Elavil starting

[Cahyah]

So i have read some of the posts on elavil and am confused cuz some people report such good succes and others report such awful side effects. I am scared, cuz i asked my uro if we could try it, and now i am worried that i am goign to have all these awful side effects. i want it to work so bad; anyone had success on it??? i need some good news!

[meme]

I love Elavil! I've been taking it with my Elmiron since September. For the first couple of weeks I didn't notice much, just kinda sleepy, but then BAM it started working for me so well. I have just kept feeling better and better on it, in fact I think that I'm in remission right now b/c of it. I've been able to eat some of the "bad" foods, and I haven't had any flares now for a while. I feel so "normal"! Some days I can almost forget that I have this dreadful disease. I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Uro put me on it mainly for depression and anxiety, but it also helps with pain, I really didn't think it would help like this. Please give it a chance. If it makes it worse at least you can always stop taking it, but if it works and you feel like I do now, it will be so worth it! Good Luck.

[petrie86]

I've been taking Elavil since sept. also. I've noticed alot of improvement with all the meds i'm taking. My pain has lessoned alot and my pressure has gone away. I can sleep through the night (thats the best!) and be able to function and get done what I need to do again. I wish you all the luck with Elavil.

Rachel

[leelee88]

Just wanted to say:woohoo: meme.. thats so great!!! I am so happy you are feeling more normal you deserve a break....


Btw Elavil works great for me......

[vm]

I've been on Elavil 25mg at bedtime for 5 years and the only side effect I ever had was drowsiness the first week or so. After my body adjusted to the medicine I no longer had that side effect.

The nice thing is that if you do have a "bad" side effect you can always stop the medicine. :)

[kadi]

Before Elavil, I was voiding 60+ times a day, very ill, unable to sleep longer than 20 minutes at a time. 10mg of Elavil brought it down to 20 voids a day & I could sleep most nights with only 1-2 wakeups to void. Going up to 20mg, I only go to the bathroom 10-12 times a day, sometimes less, I have much less pain & discomfort, & I sleep well most nights. I saw improvement very fast on this medicine, the first night I took it.

It's definitely worth trying, it was the first thing to help me & is still the medicine most responsible for my doing well these days...

[dg2901]

I've been on 50mgs of Elavil at bedtime for 8 months (I think though I'm going to need to increase my dosage very soon). I noticed improvement within the first week of starting the med. I've suffered from none of the possible side effects other than a bit of drowsiness the first few days.
You're not going to know how you're going to react to a medication until you try--this holds true with any medication be it OTC or prescribed. One of the things that convinced me to try Elavil is all the positive results I had read about on this site.

take care
diana

[Cahyah]

Well I took the elavil last night; I am very drowsy today but i slept well last night. the only thing i have noticed aside from the sleepiness, which i hear will subside, is that it feels like i have to pee more today than "usual" but then again that changes day to day anyway... did anyone have this affect as their body was getting used to it? Im on 25mg at night.

[kimaurk]

My doc put me on nortriptiline (aventyl HCL or pamelor)for the pain. Like the elavil it sure makes me sleepy. My concern is that I am only on 25mg and have to gradually increase to 125mg daily, but I have been extremely emotional since about day 3 of it. I was crying cooking supper 2 nights ago and couldn't stop...and again yesterday out of the blue I was so upset I had to get out of the house and go for a walk I was so upset. I didn't want my kids to see me like this. Anyone had any experience with this med? I'm scared to stay on it. I have a call into my docs, but who knows if I'll get a call from her today.
Help anyone!!
kim

[Cahyah]

Hi Kim,

i have heard of people reacting differently to these meds; perhaps it is just not hte right one fo ryou? there are others , like elavil, so perhaps your doc would like to try one of those instead? the other thing to consider is that it could just be a side effect of your body getting used to it and it may go away. try calling the pharmacist at your local pharmacy; they are always very helpful with m ed questions! hope this helps..

[Cahyah]

Hi all,

I have been on elavil a few days now and have noticed the tiredness going away... i have also only gotten up once in the night these last two days so that is a good sign, and i think that i just went like 3 hours without having to go pee so yay! good signs! i pray it continues to get even better!

wedding: 5 1/2 weeks! :woohoo:

[jjt001]

Yay, I'm so happy for you! If you are like me, you may have a few flares on the way, but I have gradually gotten better and better, and go longer periods without pain, frequency, etc. I'm still a little groggy in the morning, but only if I take the Elavil quite late at night. Otherwise I'm adjusting pretyt well. Good luck!

