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Mental Health Amitriptyline Dreams

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Karbon1991

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Mar 5, 2016
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I'm unsure where to place this thread so if one of the mods would like to move it for me that would be great.

I'm currently on 20mg of Amitriptyline at night to help with back pain, head problems and sleep issues. Soon to be upped to 30mg by my CPN. However! I'm absolutely sick to death of these awful dreams!! They are always at least unpleasant, usually violent or aggressive and quite often scary. Getting to the point where I don't really want to sleep. But they're good at what they're taken for so I don't really want to stop them. Does anyone have any ideas or tips or advice just anything that I could do or take to stop these Dream's?
 
Are there other things you're taking that may be contributing as well, such as melatonin, b6, or cholinergic supplements?

In terms of things you could take... Alpha adrenergic antagonists and alpha 2 agonists will work and are often used for nightmares and those types of things. These include things like prazosin and clonidine, and less selective drugs like the atypical antipsychotics, ie seroquel - which also block 5ht2a, which is known to help (think that's how cyproheptadine works for nightmares). Or anything that decreases or suppress REM sleep, such as benzodiazepines and certain other GABAergics. But those are all prescription. I can't think of anything OTC really to help with antidepressant-induced vivid dreams...

You could try a high potency, standardized valerian extract (with a decent amount of valerenic acid). But there's conflicting reports of that either helping or causing bad dreams, so I dunno... Is promethazine OTC where you live? Because that shares similarities with cyproheptadine, which is used for nightmares. If it is, I would definitely give that a shot. It's basically works the same way as seroquel, just weaker.


But I'd avoid anything with the above ingredients. Otherwise they'd probably be a hell of a lot worse. If you take any supplements of any other meds look them up to see if they could be adding into the mix. I would make sure to talk to your doctor about it. There are things specifically for nightmares and sleep-related disturbances that you could take alongside your amitriptyline.
 
I would say try getting something else prescribed, but then again amitriptyline does have pain relieving benefits. I used to get bad nightmares from mirtazapine and had to quit taking it. When I was taking amitriptyline years ago, it was at 50 mg. I'm wondering if a higher dose would help with the nightmares?

(Moving to Mental Health)
 
The only other thing I take regularly are my other medications which includes, Naproxen, Dihydrocodeine and yesterday was my very last dose of citalopram so maybe things will improve slightly by getting rid of that. I take vitamin D every morning but I can't see that being a big issue. Now my Citalopram has been stopped, my CPN told me the following, if I don't need the Citalopram because my depression is being cared for by the Amitriptyline then he can up the dosage as its no longer a danger to add another 10-20mg to my nightly dose. So if that happens I'll let you know how it affects my dreams. I'll re-read the replies and check what meds or remedies you've wrote down and sit down with my CPN and ask him for an opinion. He's sound so I can't see him pulling his nose up at the idea of any remedies. I did forget to mention that once in a blue moon I do have a pretty funky enjoyable dream. Here's hoping for another one now.
 
Phone won't let me edit for some bizarre reason. I didn't answer your question girlwithbluehair I think I could probably get promethezine online but to my knowledge it's not a walk in the park. I don't believe it's available to buy from walk in chemists. At least I've never seen it or heard of anyone having it anyway.
 
Karbon1991 said:
Phone won't let me edit for some bizarre reason. I didn't answer your question girlwithbluehair I think I could probably get promethezine online but to my knowledge it's not a walk in the park. I don't believe it's available to buy from walk in chemists. At least I've never seen it or heard of anyone having it anyway.
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I am not sure but i think like Canada Promethazine is OTC in the UK. It's a good sleep aid but i found as with all anti-histamines the sedating effects go away rather quickly.

I was on Amitriptyline for about 2 years topping out at the max outpatient dose of 150mg's a day. It did sometimes cause very vivid dreams which is i believe listed as a side effect its just unfortunate that your getting bad dreams. I have also been on another Tricyclic Anti-depressant called Trimipramine which is abit of a weird one as along with being a anti-depressant has some Atypical anti-Psychotic properties. One of the nice side effects of Trimipramine is that it often promotes positive dreams in which the person actually feels good waking up from. As depressing dreams are often a problem for me this was a nice side effect for me. I would recommend trying that if your going to try another Tricyclic.
 
Thanks for the advice. I think my CPN wants to try upping my Amitriptyline dose first. I'll keep this thread up to date.
 
I took amitriptyline a few years ago, during 6 months or more for chronic pain and anxiety, was the first antidepressant that I was prescribed, first 25mg, one month later 50mg and a few months later 75mg. I remember this gave me dreams very vivid, sometimes nightmares or weird stuff, and sometimes good dreams. Idk what you could do to fix that, can try melatonine too like said above and relaxing infussions before go to bed, like passiflora or valerian. If this don't stop try remedies like these, then talk with your doctor and tell about it.
 
I have to go to the doctors tomorrow. So I'll update tomorrow with what the doctor say.
 
Up'd to 30mg of Amitriptyline. In three weeks I'm to increase the dose to 40mg, and 3 weeks after that I'm to increase to 50mg and then I'll get a medication review to see how it's all working out.
 
