Has anyone tried Nortriptyline or Amitriptyline?

[rustydog]

24 years with this condition and I am close to rock bottom.

The last 5 or so years, since hitting my mid 40’s have been awful with virtually daily symptoms. The last two years have been so bad.

In 2019 I had a colonoscopy, a gastroscope, several ultra sound scans and a ct scan. Nothing picked up, which is obviously good but I’m still in limbo land as to why I have these daily symptoms.

I have spent a small fortune seeing private gastroenterologists, dieticians and so called Naturopaths! I have tried so many IBS meds, I am on the low fodmap diet, I listen to gut directed hypnotherapy every day, I walk every day, no alcohol, no ‘bad’ foods or drinks. In fact my life is a complete bore. Yet still IBS follows me about everywhere. I live in constant fear there is something very wrong.

If you pardon the pun, I have had a gut load of my symptoms. Acid, indigestion burping, nausea, excessive gurgling and growling, bloating, excessive flatulence, diarrhoea and sometimes constipation and a daily, general feeling of malaise throughout the whole of my digestive tract.

My gastroenterologist has given me a prescription for Nortriptyline (10mg). I hate taking meds but am so miserable right now.

Has anyone tried this or the sister drug amitriptyline?

[Glitterpants]

Yes I have been on amitriptyline for 4 years. I take 10mg in the evening and it has helped my IBS a lot. I still have to be careful what I eat and still have flare ups but I can manage my IBS whereas before I couldnt. Hope this helps.

[rustydog in reply to Glitterpants]

That’s good to know, thank you. Did you get any side effects or weight gain from it?

[Fodmapfella]

I take 10mg Amitriptyline at night as well, and, yes, I think it's helped my IBS enormously & I certainly have far far fewer episodes of excessive bloating & cramps & very loose stools. However, it's not a universal panacea so, in my case, is still follow the boring low fodmap 'sensible' type diets that many of us life with. And one finial point, although 10mgs is a tiny dose (compared to doses in hospitals & clinics prescribed for psych type problems), I still find that it does sometimes make me feel 'hungover' & sluggish the next day. Hope this helps.

[rustydog in reply to Fodmapfella]

I follow the low fodmap too, I agree it’s so boring. Did you get any weight gain from it?

[Booth29]

Yes I’ve recently started taking 10mg at night. Like you I suffer from acid reflux along with the ibs, and was getting very stressed over all the symptoms. Gp suggested trying amitriptyline to see if I can get the anxiety under control, which will hopefully help calm the ibs down. It’s early days, so not sure yet if it’s working but 🤞🏼

[rustydog in reply to Booth29]

I hope it works well for you. Are you experiencing any side effects so far?

[RawTummy]

Hello rustydog, I have taken Amitriptyline and it made me extremely dizzy after taking it for a few days. I hope you have good luck with this particular drug.

[rustydog in reply to RawTummy]

I’m going to cut it in half and work up slowly. Not sure if that’ll help or not but thought I’d give it a go.

[RawTummy in reply to rustydog]

Hi rusty dog.....good luck to you! Let us know how you're feeling after the med modification.

[Brooking]

Morning Rusty l tried amitriptyline but l felt so drowsy and awful had to come off it but a friend is also on it and it doesn't seem to bother her. I think everyone is different it's trial and error l do hope you feel better soon as l have symptoms everyday and know how you feel. Take care. Janwt

[rustydog in reply to Brooking]

Thank you. I’ll give it a while and see how I go 🤞

[Mush83]

I’ve been on amitriptyline for about 18 months. It took about 6 weeks and an increase to 20mg to start to help and whilst I do still have flare ups I do feel it helps. Side effects for me were minimal; I take it half an hour before bed as it makes me very tired but the initial grogginess the following day only lasted a week or so.

I gained about 7lbs but I also changed contraception at the same time and suspect the weight gain was actually down to that rather than the amitriptyline.

