Still waiting for the magic to happen!

[Tedsm4lls]

I’ve been on Amitriptyline (Anxiety/depression) for 4 months now. Started on 75mg then upped to 100mg and now 150mg for the last 4 weeks. The side effects have been horrendous but I’ve kept with them. Has anyone else had a similar experience to me and will things get better!

[Arymretep]

Hi that’s a long time to suffer side effects yet see no benefits from , I couldn’t take them as they made my palpitations worse

[Ryanlion]

Amitriptyline is a very good drug but does take a while. You may not be at the dose you need to hit that magic. It can take 8 weeks or more to work. You may need to go higher still. Dont give up. I was on clomipramine, a similar drug and it took me 6 weeks but i only needed 60mgs because i am highly sensitive and not seriously depressed. Once it works, you may find it better than these newer drugs. Good luck.

[Rick1on1]

If it was going to have an effect, it would have happened by now. Ask your doc to try something else.

[SIBELIUS55]

I first tried amitriptyline in the 1970s and found it helped me to sleep and to cope with terrible psychosomatic headaches. The dose did cause a lot of daytime drowsiness and impaired my performance as a young undergraduate. Lately, I have been taking a reduced dose for severe tension headaches and it has worked when all other medications failed. Nowadays, there is a much greater choice of treatments for anxiety/depression. Have you tried Venlafaxine? It is a very effective antidepressant with fewer side effects than Amitriptyline. By far the best antidepressants, in my experience, are the old MAOIs and especially Parnate [tranylcipromine]. Doctors will frighten you off them because there are extremely rare dangerous side effects. Do not worry; the medical profession will err on the side of safety every time. Parnate remains the most effective anxiolytic/antidepressant drug I have ever tried and is enjoying a resurgence of interest from the more experienced psychopharmacologists.