Misc The Amitriptyline Mega Thread

[doppelganga196]

I was originally prescribed this med as a potentiator for the analgesic effects of my methadone as my doc no longer scripts me any opiates (like DHC or codeine) other than methadone .

At first I was started at 25 mg per day & occasionally if i took 50mg after my methadone i found it kicked it into high gear quite nicely, certainly gives a good nod ; )

Then after being on citalopram last year for 2 months, then 3 months on venlafaxine (both of which did little to nothing for my mood) I was scripted 75 mg of ammy trip per day to "kill three birds with one stone" as my doctor put it: to add analgesia to the methadone, as an antidepressant & as a sleep aid for my chronic insomnia.

I take 25 mg during the day to add to the anagesic effects of the methadone, as i have a chronic pain issue, then at night i take a further 50 maaaybe 100mg of ammy trip.

At first i suffered all sorts of unpleasant side effects, such as: frequent need to piss, even when i only needed to piss like 20ml! Also I would feel just awful the morning after taking it, like i'd lost 10 IQ points. Dry mouth was, & still sometimes is, an issue. Also if i took over 50mg i would get very uncomfortable anticholinergic side effects
Anybody who has over done antihistamines before will know how horrid that can feel.

However now i'm tolerant to this med i get very pleasant sleep. Like if i wake up during the night i feel sooo good i dont want to go back to sleep 'cos i want to enjoy how chillaxed I feel. Also it has without a doubt had a positive effct on my mood: a fine sense of well-being. Best thing about amitriptyline as an antidepressant is it begins working much faster than ssri's & snri's.

In summary this drug has become a highly appreciated addition to my medical kit.

 

[ruski]

Bump. Does Amitriptyline potentially subdue the effects of GHB or 1,4-butendiol? I was prescribed it for chronic lower back pain (which it has been quite successful at reducing along with 1000mg of naproxen - I have an L5 bulged disc). I've also noticed it has effectively helped with my insomnia in higher doses (40mg nightly, up from an initial 20mg). The other, unexpected, affect is that it appears to subdue the effects of 1,4-B and GHB (usual doses have no effect and larger does have little effect). The pharmacology is beyond my understanding, so anyone who can add 2c would be great!

 

[paranoid android]

Bump. Does Amitriptyline potentially subdue the effects of GHB or 1,4-butendiol? I was prescribed it for chronic lower back pain (which it has been quite successful at reducing along with 1000mg of naproxen - I have an L5 bulged disc). I've also noticed it has effectively helped with my insomnia in higher doses (40mg nightly, up from an initial 20mg). The other, unexpected, affect is that it appears to subdue the effects of 1,4-B and GHB (usual doses have no effect and larger does have little effect). The pharmacology is beyond my understanding, so anyone who can add 2c would be great!

Amitriptyline due to it's very strong anti-cholinergic effects will potentiate the drowsiness of most sedatives and i wouldn't think GHB would be any different as it does increase the drowsiness caused by both alcohol and benzos by quite abit. I mixed it with alcohol once when i was taking 150mg's a day for chronic neuropathic pain as well as depression. So i really don't know why you would feel the GHB less on the amitriptyline unless it has something to do with it's serotonin or norepinephrine reuptake inhibition perhaps.

Talk about a old thread . I came across this because i was thinking of maybe going back on amitriptyline to see if it could help my pain and mood abit.

 

[wrongdose]

I'm thinking about it too - it's just the weight gain thing. Last time I put on 5kgs. Lately ive been using 1mg clonazepam instead.

Anyone with ideas to negate the weight gain? Yup, I get the eat less. Actually duh! I just realised being an antichol, it made me thirsty and I mistook that for hunger. Well, that's part of it anyway.

 

[paranoid android]

I'm thinking about it too - it's just the weight gain thing. Last time I put on 5kgs. Lately ive been using 1mg clonazepam instead.

Anyone with ideas to negate the weight gain? Yup, I get the eat less. Actually duh! I just realised being an antichol, it made me thirsty and I mistook that for hunger. Well, that's part of it anyway.

I put on weight when i went on amitriptyline as well. I also quit smoking at around the same time so this could have made the weight gain worse. Usually i am around the 170lbs mark but i went up to nearly 200lbs on amitriptyline. I was also taking clonazepam, opiates like oxycodone and bupropion. I went into a kind of health craze and would run and lift weights alot. I put on alot of muscle but i could not drop the weight no matter how much i ran or tried to watch what i ate.

When i started smoking again i lost some of the weight but not all of it. Weight gain is a common side effect of tricyclics such as amitriptyline. The dry mouth can be very bad and really long lasting unlike seroquel where the effects wear off after a few hours. I took amitriptyline with seroquel for abit and the dry mouth from both opf these meds where awful. I also take both lamotrogine and bupropion so they cause rather bad dry mouth as well. I found amitriptyline to be pretty good side effect wise over all and it actually seemed to work. Too bad it stopped working . I also never got any negative sexual side effects or withdrawals from amitriptyline both of which are common to ssri's and snri's so that's another plus.

 

[SaosinEngaged]

Is there any similarity between amitryptaline and trazodone? I'm prescribed Trazodone although I absolutely loathe taking it and ami's effects sound very similar to what Trazodone, also an antidepressant, produces.

 

[Permanent Jones]

Funny, I've been scripted ammy for several months and still have every pill because I was afraid that it wouldn't work for sleep.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Funny, I've been scripted ammy for several months and still have every pill because I was afraid that it wouldn't work for sleep.

