Amitriptyline for Sleep

[Frankbutchersfangs]

Hi All,

Just have a couple of questions. I am nearly 43 and for the last year I have been suffering from chronic insomnia. It's not so much getting to sleep that is the problem, but staying to sleep - I usually wake several times a night and when I do sleep it is a very, very light sleep and I feel terrible the next day.

The doctor has run blood tests FSH levels etc. and he said I am not perimenopausal.

He prescribed me Amitriptyline the other week at 10 mg. However, I am finding that some nights it doesn't work - one night last week I had a bad sleep and two nights this week. I am not really seeing any other bad side effects from it such as dry mouth etc. I have found that it has really helped with my anxiety and depression though, even at that low dose.

However, what concerns me is weight gain. It seems that nearly all people that take it gain weight. I have other health issues and really cannot afford to gain weight at all. Have any of you taken this and managed to keep a stable weight?

My other question is, should I ask for an increase to 20-25 mg so that it works every night or is it likely to have the same effect even at these increased dosages?

I'm just really interested in hearing everyone else's experiences of this drug.

Thanks

I've taken it for a long time, prescribed to help reset my sleep pattern when my son was young, he's now 13.

I started on 10mg but increased to 30mg over the course of a week. It works for me mostly, unless I'm really anxious about something happening the next day. I'm not sure 10mg is enough to be honest.

It's also helped me with pain from a chronic condition, that's not what it was prescribed for though.

I was heavier when I started taking it than I am now by a few pounds...I do find it very difficult to lose weight but I don't think the amitriptyline is the cause of that as I was like that before taking it.

It's a bit like the pill, sometimes it causes a lot of weight gain and sometimes not. I was under the impression weight gain is more likely when you're on a very high dose (used for depression not sleep disturbance)

Hope that helps.

I take Amitrip for nerve pain after a hip injury but it has assisted my insomnia greatly. I started on 10mg and over a 10 year period increased to 30mg. Have been on 30mg for around 5 years and it works fine.

I have had no weight gain with this - in fact when I do gain the odd pound or 6, it is always down to my greed or wine --- or both.

I've taken the lowest dose a few times for a trapped nerve. It didn't impact my weight, but it did push up my base heart rate ( use a FitBit).
It has a bit of a cumulative effect so need to take for a while for sleeping.

@Techno56

I've taken it for a long time, prescribed to help reset my sleep pattern when my son was young, he's now 13.

I started on 10mg but increased to 30mg over the course of a week. It works for me mostly, unless I'm really anxious about something happening the next day. I'm not sure 10mg is enough to be honest.

It's also helped me with pain from a chronic condition, that's not what it was prescribed for though.

I was heavier when I started taking it than I am now by a few pounds...I do find it very difficult to lose weight but I don't think the amitriptyline is the cause of that as I was like that before taking it.

It's a bit like the pill, sometimes it causes a lot of weight gain and sometimes not. I was under the impression weight gain is more likely when you're on a very high dose (used for depression not sleep disturbance)

Hope that helps.

Techno56, this is really helpful thank you. I did notice an increase in cravings for sugary things when I first started taking it but this has largely worn off now. I have to be strict with myself as it is going to be terrible for my back pain if I gain any weight.

Did you find that the 10 mg stopped working pretty quickly leading you to increase to 30 mg over the course of the week?

@FiveShelties

I take Amitrip for nerve pain after a hip injury but it has assisted my insomnia greatly. I started on 10mg and over a 10 year period increased to 30mg. Have been on 30mg for around 5 years and it works fine.

I have had no weight gain with this - in fact when I do gain the odd pound or 6, it is always down to my greed or wine --- or both.

Thank you FiveShelties, this is really helpful. Did you find that the 10 mg stopped working for you at some point then?

@rookiemere

I've taken the lowest dose a few times for a trapped nerve. It didn't impact my weight, but it did push up my base heart rate ( use a FitBit). It has a bit of a cumulative effect so need to take for a while for sleeping.

Thank you Rookiemere, that's really helpful to know.

Yes, I found that 10mg worked for around a year and then I took 20mg for a good few years before going to 30mg.

Before both increases I found I was going to bed, falling asleep for an hour or so and then waking up and unable to sleep. Since the move to 30mg I sleep really well (for me) have no side effects and my GP says he has no problems with me being on it indefinitely.

