, 03:22 PM

Sometimes it takes time to find the right dose of elavil. When I am in a lot of pain I take more then when I feel just the usual amount of lousy. I confess I did put on weight too, but I sleep better. I hope it helps.

fawnmarie · 02-10-2002, 06:42 AM

My doctor put me on the same - 20 mgs of Elavil and also told me I would put on weight.

Well, it worked the first two nights and then stopped - but didn't stop me from emptying the refrigerator every night. I seemed to have some kind of resistance to Elavil - it would work for a night or two, then not work unless I didn't use it for a couple of nights. It really wasn't much help at all.

I switched to melatonin - 6 mgs - and stopped pigging out and sleep fine. I took 6 mgs a night for a month, then 3 mgs for another month. Now I only take it as needed, say once a week or so. If I take it early enough, say by 11 PM (I get up around 6:30), I don't feel groggy in the morning. Especially if I take it with bromelain (which relieves all my morning stiffness). I got both the melatonin and bromelain at Walmart for very little money.

Fawn