T.Calderone, the increased dose has made the dreams loads better. Had the best dream I've ever had the other night. I wonder if it's anything to do with my mood being better because antidepressant part of the medication?
 
Karbon1991 said:
T.Calderone, the increased dose has made the dreams loads better. Had the best dream I've ever had the other night. I wonder if it's anything to do with my mood being better because antidepressant part of the medication?
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Actually they did a study on Trimipramine (a Tricyclic Anti-Depressant that is really in a class of it's own regarding binding profiles) that reflected this. Here is a link to the abstract of the study. They found Trimipramine to increase positive dreams which may be due to the overall anti-depressant effect of the drug itself creating more positive dreams as opposed to negative ones. I know from experience that in dreams where i am actually depressed they tend to leave me feeling miserable for most of the day after waking up. Although Amitriptyline has a far different binding profile then Trimipramine it also increases dreaming and may share some of Trimipramine's positive effects on dreaming. I took Amitriptyline in doses of up to 150mg's a day for about 2 years and along with helping my Depression more then probably any other anti-depressant besides Trimipramine (for the SAD type of Depression Bupropion seems to work better) it worked wonders for my insomnia and dream quality. I used to get lucid dreaming alot on Amitriptyline actually.
 
I've started having sleep paralysis again the other night. First time again in half s year. Hate the stuff thought I could hear sirens n cars going by outside n I was being forced into my bed. But when I snapped out of it. Nothing. Complete silence other than my ceiling fan. Disgusting thing paralysis is!! I can't be doing with it every night because mine are never enjoyable. Always includes some kind of malevolent being or something bad going off. Awful.
 
Karbon1991 said:
I've started having sleep paralysis again the other night. First time again in half s year. Hate the stuff thought I could hear sirens n cars going by outside n I was being forced into my bed. But when I snapped out of it. Nothing. Complete silence other than my ceiling fan. Disgusting thing paralysis is!! I can't be doing with it every night because mine are never enjoyable. Always includes some kind of malevolent being or something bad going off. Awful.
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We call that the Old Hag here where i come from. The name comes from the fact that the poor bastard suffering from it senses a malevolent being just out of the field of vision or sometimes actually sees said being usually in the form of a witch or whatever. I will never forget the time i was down to my Grandparents place during dinner and my uncle was sleeping off a hangover and got a visit from the old hag. We where all sitting around the table eating and the next thing i know my uncle starts screaming bloody fucking murder from the bedroom. By the time we all rushed in he had woken up and he was sitting upright with wide open eyes and absolutely pouring sweat. My Grandmother asked him what the fuck was wrong and he said he saw the old hag. Alcohol seems to greatly increase the chances of getting this and i myself have experienced it after a night of drinking usually when i had sobered up.

I used to get the old hag alot actually and it is truly terrifying. I would think i was awake or be partially awake (sometimes i heard family members talking and this was not a hallucination as they said they had been talking about what i thought they where talking about) yet completely unable to move no matter what i did. I would try and throw myself up against the wall or anything to get me out of it and sometimes i could move a foot or thought i could but that was it. I also sensed and occasionally saw some figure in the far corner of my vision that i could not make out yet seemed to want to do me harm somehow. A few times i did see a figure run across my field of vision that i imagine gave the old hag it's name as it sure as shit scared the living fuck out of me. It got so bad that i would get it almost every night and after awile i tried to experiment as treating it like a bad trip. I knew it couldn't hurt me so i tried to remember that upon falling asleep and eventually this worked 8o . I would try and let the dream go as far as it would as i actually wanted to get a clear view of the figure that was in a sense haunting me. I never did as when the fear went away so did the sleep paralysis. I would however still get the occasional sleep paralysis episode that scared me out of my wits and i still do but very occasionally now. It seems that when i went on Clonazepam (about 11 years ago now i guess) this pretty much stopped sleep paralysis so visits from the old hag are very rare these days.

Some drugs do indeed make sleep paralysis worse or atleast more frequent and i think Amitriptyline is among them. Actually i have heard of just about every drug used for insomnia causing sleep paralysis including Z hypnotics and even Benzos. Though it seems to be pretty rare with Benzos. If you think it's the drug causing it then i would suggest trying something besides Amitriptyline. Either way discuss it with your doctor.
 
I get night terrors a decent bit due to my PTSD. I have, however, found something that helps me to just about cut the occurrences in half for me. And yes, I do also take amitriptyline as needed for sleep so that wasn't helping my case any before I figured out my little trick to lessen the intensity and frequency of my PTSD induced nightmares. So I know how much amitriptyline can screw over your sleeping mind if you're unlucky.

Now, you may laugh but, if you're a creatively minded type it may be worth a try for ya. What I started to do was do a bit of story based creative work for about 15 to 30 minutes before laying down to sleep. That way I can get my brain into thinking about what I'm working on and the story and environment of that work so, with that fresh in my mind and still brainstorming about it as I lay down, I'm a lot more likely to have dreams about or similar to the subject matter of the story I was working on.

