Amitriptyline Side Effects-Help!

[Mammac]

I was just diagnosed with IC and my dr. put me on amitriptyline. I have had some weird side effects just after 3 days and sex is horrible! Could someone tell me if the side effects go away or if I am doomed to give up sex and feel like a zombie all the time just to ease my bladder pain?

[Glenda2]

I am SO Sorry this stuff affected you like this.

People get upset when I tell MY story of what it did to ME.

I lost my complete memory for 10 days.

I was a Catatonic Zombee.

You can search out the other Elavil (Amitryptaline) thread topics and read my replys about this medication.

It has the Potential to be dangerous. Atleast for ME it was !!!

Other's may do just fine on it. But I see other's don't. Be CAREFULL *:tsk:

[Mammac]

Thanks for the info. I have decided to not take anymore. I don't like feeling stoned all the time. I have 3 children that depend on me to be mentally alert and I can't do that on this drug.

[Glenda2]

I am glad you are taking the right actions with this medication.

I don't trust it. :tsk:

25 mg's fried my Brain , Bad.

I know it helps alot of people , and I am so happy for them !

But , I see other get wicked side effects from it.

Mine was one of the worst reactions that could occure.
One for the record books.

[Melissa66]

I'm very sorry Elavil is doing this to you. Boy, can I relate to your situation. I take 12.5 mg (a 25 mg pill I cut in half) of Amitriptyline at night. It knocks me out cold and the following day I'm a zombie: drowsy and little energy. I have to take a 2 hour nap every day because of it! My husband is very concerned about what this drug does to me and would love for me to drop it. But it does control my pain very well. But I may be going off it very soon since the pharma company doesn't make the yellow pill anymore and my bladder freaks out when I take the green pill that is the only version of Elavil made now.

If Elavil is interfering with your quality of life then drop it if you can and consult your Dr for an alternative therapy.

Good luck! :)

[Briza]

Melissa
Since you say it works well for pain, have you tried a lower dose such as 10 mg or 5 mg? It does come in 5 mg tabs and it is available in white. You might have to call different pharmacies to find one that carries a manufacturer that makes the white tabs.

Drowsiness is a common side effect of this med but many who take it with success find that this side effect goes away with continued use. And many find starting with a low dose, such as 5 mg, taken late evening (around dinnertime or at least a couple of hours before bed) helps reduce the morning groggies and daytime drowsiness. If needed, the dose can be slowly increased over time til the lowest effective dose is achieved.

Of course if side effects are intolerable you wouldn't want to continue but just thought I would throw that in as something to try if it is doing a good job of relieving your pain.

[vm]

The drowsiness did got away for me after several days to a week. We are all so individual with medications. I never had any other side effects from it after the drowsiness left. I'm sorry you've had to stop it.

[kadi]

I took 10mg for about 6 months before we increased the dosage to 20mg. It has helped me a lot with pain and frequency. When I started taking it, I would take it at 7:30pm in order to wake up well at 5:30am. As sick as I was when I started Elavil, sex was so out of the question that any side effect on that part of my life wouldn't have mattered.

My mom controls her bladder pain with just 10mg of Elavil and another friend of mine with IC also manages her symptoms with just 10mg of Elavil, so a high dose may not be necessary. Just a thought.

I hope you find relief soon,

[Melissa66]

Melissa
Since you say it works well for pain, have you tried a lower dose such as 10 mg or 5 mg? It does come in 5 mg tabs and it is available in white. You might have to call different pharmacies to find one that carries a manufacturer that makes the white tabs.

Drowsiness is a common side effect of this med but many who take it with success find that this side effect goes away with continued use. And many find starting with a low dose, such as 5 mg, taken late evening (around dinnertime or at least a couple of hours before bed) helps reduce the morning groggies and daytime drowsiness. If needed, the dose can be slowly increased over time til the lowest effective dose is achieved.

Of course if side effects are intolerable you wouldn't want to continue but just thought I would throw that in as something to try if it is doing a good job of relieving your pain.

Hi Briza,

Yes, I've tried cutting the 12.5mg Elavil in half, but that lower dosage doesn't help my pain. I've always had the drowsiness problem from day one and it has never improved. With only 1 brand of Elavil available now I'll probably have to stop taking it now -- the cruel irony that this pill makes my pain and frequency unbearable. Let's hope going off Elavil entirely is a blessing in disguise. Thanks for your suggestions, they're much appreciated. :)

[ICNDonna]

My husband takes a 10 mg tablet for arthritis pain and it helps him. My doctor ordered the same for me and it did a reverse effect --- my blood pressure shot up and I was hyperactive. HOWEVER, it's important to remember that it's possible to have a reaction to any medication, herbal or otherwise --- and equally important that you contact the ordering physician as soon as possible.

Donna

[jdsong1]

Well my mom started on elival and she was very dizzy and tired the first week and stopped taking it. She then decided to try once again cuz her pain is so bad these days so she has been on Elival 10mgs everynight and now after 1 month does not have that tried dizzy feeling anymore. The only issue is it has not helped with her pain yet. She might try 20mgs but is afraid of the side effects but has really no idea if she would have any so it might not hurt to try bumping up to see what happens. Again the 10mgs seem fine for her now but again not much succuss with helping with pain issues. Anyone take Nuerotronin with Elival? Or just Nuerotonin instead???

[Glenda2]

Please be carefull when she increases the dose.

Get the doctor's OK before doing so.

