Nortriptyline

[Tim76]

Has anyone taken this medication? My neurologist says when you combine with gabapentin, it helps with the neuropathy pain in feet and legs. I don’t like being on an antidepressant but would like some relief with the pain.

[SongStream]

I haven't taken this drug personally, however, I take gabapentin and venlafaxine together which works in synergy to reduce the neuropathic pain. I found this out the hard way last year when I slowly titrated off venlafaxine which left me in so much pain for a month before it was realized that it actually was helping to reduce the pain.

[monkeybus]

I took Amitryptiline. These aren't just antidepressants, they are tri-cyclic. Old style. I gave up on account of what it was doing to my head.

The modern antidepressants also help neuropathic pain, the SSRI's like Prozac, Paroxetine, et al.

[tieaknot]

I took amitriptyline (another tricyclic similar to nortriptyline) at very low doses at bedtime also for pain and it did help my neuropathic pain. I think it helped my mood a bit too. Unfortunately I ended up with too many side effects (I’m too sensitive to everything!)

The tricyclics tend to have a better record for neuropathic pain than the newer SSRIs (Prozac, Paxil, celexa, lexapro etc.). The SNRIs like Cymbalta and Effexor (venlafaxine) have also showed some pain relieving properties. Effexor (venlafaxine) really helped my pain but again...too many side effects for me.

The neuropathic pain relief is separate from the “antidepressant” effects...

All can have some discontinuation symptoms.

I’d give it a good try!

[monkeybus]

I wouldn't worry too much about it being an "antidepressant".

Often, what a drug is prescribed for is nothing like what it was initially developed for in the first place.

Baclofen was originally designed as a drug for the treatment of epilepsy, as was Gabapentin.

Aspirin for rheumatism.

LSD for migraines.

Listerine was originally sold as a floor cleaner.

I don't know if tri-cyclics are even much prescribed as antidepressants these days either.

4-AP as a bird poison.

What works, works.

[Tim76]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I failed to mention I did take duloxotine with the gabapentin before but it is prohibited on the min-102 trial and it just made me less emotional than I already appear to be. I’m going to give it a try and see if it helps.

[SongStream]

I wonder why duloxetine is prohibited in the trial.

[monkeybus in reply to SongStream]

Have a read of Duloxetine's Wikipedia page. Sounds like a miracle drug. I was prescribed it but never took any. Gave some to my Mum for her bad back. Gave her shocking diarrhoea. She gave up after one day.

I'm still tempted to give it another go.

[tieaknot in reply to monkeybus]

Duloxetine had me thinking really bad scary thoughts that were not typical for me. Scared the heck out of me! I now understand the black box warning for it (and the whole family of meds...but I didn’t have that side effect with any of the others). Thankfully I recognized it as a side effect and stopped it. Thoughts went away too. Decided to try it a couple more times (desperation) with the same result so no more for me!

Husband tried it for pain...he hated the way it made him feel. So amazing how the same meds can have completely different effects in different people!

[arjones]

I took it for a while. It was generally a good drug for me in terms of insomnia and mild depressions and nerve pain but I was having a lot of side effects from different medications that caused me to take more medications. My neurologist disappeared so I weaned myself off of it (and other medications I was on) and switched over to magnesium.

[Travzw]

My neurologist prescribed this for headaches. I took it for a while and eventually quit working and had to go back to amitriptyline. I still take amitriptyline but I think my body has gotten used to it and currently I’m having more headaches. Venlafaxine caused my face and hands to feel tingly.