Amitriptyline for sciatica?

[IHeartGeneHunt]

Can anyone who's been prescribed amitriptyline for sciatica tell me what it's like? Been given it today and the side effects look bloody awful but if it's worth it, I'll try it!

At first I felt really sleepy about 1-2 hours after taking them. But I’ve got used to them now and don’t get that anymore. I do avoid driving late at night if I’ve taken them incase I feel sleepy.

I'm on 150mg a day. They take a week or so but you do get used to them

I have had sciatica in the past due to falling over. I refused to take a lot of pain relief at the time and kept moving, despite it being very painful. It did get a bit better but I have a prolapsed disc, and have to watch what I lift. I have taken amitriptyline for severe nerve damage (operation went very wrong and I have some permanent paralysis). At first, I welcomed a decent night of sleep. However, it increased appetite a lot and weight gain. Also hallucination and fatigue and headaches. A bit counter-productive in my case. However, it does work for some people who have nerve pain.

I'm taking it for awful sciatica now.
10mg only made me sleepy after taking it for 2 or 3 days. I took it at 7pm and felt fine by about 9am the next day.
Upping to 20 then 30mg I generally feel fine but notice I'm maybe a little bit spacey until about lunchtime, so I'm going to start taking it about 5.30pm instead now.

if anything, my apetite has reduced so haven't noticed any weight gain.

Husband’s been on it long term, no ill effects that he’s aware of.

I was on it for sciatica for a couple of months. No effect. Switched to nortryptiline. No effect. I stopped. Couldnt walk for a year, was on spinal surgery list, but it got better on its own after a general anaesthetic for a different operation entirely.

I was prescribed it for back pain. I broke my back in 3 places. I then looked it up. It is indeed prescribed for back pain. It's also an anti depressant. To which I was furious.

Amitriptyline
Drug

Amitriptyline, sold under the brand name Elavil among others, is a tricyclic antidepressant primarily used to treat major depressive disorder, a variety of pain syndromes such as neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, migraine and tension headaches.

I had amitripyline for nerve pain in my face. I took the tablet about an hour before I went to sleep, and I slept for 12 hours solid and woke in a pool of my own saliva. I had no idea what day it was, where I was, and I spent the rest of the day like a zombie, I was just so tired. I finished the course of the amitripyline out of desperation for the pain. It worked for wonders for the pain, may I add!

I was prescribed Amitriptyline for sciatica. I didn't get on with it at all. It did nothing for pain relief in the slightest. Just made me not care that I was in pain.

My DH was prescribed them for two slipped discs, together with naproxen and something else to line his stomach. He took them for about two weeks to get over a bad period. He didn’t report any ill effects but it did help with the pain. I think they’re good for nerve pain.

Had them many years ago for pain. They were blummin awful. Dried out my throat and nasal passages so much that I would wake myself up snoring frequently during the night. Ended up pained and fatigued!!

It’s a nerve suppressant. I was told in small doses it’s very effective. Why were you furious it has more than one use?

What dose are you on? I had the worst sciatica (they still don’t know if it was that), that I have ever experienced. Codeine did nothing, naproxen made my stomach bleed, so they prescribed me a low dose. They warned me it would take two weeks to kick in (two weeks sounded like a life time as I couldn’t even bend to put my pants on myself!!). They also warned about the sleep, but as I was waking up with the pain every few hours, I didn’t mind this!!

I possibly have a high tolerance, but I took one a night and felt nothing, still waking up etc. literally two weeks after taking them I felt so much better. I was also having physical therapy and they recommended me to keep at it too. I had to stop taking the high strength codeine as I still had to work and it made my head fuzzy (like I’d drunk a bottle of wine!). The amitriptyline worked very well for me, I didn’t feel fuzzy at all. I stopped after a month as my symptoms were better and could move more when I went to the osteopath so focussed on exercise. I will be saving the rest if I ever have it again - god I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, I possibly had an extreme case!!

