Amitriptyline 10–30mg – experiences, side effects & weight gain?

[Friedseasalt]

I’ve just been prescribed amitriptyline for cluster headaches, starting at 10mg and increasing by 10mg each week up to 30mg.

I’ve been told to take it before bed, but when do people actually take it? Literally when you go to bed or a couple of hours before?

Also would love to hear people’s experiences with side effects, particularly the tiredness, and whether these settled down.

And the big one… weight gain! 😩 I’ve recently lost a few stone since having my little girl and I’m really anxious about putting it back on. I keep seeing people saying they gained loads of weight on amitriptyline, but also some saying they had no change at all.

Did you gain weight on 10–30mg? Did it increase your appetite/cravings?

Would love to hear your experiences! x

The first week I had really bad headaches (was taking for migraines so not great) nausea and general dizziness as side effects. No weight increase though and I take around 7 ish and have no issues with tiredness

thanks very much. Have you been on them for a while? What dosage are you on? X

About a year and I never moved from 10 mg

I didn't gain weight but it knocked me out, made it difficult to wake up in the morning and did very little to help the pain when I was awake.

oh no 😟 How long did you stay on it for?

I took them during pregnancy for migraines. No weight gain but I was very, very sleepy with them. It improved a bit after a couple of weeks but I generally took them at around 8:30, went to bed and hour later as I was practically asleep by then and that gave me enough time that they would wear off enough thst I could get up in the morning.

But I had a colleague who took them for pan ad they barely effected her sleep at all. They are one of those medicines you just ha e to try.

I was prescribed them for migraine and couldn’t take them - made me feel worse than the migraine! Hope you find something that works - a large dose of aspirin has been life changing for me.

Was this 10mg? X

Thank you. I have tried sumatriptan and aspirin. How long did you try the amitriptyline for?

Not long - doc agreed that I should stop

I'm on 50mg but for nerve pain. They haven't affected my weight and don't make me sleepy at night any more. However, I take them late at night. So sometimes feel very tired in the morning.

I take 10-20mg for nerve pain. I've just taken tonight's dose at 9pm and I get up around 7.

I've been on it for over a decade, now and for the first 3 weeks I had extremely vivid dreams and felt hungover, in the morning. I rarely take 20mg unless I'm really struggling as I end up clumsy the next morning and do myself more harm than good!

I was prescribed them for migraine prevention in 2023. Started on 10 mg and increased to 30 mg. Now take 20 mg at about 7/7.30pm. Used to get really vivid dreams but not anymore. They’ve stopped the migraines and I wouldn’t be without them!

Only for 12 weeks each time as they could only be taken in the second trimester. They worked wellfor my migraines though, I went from one every couple of days to none very quickly.

I am on 10mg after concussion / headaches. Been over a year. Take them as I go to bed. Lovely sleep - no problems waking up and no weight gain

Thanks all for the replies. Useful to hear other experiences. I took 10mg at about 8.30 so I will try and take it a bit earlier tomorrow evening.

I’ve been taking it for several years for nerve pain. I started on 10mg and titrated up to 30mg, which works really well for me. The first few weeks I felt very sleepy - not all the time, but in waves - but that disappeared after about 3 weeks. I’ve had no other bad side effects. I have put on some weight in those years, but I can’t blame the amitriptyline for that, and now I’m losing weight, it’s not stopping me losing weight.

I was prescribed for nerve pain

makes me sleep really well but not tired in day if take at night

take only as and when needed

I’m on 30mg for nerve pain, i take it around 8pm it doesn’t make me sleepy but I find it a bit harder to wake in a morning. I also see moving shadows if I wake in the night.

I had it for nerve pain after my breast cancer surgery, I was honestly like a zombie on it

I started on 10mg, then after a month increased to 20mg then I eventually went to 30mg. Did nothing for my migraines, the only symptom I had was extremely dry mouth every morning. I had no drowsiness or weight gain. I used to take it about 10.30pm before I went to bed, I didn’t notice any extra drowsiness.

Maybe 6 months - 1 year. We spent a while increasing the dose but it didn’t really work for me.

I’ll be honest OP I never really found a long term pain management solution that worked. I was on gabapentin for the longest and that worked but my body would get used to the dose and we had to increase it until the side effects were intolerable.

I found the choice was that I was either out of it because of pain or out of it because of pain medication. In the end I opted to be out of it because of pain because at least that was intermittent.

Fortunately for me my nerve pain slowly got better over the course of a decade, my body got stronger and I had several pregnancies and the change in hormones helped too.

The neurologist has asked me to take it every evening for 6 months

How long did you try it for?

Been on it for 4 years. Only thing that helps my insomnia. It keeps me asleep. As I’m a 2am waker. Was on 10mg for 2 years now on 25mg for two and still working 🤞. Not sure about weight gain per se as was very big (19st when I started) but starter MJ 2 years ago and have been 9stone for the last 14 months. So hard to tell as MJ dulls my appetite. DH takes 10mg nightly for a bad back and sleeps like a baby. We think it’s a miracle drug .