I had taken Amitriptyline, and I didn't like the way it made me feel. I was sleepy all the time. I also didn't think it helped with the pain. I personally liked the topamax. You have to start off in low doses and then gradually increase it. It took about one and a half months for it to take effect. I was on the topamax and hydrocodone es. I am actually going to get back on it as soon as I am able.
All of these meds are trial and error. You will find the one that works best for you.

Well, I lasted two nights on the new drug. When I got up the next morning, my stomach felt as though it was being ripped apart by a buch of wild cats. I couldn't stand straight. I didn't think it was going to past. Tried again the next night, same thing. I'm not taking it. There must be a common ingredient in that at Tylenol 3 because the same thing happens there as well. I will have to talk with my doc at the first of the week and see if he will try something different.
Has this happened to anyone??
RAch

Hi , What did they give you as a dose for your amitriptyline?? Victoria

so hard to be patient with the titration process (i assume your doc started you on a v e r y low dose and was titrating you up?).

but i have to say, i am not a fan of elavil, myself - that is another name for amitriptyline. it can cause "seratonin overload" in some people, and that is what happened in my case apparently. i was also taking one of the more modern SSRI's at the time (i think it was remeron) and my PCP should NEVER have given me elavil on top of that med. very dangerous, my neuro said.

lesson learned, and this is one of the reasons why i will not accept "pain meds" (very broad category) from any doc other than a certified pain management specialist today, if i can help it... and i still run everything through my pharmacist, at that. and that INCLUDES OTC meds and vitamin and mineral supplements as well. because i found out the hard way (leave it to me, kidz, seems i found out all this stuff the hard way... is there another way?) based on an innocent enough sounding "recommendation" from a clerk at the GNC to take a supplement called 5HTp or something, for my FMS, that THAT can interact with a med like elavil and/or any other SSRI, too and cause seratonin overload in the CNS (central nervous system). which can trigger very unpleasant episodes of unprovoked rage. it's horrible limbic crap, you don't wanna know, rachael.

trust your instincts, though... if this med does not seem to agree with ya, then i'm with you - i would stop taking it immediately, but do contact your doc first chance you get and perhaps even try to communicate with your pharmacist as well, over the weekend. let them know exactly the sx your having in the way of side effects from the med. very important. helps your tx team to find a better rx for you; it's a process of trial and error and everybody's body reacts differently.

and sometimes you do need to stay with a certain med for a period of time and the side effects will dwindle, though, so be aware of that. this one, personally, i don't feel is worth screwing around with but that is only my opinion, rachael. other people will tell you they swear by it, it helps them so much with sleep, etc. and sleep IS so important when you have a chronic pain disorder like TOS. helps to break that part of the vicious cycle.

hey, there was a great thread back in may you might want to take a look at on this very topic. the whole meds/no meds thang. it was started by 'withmore' and she called it "nomeds," i think. so all you have to do to call it up is go to the 'advanced search' function, located right underneath the search bar in the upper righthand portion of your screen... just click on it, rach, and enter her poster name. should pop right up for ya. no need to reinvent the wheel that way, and there was a lot of good stuff on that thread, as i recall...

including a thing from the mayo clinic i think ocgirl put up there called the pain quiz: do you believe the myths? (it's #20 if you enter "pain quiz" in the search engine on this site: www.mayoclinic.com/health/chronic-pain/PN00034).

read it and weep!

but steady wins the race with these things, rach. try not to get discouraged, OK? it can take some time but i know you will find the right med(s) to work for you to calm your sx. you hang in there; you're doing just fine!! enjoy your weekend with the family.

alison
"Be Brave"

i took amytriptyline ~7 years ago for IBS. It made me sooooo grumpy that I stopped taking it. Funny you posted this thread, because I was just thinking about this the other day- wondering if there was an over riding nervous system issue going on.

Hey Vic: I only took 10mg and was to increase over the week. I didn't increase because the pain in my stomach was strong enough for me not to take it. So I stopped it. I din't have to worry about anything stopping it because I didn't take it long enough (2 days)
I have fought tooth and nail to not take any drugs. I consented a year and half ago to take the demerol cause there was days I couldn't even function. Now I have to take it everyday. Most days I take way too much advil through the day and then demerol once I get home. It was a very hard decision for me to finally agree to ask my doc for some pain meds to make things easier for me. I want to keep working and thought maybe this would help. It will be 5 years in Jan of dealing with this. He said he would try the topomax if this one didn't work.
I have researched this enough to know that this rotten old tOS is not going away until I have surgery. I have been in P/T for over two years straight (twice a week) and he helps me, but it doesn't fix it.
What a battle this is eh?
Rach

I wonder what exactly amytriptyline or similar SSRIs do to lower pain. 5HTP is a well recognized supplement to help with sleep and depression. I wonder if people with TOS and chronic pain have had good success with it. I heard a talk by author Julia Ross and was very impressed with her knowledge on 5htp and other amino acids. I think Gabba was supposed to help with pain. She has it pretty well laid out in her books Diet Cure, Mood Cure... and might be worth a read. But what I really liked was that she has a clinic to treat people. Rachel, if you cannot tolerate traditional drugs you might want to find a qualified professional that can assist you with trying supplemtents that you may be able to tolerate better. But professional knowledge is necessary. They would know to tell you to never combine 5htp with ssri etc. Just because something doesn't require a prescription doesn't mean its safe to add to one's regimen. Seapines, I applaud you for being very smart and haveing someone with advanced knowledge be aware of everything you are taking, prescription or not.

ok DO NOT EVER EVER TAKE THESE TWO THINGS TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!

this is from experience....I turned into this other rip roaring beatch ok not cool
and from another persons experience that I am not alone in this one!!!! I will not speak for anyone, but it is hellish and will drive you up the wall....

I took the 5htp thinking the same thing has to be good for me....but not with the elavil(amitriptyline) BAD BAD BAD deal!!!

just so you know kids!!!

love and hugs,
Victoria

Hi Rachel,

I too took 10mg in the beginning and found it gave me side effects but not gut side effects....not tht that is unusual, but are u taking it with food? are you taking it at bedtime? important things to note...have a few crackers at bedtime before you take it and could it be self inflicted due to your aversion to drug taking?????

just a few thoughts,
hugs,
Victoria

sorry having a three day migraine.... dying myself here can't really see out of my right eye ahhhh

loce and hugs,
Victoira

I used to take 10mg at night to help with migraines. It did help reduce the amount and I also have Imigran for actual migraine. The cons tried increasing it for neuropathic pain but I said no as when I first was put on it the cons started me at 25mg which was ok but after sometime I started having tachycardia and getting very breathless, which also did not do my BP much good. When it was dropped and after the levels reduced the cardiac effects stopped. I am now on Venlafaxine. Migraines are mostly hormonal but not exclusively.

Hx