Notriptyline 60mg

[Prawnball]

Hi, I've been given these tablets to help prevent migraines (I have 5 a week) I'm up to 60mg but I've gained weight, my throat is dry and I keep coughing! Constipation is terrible! And I'm still having migraines but around 2-3 a week now! Has anyone else taken these and has anyone come off them? Please help!

[poole_odyssey]

Hello

I took these earlier this year and I felt terrible. Drs switched me between nortiptyline and amytriptyline for approx 3 months, I ended up being a hermit and sleeping all the time, depressed, constipated, not eating for a few days then eating everything in sight. I lost a stone and half on them - worked for the migraines but made me feel terrible in ways I can not describe. I am now on ramipril and pizotifen - and am human again.

I stopped taking then straight away did not have to ween off, but i went straight on to new drugs. Tried several cocktails before I found the one that suuited me.

Go back to the doctor who prescribed them, should give you something for the constipations, mine gave me lactulose.

Take care hope you get it sorted

[teadrinker]

I had nortrip for chronic facial pain - some of which turned out to be migraine - but only got as far as 30mg because the side-effects were awful : nausea, dizziness, and bizarre visual hallucinations. I was on the pills for a year, but I would be more assertive now and would never stay on anything if the side-effects were outweighing the benefits. 5 weeks sounds long enough to tell if it's working or not.

I have been on loads of medication for pain in the past - sugar-free mints helped the dry mouth and dried apricots and prunes in my porridge sorted out the constipation (sorry, too much info!) drink plenty of water and keep moving about too if you can!

Botox helps me a lot now. I have not found anything else that is as effective for my pain or migraine headaches.

As for coming off the nortrip, I was warned by the GP that prescribed them that coming off them quickly would be dreadful. I think that's probably the case if you stop them suddenly, as I had a bad experience going cold turkey on another drug. But with the nortrip a different doctor advised cutting the dose vey gradually over a number of weeks and I had no problems. I would get advice from a doctor or pharmacist.

[Paulacg]

A 50% improvement is about what I got with them, but it made my migraines more manageable. The NMS added Citalopram and I added mindfulness meditation and pacing what I did, and I got my life back. Accepting that I would never be migraine free was part of the solution though.

When I came off 50mg of Nortrip I reduced it by 5mg every 3 weeks and got no withdrawal symptoms at all.

Try sugar free gum for the dry mouth and drink plenty of fluid + soluable fibre as suggested by teadrinker. The side effects do improve in time.

[Prawnball]

Thank you for all your comments and advise, I didn't say I'd only been in them 5 weeks, I said I was having 5 migraines a week! Lol! I have been taking these tablets now for about 4 months and I have noticed an improvement I'm my migraines but not enough to warrant these horrible side effects! I think the heat I feel has to be the worst thing! I'm sweating like I've run a marathon on only slight exertion! It's very uncomfortable too! Been given laxative drink by GP and that seems to help constipation but how long can I take this for? Surely it's not good? I'm not sure all these side effects are worth a reduction of 2 migraines a week, as still having around 2-3 a week! It's so nice to talk to people who know what I mean? And how I feel? These migraines are literally ruining my life! Thanks again for your replies x

[LindaPhoenix]

I have been on Amitriptyline since April 2012 and have now almost completely weaned off. I found it didn't really reduce my migraines at all. I started on 10mg a day, it would help a bit for a couple of weeks then my body seemed to over-ride the effects and my migraines would get worse again, so my doctor gradually increased my dose 10mg at a time until I was on 50mg a day in November 2012. I then started to get heart palpitations, I took Stemetil during a particularly bad migraine, which I had been prescribed, but wasn't told it must not be taken with Amitriptyline as it can cause an irregular heart beat! I ended up having paramedics tend to me at the end of that day!! Thankfully, I wasn't taken into hospital, they said my heart rate was ok, but when I saw my doctor the next week, he said I should start to wean off the Amitriptyline as it was clearly affecting my heart! This is stated as a possible side-effect in the leaflet with the meds. I detest my migraines but nothing is worth having heart problems! I am now down to half a tablet (5mg) a day which I will take for another 4 days, then stop completely. If left untreated, my migraines are always accompanied by severe vomiting, usually for about 12 hours, every 20 mins, with hideous pain behind my right eye, behind my ear. I usually wake the next day, fine, but feeling like I've been run over. I've been having acupuncture to see if that might help. Interestingly, the physio who administers the acupuncture, says that I have tender points along my gall bladder line and she will press lightly on certain points of my body (in my neck, back of my knee, shoulder, side of my calf) and each time she finds a tender spot that I didn't even know was tender until she found it! I have had 6 acupuncture sessions, which have been during my weaning off Amitriptyline, and so far I have only had one "bad" migraine which I managed to stop with 300mg Sumatriptan (taken spaced out over a 24 hour period). I have tried Propranolol, but within a month I felt like a spaced out zombie and couldn't function, so came off it. I then tried Topiramate for a month, which was horrendous, the worst thing I have ever tried. It made me depressed, gave me eye problems, I completely went off food & lost a stone in a month (that was the only good side-effect as I then went on to lose 3 stone since coming off it as it proved to me that I wasn't just "stuck" being overweight)! I did try Soya Isoflavones for three months and they have been the only thing that have eradicated my migraines completely, but unfortunately only for that three months. Within a week of starting them, I felt like a completely new person, so energetic, awake, without any pain or fuzzyness of my head, it was incredible. They came from the health food shop in my town and the manager said that they can stop working, perhaps your body over-riding the effect I don't know, and sure enough they did. I was gutted. I've been off them a year now and wonder if I might get the same three month break from migraines if I try them again. Soya Isoflavones are recommended for menopausal women as they level out your hormones & provide your body with what it's lacking. I'm sure my migraines are hormone related as they've worsened considerably since I became 40, and I'm now 45. I will post this entire comment as a new thread, as I've only just joined this site today and am very interested in other people's experiences. We all have migraines for different reasons I'm sure, and sometimes we may find something that helps us which other people have tried.