It is prescribed for sleep and works well for a lot of people. Though it can give off some nasty side effects that make you feel like shit and not be able to sleep.. It doesn't work for everyone.

 

[Permanent Jones]

Thanks, Mr. S .

 

[Lady Codone]

Sweet baby Jesus! Can't imagine anyone using this drug recreationally. I could barely stand it taken as directed for "depression". Here's the summary for those curious:

*Rapid weight gain (50 lbs in 3 months when taken with Risperdal).
*Death-like sedation unlike any sedative, hypnotic or benzo on planet Earth. Probably closer to propofol than Xanax.
*Dry orifices--all of them. My nose stayed bloody for 6 months.
*Intense craving for sweets that is not satisfied by any amount of eating.

Tricyclic antidepressants are even worse than SSRI's in terms of side effects. If you don't like antihistamines you should stay far away from clomipramine, imipramine, amitriptyline and any other drug in the family. Giving this to someone with lethargic depression is the cruelest thing I can imagine.

Then again, there are people out there who abuse Seroquel, so...

 

[downerman79]

Hey guys, I just took 10 mg of amitriptyline and I feel like total crap. I thought it would chill me out, I wasn't expecting an opiate or benzo bliss but I thought it would be at least a little bit pleasant. All I fell is an anticholinergic shitty feeling and some kind of general unpleasantness, sort of uncomfortable sedation. I've never taken any TCAs before, I've tried some antihistamines, we all know they suck, I hoped this would be a little bit better. Luckily I took only 10 milligrams, I thought about taking 20. Do you know how long is this crap going to last??

 

[MagickalKat777]

How long ago did you take it?

It takes about 3 hours to reach peak effect and lasts a good 12-16 hours with a 6-8 hour "peak". It has a rather long half life of 21 hours.

I don't know about a 10mg dose though. That's extremely low so it might have shorter-lasting effects.

 

[downerman79]

Actually, it kicked in really fast, 20-30 minutes after I took it. I took it on an empty stomach and chewed it, almost 4 hours earlier this night. Anticholinergic effects started to wear off maybe one hour later. I feel normal now, although I had a couple of panic attacks. I've recently been trough a benzo withdrawal (not to severe, from low doses) and it seems that this drug exacerbated some of the benzo WD symptoms. I'm still awake but I think I'll probably have trouble falling a sleep. Taking this was definitely a bad idea...

 

[MagickalKat777]

Well I'm glad that it ended for you. Guess its a good thing that you ended up with 10 and not 20!

When you've been through an ordeal with benzos in any amount, you become sensitive to just about everything. I had a tylenol set off a full blown panic attack during a Klonopin detox. Pretty much anything that can cause a chemical response tends to kick out a negative response during or post-benzo withdrawal for awhile. I couldn't imagine taking something as nasty as ami when you're off of a recent benzo withdrawal. Yuck. Anticholinergics are nasty to begin with.

 

[EP158207]

I was prescribed this for nerve pain first, before I got my prescription for gabapentin and even 5mg knocked me out for hours. When I woke, I was like a zombie and couldt function for the first few hours of the day. Its a nasty, gross drug.


There was no high, no pain relief, or anything even remotely positive.

 

[EP158207]

so i was given this to help with my depression and anxiety as the doctor thinks my nerve/muscle pain in my legs is due a mental condition rather than accepting its not my head playing tricks on me.
the doctor claims that depression is making me feel the pain in my legs upto 3 times more than if i was happy...
i think hes full of shit to be honest, i've had the same pain even when i was happy and fine mentally for months on end.

he insisted it would help with my anxiety and depression so i wouldn't feel my pain as much and also mentioned it would help me sleep like nothing else.

i asked if the sedation was due to an antihistamine effect a few times and he clearly said no everytime.

so im curious, what causes the sedative effect in this drug?
i'm really only depressed because of the pain in my legs which has stopped me from working for the past 6 months, if i could get a proper diagnosis and some pain meds i would be good as new...

it would be good to hear others thoughts if they were in a similar situation...
does it actually help with anxiety and depression at doses of 25-50mg?

Are you in the UK, they start you off with amitriptaline when it comes to nerve pain in most NHS trusts. Insist that it doesn't work so that they can move you on to gabapentin, lyrica or something worthwhile. I've read about ami being great for localised nerve pain, but have yet to meet anyone (including myself) who has benefitted from it.

 

[BJCS333]

So Is this safe to take and that? I might try 30mg one night mixed up with some weed when i got a break off work anyone had any experiences mixing with weed?

 

[Soulgasm]

I take that much every night with weed for sleep. It gives a mild relaxation. It's safe; the only side effects I notice are drymouth and a little morning grogginess but ymmv.

 

[BJCS333]

...

 

[alpha_76]

I have been prescribed this for neck pain. Only 10 mg makes me feel like shit. I take it as early as 7pm but still feel it worse the whole next morning. While at night I hardly feel it. The sedation is awful (though not as bad as mertazipine that was the worst) but it hits me in the morning rather than help me sleep. Any one know a way to get this stuff to kick in quicker at night? I take tramadol as well. I was on Diazepan but I never liked it. I don't like drowsy noddy drugs on the whole but some sleep without the hangover the next day would be nice.

You guys on 100mg must be hero's handling amitriptyline's sides.