Hi Melissa
 

I am glad you wrote into Neuro Talk. You will get compassion and some very good advice. I know just enough about PCS to tell you to listen to Mark from Ihaho. He is correct on ever point and he knows from experience. I hope you heal soon. ginnie

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone! Best wishes from England :)
GP prescribed me amitriptyline 10mg and nefopam as an analgesic. Took some of the nefopam to deal with my usual 1pm increase in pain and seems to have worked quite well as I had a nap and now I feel quite good, if a little drowsy and faint. Won't take the amitriptyline today as they recommend taking it 12 hours before you want to wake up, but I don't want to be falling asleep halfway through new year celebrations! So will try tomorrow and see how it helps. Will try the other things too to improve my condition, apart from diet, which is very healthy anyway and can't really change because of the diabetes.

Thank you for all the suggestions!
Melissa

Keep in mind that, because amitriptyline is a preventive, it will take a couple of weeks to reach maximum effectiveness. You won't feel complete relief after the first dose. Also, it made me INCREDIBLY sleepy at first. This did get better over time.

I'm not familiar with nefopam. One important question to ask about any analgesic is whether or not it can cause rebound headaches and, if so, at what dosages or after how much/how frequent usage.

Good luck! Hope this is your answer and gives you some relief!

Hi Eowyn,

How long did it take to lose the sleepy feeling with amitriptyline? I tried it once amd hated feeling drugged....but still suffer from daily headaches. Just came through a three day doozer. Horrible. Wanted to cut off my head!
My docter wants me to try it again. But i need to feel alert for my own self esteem and belief in the future. I have two young kids and they need me to have some energy!
Thanks,

The worst of the sleepiness wore off in a couple of weeks for me. I still needed to be sure I took it at bedtime and that I had PLENTY of time to sleep, but I was able to function in the daytime after that.

The trick is to take it 2-3 hours before you want to go to sleep then it wears off in time and you don't wake up drowsy. Also, you want to find the lowest dose that works so don't be afraid to cut them in half. I take 10mg. It's really helped with my headaches and sleep once I realised I needed to take them early in the evening and not right when I'm going to bed. Good luck!

CC