[teachermom]

I have been on 25 mg amitriptyline for about a month now. I am amazed at how much better my legs and mid section feel. I rarely feel the burning pain. I have been running many more miles than I could have without the amitriptyline. However, for the last 3 days I have had crazy pain when swallowing. It hurts as soon as I swallow food and it feels like things are getting stuck. I have to have a bottle of water handy to help get food to go down.

I had an issue with this painful swallowing before starting amitriptyline, but food was not getting stuck.

I'm nervous for a few reasons. One of the biggies is that before I was diagnosed with SFN, I had very high levels of the antibody jo-1, which is myositis specific. Myositis attacks proximal muscles and not being able to swallow is one symptom.

Or, maybe this is directly related to the amitriptyline. I read that heartburn is a side effect.

Or maybe it is just a symptom of SFN. Who knows there are soooo many!

I plan to call my neuro Monday, but should I quit taking the amitriptyline in the mean time? Any thoughts on this or similar experiences?

I hope I am just over reacting.

[pinkynose]

I do not take this drug because I have narrow angle glaucoma. However, I have read about it and remember reading you should not stop it cold turkey because of the effect it may have on your nervous system. There are suggestion about weaning off that is dependent on the amount you take and how long you've been on it.

A month is not that long, and 25mg seems like a low dosage but I don't know if it's ok to just stop. Perhaps someone else can weigh in or you can call your druggist and ask that question.

[zkrp01]

Originally Posted by teachermom

I have been on 25 mg amitriptyline for about a month now. I am amazed at how much better my legs and mid section feel. I rarely feel the burning pain. I have been running many more miles than I could have without the amitriptyline. However, for the last 3 days I have had crazy pain when swallowing. It hurts as soon as I swallow food and it feels like things are getting stuck. I have to have a bottle of water handy to help get food to go down.

I had an issue with this painful swallowing before starting amitriptyline, but food was not getting stuck.

I'm nervous for a few reasons. One of the biggies is that before I was diagnosed with SFN, I had very high levels of the antibody jo-1, which is myositis specific. Myositis attacks proximal muscles and not being able to swallow is one symptom.

Or, maybe this is directly related to the amitriptyline. I read that heartburn is a side effect.

Or maybe it is just a symptom of SFN. Who knows there are soooo many!

I plan to call my neuro Monday, but should I quit taking the amitriptyline in the mean time? Any thoughts on this or similar experiences?

I hope I am just over reacting.

you were having trouble swallowing before you took the Ami, I wouldn't be worried about staying with it. I feel that the sticking problem is a sign of slight swelling and since you are going to call your Neuro on Monday please chew and chew and chew until all food is in a liquid state. Folks that have the Lap-Band procedure have to do this. Hopefully this symptom will be found to be unrelated. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.