amitriptyline - how on earth cd you function on 150 mg of the stuff?!! anyone else on it?

[MissChief]

have just started taking this - 1st night took 2 x 10mg and zonked out, SLEPT (major for me) but like a zombie next day. Therefore took 1 x 10mg last might but slept poorly, wondering about upping again. Wondering also about on-going effects of the stuff - gp assures me non-addictive but find this surprising. anyone else taking it?

I take 25mg, and I am fine with it. However, it took a good few weeks for me to stop feeling spaced out in the mornings, but your body does get used to it so please do persevere. Also, if it is really hard to wake up, try taking it a few hours earlier (say 8-9pm), this should help a bit as the effects won't be as strong in the morning!

Hope this helps!

When I took it I had to be in bed within half an hour as I would zonk out so quickly. Can't remember the dose but it was miniscule. I didn't take it for long as it was for daily headaches but it make me feel spaced out in the mornings too.

It's quite an old-fashioned anti-depressant. Have you tried newer ones e.g. paroxetine/ sertraline/citalopram

I take 150mg. I also take Citalopram. It does slow me down a bit, but it's better than the waves of pure terror/panic attacks/constant tension headaches that I used to have instead.

thanks - really good to hear from others on it! Gp prescribed it as my insomnai has been so bad so he thought it would knock me out (well, it certainly did!). I believe the newer SSRIs (?) don't have the same sleep-inducing effect? I'm wondering how long to wait for it to settle donw - gp said I should try experimenting with different quantities, problem is, don't know when all the effects will hit. Maybe I'll try 20 mg again tonight but earlier as greeneyedgirl suggested. Another question , anyone drink with it? I would like to be able to have the occasional glass, just the one, and a small one, every now and then. Is this a bad idea?

well took 2 x 10mg and still didn't sleep well. maybe will up again. am new to all this and not sure what to expect.

Hi there, I took amitriptyline for chronic insomnia/pnd but it was a few years ago and i can't remember what my dosage was. I can safely say though that it bloody worked! I am not the greatest sleeper ever, but am a billion times better than before, and the sleep sorted my mood, and I think the mood then helped the sleep etc etc. Anyway I was on it for about 6 months then came off it gradually over 3 months and was completely fine.

I tried to drink once but not having masses of common sense at the time I drank a shed load and was really out of it... But I don't see why you can't have one glass of wine and see how you get on?

I took them two hours before bed, I think. It really did work. The only side effect I can remember is a dry mouth but it wasn't anything major. I didn't notice a groggy feeling in the mornings because i was so used to feeling shattered anyway.

You know what I do remember, I started off with 10mg, did that for a week or something, then 20, then 30 was my max. I always had them in 10mg tablets so I could fiddle with the dose if necessary.

glad it worked for you. think it's helping me but ear;y days - i'm waking again early on it unlike the first 2 nights when it knocked me out. that happen to you? I wake 4 ish tho rather than 2ish so less knackered. i'm also feeling much better in the mornigns tho doesn't seem to last into the evening (or maybe it's just the days i have!). maybe i should look at taknig 1 in the morning too.
Feeling my way along on this, gp gave rather hurried advice.

I took 150mg every day for two years until I got pregnant, for preventative treatment of migraine. Started out taking very low dose and built it up gradually until it worked well enough for my needs. Definitely made me fall FAST asleep very quickly so took it at about 8pm & after a few months it didn't seem to affect me so much in this way. Very groggy in mornings though but nothing a shower and cup of strong coffee couldn't help with. I Love my wine and used to sink a few glasses with dinner without any problems although hangovers are horrendous if you over do it...be warned! If it helps your depression, my advice would be to stick with it, you may find that you get used to it in time and the side effects subside a bit...surely its better than feeling depressed?

I took 10mg a day for a few weeks in addition to my AD's as it helps with nerve pain as well as being an AD.

I was a wreck. I had to take a month off work because all I could do was sleep. Strangely enough I came off it as soon as I realised that I was never going to start getting used to it. I would rather live with the pain tbh.

I think that like with many medications it has different effects on different people, some tolerate it well and it has huge benefits, others such as myself can't hack it at all.

i guess it's true it depends on the person. I think it's working for me, am just rather loathe to take too much of the stuff (150mg sounds a lot right now) although i guess i may need to in order to get the fullbenefit.

I seem to remember it taking about three weeks for me to start feeling like a person again, up to that point it was a bit of a hodge podge of odd sleeping habits. I used to struggle to get to sleep in the first place more than waking up, so it sorted that out pretty much immediately, but i don't really remember about the waking. I think it will definitely take your body a while to get used to it, so perhaps give it a couple of weeks before you change the time you take it? I do remember my doctor saying that once I was established on them I could take one during the day if I wanted, but I never did in the end.

Also, I managed to hunt down a really old packet and I was totally wrong, the tablets were 25mg so my dose was actually up to 75mg.

hiya i took amitripyline whilst pregnant with ds3 for seasonal affective disorder worked well but was scared it was harming my baby but gp reassured me all would be well and it was

glad you were okay!
I@m now taking 4 x 10 mg, sleep comes and goes and am having v vivid dreams but I am so grateufl to be getitng more sleep finally!
I wish I'd gone down this route years ago!
I am looking forward to the 3 week mark tho for the side-effects to die down.

I was prescribed it for pain (so at a very low dose) but had to give up after a couple of weeks as even at 5mg (!) at night I was still zonked in the morning, and also I was sleeping so deeply that I kept turning on to my bad shoulder in the night and not waking up so ironically during the day the pain was a lot worse! I am v. sensitive to stuff though, apparently most people aren't quite so knocked sideways. I am also quite small and light and I think sometimes doctors forget to allow for this.

I take 20mg every night for pain. The first week or so was horrendous but now, after nearly 18months I am fine. Well not fine int hat Is till ahve pain, but it helps me sleep better, which goes some way to helping me cope during the day.

good it helps you with the pain. Its effect seems to be lessening for me, maybe ineed to up the dose.

Was put on this when my panic attacks resurfaced but stopped taking it very quickly as it made me feel like a zombie and didn't help with the depression.

doc wants me to carry on with it as early days, will for now but don't want to feel so spaced out for long - cant' work, can't (safely) drive, memory gone, vocab shot to pieces, is this normal? He recommends that I slowkly up the dose and assures me that side-effects will disappear. any thoughts?

You do get used to it after a while. They still make you sleep at night but you don't feel so spaced during the day IIRC.

I think it will go away but if you are still feeling strange after a few weeks then maybe it's not right for you..

i'll see how it goes, bit of a wobble last wk with terrible sleep again (+PMT), better now and on 50mg. wondering how long i'm going to need it for .