Hi Rose I found Lyrica to be useless after upping the dosage to a point where it stopped working. At that stage I was a 90 year old brain trapped in a 50 year body. The brain fog has finally gone, thought i was going crazy! unfortunately the blurry vision is still with me for now.

here is a heads up about Amitriptyline. It is a brilliant pain reliever at very low dose, almost unbelievable.

However

1.The side effects for me were even worse than lyrica. Total detachment form mind / body.

2. insatiable appetite. A desire not from the mouth but from somewhere deep in the body. I have never experienced this and gained 15kg in the first month.

3. instant loss of libido. Absolutely no interest unless my ice cream was breast shaped.

I now take 10mg maybe once every 2 weeks if Im having a flare or insomnia. Amitriptyline is nasty stuff (for me)

here is website where people rate there use of Amitriptyline. 70% (approx)
do not recommend it and all for the reasons I have stated. some did not get pain relief. The rest absolutely loved it !

http://www.askapatient.com/viewratin...IPTYLINE%20HCL

just want to mention Amitriptyline really helped me taper off lyrica with its strong sedative effect.

The above experience was mine only I really hope this drug works for you :-)

I will just say briefly...I have dispensed amitriptyline for 40yrs+ and never had patient questions or complaints like those that appear on askapatient.

I've viewed that site, and I would caution people to read it with care. I've seen such trollish behavior I cannot believe over there.

Some comments seem legit, but others, appear to be fabricated for fun or mischief IMO.

A much better balance can be found here: Official FDA medwatch reports from healthcare professionals:
http://www.patientsville.com/
type in amitriptyline in the search and reports will come up.

For what it is worth I took a TCA over a decade ago for just over a year for a severe case of sciatica. I used doxepin in low dose for the pain so I could continue working. I took 20mg at bedtime (two 10mg caps). I didn't notice any major problems at all this low dose. It worked well, and my sciatica finally healed up and resolved.

thanks Mrs D for keeping everything balanced. I just want to stress here that it was only my experience. I still would reach out for Amitriptyline as a first choice for a flare, its a strong sedative and pain reliever/sleeping aid, perfect for the job.

Just cant do it full time however dont need to. The Doc opened my eyes to absolute minimal dosage of anything when needed. i thought he was nuts or didnt have any real pain.

The problem IMO is pain killers them selves have serious side effects which tend to keep us in the loop.

I still detest the high dose of lyrica which just made me stoned , but not enough to forget my next dose because its what we have to do.

These drugs are highly dependent and anyone saying they are not hasn't tried to come down off a high dose. Of course we have the super disciplined 25mg a week for 6 months but lets face it most of us arnt like that leading to yo yo side effects and back to original dose whilst we despair.

Amitriptyline is a slow acting drug. Slow to build up and slow to taper off of. At least 2 weeks or more to get going.

It is not like an opiate... at all.

Enjoying the chat mrs D. Your speaking in general , just cant stress enough (for me only)
Nobody can deny how I feel . Its my body.

Neurontin etc is the same, taking weeks or months to work, but some posters feel ill after 600mg. some can tolerate 8x and still have no relief.

I was thinking of asking to up dose of Elavil (30mg) so I could lower Gabapentin (900mg), but I think I'll stay where I am since I seem to be holding my own right now. I will say both cause an increased appetite for me, like you said from down within, almost uncontrollable at times, I just sit on my hands and try not to give in!

What scares me more than anything is building a tolerance, I have somewhat to Gabapentin, that is why I added Elavil, I just hope it doesn't happen with Elavil.

ive been taking amitriptylene for almost 2 years now and i have felt no need to increase the dosage.

Sorry if you already mentioned it......didn't look back.....

Do you take any others meds for PN?

Zorro, your experience of Amitriptyline sounds like my experience with LYRICA! We are all certainly different. I've used Amitriptyline before for another condition and didn't have much problems with it except for its sedating properties. But it was hell to get off of when I was trying to get pregnant.....I mean horrible withdrawl. LYRICA worked wonders for me for about 2 weeks and after that I had to increase it every week. All the side effects without the benefits. It's all about seeing what works for us individually for sure!

"But it was hell to get off of when I was trying to get pregnant.."

Lucky your hubby wasnt on it

look its a wonder drug IMHO! if it wasn't for insatiable appetite and loss of libido I would be chewing them like lollies

strangely enough my pain is a 3-4 without the drugs. I can suck that up easy .