Amitriptyline

[theotherboleyngirl]

I?m struggling to function I feel on a completely different planet and keep falling asleep. I have 3 children under 5, I can?t be like this and be responsible for them.

On Tuesday I was put on 25mg Amitriptyline for a new diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. (This is after 6 years of working with a different diagnosis). I am also on 30 mg of Citalopram for anxiety related to PTSD.

It is great for the night for my PTSD ? I?ve slept better than I have in 3 years. But the days are hell, so I?m not even really feeling any benefit from sleeping a full night for the first time in 3 years!

If in a few weeks this will calm down and I won?t feel the side effects so badly then I will plough on, but will they? Or should I come off the amitriptyline?

I was put on a 10mg dose for migraines when ds was small. I stuck to out (for the longest of my life) 4 months but was exactly as you describe. I felt like I was fighting a heavy lead weight all the time and like things were merely happening around me, I felt like I wasn't really there.

Wild horses wouldn't convince me back on them, and they didn't make a jot of difference to my headaches.

I was put on a 10mg dose for migraines when ds was small. I stuck to out (for the longest of my life) 4 months but was exactly as you describe. I felt like I was fighting a heavy lead weight all the time and like things were merely happening around me, I felt like I wasn't really there.

Wild horses wouldn't convince me back on them, and they didn't make a jot of difference to my headaches.

I take 10mg at night. It might be worth seeing if a lower dose is better.

It does make me sleep like a log and I can be a bit woozy when I first wake up. It does get better after a few weeks of taking it, not as woozy in the mornings. But then I stop taking it when my back feels better, then when the pain returns I'm back to square one with the wooziness. Try it for a few more weeks and see how you feel.

thanks both - I'm not sure if I CAN keep going though. It's half term and I just don't feel safe. I can't seem to mind over matter making myself fight the fog. The good news is that it's working great on the pain, I've only taken one dose of paracetamol a day for the last week (unheard of, am normally popping pills!), but it's like I'm too foggy to even care about that!

I've been on 2x10mg a night for a few weeks, I had to take week off work at first as I could barely function the next day.

I do feel a bit less groggy now but I still struggle to deal with dd2 (1yo) when she wakes up at night. I've also spent most of today asleep even though I had about 13 hours of straight sleep last night.

I was told that most people give up because they cannot cope with the symptoms, but if you stick it out for 2 weeks then it works - and that is what worked for me.

The dr signed me off for 4 weeks due to a comination of bad back and needing to get used to the tablets. I do have a job where I can't be groggy at all though.

Completely agree with what feedthegoat said. I was on up to 20mg at night for sciatic nerve pain. I was in excruciating pain in bed & although the amitriptyline helped the pain, I would say it hindered my recovery. I literally could not get out of bed because of that heavy lead weight feeling. In fact when trying to get out of bed I asked DH who had changed gravity!!! Only took them for 10-14 days though so maybe it gets easier???

Thank you everyone. I dropped the dose last night to 10mg and feel a little better today but still took an hour to get out of bed. Going to try that for a few days then try going up again. I want to give it a fair trial if I can because it would be great to have something that works, but only if I can get through this fog.

It is worth sticking with if you can. I loved mine - really effective for early hours pain and the day time dopeyness did wear off. 20mgs did rather bung me up though so lots and lots of fibre and water.
Sadly I've been taken off it due to a bonkers heart rate and I've been taken off everything that might send it high. So, now I wake at 4-5am in pain again.

My DS age 13yrs is deafblind CP and epilepsy and takes Amitriptyline 25mgs twice a day for neuropathic pain. If you had asked this question last week I feel my comments would be repeating what you are saying. He only weighs 27K and he was either completely out of it, looking grey and lifeless or screaming with pain. On Friday as if a switch was flicked he is back to his old happy self of 7 months ago. All I can say the Amitriptyline may be kicking in. I just hope I am not speaking too soon but I am so happy for the now. Don't know if this is any help but hope you feel better soon.