I should say I do get a dry mouth which is a side effect but I have always drunk lots of water so I don't find this an issue. It did take around 4 weeks before Amitrip worked so I would not increase the dose yet - try it for 2 or 3 weeks and see how you go.

@FiveShelties

Yes, I found that 10mg worked for around a year and then I took 20mg for a good few years before going to 30mg.

Before both increases I found I was going to bed, falling asleep for an hour or so and then waking up and unable to sleep. Since the move to 30mg I sleep really well (for me) have no side effects and my GP says he has no problems with me being on it indefinitely.

I should say I do get a dry mouth which is a side effect but I have always drunk lots of water so I don't find this an issue. It did take around 4 weeks before Amitrip worked so I would not increase the dose yet - try it for 2 or 3 weeks and see how you go.

Thank you, that's reassuring to know.

Well, I have been taking 10 mg since Friday 20th August, so that's three weeks tomorrow. Although, I did have a gap of two nights because I wanted to see if I could get to sleep without it for a couple of nights and the first night I slept, the second night it was back to square one, so started taking it again. Do you think this break of two days might have affected the accumulation of it in the system?

Yes I do, not that I am a GP, but I take it every evening without fail. A few times I have forgotten and I always sleep badly - after all these years. If I forget I still have no problems getting to sleep, it is staying asleep that is the problem.

I have stopped taking it in the past (just to see what happens) but it has such a devastating effect on my sleep patterns I have no intentions of stopping again.

I do hope it works for you - being awake at 3am is definitely not any fun at all.

@FiveShelties

Yes I do, not that I am a GP, but I take it every evening without fail. A few times I have forgotten and I always sleep badly - after all these years. If I forget I still have no problems getting to sleep, it is staying asleep that is the problem.

I have stopped taking it in the past (just to see what happens) but it has such a devastating effect on my sleep patterns I have no intentions of stopping again.

I do hope it works for you - being awake at 3am is definitely not any fun at all.

Oh tell me about it. I have never suffered with my sleep - I've always suffered with depression and anxiety but I usually go the other way, i.e. sleep too much. This is the first time in my life I have experienced this and it makes me feel like I am going mad. My eyes actually feel like they are on fire the next day with exhaustion.

I was prescribe it for insomnia, manifesting itself exactly like yours.

I found that it helped great the first few weeks, but then didn't so well so increased to 20mg, but again, sleep got not so good after a few weeks.

I also struggled with the side effects,the ridiculous crease in appetite to obsession but also feeling very sleepy the following days.

I now take it oy after I had a succession of very bad nights and need at least one good one to recover.

Ultimately, what makes me sleep poorly is my inability to fully relax and let go. It all started with the perimenopause at 43. I do my best to relax, but I'm naturally a control freak so it's hard.

It's been almost 7 years and ultimately, even I'm not who I used to be, have to cope with chronic fatigue, I've managed to get on with normal life to be in not a bad position now. I don't really sleep better but I cope with it much better.

I take 30mg for fibromyalgia. It helps with pain, but crucially allows me to sleep which helps the Fibro.

If I miss a dose, I simply don't fall asleep. When I take it, I'm asleep by 10, and sleep through.

I've been following slimming world this year, and have lost 5 stone. It hasn't stopped me losing weight, and I don't think I can blame the previous weight gains on it either!

I take 20mg (and 30mg of mirtazapine) but just cannot seem to get to a good sleeping pattern at all. Nothing really seems to make me sleepy when I'd actually want to be.

I did the NHS recommended Sleepio program online, too, as I'd not tried sleep restriction before. It ended up getting me from c. 5 hours of broken sleep to c. 3 hours of slightly less broken sleep, which wasn't really a bonus in my books!

@vivainsomnia

I was prescribe it for insomnia, manifesting itself exactly like yours.

I found that it helped great the first few weeks, but then didn't so well so increased to 20mg, but again, sleep got not so good after a few weeks.

I also struggled with the side effects,the ridiculous crease in appetite to obsession but also feeling very sleepy the following days.

I now take it oy after I had a succession of very bad nights and need at least one good one to recover.

Ultimately, what makes me sleep poorly is my inability to fully relax and let go. It all started with the perimenopause at 43. I do my best to relax, but I'm naturally a control freak so it's hard.