[kimaurk]

That is awesome news!! To be able to sleep through the night....one day I will get their. With the elavil, do you start at a lower dose and increase it. That is what I have to do with the nortryptiline. I am only at 50mg a day and have to go up to 125mg. I want to sleep all day on the 50mg. Apparently the sleepiness takes a bit to overcome. It has been 7 days and still no change. My doc knows how I am reacting, but she said to give it more time because I stopped tofranil(antidepressant) and neurontin all at same time and started the nortryptiline same day. So my body needs time to adjust. But if it doesn't change in a week I'll call her back and see about elavil instead>
Kim

[leelee88]

Cahyah, I am so glad it seems to be helping..I know it has helped me so much!

[Sonat]

That is awesome news!! To be able to sleep through the night....one day I will get their. With the elavil, do you start at a lower dose and increase it. That is what I have to do with the nortryptiline. I am only at 50mg a day and have to go up to 125mg. I want to sleep all day on the 50mg. Apparently the sleepiness takes a bit to overcome. It has been 7 days and still no change. My doc knows how I am reacting, but she said to give it more time because I stopped tofranil(antidepressant) and neurontin all at same time and started the nortryptiline same day. So my body needs time to adjust. But if it doesn't change in a week I'll call her back and see about elavil instead>
Kim
Wow! :bow: 125 mg is actually quiet a lot. Usually, patients suffering from chronical pain take between 10 (minimum dosage) and 25 mg. I know some IC-patients that have been taking 75 mg; I used to take 50 mg a day, but came down to 10 mg.:smile tee Considering the side effects (drowsiness:bonk: , increased appetite:rolleyes: , weight gain :cussing: , water retention (I know, THAT one sounds like peanuts :-)), you should maybe try 25 mg..,which was a huge relief for me...
It can take upt to 4 weeks until you notice a difference...If it helps. you can still increase the dosage....125 mg is probably going to knock you out at the beginning...:cat: :bonk:
Good luck. I hope it works for you as well...:pray:

Sonat

[pingpong]

I started taking Elavil about 6 weeks ago, gradually increasing to 50mg. The first couple of weeks I was really sleepy (dopey, zonked out, whatever) and, oddly enough, depressed! I finally started to feel better, and my IC and vulvodynia pain are much better, but I have a bit of the dry mouth problem and I'm gaining weight - about 10 pounds so far, and I'm supposed to be going in the opposite direction...so now I'm really watching what I eat, and I may even cut down my dose or take every other day, just to try to balance the good with the bad.

[kimaurk]

I am still on the nortryptiline 50mg and have been for 7 days now. I am still very sleepy and extremely emotional. I don't dare have anyone over and I don't go anywhere except for physio. I have to go for groceries tomorrow, maybe I'll wear a bag over my head!! I think I am going to call the doc tomorrow and ask her to get me on something else. I can't even stand myself. I go from being really angry to crying for no reason and having a hard time stopping crying. I really hate this try and see thing. It gets very frustrating after a while. GRRRRRR!!!!!!!
Kim

[Sonat]

I started taking Elavil about 6 weeks ago, gradually increasing to 50mg. The first couple of weeks I was really sleepy (dopey, zonked out, whatever) and, oddly enough, depressed! I finally started to feel better, and my IC and vulvodynia pain are much better, but I have a bit of the dry mouth problem and I'm gaining weight - about 10 pounds so far, and I'm supposed to be going in the opposite direction...so now I'm really watching what I eat, and I may even cut down my dose or take every other day, just to try to balance the good with the bad.

The dry mouth is resulting from the anticholinerge(I do not know whether the spelling is correct)-something side effects...
They are actually the "side effects" of Antidepressants that reduce frequency/urgency, cause gastro-intestinal problems and dry mouth/eyes...
Hope you're feeling better...

[Cahyah]

did anyone notice an increase in the feelings of arousal after beginning elavil??? I seem to have less times of urination, and going longer periods without having to go, but the arousal feelings seem to be more this could also be because i am currently on my period, and i know that my hormones are raging at the moment... hopefully it will go away (that feeling). I know that there have been many women who took elavil because of that feeling and it helped... doi just need to wait a little longer for it to take full effect? i have only been on it a week now..

[Cahyah]

well i have had some great days in a row wiht this treat ment but now i am back to flaring. is this normal?????

[Roxie2007]

HI! I can sing the praises for Elavil. It helped me so much with the frequency and pain level I had. I've had IC for almost 30 yrs. and nothing helped me as much.......The past week I started using MSM and haven't had a flare since and no urethra pain......which is why I started using the MSM gel.
Anyway, give the Elavil a try.......can't be worse off than in the pain you are in now, right?? If it doesn't work then stop using it......but it's helped many people. Good luck! Roxie

[jjt001]

Hi Jessica -- For me it took about three months for the Elavil to really kick in for long periods of time. When I first started taking it I would feel great for a few days, then flare again. Over time that "feeling good" cycle has gotten longer and longer, with many fewer bad days -- at first I would feel great for three days, then four, then a week, then a couple of weeks. I started at 25mg, then went to 50mg and have been at 75 mg since mid-November or so.