It's kinda like pre-programming your brain for the night, setting your potential thought processes and even potentially some of your subconscious thoughts to a degree (as brainstorming can engage that part of your mental resources as well) on the path for something more desirable to dwell on through the night and thus making the more favorable type of dream more likely to occur since it's fresh in your mind.

This creative works mindset doesn't just have to be straight up storyline writing. It can be a number of things from creating the backstory for a D&D character, fanfiction if you enjoy doing that, visual design of the character(s), role playing, even random thoughts of "what if" can set your mind a bit farther away from the sources of the nightmares. Just make sure it's something enjoyable that you sic your brain on because the last thing you need in that situation is for your brain to bring back a rotting, half eaten dead rat when you need it to catch you a soft, fluffy bunny to provide comfort for you during the night.

Oh, and if you aren't the creative, artsy type, you can also go with the option of watching a show or reading a book that really grabs you and lets your brain get lost in it's story a bit, so long as it's something that isn't gonna cause nightmares worse than the ones you're trying to avoid.

As for the sleep paralysis bit, I get it once in a while. I found that accepting it and using the time to do some meditation or to mentally go through your to-do list for the day as a good use for the time since it's not like you're really going anywhere til your body decides you're allowed to move again. Sleep paralysis is no damned fun to deal with but you can at least make that time where you're stuck laying there unable to move to make some use of the situation.

Of course these are things that help me, but I'm hoping that, even if my methods don't work as well for everyone then, maybe at the least it this info can take a little bit of the edge off or give someone a starting point. Sorry for necroing the thread here but I did kinda feel like I had something worth contributing to this topic. Hope it's a forgivable necroing of a thread all things considered.
 
CrazyBirdGuy said:
I get night terrors a decent bit due to my PTSD. I have, however, found something that helps me to just about cut the occurrences in half for me. And yes, I do also take amitriptyline as needed for sleep so that wasn't helping my case any before I figured out my little trick to lessen the intensity and frequency of my PTSD induced nightmares. So I know how much amitriptyline can screw over your sleeping mind if you're unlucky.

Now, you may laugh but, if you're a creatively minded type it may be worth a try for ya. What I started to do was do a bit of story based creative work for about 15 to 30 minutes before laying down to sleep. That way I can get my brain into thinking about what I'm working on and the story and environment of that work so, with that fresh in my mind and still brainstorming about it as I lay down, I'm a lot more likely to have dreams about or similar to the subject matter of the story I was working on.

It's kinda like pre-programming your brain for the night, setting your potential thought processes and even potentially some of your subconscious thoughts to a degree (as brainstorming can engage that part of your mental resources as well) on the path for something more desirable to dwell on through the night and thus making the more favorable type of dream more likely to occur since it's fresh in your mind.

This creative works mindset doesn't just have to be straight up storyline writing. It can be a number of things from creating the backstory for a D&D character, fanfiction if you enjoy doing that, visual design of the character(s), role playing, even random thoughts of "what if" can set your mind a bit farther away from the sources of the nightmares. Just make sure it's something enjoyable that you sic your brain on because the last thing you need in that situation is for your brain to bring back a rotting, half eaten dead rat when you need it to catch you a soft, fluffy bunny to provide comfort for you during the night.

Oh, and if you aren't the creative, artsy type, you can also go with the option of watching a show or reading a book that really grabs you and lets your brain get lost in it's story a bit, so long as it's something that isn't gonna cause nightmares worse than the ones you're trying to avoid.

As for the sleep paralysis bit, I get it once in a while. I found that accepting it and using the time to do some meditation or to mentally go through your to-do list for the day as a good use for the time since it's not like you're really going anywhere til your body decides you're allowed to move again. Sleep paralysis is no damned fun to deal with but you can at least make that time where you're stuck laying there unable to move to make some use of the situation.

Of course these are things that help me, but I'm hoping that, even if my methods don't work as well for everyone then, maybe at the least it this info can take a little bit of the edge off or give someone a starting point. Sorry for necroing the thread here but I did kinda feel like I had something worth contributing to this topic. Hope it's a forgivable necroing of a thread all things considered.
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Happy to hear you found a way to curb your PTSD nightmares. I also suffer from PTSD and if I try to create a positive story those nasty intrusive thoughts take over and I start obsessing on all the wrong things. The nightmares never end, though some meds make worse. I have had the worst ones when I am not on meds.
 
I can't seem to think positive during paralysis. No matter what I learn about it. Being no actual harm and all that. I still panic. As for going over what I'm thinking of before i sleep, I tried going over all the bad things that I may dream of or have nightmares of. Me being Mr anxiety and all that I couldn't help myself. And that night I dreamed of stealing sheep from a farm and getting free milk from the sheep for the dogs. I don't even know if digs can drink sheep's milk haha. But yea no matter what I think of my brain just goes wild n dreams absolutely anything, whatever it wants. I can't stop it. Nothing seems to alleviate them. As of late my dreams and night terrors have been a lot better. N I'm not sure why. Wish I did know so I could advice others to try the same.
 
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