Why were you furious about this? Lots of medication has different uses? The helpful doctor who prescribed me it (also reiterated by the physio) were very clear and I found it useful. Patients who were prescribed it for mental issues and who had chronic pain reported they no longer experienced the pain when taking it. Therefore it began to be prescribed at a very low dose.

It’s the same for lots of other medication, those who struggle breastfeeding are sometimes prescribed domperidone (used for nausea). Just because things aren’t originally tailored for a certain ailment doesn’t mean they can’t be used for other issues.

@SpideyWoman1 Because it's prescribed for a variety of reasons. Pain, sore back, an antidepressant. But I only wanted a back pain solution. I didn't wish to be on AD's. I could have been offered many other back pain solutions that weren't AD's. Not everyone is happy about being given a medicine for one reason, when it is also a well known (but not to them! They take it unknowingly) other medicine, eg AD's.

I took it for about 15 years (alongside other meds), I weaned myself off it gradually as I felt I was taking too many meds for the same issue and wanted to see if I could manage without any of them. I remember being really drowsy the following day after I started taking them, BUT I also started on a high dose of Gabapentin at the same time, so can't be sure if it was one, the other, or both.

I didn't have any other side effects, but no noticeable increase in pain after I stopped taking them, so knocked them on the head. The Gabapentin on the other hand....I couldn't even get out of bed in the morning if I stopped those.

Definitely worth trying, but never take them unless you know you can have a good 8 hours or so before needing to function. Oh - and they can make your mouth dry as buggery!

But it works very well for nerve pain for a lot of people. A lot of painkillers are potentially a lot more dangerous.
I took amitriptylene for chronic pain syndrome due to nerve damage and it worked brilliantly when there was nothing else suitable.
It isn't really used as an antidepressant these days to be fair. There are much better drugs available.

I took it a few years ago but all it did was make me think I could see something in my peripheral vision that wasn't there. I've spoken to other people over the years that had the same reaction. It did nothing for me for sleep or pain.
I got rid of the sciatica by drinking lots of water, as dehydration exasperates sciatica and also getting rid of my car (it had sporty type seats, you need more L shaped seats like a dinning chair)
White willow bark massively helped too.
Good luck hope something works for you, it's horrible.

Clearly no one understands my pov. I don't wish to be on AD's. I'm not depressed. I wish to be given a back pain solution that isn't an AD.

@Oblomov23 if was given to you as a pain medication then you weren't on the dose required for it to work as an antidepressant. that's a much higher dose.

I’m not depressed either. ‘Antidepressants’ aren’t a thing any more than ‘painkillers’ are a thing. It depends on the dose and chemical make up. There are drugs that taken at a certain dosage can help alleviate symptoms. When I was given a nausea drug to help my lactation, I wasn’t suffering from nausea. I was taking it to help to breastfeed. Would it have made it more palatable for you if amitriptyline was initially a ‘sciatica’ drug which then went on to help people with depressive symptoms?

"Antidepressants’ aren’t a thing any more than ‘painkillers’ are a thing."

Nope. I disagree.

I took it for the first couple of weeks when I slipped a disc last year whilst I was completely bedridden and like other people have said, it did help to knock me out of a few hours at a time, but I hated how muzzy I felt when it wore off. The pain relief effect increased the longer I took it. I was able to get out of bed for a little while after three weeks, with a mixture of the maximum dose of codeine, paracetamol, and naproxen. I found that using a TENS machine made a huge difference. I was able to slightly reduce the codeine a few months ago but am still taking a total of 5 x 30mg tablets a day. I finally had a nerve root block injection in March of this year, a year after I slipped the disc, and it didn't work. I've been waiting for a second injection; for various reasons I don't want to have a microdiscectomy . For some reason I didn't think of trying acupuncture until about three weeks ago but booked an appointment in desperation and the improvement has been staggering. I've not used my TENS machine for two weeks now and have reduced my naproxen.

@Oblomov23
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Drugs are just a chemical make up and have been historically used to treat all sorts of illnesses depending on the dosage and patient symptoms.