I know what it did to me with only 25 mg's.
Used it one time only.
That was enough to convince me other wise.

[vm]

That's wonderful that she adjusted to the 10mg dosage. I would be curious if a higher dose might make more of a difference, too. If she's working with her doctor and tries that dosage she can surely stop if she gets drowsiness again and it doesn't resolve.

Good luck to her. :)

[jdsong1]

She tried 20mgs once awhile back as he urologist wanted her to start out on 20mgs. When she did she could not lift her head and was a zomby for most the morning and hated it so thats when I said call him and ask for 10mgs. the local uro here did not even know it came in 10mgs!! So he said he would order it for her. She saw Dr Hanno at UOP once and he was the one that recommended this Elival but on her papers Dr Hanno wrote 10 20 then 30mgs so not sure why her urologist here wanted her to start at 20mgs. Anway it took her awhile to get us to 10mgs so now she feels no side effects at that level but still not pain so that is why I said maybe she should try 20 again but she sees Dr Hanno again Dec7 so she can ask him again. i think its one of those drugs that some can take and some can not but all you can do is try a low dose first and work you way up. Even cut the 10mgs if half or get a 5mg instill for a few days..All one can do it try.

[ICNDonna]

I believe it's also available in a 5 mg dose.

Donna

[vm]

and if it isn't, my Elavil used to come in a tablet which could be split fairly easily with a pill splitter if the doctor OK'd the dosage.

[pennstate71]

I also felt the zombie effect of this med. Just completely out of it...almost outside of my body. I put on weight fairly quickly too - craved sugar which is not normal for me! Also, I know it's supposed to be an anti-depressant but I turned into a complete *itch with it, haha! My boyfriend didn't even need to tell me - I knew I was being nasty which was very strange! My only problem is that now I've been diangosed with VV and I'm already on valium and will be getting steroid/lidocaine injections (ick) soon, but they usually use Elavil as well...so, as far as those zombie like reactions, I'm thinking I didn't give it the time it needed (although trying to juggle my job and renovating 2 houses, it's hard to deal with med side effects that wipe you out). I'm just nervous about going back on it...

sooo Has anyone with IC/PFD or VV had any success with something similar but without some of those nasty side effects?

[loveslife]

pennstate,
do you know what dosage you were at with the elavil? For IC treatment, the dosage starts low and can stay relatively low. For me, I'm at 10 mgs and the only thing I notice now , is that I sleep better(and helps with the IC pain). I had earlier tried a higher dose (20 mgs.)and that did make me feel very dopey and out of it. Is it possible you started out at too high of a dose? The low dosages that are given for this don't really have any effect as an antidepressent. I think you would have to be on at least 150 mgs. Anyway that's something you can think about if you want to try it again.

For PFD, I highly advise physical therapy for that. It definitely got those symptoms under control for me. Otherwise you could ask for ativan. I use it sparingly to help with the pain. Its an antianxiety drug that helps to get the pelvic muscles to relax and stop their spasming. I can use half a tab and it stops the pain in its tracks for me and doesn't make feel "buzzed". I know some women have had luck with vaginal valium suppositories also.
Cynthia

[pennstate71]

Thanks for your response Cynthia. I actually did start at the 10 mg and got up to 20. I was on hydroxizine at the same time which I had somewhat of a bad reaction to, so I think that may have lead to some of the problems. I did complete about 5 months of physical therapy which sometimes helped, sometimes made me feel worse, but I feel that I'm on a better medication program now, so I'm going back (also didn't do biofeedback the first time and I KNOW I'm constantly clenching so I think that will help me). I would be willing to try it again I think its just getting through those first few weeks... Thanks again!

[loveslife]

Hi pennstate,
I too had a problem with the combination of hydroxizine and the amitryptiline, so went off the hydroxizine and am doing much better without it. The amitryptiline did give me side effects that I'm still dealing with(and its been over 2 months) but they seem to be finally slowly diminishing. The relief from pain has been so good though that I was willing to put up with it for a little longer to see if they would go away.

Biofeedback was a huge part of PT for me. It was amazing to see my muscles relax and then actually feel the difference. For me, it took about 6 weeks before I truly started to see improvement.
Take care,
Cynthia

[Goldfinch]

My daughter was prescribed a starting dose of 10 mg Elavil for non-IC related problems. After the first night she felt like she'd been hit by a truck she was so exhausted. She then started cutting the pills in half, and did that about a week. Then the doc suggested she try taking another quarter pill each night. She adjusted to that after another week, and now is able to tolerate 10mg without side-effects. She's somewhat underweight, so it doesn't usually take much of any drug to have an effect on her.

She was given the script mainly for its anti-spasmodic effects, as she seems to be suffering from a (hopefully) temporary bout of IBS triggered by some nasty antibiotics she had to take. We are also hoping it stimulates her appetite, since she needs to gain a few pounds. From what I have read here, 10mg may not be enough to do that. She's a full-time college student with a heavy load, and can't afford to feel groggy during the day, so I don't know if she will tolerate a bump up in the dose, altho I suspect our doc would like her to work up to 20 mg. It does seem to be helping the digestive irritation, and she is also getting a better night's sleep, though she says that the drug's knock-out power is decreasing as she tolerates it.

I've never taken Elavil for IC, since Elmiron seems to work pretty well for me. I did take half of one of her pills (for a 5 mg dose) just to try it and slept like a log. Or a baby. Or a young person without IC and without the stress of senior year at college.