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  1. Until I was 30 years old I had never put an antidepressant in my mouth. I had a normal life. I studied, graduated, dated, got married, etc., etc. Since I was a child, I've always been a little anxious/worried. When I was young, I had some difficulty sleeping. I also had gastritis due to anxiety, but nothing more than that. I never resorted to medication, even though I faced many traumas (my father's death, problems with my mother that made me move in with my grandmother, etc.). However, I started taking Lexapro 20 mg from 2010 until 2017 to treat classic depression caused by a disease that no one discovered and that made me feel a lot of pain. In 2017, after many bad episodes, notably my son's diagnosis with a serious illness, Lexapro was no longer effective. I started to feel scared, depressed, with back pain and anxious. I was afraid that my eldest son would also be diagnosed with the same disease. Now I question whether the exacerbation of these symptoms was not a result of Lexapro itself. WE WILL NEVER KNOW. The fact is that the doctor - in 2017 - switched to CYMBALTA 60 mg and I reacted VERY WELL. I even got through traumatic episodes, like the sudden death of my grandmother - which for me was everything in life, as she was the one who raised me - and everything went very well. The only annoying effect was dizziness when standing up. I actually fainted a few times because of it. In one of them I even had to get stitches in my head. Anyway, everything was going very well until the episode occurred in May/2023, in which I was fired by my friend, who suggested that I had committed a crime in 2016. After what happened, I became very depressed, I didn't want to get out of bed, a feeling of injustice, difficulty waking up, etc., but I was still able to do normal activities. Early July 2023 - when I was much better and didn't feel any of the symptoms I'm experiencing now - I went back to the doctor, who decided, don't ask me why, to increase the DUAL to 90mg. About 2 weeks after starting the new dose, the monster that now plagues my life began to be born. After seeing a news story saying that a certain person had been convicted for an event that had occurred 6 years ago even though he was innocent, I began to feel afraid that the suggestion made by the monster who fired me could come true, despite there being no factual-logical support. for that. From then on, I believe that due to the increase in medication, I began to feel anguish I had never experienced before - and which I later discovered was not that bad as I would feel much worse. But, as it was something new for me, I was very scared and, after contacting the doctor, I was prescribed Pristiq 50 + 0.25 Rexulti. I argued that I didn't want to take two medications. Because of this, she told me to just take pristiq. After about a week, I felt much better and thought everything was over. A few days later, however, the symptoms of anxiety/distress and intrusive thoughts returned. Therefore, we switched to 100 mg of pristiq associated, at my suggestion, with cannabis extract. However, the medication (Green Care 79.14 mg/ml) caused me 2 panic attacks. I was traumatized by these two events and permanently stopped taking THC. For the first time in over a decade, I had to take a Xanax to calm down. However, without any change of medication, the anxiety began to return very strongly, to the point of almost preventing normal activities from being carried out. Even so, it was possible to tolerate the symptoms with GREAT DISCOMFORT. Upon returning to the doctor's office, I reported the worsening of symptoms and the Pristiq dose was increased to 150 mg, this time associated with half a Rexulti tablet (0.25). As I was very fragile and wanted to improve, I accepted the association with the antipsychotic. About 1 week later, my symptoms improved and I thought that, this time, things would go well. After 1 or 2 weeks I felt good - although a little accelerated. However, at the end of November/2023 I started to feel very anxious, accelerated and distressed, which caused a terrible cycle of thoughts. They were very uncomfortable symptoms that were slowly destroying me. I even had a kind of panic attack, but I resisted without taking Xanax. I was anxious for almost the entire day, but I refused to speak up for fear of more problems. Mysteriously, all these symptoms diminished greatly during the night, so that, as far as possible, it was possible to sleep well, despite being very distressed during the morning and afternoon. Well, after this episode I went back to the office. Seeing my condition, the doctor decided to replace the 150 mg of Pristiq with 20 mg of Lexapro with the removal of 0.25 mg of Rexulti. In the first week after