Elavil and Constant Hunger - Interstitial Cystitis Network Support Forum

ChrissyH · 02-06-2004, 07:28 AM

Hi all!
I just started taking 10mg of Elavil nightly about a week ago. I'm not having problems with be sleepy, but I feel hungry all the time. Even right as soon as I finish eating dinner, I feel as if my stomach is still empty. I know that I should be feeling full, but it feels like I haven't even eaten even right after finishing. I know that a side effect is increased appetite, but I feel like I can't even tell what's going on in my stomach. I'm having a hard time telling when I'm actually hungry or not. Has anybody else had this happen to them? If so, does it go away after you get used to the medicine. I just hate feeling like my stomach is constantly empty. I want to feel that satisfied fullness when I'm finished eating. Please, someone tell me that this will go away.

Chrissy

Iris · 02-06-2004, 08:33 AM

Hi Chrissy, I am on 25 mgm Elavil at night, and I know the feeling you describe. I know at first, I felt that way, and anything sweet is very tempting to me now, but that hungry feeling has gone. I am sure it has kicked up my appetite, so I have to watch I do not overeat. Hope this helps, I know it is working very well for me. Take care and keep us posted, hugs Iris. hi grouphug

Julie Smith · 02-08-2004, 07:06 AM

I couldn't get enough in my mouth when I was on elavil, which is so unusual for me. I mean I would eat 2-3 helpings. i usually can't even finish 1. Sooooo.........no more elavil.

I hope things work out for you. banghead

ICchell · 02-09-2004, 12:47 AM

Yep,I am also on Elavil at night50mg.,it helps me sleep.
I was on this before and went off of it b/c I was eating so much and gaining weight.
When I went off of it (For many months) I had insomnia so bad.
I just started taking it 2 weeks ago .I am sleeping good again but I am eating soooo much.
The dr.said "it is not the medicine that
makes you gain weight,it increases your appetite ,just dont eat more"
YA right! I am overeating so much!

mayray518 · 02-09-2004, 06:03 AM

The craving happens to everyone. It is even listed as a side effect. I am on 10 mg of elavil now and when I get the cravings I just dont eat. I dont particularly like the side effects of elavil but it is the ONLY thing that helps my IC.

peiti · 02-11-2004, 01:37 PM

I had been on Elavil for 3 months, just stopped taking it three days ago. I was only on 12.5mg every night. In the beginning, I didn't feel anything about the appetite change. Last month, I found myself craving for more food or sweets after having a dinner. I could feel my stomach was full, but just need to eat, eat and eat.

I admire those who can control their appetite via strong will. I don't know how you do it, for me, I just can't.

DeeOwlgrl · 02-22-2004, 12:09 PM

I took Elavil for about 3 months, and I gained 15 pounds...it's like I was starving all the time! My cravings got so bad I would pig out every evening when I got home from work. After figuring out it was the med making me gain weight, I started watching what I ate, but I was still putting on weight and felt terrible. I quit the Elavil, and the weight is slowly coming off. I also am experiencing insomnia, but hadn't linked it to Elavil until reading the posts here...just thought it was due to stress.

Hugs to all, grouphug
Dee

darlene · 02-22-2004, 12:16 PM

My internist told me elavil is given to patients with anorexia, to help them gain weight. That's the last thing I need.

Dixiefireball · 02-22-2004, 12:23 PM

when i took it it also made me hugery all the time i had a reaction to it and had to stop taking it i wish you the best of luck. you might want to talk to your doctor and see if there is something else he can try you on. grouphug

Pristine · 02-22-2004, 01:14 PM

Elavil is my wonder drug. I do crave more sweets on it but thats easily corrected with getting off my butt and doing aerobics 5 days a week. Without Elavil i know i would have either took my own life or died in a hospital ages ago. Because there was no life beyond the toilet. I would actually fall asleep on the toilet because i couldnt even make it from the bathroom to the bed before having to pee again. Getting off Elavil for me is death.

**kadi** · 02-22-2004, 02:33 PM

Hello,
For 5 months, I've been on Elavil 10mg per night (along with Ditropan 5mg) per night- because of them I can sleep 7-8 hours with only 1-2 awakenings to pee most nights. I've not had any increased appetite and my weight has remained very steady in spite of no exercise... My doctor said the weight gain is at higher doses...

(but everybody's different - I'm just posting so that a desperate, sleep-deprived patient considering Elavil won't rule it out thinking that side effect happens to every one, it didn't to me

Best wishes to all-

Marigold · 03-09-2004, 08:49 AM

I just started Elavil and it seems to have taken my desire for "nervous snacking" on sweets way down.

However BEFORE I was on Elavil I had this sensation that you talk about and it was causing me to gain weight. I take anti vertigo medication so maybe that was the cause, but one thing I started doing which I guess was not so good for my teeth but helped me lose weight has been to keep hard candy and suck on them slowly, usually can limit to one or two after a meal, when I get the sweet cravings and then I am not tempted to keep eatting foods that are higher calorie.

Actually this and eating lean cusine type dinners and tuna and lean turkey helped me to get control over my weight even while still being for the most part inactive due to vertigo problems and pain/fatigue.

Thank goodness I am not diabetic like many in my family, I would be going out of my mind.

Susie K · 03-20-2004, 07:20 AM

This was a huge problem for me, but now I am a success story. I first went on Elavil in 1997, some years before I was diagnosed with IC - and didn't really notice the food cravings, but I gradually put on weight. I went off it after a couple of years, and then my bladder problems got worse and worse until I finally went to a uro and was diagnosed. Went back on Elavil and the weight just piled on - it was awful and I hated it, but the Elavil helped me so much. I ended up at 225 pounds... I'm 5'8" so could get away with it for awhile, but in the end I couldn't stand the way I looked and felt. I switched to another tricyclic for a brief time in 2002, went on a diet, and found that I could lose weight - but my vulvodynia became unbearable! I was following a low carb diet by this time and was losing 2-3 pounds a week. The genital pain sent me back to the doctor and I went back on Elavil, but the new way of eating kept the food cravings away, and I went on to lose 60 pounds - still taking Elavil the whole time. I have kept this weight off now for a year and a half, and now I take a fairly high dose of Elavil.... so, I know that it is possible to lose weight and continue to take Elavil. I have to continue to stay away from sugar and refined carbs - but this way of eating really keeps the food cravings away. I don't ever want to be that heavy again. And... my IC is in remission - has been for a long time! So, what I'm trying to say in a rather long winded way is that there is hope!!!!!!!!!
Susie K.

kelly McC · 03-20-2004, 09:18 AM

I am like the hungry hippo ! I am trying to tell myself I am not hungry .... Dont think its working yet but I'm trying to take less portions ! I GOBBLE it down and want seconds .. I hope it gets better to manage as time goes on. I am on 25mg tabs one a night !