Amitryptaline

[Jules5316]

I have nerve damage from an operation on my Ulna bone. At the time I was put on the above medication to stop some of the pain and help me to sleep at night. They then took me of it and said I shouldn't really have it as I'm on Citalipram for depression. My point i's that the amitryptaline worked really well on me and would love to go back on it. I know it helps with depression too, so has anyone else had a similar thing happen and would. You advise against the amitryptaline long term?

Thanks! 😊x

[cyberbarn]

Amitryptaline at really low doses helps with certain types of pain, especially nerve pain. Amitriptyline at higher doses which was supposed to be used for depression, doesn't work very well at all. Amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant or an serotonin-norephinephrin repudiate inhibitor. or SNRI and Citalopram is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or SSRI.

So the two drugs work differently, and the low levels of Amitriptyline that work for nerve pain are too low to also work for depression.

The higher levels of Ami that would be needed for depression might affect you in other ways which is why it isn't often used for depression, and just because Citalopram worked, doesnt' mean that ami would work for depression too.

Tricky one. Is your nerve pain still there? I had nerve pain from damage from an operation and decided that I wasn't going to take amitriptyline but wait for a while to see what happened. It took a year, but finally the pain dropped to comfortable levels as the nerve regrew and took those pesky nerve endings back into control. I find now that it only bothers me if I am very tired.

[Jules5316 in reply to cyberbarn]

Thanks for the info...appreciate it!

I had my op back in Sept last year so guess it's okay to still be getting the pain. Lol! I still can't feel my little finger and part of the finger next to it. I get shooting pains from my elbow down my arm.

So that means I can still take the Ami in low doses for nerve pain as well as taking citalopram for depression? My Gp refused to give me a repeat prescription for it due to being on citalopram! 😕

[cyberbarn in reply to Jules5316]

When my nerve (it was in my ankle and handled all the sensory information on the side of my ankle and the bottom of my hind foot) was sorting itself out it was so frustrating to have things like hot and cold not only not reporting back to my brain, but my brain not telling my foot what temperature to me! And walking in warm water in the hydrotherapy pool felt like I was walking on cut glass. But I got there in the end.

As for Ami and citalopram, together they can have an interaction, so it might be that your GP is concerned about that. It might be a choice between the two, so you would have to decide which to treat with drugs, and which to try to deal with in a non-pharmalogical way.

The other thing that you could do is go and talk to a pharmacist. They are very good at knowing about drug interactions and they might actually be able to come up with a plan. Check first to see if there is a pharmacist that works with your GP practice, and if not go and have a chat with the community pharmacist.

[Jules5316 in reply to cyberbarn]

Yes, I have exactly the same sensations.....not knowing the temp of my fingers and the feeling of redhot pins and needles sticking in them, yet numb....sounds odd, feels odd! 😀

Never thought about the pharmacist....good idea....thanks! 😊x