Amitryptiline for nerve pain - mouth like the Sahara, any advice?

[oopslateagain]

I'm starting to feel like one of those cartoon characters who swig down several gallons of water and their stomach swells up like a water balloon. I'm only on 20mg, but my mouth is dry all the time. I just nipped to the kitchen to get a drink, and by the time I sat down again to type this my throat was dry.

I've been sucking sugar-free pastilles which do help, but I'm sick of having something sickly sweet in my mouth all the time. I have this weird feeling of being full (of water, because I've drunk about 2 pints in the last hour) but still feeling thirsty. I know it's not thirst, it's just my mouth and throat being dry, but my stupid animal brain says "You're thirsty, drink", and I can't help myself, I have to get a drink.

I'm peeing for England.

Sorry cant offer much help....but mine never went away and I had to stop taking it. You need to decide whether to stick with the thirst or speak to gp and get something else. There are plenty of other drugs around.

Mel

I've only been on it a week, going to give it time to see how good it is at the pain before I decide whether I can cope with it. The thirst is horrible though.

I took nortriptiline for my facial pain and did have the side effect you mention. Stopped taking it as it stopped working anyway and have been put onto pregabalin instead. That's not working either but no side effects. Came onto mumsnet to post about nerve pain so very interested to hear about how others manage the pain. I'm not having much luck with the drugs and now considering having Botox done privately.

I take it too, am just about to have it increased. The dry mouth is awful. My teeth have suffered because there is little salvia to wash away the bacteria. I drink lots of water. My dentist gave me some false saliva but I didn't like it very much. I feel like my tongue is velcroed to the roof of my mouth!

Amy, I took Pregabalin for a while. It made me bloated, gave me pins and needles in my hands and the dryness in my mouth was worse. I now take Gabapentin which I find better. I get a lot of nerve pain in my legs, I am having a femoral nerve block on 31st July. I've not had one before so I don't know if it will help.

I take it for nerve pain in my feet and legs at night due to a complex polyneuropathy, which also causes muscle twitching and "restless" legs.

I was first tried on gabapentin but I couldn't get the dose high enough to make it work without turning into a zombie! Was tried on amitryptaline initially at 10 mg, then increasing and I've been stable on 100mg at night for 6 months and more now. I find my eyes get dry more than my mouth. It's been a fantastic painkiller for me.

I think that I partly don't suffer the dry mouth so much as I've got into really good drinking habits previous to this - had totally unrelated kidney stones a few years ago and had to drink 8-10 pints (my brother was disappointed to hear that it was pints of water!) a day to dilute my urine. I just kind of kept on with that and I'm sure it helps. I find sweet lozenges really sticky and for me if I need to suck something it's usually a tictac, or other small sugar free mint (my handbag rattles!!). Might sound silly but I find fizzy water better - I got a soda stream for Christmas!!

All of the neuro painkillers have side effects, and I actually think I benefit on the ami from the slight antidepressant effect I must be getting at this dosage, I do feel down sometimes about the permanence of my condition and have had better mood since stable on it. I go through a lot of eye drops (but still manage to mainly wear my contacts).

Hope the others of you can get the pain sorted. I didn't realise there were others on mn dealing with nerve pain. For me, the pain isn't as bad as the fact that its not likely I'll ever get feeling back in my feet or lower legs and it will be slowly progressive, and my balance is badly affected.

Do any of you also suffer from neurological fatigue? For me, that's the killer!

I think the side effects are worse than any pain relief. Was an ami for a while, but it made me ill. Tried both Gabapentin and Pregablin, but I felt like a zombie.

GP's do dole this crap out far too easily. I'd rather stick with the pain than the side effects.

Boots sell a mouthwash supposedly for a dry mouth ,they also do a toothpaste .

Other than that ,not sure how you'd make it work but fresh lime or lemon slices /juice would make you salivate .

But .... guessing too acid for your poor teeth .

Chewing gum ?

Big sympathies ,these drugs do seem to bring as many problems as they solve .