How do people find Amytriptyline?

PaulineS•5 years ago•

I've been on 50mgs Amytriptyline at night for some time now, however I find it doesn't have a great deal of effect on me. I've tried varying the times I take it at but I still get nights where I don't go to sleep for several hours; neither do I wake up with a "fuzzy" head like lots of people I know!

Do other people find it has little effect? My sleep is very disrupted - I can;t remember the last time I slept throughout the night

I wake up several times, either with pain; hot flushes & needing the loo.

What helps people to sleep well?

11 Replies

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earthwitch

5 years ago

Wow. You are lucky if it doesn't have any of the side effects. Pity it doesn't have any good effects either. I don't think I know anyone who has tried it who hasn't felt really woolly headed the next morning - at least for the first couple of weeks until getting used to it. Do you have problems with any other meds not seeming to affect you as they should? Are you anaemic for no reason? If so, then I would wonder if you have a malabsorption problem like coeliac disease. Lack of effect of meds was one of the first "symptoms" of coeliac disease that I really noticed. I kept telling my GP for years that I thought I wasn't absorbing properly, then finally she did the coeliac blood test and it was sky high.

You are at the top of the recommended dose range for pain modification effects though - any higher hasn't been proven to do anything more for pain (though you would need higher if you wanted the antidepressant effect).

earthwitch

in reply to PaulineS

5 years ago

were you eating a full gluten containing diet when you were tested for coeliac? if not, then you might have got a false negative. Also ask if the doc checked if you were IgA deficient at the same time - the coeliac test is an IgA one, and if you are deficient it will show a false negative and they need to repeat it as an IgG test, or go straight to an endoscopy and biopsy. Doing a partial gluten free diet probably won't do much if you are gluten sensitive - as little as one bit of gluten a month can keep your gut in a bad way. Its best to do either all or nothing on it.

Definitely ask your doctor about whether it could possibly be a malabsorption problem and how they would check for that. I think some of the other inflammatory bowel diseases can also cause malabsorption, and they are also autoimmune and often go along with arthritis (especially spondyloarthritis)

Hidden

5 years ago

I've been taking it on and off for 2 years now. I just got another prescription from my GP and he queried me taking it as I'm not having pain currently. So I explained it is the only way I have of getting a good night's sleep. It helps with my weak bladder and usually I sleep through on one tablet and wake at about 6am - then get another hour's sleep if I've taken one. I am tired the next day but being honest I'm always tired by afternoon anyway and if I haven't slept much I'm absolutely shattered so better tired from a good night's sleep from amitriptyline I feel. I only take one and I don't always take it - if I'm going out I don't bother because I need to take one early on by 9pm in order not to feel too woozy next day. He seemed to think that was fine as long as I didn't take more than one. He said his main concern is that it can make us feel sluggish and can affect driving the next day etc. It is non-addictive but I do agree it's a pretty weird drug. I once forgot to put the water ready to swallow it with and the little blue pill sat on my tongue and made my whole mouth go totally numb for a while afterwards! Xx