Nortriptyline Side Effects: Has anyone... - National Migraine...

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Nortriptyline Side Effects

JordanS profile image
4 Replies

Has anyone been prescribed nortriptyline for migraine/nerve pain?

I was taking amitriptyline for a few months before this but yesterday my GP prescribed me nortriptyline instead as amitriptyline wasn’t working. I have been diagnosed with complex migraine but my GP thinks I may also be suffering from some kind of nerve pain/damage in my neck as I have shooting pain up the back of my head etc.

I started taking nortriptyline last night instead of my amitriptyline and suffered horrible side effects. Pounding heart, shaking, hot and cold sweats, weakness throughout my body but trouble falling and staying asleep, shortness of breath and muscle spasms. I was just wondering whether anyone else has suffered these side effects and whether they go away within a week/few days of taking it? As I don’t want to continue if they’re going to get worse.

Thanks very much,

Jordan

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JordanS
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KatherineM_PBC profile image
KatherineM_PBC

Hi Jordan. As you haven't had any replies I would put nortriptyline in the search box and it will bring up old posts with comments from patients about the medication.

What dose of Amitriptyline were you up to 25/50/75mg? You say it wasn't working, how long had you been on it? I'm asking as you don't say you got any side effects from Ami, so I would have thought the best option was to stay on it and increase the titration until it DID work? Before chopping and changing through lots of different meds, I would ask for a referral to Neurology i.e. a Consultant who specialises in migraine, or pay to go to a Headache Clinic or National Migraine Centre if you can?

You say your GP gave you the diagnosis of complex migraine, never heard that 1 before, other than all migraines are complex, in that they are different for everyone. I spent a year seeing an osteopath as I had severe stiffness and pain in the back of my head and neck, I thought that was 1 reason I was getting migraine but even after the neck treatment the migraines didn't go away.

Do you take any supplements or other meds, there could be more you could try, CBD oil, migraine supplements? Daith piercing? Throw everything at the beast!

All the best x

kirbymarsha profile image
kirbymarsha

When i first saw neurology one of their first suggestions was to increase my dose of nortriptyline from 20mg to 100mg over course of several weeks. I had previously been taking it at the low dose of 20mg for nerve pains relating to fibromyalgia. When I would increase my dose (usually 10mg a week) I found that I would have nausea, disrupted sleep with very stressful dreams and my heart rate was a bit higher than normal at times and could hear it pounding in my ears. After a few days to a week staying at the same dose I would find that I got back to my normal sleep patterns and my heart wasn't racing quite so much. If my sleep hadn't returned to normal I would hold off the next increase in dose.

I did book an appointment with my GP over this time and asked them to double check my heart rate and blood pressure which they agreed was slightly high. They had me check my blood pressure and heart rate in the morning and evening for two weeks using a blood pressure monitor and go back to see them. On average it turned out there was no change that was of concern.

I've found with any change in medication there is often short term unpleasant side effects and for some it may be for a matter or days or weeks and they may lessen. Have a read of the leaflet that comes with the medication and it will list common side effects as well as those that if you are experiencing you should go back to GP or at the least see your pharmacist.

troy04 profile image
troy04

I took Nortriptyline for a month or two and stopped since nothing changed, but I did not get these side effects. Your side effects sound quite drastic - everyone is different, so it can happen. Success rate of Nortriptyline is not that great but it has been found beneficial for some. You can request your GP to prescribe Duloxetine instead - this should help but it has also side effects.

In my case - I have accepted that no medicine is going to help me - but you should not come to this conclusion yet - your doctors do need to experiement with different medicines. But there is no cure, we can only manage this illness.

chicolini profile image
chicolini

I had horrible side effects with Nortrip and also amitryp. Doc then tried Imipramine and I was fine with that. They are all the same family but they have differences. I didnt persevere with the ones that had bad effects, after the first doses that were awful!

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