Been On Elavil For 16 Yrs. NO WEIGHT GAIN!

[micheleconfused]

i hear alot about fear of weight gain, but i have weighed the same when i was 14, then was 15 and went on elavil, and now at 31, weigh the same, and post kids to. i believe that is alot of hype when it comes to this anti depressant. i wouldn't worry about taking it as far as weight is concerned, but my IC symptoms are not relieved by this. i used to take a higher doseage, but no matter what doseage, i never gained any weight from it

michele

[bunnykinb]

Michelle,

Thanks for the note on this med. I haven't filled my prescription yet for that fear of weight gain. My prescription is for 10 mg nightly. I have tried Elmiron instills, heparin instills, Urocit-K, Atarax, and currently DMSO instills which I now get monthly. I still have my burning despite many types of treatment and a very bland IC diet. I want to make sure all necessary treatments are exhausted before considering bladder removal as was sort of suggested from the prior urologist.

[kadi]

Well, it's not all hype. Weight gain is a pretty well documented side effect of Elavil, and is indicated on the prescription insert as well as in reference materials on IC such as the IC Survival Guide by Robert Moldwin.

The main thing with Elavil & weight gain is that for some patients, it does increase appetite, especially for sweets. If you start on a low dose and stay aware of how much you are eating (maybe keep a food journal, which isn't a bad idea for IC patients anyhow), you can reduce your chance of weight gain side effect. Hopefully if your pain & frequency is better managed with treatment, you will be able to exercise & that will help too.

That said, I'd take the 20 pounds I gained on Elavil any day over how sick I was without it... Elavil restored my ability to sleep through the night without getting up every 20 minutes to void, and reduced my daily voids from 60+times a day down to 20. I would have lost my job without this medicine and possibly my sanity, since due to nocturia I went for weeks without sleeping long enough to function...

Someday, I hope to be able to reduce my dosage or even eliminate taking the Elavil, but for now, I am still grateful for the relief it provides & just trying to manage the weight issue with awareness & exercise.

Hoping you find relief soon.

PS-10 mg is a very low dose. I took 10 mg a night for 8 months & did not gain weight. I did gain weight when I went up to 20mg a night, but if I had not been complacent from not gaining before & had monitored my intake better, I probably would not have gained...

[Kara29]

I was on Elavil for 4-5 years and also didnt' gain much weight on it but we are all so different that it's hard to make assumptions about it or generalizations. One person may gain nothing and another may gain a lot. It's all individual!

Kara

[micheleconfused]

iam underweight to start. when i concieved my last baby i was 104 lbs, and 5'6'', and not starving myself, my highschool weight was always 115 for years, and now at 31, iam 113 lbs, so i cannot say that elavil had any negative affects weight wise, and i get no side effects, as i have been on it for soo long, but the only thing i get if i were to not take it aside from obvious withdrawl, would be total insomnia. it helps tremedously. i have an overactive brain, and am a worrier, and i just CANNOT sleep w/o this medication. dropping my doseage from 200mg at one point, to now only 75, has done nothing to affect the way it works for me, so a low dose may be all you need. some dr's just like to go over the top and over prescribe. that is just something you gotto be careful with. i think they get kick backs from all the prescriptions they right.

in my teens my metabolism might have been good and high, but at 31 now, when things slow down in that respect, i still am slim, and this is NOT meant to be a brag, cause i suffer from very low self esteem, but i just wanted to let you know there is lots of hope with taking elavil, and NOT gaining weight. this drug definately makes a positive differnece in my life.

hugs, michele

[yvette]

There have been studies out there implying that Elavil can mess with one's metabolism and slow it down, even once the drug is not taken anymore. Others beleive that because one of the side effects is increased need for sweets, this leads to the weight gain.

Just because one person reacts a certain way does not mean everyone will react the same. We're all so differnt and react so differently with this crappy disease (and the other diseases some of us are also dealing with).