withdrawing from Pristiq, it felt like something bad had come out of me. From 11/21 until 11/28 the symptoms decreased until they almost disappeared. I was quite happy. I thought I had discovered what caused all this and that there would be a happy ending soon. But there was no time to celebrate. On 11/29/23, 8 days after withdrawing from Pristiq and starting Lexapro, the anguish returned in a brutal and overwhelming way. So great and intense that the desire to kill oneself appeared as the only option to end the suffering. I had never felt this before. Therefore, it is obvious that the medication was to blame. From 11/29 onwards, my real downfall began. Despite the ups and downs, before that, I was able to go for my daily run, work and have leisure time. From then on, no more. After 11/29 I have certainly been facing the worst phase of my life. If I weren't working remotely, I would have to take time away from activities. From that date on, I completely abandoned the faith that had helped me so much in the past and my life became a distressing struggle for survival. From being a fervent Catholic with a daily rosary, I no longer had the strength to continue. It was my wedding anniversary and I couldn't go out to dinner with my wife, just to give an example. I was completely dysfunctional. Many times I couldn't even take my children to school or go to the supermarket. He was in a daily hell that seemed to have no end other than taking his own life. The days that followed were terrible. During this period, I was forced to take xanax every day (I only took it once a day, but if I could, I would take it every 3 hours), such was the anguish. I had never felt anything close to that. Not even Doistoevksi, or perhaps only he, could faithfully describe the overwhelming feelings that invaded my soul. On December 7th, due to my terrible condition, the doctor suggested that I take ketamine sessions and add 0.5 of Rexulti to the 20mg of Lexapro. From then on I had ups and downs. After the first two ketamine sessions I thought I was cured and that everything was over. I was wrong. After a few days of improvement, I began to worsen dramatically with terrible anxiety and panic, as well as intrusive thoughts. On 1/8/24, in a new consultation, the doctor decided to maintain Lexapro 20 mg and maintain 0.5 of Rexulti. That same day, I went on vacation with my family and had the worst vacation of my life. Catastrophic thoughts accompanied me at all times. I was already waking up with a LOT of fear and panic. I spent the whole day like this, with the same thought circulating and plaguing my mind. I went to the beach with atrocious difficulty. Every 5 minutes, throughout the day and afternoon, I had to relive what happened to tell myself that there was no reason to worry, that it was just the thought of a crazy person, etc., etc., all of this surrounded by a lot of fear, anguish and panic. At night, there was a little relief and, I don't know how, I was able to sleep well. But I woke up the next day in absolute panic. It was a nightmare. Upon returning from vacation, on January 22, 2024, in complete despair, I went to another doctor. He said that I had symptoms similar to those of OCD and ordered me to keep the Lexapro, remove the 0.5 of Rexulti and take Luvox 50mg for 3 days, then switch to 100. In the first three days I noticed that the intrusive thoughts decreased. Given this, he asked to maintain the 50mg, in addition to the 20mg of Lexapro. From the fourth day onwards, however, despite the thoughts having reduced, the anguish/panic increased a lot again and came in a BRUTAL and OVERWHELMING way. I had terrible episodes for about 10 days, where I really wanted to kill myself to end the pain. I woke up with a feeling so bad I couldn't describe it. I even fainted on two occasions. I couldn't carry out everyday activities, like going to the supermarket or taking my children to play soccer. I had never felt anything like this. Doctor gave Buspirone but it was like water. Therefore, he told me to take Xanax 3x a day, in addition to the other medications. Afraid of the effects of benzos, he took xanax only when the anguish was unbearable and tried to live in anguish at all times, without respite. Then, in desperation, I asked the doctor to remove the Lexapro - because I thought it was causing the symptoms. On 02/02/2024, he ordered 5 days of Lexapro 10mg and then withdrawn, he kept 50mg of Luvox and started Elavil 25 (should go to 75 mg in 5 days) and Lithium 600 (2x of 300). The day after taking 25 mg of Amytril, on February 3, 2024, I felt better. I was very happy because I didn't wake up in a panic and I didn't feel like throwing myself out the window, something that had been with me in the last few months. But my general condition continued