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Originally Posted by Sea Pines 50
amiltriptyline is one of the older meds. it's been found not to be that great of an antidepressant, but is still popular for use in tx'ing insomnia in chronic pain patients. we all know how lack of sleep can play havoc with our pain and fatigue cycles.
but a word of caution needs to be said here, i think. elavil (another name for it) is an ssri, and can interact negatively with other medications, especially if you are also taking another a/d which is in this same class of meds. remeron or lexapro, for example, or any of the modern ssri's. the interaction takes place at the central nervous system level, and can be dangerous according to my neuro.
i personally had a bad experience with this phenomenon myself. lots of negative emotions like rage and grief, way out of proportion to the situation and easily provoked, were stirring up before the mistake was caught. Very scary stuff, limbic nightmare really.
dr. annest always told me our pharmacists have a remarkable body of knowledge at their fingertips concerning the meds we sometimes have to take and how they interact with each other.
this particular one is something that you should absolutely have your doc and/or your pharmacist check against, and in combination with, every single other prescription and over-the-counter med you are taking before adding it to your rx regime. i would, anyway, just to be safe. (yes, you can do it on-line yourself, but how many of us really know how to interpret the results?)
anyhew, fwiw you guys...
alison
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Any drug has major different affects on different people.I have several drug allergies and drug sensitivities but elavil is the onlyreason I sleep at all. I went through 2 breakdowns from no sleep and increased pain(the vicious cycle ugh) before i finally agreed to go on elavil. I gained 20 pounds on it but thats where i stayed. I was so underweight all my life that the 20 pounds was actally healthy for me.
Elavil is actually a tricyclic and has been around for many ,many decades. It is even used in children for bedwetting. I was wary of going on anything long term for years. After doing a ton of research several years ago I finally agreed with my doctorand tried it. I was sleeping about 2 hours per night so something had to be done.all 3 docs that i see call elavil the "undrug". the way it was explained to me was my body does not make serotonin which is what causes us to sleep. Elavl just makes my body produce serotonin.Thats why my docs call it the undrug, because it only makes your body produce what your body should naturally produce.its not a sleeping pill or drug to knock you out, it just promotes sleep by making serotonin.Thats how it was explained to me and what i found researching it.I have been on it for 15 years now and it also has no bad sideeffects(damage) to the body.
I always check everything with my pharmacist before taking it! It is a really good idea as they are more knowledgable and up to date on drugs than most docs.