Its so hard to tell I guess. For those who can take it and not gain weight I think that's great---for the rest of us: if it works, its a matter of which is the lesser of 2 evils :)

[bunnykinb]

Michelle,

What is your nightly dose of Elavil? The uro wanted to give me 25 mg but decided on the pediatric dose of 10 mg to start. If it is true that Elavil makes one crave sweets, whoa, I am already a sweet lover. I look at all my pain days filled with burning and pelvic pain that I should try Elavil.

Prednisone steriod can make people retain water which is why some puff up or look swollen. My 12 year old nephew was on it for 3 months and his mom said he did look heavier.

So, hopefully, I won't have the weight gaining affects of Elavil. 5 pounds won't hurt, but not more than that. I do want some relief. And, Michelle, I am a worrier too, there have been so many nights that I haven't slept well.

Thanks.

P.S. Anyone out there ever had a neutered rabbit who began to bite?

[lauriecircle]

My Dr. recommended it today cause my WORST symptom is the night waking, up every hour! But I am really nervous about weight gain, as I was 65 pounds overweight, just lost 15 and am working on getting the rest off now...

But my Dr. said 5-10 mg a night and for depression you take 100-300, and I IMAGINE at that dose is the weight gain problem, not at such a small dose?

But what do you all think?

[CarolineJulia]

I have also not gained any weight on elavil -yet-. I have only been out it for about a month and I take 2 10mg pills at night, sometimes an extra one in the morning. I'm still trying to figure out if its helpful or not. I have noticed an increase in my appetite, but the truth is, I've always watched what I eat because I'm an actress... so I know what a health portion is for me and when I'm overeating. I think if you are somebody that can moniter what you put into your body (even though I know it's hard when you don't feel "full" and you want sweets, sweets, sweets), you will probably be better off on this drug. HOwever, there are some people believe it affects your metabolism and not just your appetite... so I can't say for sure!!! Either way, I would reccommend anybody who starts taking this drug to just be aware of their increase in appetite and what they are putting in their body in case they don't realize how much more they are actually eating...

Everybody is different though! No judgements here!

[CarolineJulia]

I forgot to mention that I am 5'6'' and usually fluctuate between 110-118 pounds.

[bunnykinb]

I already take 25 mg of Atarax a night which makes me sleepy. With Elavil, 10 mg plus the Atarax should get me to bed. I didn't sleep well again because of my pelvic pain.

Has anyone also taken vicadin for pain while on elavil?

[marymove]

I take 10 mg. of Elavil at night.I have for the past month. It has been a Godsend for me. No pain at night and only up 2x. YEAH. Anyway, when I first started it I was also on 1/2 a vicodent. But make sure you ask your doc. Mine said ok, but we are all so different.
What cracks me up is I have been on a sugar hunt every night, like a mad woman. I sneak downstairs and as embarassing as this is to admit, ate my baby nephews baby custard pudding. Oh, that's just too low. I couldn't understand what was going on with me until I read these boards. Now I feel better. I am 5"0 and 108 right now. But if this continues I will be in the Betty Ford Clinic for addiction to sugar. Never cared for sweets before. Ah, ic strikes again.
I work on a horse farm and one of the boarder's had to go to behavior modification class for her dog after it was neutered because of aggression. Bunny must be po'd that he was castrated!

[Ginny]

I have been on Elavil for somewhere around 15 years also. Maybe more.
I still get up at night but not nearly as many times as I did before taking it. I am on 50 mg.
I did gain weight and do have sugar cravings. Since I am a diabetic I needed the cravings to stop. I tried getting off of it and going on Ambien. Wow, did I get sick. My stomach was a mess for a week. I actually ended up in the ER because of stomach pain. Went back on it. It took awhile for my stomach to calm down.

Ginny

[Lisa_S]

I am on 50mg of Elavil. I gained a few pounds when I first went on it and noticed an increase in appetite. However, I lost the weight again easily just by watching what I eat. I do find myself hungry more of the time now, so I just have to be careful to eat meals at regular times and know how much food I need.