It's been almost 7 years and ultimately, even I'm not who I used to be, have to cope with chronic fatigue, I've managed to get on with normal life to be in not a bad position now. I don't really sleep better but I cope with it much better.

Gee that is so scary Vivian, 7 years? This feels like torture. I don't even feel tired the next day, more like I'm not on the same planet as everyone else and cannot think straight ifswim

I really just wanted something to fix this. Maybe acceptance is the key. Do you find your health has been affected by the insomnia?

DH was prescribed 10 mg a night, as a painkiller for an anal fissure - if he went to the toilet in the night, the pain was intense, whereas if he was dead to the world, he didn’t want to go in the night at all!

Anyway, he suffers with anxiety and I found it improved his (health) anxiety no end. He used to wake up in a panic about work at 3 am and only fell asleep again at 7 am. All that stopped too. He carried on taking it at night, after the fissure healed, just for relief from the early morning waking. 10 mg worked all through for him, and if anything he ate less, because he tends to comfort eat in the evenings and as he was more relaxed, he didn’t do it!

I've been on 25mg for four years and have gained stones. Every time I try to come off it I start losing the weight so I know it's the amitriptyline. Coming off it is another matter, I get awful withdrawal with this.

I found just 10 mg made a big difference to my sleep, and also it suppresses the urge to wee so no more getting up twice a night which was a bonus. I didn't put on any weight with it, or have an increase in appetite, however one of the side affects can be an increase in chest size and when the dose was increased to 20 mg l definitely noticed this as my bras started to feel tight. When l went back down to 10 mg things went back to normal again though.

I couldn’t sleep on less than 100 mg.

And yes it made me eat like crazy

It didn't work for me for insomnia or pain because I wasn't depressed or anxious. It didn't increase my appetite either - possibly because I was too fucked from lack of sleep and a constant dizzy hangover feeling to manage to shop, cook or eat. But it might for you.

Do you know what your usual calorific intake is compared to how much you burn in a day? You can work it out and be proactive in monitoring if you are hungrier or increasing your intake.

I was put on 10 mg after dh died to help with sleep. I found it helped a lot with mood and sleep. I did put on weight but I don't know whether it was down to the Amitriptyline or if it was self destructive eating as a result of grief.

I have a chronic pain due to a congenital deformity (which has completely destabilised my spine over the years, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in my teens ffs!). I was prescribed 10mg amytriptaline to act as a third prong of attack for pain a couple of years ago (been on full dose pregabalin & tramadol for forever).

It has really helped my sleep, before I would have 1in10 days of uninterrupted sleep, now I can get at least 5 hours about twice a week.

My insomnia has gradually got worse in my 40s anyway (I’m 48 now) due to a mixture of spinal deterioration & being peri menopausal, it’s not perfect but amytriptaline in combination at night time has really helped.

Is only 2 nights in 7 brilliant? Probably not, but far better than the 1-2 hours total sleep I was on before!

I don’t think I’ve put on weight solely due to the amytriptaline as I’ve found pregabalin is the real villain for fluid retention, so I have indapamide to try & counter that, so any weight gain via fluid may be being masked.

Amytriptaline really makes my mouth dry, so I’m trying to keep on as low a dose as possible as it definitely outweighs the analgesic & sleep benefits (it’s hard enough going through The Great Husking without my mouth feeling like a dried out husk or JC’s flip flops).

As an added bonus, amytriptaline helps with the anxiety I’ve had since I started menopausal symptoms, although the Tramadol & pregabalin make me pretty chill together anyway!

I took this but it took about 3-4 weeks to work on my sleep.

I didn't gain any weight with it.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. I’ve taken 2 x 10 mg tablets ready for 7 am start tomorrow hopefully. I’m just so desperate to sleep. I feel so weird when I don’t sleep, not so much tired but really wired and strange feeling as if I’m not on the planet and I can’t cope with my job.

Centrifugal, however did you survive on 1-2 hours sleep?

I’m so jealous of the old me and how much I took it for granted having those 8+ hours glorious sleep. I hate that I have to rely on meds for a good nights sleep

Sorry in case anyone is confused by username change - I’m two different usernames depending on whether I use my laptop or mobile

I take 20mg for nerve pain, but am also a chronic insomniac and it has helped my sleep.
I haven’t gained any weight and I don’t have an increased appetite.