Amitriptyline

[Shopkinsdoll]

Hi. I have been taking Prozac for depression for about three months now. Worked ok at the start, just like a lot of these antidepressants, that seems to happen. I have been getting pins and needles due to anemia, doc prescribed amitriptyline. I stopped the Prozac without telling the doctor and started the amitriptyline. I was only supposed to take one 50mg tablet a night but took 2. A month on, my depression has lifted, no anxiety and I feel great. How do I tell the doctor I stopped the Prozac and doubled my amitriptyline medication. He will prob be angry. He gave me two month worth 4 weeks ago and they have ran out. I think the doctors at the local surgery are loosing patience with me as Iv had ongoing problems for months now.

Well you could always say one wasn't effective for pins and needles but I'm wondering if that dose is safe.
Also that you don't feel you need the prozac, of course that wouldn't be very truthful. I should imagine lots of people are untruthful about what they are and aren't taking but if you say what you are doing that may not go down too well.

You need to be careful with it. One reason it is not often prescribed any more is that it interacts in some way with a lot of other meds and is absolutely lethal in overdose. Far more than SSRIs like Prozac. Your main worry should not be getting into trouble. I take that dosage and it is a safe one as long as you are healthy, not underweight and barring other drugs reacting to it, the maximum dose is 150 unless very closely monitored but it is really not a drug to be fuckarseing about with.

I have to have a yearly ECG due to taking that dose as it can affect heart rhythms.

No I stopped taking the Prozac as wasn’t doing anything. The amytriptiline I wasn’t going to take but I took 2 and got a great sleep and felt so unstressed the next day going to the supermarket. A few weeks later my mood has been great, no afternoon tiredness. I have been taking 20 mg per night. The doctor hasn’t tried me on any of the older antidepressants before. They keep changing from Prozac to others in the same category. They don’t seem to work for some strange reason. I was given the amytriptiline because I was getting pins and needles caused by anemia. Iron tablets are working great too. I think I’m falling apart 🙁🙁

Your doctor should be pleased that you have found something that works for you. I was on escitalopram and pregabalin, and started taking amitriptyline 25mg for back pain. The improvement in my mood was almost instantaneous; within a few days I stopped both the escitalopram and the pregabalin, and started taking 25mg amitriptyline in the morning and evening. That was last Christmas, and I’m still on that dose along with 40mg propranolol. Like you I was a bit concerned what the doctor might say about by ‘self managenent’; however she made it clear that if it worked for me that was great, and that while it is an old drug it is still used in depression. Furthermore she said that 50mg a day is a very low dose for depression and I could increase it if I wanted to; so far have not felt the need, but good to know that’s an option which wasn’t the case with escitalopram. She said the main reason it is not prescribed so widely is because of the side effects - I get a dry mouth, increased appetite and vivid dreams, and due to interactions with other drugs. So tell your doctor it works, get him to make sure it doesn’t interact with anything else you are on; also that you don’t have any medical conditions which would preclude you taking it. It’s been great for me!

SSRIs don't work for me either, I respond much better to the older drugs but please be wary of messing about with the dose. They are brilliant but if you take a high dose then drop it suddenly it will fuck you up. Seriously. Google Brain Zaps.

You say in your first post you were prescribed 50mg and you took double that, but then you say you are taking 20mg., then you end by saying you think you are falling apart after saying you feel better? Which is it?
Either way you need to fess up to the doctor.

Pipandmum
Sorry just looked at the box it’s 10mg so taking 20mg per night. Sorry I wrote the post in a hurry. I meant the last part as tongue and cheek, my body’s falling apart. Iv had to contact the doctor quite a lot recently. Having had blood tests and being diagnosed with anemia, anxiety and depression.

Oh in that case 20 won't do you any harm unless you have other meds/conditions.

20mg amitriptyline is a fairly low dose. Bear in mind 10mg can be given to children for bed wetting (according to the patient information leaflet). It's good that it's working, I think you just need to update your doctor and organise a repeat prescription.

100mg is the dose prescribed for mental health problems. 10mg, 20mg are prescribed for back pain and fibromyalgia. Just speak to your GP.