[bunnykinb]

Marymore,

Before I had my rabbit neutered, I checked with two rabbit societies and numerous material. All indicated that neutering or spaying makes any animal less aggressive. The dad rabbit was very mean and he wasn't neutered. Chinichilla hasn't biten my husband again. He likes to chase the broom when I am sweeping. Behavior classes? I bet that is expensive.

Well, I took 5 mg of Elavil last night at 8:30 pm and was out by 9:00 pm. Normally, I hear my husband's alarm at 11:00 pm but I didn't wake up until 4:00 pm to use the bathroom then fell right back to sleep. I don't know if it was the Elavil or it was because I didn't sleep much the prior night. Today, I don't have to use the restroom every hour, the last time I went was 4:00 pm and here it is 5:15 pm and no urge yet. The pharmacist did say that the main side effects were dry mouth and difficulty urinating.

I did have some ringing in my ear last night after taking Elavil. Anyone have that? So far, no dry mouth. I hope I don't get it dry mouth because that was the main reason I stopped taking Detrol because I couldn't stand the dry mouth.

Ok, I wrote alot.

[CarolineJulia]

After writing that post about not giving in to food cravings, I just made a huge batch of rice crispy squares with white chocolate chips and hate half of them. Wow. I feel sick to my stomach!! I really hope this doesn't send me into a flare! Yikes!

One thing I forgot to mention about the elavil was that it DID give me really fast heart beat for the first few nights. This has gone away, but the first night I took it, I woke up and my heart was going a mile a minute. Scary!!! Seems to have calmed down now....

[bunnykinb]

I barely started taking Elavil 10 mg on Thur. 11/30/06. I have felt nauseated and don't want to eat. Has anyone felt nauseated and had a dry mouth with Elavil? When I took Paxil in the past in 2001 for postpartum depression, I couldn't handle the nauseated feeling.

[CarolineJulia]

Hi Bunny!

Sorry the Elavil is giving you a hard time. I've been on it for about a month now and I do think it helps. My I.C. waxes and wanes but it's often fairly manageable (although still irritating!!). I think the reason it's mild might have something to do with elavil, but I'm not risking going off it right now...

I never got nausea with the elavil, but I do remember not wanting to eat for the first week or so on it (which is strange, because it's supposed to make you want to eat more... and that side effect has happened to me now!!). As for the dry mouth, YES! I did/do get dry mouth with Elavil. However, by mid-morning it usually goes away. When I wake up is when it's noticeable (dragon breath!!). I take 20mg a night now and sleep through the night without waking up once. In fact, last night I slept from 12am to 12pm (I slept in!) and didn't get out of bed once. 12 hours!!!! I also don't drink anything an hour before bed.

Hopefully it works for you and the side-effects get a little better. They really have for me, so maybe give it a little longer unless its unbearable and you are throwing up and stuff.

Have a good Monday!
Caroline

[bunnykinb]

I take the Elavil around 8pm; last night I took it at 7p and was in bed by 8p. I had a long day yesterday with my son for a judo tournament. I feel nauseated until around noon, but still make myself eat. Here it is 5p and I am barely eating my pear.

I'll try and hang in there. I have noticed I don't have to use the restroom as much. My dry mouth has disappeared for a little awhile as long as I don't get dry mouth all day and night like I did with Detrol LA and Ditropan.

I did get excused from jury duty because of my IC but was told that the court could send out another notice in a year. I will write my urologist a letter to see if he can request me being removed off the master list.

[CarolineJulia]

I also took ditropan and it made my mouth unbearably dry. I felt like I couldn't drink enough water and it was hard to eat food cuz I couldn't produce enough saliva to swallow. Yuck! I really don't think the Elavil should be as bad as that... and it certainly hasn't been for me. I really do think it's helping, so if you have noticed your frequency go down a bit, I think sticking with it can't hurt. But I'm not a doctor, so you might want to talk to your gp or uro about it. Hope it works out for you and glad you got out of doing jury duty!!

[bunnykinb]

Elavil knocks me out within 30 minutes after taking it. I only woke up once during the night. Yesterday, I only used the restroom at work 5 times instead of 8. I don't want to jinks my other symptoms.