I hope the meds help x

[rustydog in reply to Mush83]

Thank you, it’s good to know it’s worked well for you.

[doris22]

Hi there. I have been taking Amitriptyline for 2 weeks now 10 mg 2 hours before bedtime. (Stops you being drowsy in the morning) I had a constant tension headache and stress and for the first time in months I am having a good nights sleep without pain. I'm also not having any side affects. The doctor wanted me to take them a year ago but I put it off. I so wish I hadn't now. Amitriptyline is used for many things not just depression. It is even used to help children who wet the bed in their sleep. Hope this helps.

[rustydog in reply to doris22]

Thank you so much, that’s very encouraging. I am so stressed and tense. I don’t sleep well, it would be good to relieve those things too.

[Ruggerhead in reply to rustydog]

It is used at low dose for IBS to help in blocking the pain receptors, but it is also used for sleep and can be taken long term it seems without problems rather than sleeping pills or benzos, start at 10 mg an hour before bedtime, takes about 6 to 8 weeks to have any effect.

[rustydog in reply to Ruggerhead]

I started taking nortriptyline 5 days ago. I hate taking meds so have cut them in half for the first week then will start the whole tablet from tomorrow. I don’t have any positive changes in my symptoms yet but don’t expect to on such a small amount, hoping things will get better in the next few weeks 🤞

[Soretel1970]

Good afternoon fella I've not logged in here for years so glad I did I'm learning lots but back to you the first night I tried amitriptyline it was wonderful however after only a few weeks I came off them the nightmares where awful along with the sweats when you are logging into Facebook at 3am to check on people because of the dreams I blamed the medicine I'm not on then now and the nightmares have not returned but everyone is different I suppose good luck 🤗

[Soretel1970]

And accept my sincere apologies it appears you may be a female ! Sorry!

[rustydog]

Lol!

[Orchid99]

Hi, I take 30mg of nortriptyline for the pain and overflow diarrhoea attacks I suffer with my slow transit constipation, I get no side effects from it and it was working well at 20mg before I had to take antibiotics and now I'm flaring up again which is why I had to up to 30mg, hoping things will settle again.

[rustydog in reply to Orchid99]

I hope you soon feel better, nothing worse than a flare up.

[Funkyfaerie]

Hi, I've most of your symptoms and what seems very much like a sore inflamed colon, right side little more affected.I am so fed up with hospitals doctors and drugs! Amitriptyline made me far too drowsy.

I have recently started Qi Gong, doing some movements that are relaxing me, and stomach rubbing, hoping for good results. I'm eating healthy, chewing my food well, drinking more water. I am a sufferer if excessive burping too, always seems to be in the evening, after my main meal and especially if I have a cup of tea, I think I might swallow a lot of air when I eat and drink.

All these symptoms are exacerbated by anxiety for me, because of things going on in life, and worry about my stomach issues, which is then a vicious circle!

In the meantime I am sticking with Qi Gong! Best Wishes.

[rustydog in reply to Funkyfaerie]

I’m sorry you have the same symptoms, it’s a nightmare isn’t it? I will have to look at Qi Gong, sounds interesting, I hope it works well for you.

[rustydog]

Thank you. I took it for just over a week. I think it did help with the IBS as it seemed a little more settled. I did have a very dry mouth and sore throat every morning and very heavy dreaming. I stopped as my sister is on amitriptyline and started getting heart palpitations. Her GP advised her to come off, so I did too as we have heart disease in the family. After some tests her heart is fine. I’m going to ask my GP for his advise but want to get back on them as my tummy is so bad atm. I’m hoping they will help.

[philrichie2010]

Hi Rustydog, I had all the symptoms you mentioned and I tried everything, it was only when I started eating a keto low carb diet, then moved to a carnivore diet that I saw any change. Google 'revero' and look at their success stories. I could not believe it was so easy to fix things with diet. Hope things get Better for you soon.