to be poor. From then on, very slowly, I gradually improved. It wasn't great, but I stopped wanting to die. Given the improvement, the doctor asked to keep Elavil at 25 mg. I suggested that he reduce/remove Luvox but was ignored. I thought it might have effects from completely withdrawing from Lexapro but it didn't get any worse. At an appointment on 2/22/2024 with another doctor, I was in a simply reasonable state. Still very traumatized by everything I suffered and went through, but without that anguish and panic that paralyzed me and left me wanting to die (and sometimes to kill myself, which scared me a lot). As for the thoughts that I would be reported, etc., they came many times a day, but without panic or anguish. But it was much better than my previous state. I was very happy with your new doctor's line of thinking - who also understood that most of the terrible symptoms I suffered stemmed - not from my condition - but from the medications. I reminded the doctor that I was flooded with a sea of serotonin and norepinephrine (I was prescribed an incredible 150 mg of Pristiq + 0.25 of Rexulti, then 20 mg of Lexapro + 0.5 of Rexulti, and finally 20 mg of Lexapro, + 50 mg of Luvox). One of the doctors even commented that we could increase Lexapro to 40 mg!!!! My perception is that what made me improve was Lithium. After 2 weeks of taking the mineral, I had a good improvement considering my previous condition. The effect of 25 mg Elavil was also impressive, as I took it at night and, the next morning, I didn't wake up in despair. As for Luvox, I honestly think it does me more harm than good. I remind friends who read me that I am one of the many cases in which the patient presents a small complaint and is devastated a few months later by the medications. If the medication starts to cause unwanted effects, the standard medical approach is to always increase the dose, and never take out the medication. It's insane. The new doctor ordered dozens of tests, including genetic ones, and authorized the reduction of Luxox to 25 mg. I've been on the new dose for 15 days and I'm still doing it - not very well - but simply stable. He also said that our target is to remove everything ( AMEN). He also said - unlike the previous doctor - that I don't have OCD, just a persistent intrusive thought. I remember never feeling anything like that. I never had thoughts that tormented me day and night. I remember never feeling anything like that. I never had thoughts that tormented me day and night. This is yet another indication that this all happened due to the different drugs I was put on. The thoughts that I could be accused of something - despite having done nothing - appear all the time, but without the panic like before. Today, 8/3/24, I am taking low doses of three medications: 25 mg of Elavil 25 mg of Luvox 600 mg of Lithium, The first withdrawal occurred. 15 days ago I reduced Luvox from 50 to 25. Because of all this, here I am, looking for everyone's help to, little by little and very carefully - after all, I am very traumatized by what I went through and felt - remove these medications from my life and get out of this nightmare I have been going through. Thanks and sorry for the bad english.
  2. Been on and off antidepressants for the last ten years. Prescribed amiltriptalian 2012 to relief arthritis pain. CT as requested by surgeon pre operation 2013.. PTSD diagnosed by dr after surgery prescribed Dosulapin 2013. Was swapped to another antidepressant after a couple of years think it was duloxetine. CT. Cant remember year swapped to gaberpectin to help with OA!!! CTed. Eventually another antidepressant after a couple of years think it was fluroxetine?? No taper. Tried to come of but didn't understand taper diagnosed paroxetine 2019 30mg also given amiltriptalian to help with sleep again but luckily didn't use it. Been reducing current meds since 2021. Now doing ten percent taper every 4 weeks. Ups and downs!!!! use breathing teckniques, mindfullness,graditude diary,crafting , nature, essential oils, baths, books,support services such as berevement phone line, samartians, therapy of NHS for free or cheep charity counsellors but essentially do it all alone, no support from family limited support from friends
  3. Hi I hope that someone will be able to give me some kind of hope. I have been tapering from 20mg of Prozac and am now down to 4mg (for the last two months) but the side effects have been awful - mainly chronic fatigue, terror attacks, anxiety and generally feeling like I have the start or end of flu. Should I stay on the 4mg until this subsides? I was also on Venlafaxine 75mg (until about a year ago - but my GP withdrew me from this in a matter of weeks) so I'm not really sure if the symptoms are also due to this too.
