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 take mine with my evening meal, which is early- 5.30. Works great.

I'm on 20mg for bladder pain. I was on 10mg but found it stopped working after a while so upped to 20mg.

I've been keeping a close eye on my weight and I did find I was more peckish in the beginning but I have managed to keep that in check now so I haven't gained any weight. I've been taking it about 6 weeks now. These doses are very low, I think the maximum is 150mg per day so I imagine the side effects would potentially get worse the higher the dosage.

I hope the 20mg works for you OP. It goes from 10mg to 25mg so may be worth asking your GP to prescribe the 25mg.

I take 20mg for migraines. I think it gives me a sort of enforced sleep but it's better than none.
I'm not sure it's caused weight gain for me and I'm 42. I've taken it on and off about 6 years.

Hi all,

Well I took 20 mg last night at 7 and I slept from 9 pm until around 3 am when I needed the loo but then I went back to sleep afterwards until 5 ish, so I’ve had roughly 8 hours and I feel so much calmer today.
I hope this dose doesn’t stop working. I cannot imagine what it was like in my mums day when these sorts of tablets didn’t exist and/or there wasn’t the medical knowledge etc. How did people cope going through chronic pain or perimenopause and working, kids etc, plus I can imagine they wouldn’t have had sympathetic employers either.

I take it for nerve pain caused by motor neuropathy. 10mg is a really low dose and did nothing for the pain or my sleep. I've gradually increased to 30mg now and am just seeing a slight improvement in pain but I am sleeping a lot better.

It can take up to 6 weeks to really kick in so I would give it chance and if still no improvement peak to your GP about the dosage.

@cricketmum84

I take it for nerve pain caused by motor neuropathy. 10mg is a really low dose and did nothing for the pain or my sleep. I've gradually increased to 30mg now and am just seeing a slight improvement in pain but I am sleeping a lot better.

It can take up to 6 weeks to really kick in so I would give it chance and if still no improvement peak to your GP about the dosage.

Thank you Cricketmum, it’s reassuring to know it can take 6 weeks to kick in. Do you have any side effects at 30 mg? How long roughly did you take to increase from 10 mg to 30 mg?

It's been increased quite quickly as for me it's mainly being used to stop the pain. So after 6 weeks at 10mg with no relief my GP increased to 20mg, again no relief after 6 weeks so we are up to 30mg from last week so I've been on it about 3 months so far. I am definitely feeling better on 30mg but not fully controlling the pain yet. So plan is to give 6 weeks again and maybe increase again.

On the 10mg and 20mg I could get to sleep ok but not stay asleep. So I would be waking every hour with the pain.

Since I went up to 30mg I'm getting a straight 8 hours most nights bar a couple of blips where the pain has been higher than normal.

Sorry I missed the other question - no I haven't had any side effects. It seems to be agreeing with me quite well!

Pre amitryptaline I was on gabapentin but had to stop taking it when I started hallucinating giant spiders climbing up my walls 😂😂

@cricketmum84

Sorry I missed the other question - no I haven't had any side effects. It seems to be agreeing with me quite well!

Pre amitryptaline I was on gabapentin but had to stop taking it when I started hallucinating giant spiders climbing up my walls 😂😂

OMG that sounds awful Cricket!

Maybe I’ve been a bit premature in increasing my dose as I’ve only been on it 3 weeks and it that 3 weeks I took two nights off

Sorry, *in that 3 weeks