So yes, what you're experiencing is what happened to me. I remember that Mayray, who gave me such hope for Elavil, said it took about three months for the Elavil to really work for her, so that was kind of what I hung my hat on, and I was pleased to realize that it had been three months and I was rarely flaring at all.

However, if I eat something I shouldn't, or don't drink enough water, my bladder starts to kick in. Today I had a couple of fillings at the dentist and I don't think my bladder loved all the injections, gross stuff in my mouth, etc. However, even on flare days I feel pretty good, and some extra water and my bed buddy will do the trick.

Watch your diet closely, drink your water, and hopefully this will be a very short bump in the road!

[Roxie2007]

HI JJT.........Yes it's normal. It takes a few months for Elavil to take total affect.....don't give up on it, you have just gotten started. Roxie

[Cahyah]

thanks everyone; my uro found that i have another UTI, although its been a couple months since i have had one, so that wa sa relief. and a bit of a relief to have a UTI as the reason why this flare has hapened and not just that my bladder isnt healing. I will continue on the elavil as i have seen markable improvement prior to this UTI (which i think came from stress, honestly, and not watching my diet). They put me on three days of cipro extended release, so we shall see. thanks for all the encouragement :) seems these meds that help so much are all a "waiting game" med :) patience right?

[smcclafferty]

I love Elavil! I've been taking it with my Elmiron since September. For the first couple of weeks I didn't notice much, just kinda sleepy, but then BAM it started working for me so well. I have just kept feeling better and better on it, in fact I think that I'm in remission right now b/c of it. I've been able to eat some of the "bad" foods, and I haven't had any flares now for a while. I feel so "normal"! Some days I can almost forget that I have this dreadful disease. I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Uro put me on it mainly for depression and anxiety, but it also helps with pain, I really didn't think it would help like this. Please give it a chance. If it makes it worse at least you can always stop taking it, but if it works and you feel like I do now, it will be so worth it! Good Luck.

Hi! I want to try Elavil...are you still doing well on it?

[Cahyah]

Hi there, yes Elavil I believe has helped al ot. I still have flares, if im not careful with what i eat and becuaseof stress (im getting married in ten days of course im a bit stressed! :bonk: ) but i do believe it has helped a lot. i encourage others to try it if they feel they need something else. at first i was exhausted on it, now i am pretty well used to the tiredness, and i am able to go to the gym again and what not. I take it usually around 8pm so that im not too groggy in the morning. :smile tee

[kjd]

cahya
that arousal feeling got worse with me too when I started Elavil but then it started to fade after about 3 weeks. My doctor todl me it usually gets worse before it goes away...but not sure why!
So hang in there as I realise how annoying it feels but it will start to ease off
x

[sweetangel2080]

I started elavil 10mg in december but though when I went to 20mg it made me worse, but stuck with it and got better.
I had a good week but this week been flaring again...hoping it will get better!

[Cahyah]

i noticed that the arousal feeling comes mostly when im on my period, t hen it starts to taper off after my period. sooo after this month, i am going to do the continuous birth control pills and have my period once ever three months or so, se if that helps.

overall iw ould say the elavil has helped somewhat, i have been on it for about five weeks or so, and whle i still flare, depending on the day, stress, food, etc, i think it has helped me not be soo in tune to my bladder, and for that ia m grateful!

[chinson]

I just started elavil 3 nights age; 25 mg at night before bed. The next day all of my pains were gone but the side effects were horrible: trouble sleeping, much drowsiness, feeling agitated/edgy, tingling & numbness in head and extremeities; I felt like my eyes were dilated and all my pores were wide open and exposed kind of like over-sensory stimulation. So I called my doc and he dropped me down to 10mg at night. I didn't think I would made through yesterday because I was so exhausted and I had half pain and half bad side effects. Also just started elmiron and an anti-histamine but staged them so I could judge the effects of each separately. Since elival just treats the pain any reason why I should not take it (I did not take it last night)and just go backto my regular darvacets and detrol?

[Roxie2007]

HI! Elavil also helps with frequency........if you are having any of those problems you might thing twice before quiting Elavil. Roxie

[lonen86]

I started elavil 25mg two days a go and I don't feel any difference , the only side effect is dry mouth for me. I think that I need more maybe 50mg will work for me . It doesn't make me sleepy at all. LOREN

[Cahyah]

HI everyone,

I think that i am going to stop elavil. Since going on it, i have become this angry, emotional person that I dont even know who I am anymore. Im going to the doctor to morrow and am goign to talk to him about alternatives (cymbalta? zoloft?) that can take the place of it. Plus, Im always tired now.

anyone else have this experience on elavil?