amitriptyline

[SophieC22]

Been told to increase my dosage to from 30mg 40mg due to the pain not easing., but on UK guidelines it says only go up to 30mg for IBS pain. Is anyone taking higher than 30mg (for IBS-unrelated to anxiety/depression) if so does it work/do you recommend?

[Liz1234ty]

Hi there, I went up to 70mg (in 5-10mg increments every 2x weeks). My GP said this should be safe as still under the threshold used for treating depression. It made me sleepy - in fact I've never slept so well at night - but there was no dramatic decrease in my IBS symptoms/anxiety so I've recently been reducing the dose every couple of weeks and am back down to about 15mg per night. I like this dose as it still helps me sleep through nighttime IBS trouble. Hopefully a higher dose will work better for you, but if it does not or if you get side effects then you should decrease it gradually. Just bear in mind that it can take several weeks - even a few months - to work so you need to give it time before making a decision. Also some people get worse side effects than others - my only side effect is sleepiness.

[SophieC22 in reply to Liz1234ty]

Thank you so much, that was very informative. Will gradually go up and see if it helps! Really appreciate it x

[Hidden]

Hi there i have IBS-d and depression and im on 100mg of Amitryptiline if your taking it for pain i would definitely recommend it. Im on it mainly for depression but it helps my ibs symptoms to especially pain and helps me sleep. I agree it does make you drowsy when you first go on it or when you increase the dose but that soon wears off once your body gets used to it. I would say tho it affects people differently good luck x

[Liz1234ty in reply to Hidden]

Yes, i forgot to say that I definitely felt less drowsy the longer I was taking it as my body adapted, but the increased sleepiness did not fully go away. Sophie may already have found this when taking 30mg.