Amytriptaline????

[brave]

my rheumy has pescribed me amytriptaline for nerve pain ,bladder issues,etc i am worried that the pills will exacerbate my hyperactive nervous system and irregular heartbeat?any advice ?

[DaleDiva]

I take Amytriptilline 10mg but not on a regular basis. I take it at night to help me sleep and if my pain is severe. It does help me sleep but sometimes it makes me a bit groggy the next day. It also gives you a dry mouth. I have CNS Lupus.

[brave in reply to DaleDiva]

does it exacerbaye CNS or calm nervous system down?

[chrisj]

My SLE consultant prescribed it to "reset" my sleep clock, I was sleeping badly so I take it at night if I need it. I also suffer with dry mouth/Sjogrens syndrome and like Dalediva said amitript has a side effect of drying your mouth so it gives me added probs in that respect. I dont know of any other side effects, have you read the leafelt that comes with the tabs warning about its side effects? Your gp or rheumatologist are the best people to speak to.

My gp described it as a good all round pill that helps with pain generally...

[Corrosion]

I was prescribed this too last week as I am having problems with my sleep at night. I took it once and found that I was extremely groggy the next day although I did sleep at night after taking a while to actually get to sleep. I also had a very dry mouth (I also have Sjogrens). My sleep is still not any better so I plan to try the medication again but I think I will take it at 7pm instead of just before bed to see if it has more of an effect to getting me to sleep quicker and not being so groggy the next day.

Hope this helps.

[megs_tom in reply to Corrosion]

I advise taking it at 7pm. This is the time I take mine for going to bed 10-11pm and it works great. If I take it late I struggle to sleep. Taking it early also reduces the grogginess the next day I feel. Xxx

[happysally72 in reply to megs_tom]

I agree, it does reduce grogginess the next day, although I found the longer I was on it, the less it affected me that way x

[custardpot]

I take it and it takes about 3 months to start to work. You should also take it about 3 hours before going to bed as it takes this time to get into system. I take it to help me sleep, reduce pain and for severe depression after losing my husband.

It does give you a dry mouth. It is not really helping with the depression but does help me sleep a little bit better.

[tracynoe]

I tried this but after 2 doses I had to give up as it affected my muscles badly and I was struggling to breath I now take tramadol SR which is a lot better (for me)

[Slg352]

I have been on this medication for a while now. It's not a miracle cure but certainly has helped me. I take 25mg in the morning and 50 mg at night. The grogginess went after the first few weeks but I take the 50mg at tea time rather than later on. I have fibromyalgia as well as lupus and bladder problems. It helps with the pain, sleep and stiffness. I am also on plaquenil amongst other things. Have tried to reduce the amitriptyline but this dose seems to work best. I have a dry mouth anyway so have a spray from the GP. For me the benefits outweigh the side effects.

[DaleDiva]

Brave, for me it calms the CNS symptoms. I weigh up the benefits of a good sleep as opposed to feeling groggy the day after as I work part-time

[brave]

Thankyou all

[hatelupussucks]

As they said i feel it helps me sleep but o mine out makes me feel like a zombie attacked my body the next day i could not get out of bed which oz good i slept but not good to feel like Ur body weight was too much to carry all day long

[Tich]

Hi Brave, I was given this for mild depression and personally found it did nothing for me apart from make the dry mouth worse. I take pregabaline for my nerve pain and although i have gained a stone in weight it has helped. Can I ask you what bladder problems you have? I recently went to my GP about a particularly embarrassing problem and he was kind but simply said to wait and see!!! I am unsure if it has anything to do with CNS. Any help would be fantastic. I understand if you don't feel able to share but maybe you could message me direct.

Take care and I do hope the amytriptiline helps.

[brave in reply to Tich]

Hi.thanks for feedback about meds.!It feels to me like my CNS is shot to peices ,i cant cope with anything without ending up bedridden,swolen lymph glands my body is hyper aware of everything ,ringing in my ears inability to sleep yet completly exhausted ,dizzy muscle twitches galore ,i hate it ,even a heavy meal brings on these symptoms.;((My bladder is hyperactive ,i need to wee constantly ,day and night ,my bladder spasms which is extremly uncomfortable ,its like having a U.T.I contantly,i go everywhere with a hot water bottle strapped to my tummy .i also get uretha spams which are horrid,its like someone sticking a hot pin through your ureatha,my doc thinks its all nerve related ?/everything seems nerve related which is why i often think is this M.s not lupus?but mri was clear and so was nerve conduction test.I wish you well

[happysally72]

I was put on 40mg Amitriptyline for Fibromyalgia, (which I believe lots of people with SLE also have). I found it to be very effective at treating the nerve pain, although I had a separate drug for bladder spasms that I took also (Solifenacin or Trade name Vesicare) and this is specifically good for bladder & Uretha spasms and overactive bladder - it was actually prescribed for me by a Urologist and took a short while to work and increase the dose to a level that worked for me, but once in my system was brilliant and I only had very occasional spasms.

The Amitriptyline will probably affect your heart rate, mine was very high while on Amitriptyline but was taken off of it after they found I had a heart condition caused by Lupus and it did drop to a more reasonable level, although still fast.

I also have Sjogren's and yes the Amitriptyline does exasperate the symptoms of dry mouth considerably. I didn't think it was making it much worse until I stopped it. I had been on it a few years.

I found Amitriptyline to be quite horrendous when first taking and each time the dose was gradually upped 10mg at a time to get to 40mg dose. I felt tired (worse than normal! lol) confused, on another planet! This did improve once the dose had be static for 2-3 weeks and was worth it once it had settled as had a significant effect on reducing the nerve pain.

I would expect it to be very effective for hyperactive nervous system as I believe its similar to fibromyalgia.

Good luck, hope it helps x