  4. Hello! I have been surfing the surviving antidepressants forums for the past couple of months ever since my withdrawal symptoms began and have decided to finally make an introduction post as I have some questions and concerns. I apologize for some vague starting dates, it has been a few years and I couldn't find a record of my exact starting dates. I also please ask anyone responding to me to express some discretion in describing specificities of their own symptoms, and refrain from excessive pessimism as I am extremely anxious and prone to health anxiety! Someone could tell me my hand could hurt tomorrow, and behold, my hand will hurt tomorrow. 😄 I also may be slow to respond as I try to limit my interaction with WD research and forum reading as it makes my anxiety worse. Thank you for understanding. In 2021 I was prescribed amitriptyline to attempt remedying my chronic interstitial cystitis that has been resistant to other treatments. I was initially put on 10mg, then after a few months bumped up to 25mg to see if it would make a larger difference. Unfortunately it did little to remedy my cystitis symptoms (yay.) After several more months on that dosage, I asked to try 30mg to see if it would help more (it did not, unfortunately.) In 2022 my GP suggested switching to nortriptyline to see if it would make a bigger difference for my pain. I agreed and did a direct switch from 30mg amitriptyline to 25mg nortriptyline (no crossfading in between them, just a cold one day switch.) I did not know the potential risks of such a switch, and my doctor ensured it was safe since nortriptyline is metabolized out of amitriptyline. I do not recall experiencing any WD symptoms from this switch, but I wasn't exactly looking for any either. Fast forward to late 2023, I start having some anxiety issues (well they've been going on for a while, but I went to doctors for it around this time,) and after a run in with a lack luster psychiatrist who encouraged me to start a benzo and a new antidepressant on top of the nortriptyline without any care for my concerns against long term benzo use I got quite spooked out by psychiatric medication and wanted to get as far away from it all as possible. I did not take the medication he prescribed me, I only took 3 days of 0.5mg clonazepam that gave me intense side effects (including making my anxiety leagues worse for the duration I was taking it) that I stopped CT after 3 days (I was told this was ok by the pharmacy.) After a particularly intense googling session on all the side effects of benzos and antidepressants (with PSSD becoming my new biggest fear) I became quite unsettled with my already taking nortriptyline, and decided to brave tapering to try and prove to my anxiety that everything will be ok (the irony 😅). I was incredibly nervous to start, and for the entire month leading up to it I was in deep deep anxiety about all the ways it could go wrong, and was still deeply anxious as I was going through the taper. Id like to note, the entire time I was on nortriptyline I did not experience any adverse effects, aside perhaps aggravating my anxiety as it feels like my anxiety getting worse corresponds closely with switching to nortriptyline (not sure if that is possible though!) So at the start of 2024 January 4th, I began my taper with advice from my GP and a pharmacist to alternate doses between 25mg and 10mg. I had a whole schedule written out where I would start out with alternating 25/10 every other day, then switching to 25/10/10 the next week, and so on and so forth for about a month until I would have hypothetically been alternating between 10 and 0. At the time I had no idea that this is not recommended! Right at the start of the 2nd week (25/10/10) one hour after taking 10mg for the 2nd subsequent day in a row for the first time, I began experiencing vaginal coldness and burning sensations. I started freaking out and barely slept, I ended up taking another 10mg that day a few hours later (so a total of 20mg) out of panic thinking it was the start of PSSD (my aforementioned biggest fear.) Previously, my pharmacist instructed me to return to the 25/10 schedule should I get any distressing symptoms, so that's what I did, counting the 20mg I took that day as "25." The following morning, after advising with my mother, I began to suspect perhaps its not withdrawal, but the worlds worst timed yeast infection 😄, and begun treating it as such with topical creams. After a few days the burning seemed to subside so I assumed I was correct, and continued my 25/10/10 taper. However with the burning receding, instead came electrical zaps, tingles, and smaller burning sensations. So then I started doing more googling, found surviving antidepressants, and decided to try reinstating at 20mg until things calmed down. After I reinstated I didn't feel a particular improvement in symptoms. There was a change that for a few days it felt like specific parts of my pelvic area would "buzz" chronically all day. But then it went away and it returned to more sporadic tingles and zaps. Presently I am still at 20mg going strong! Since then I continue to have weird electric jolts, body zaps, tingles, tickles, etc. in various parts of my body. While primarily focused in the genital/thigh area, it is also common in my heels/feet, and I have felt it in my thumbs, scalp, and sometimes sensations of intense pressure in my face/cheek. I still occasionally get vaginal burning as well. There is no actual numbness, or sexual dysfunction, I can still feel everything, it just tingles. It is not painful, or too uncomfortable (with a few days of exceptions where it was at its worst.) But it is very very nerve wracking. It comes and goes, it is not constant, though some sensations may last for a few days. It does feel like it is slowly reducing over time, and despite my worst fears I have full faith it will one day go away. It gets noticeably worse whenever I am nervous and freaking out, or if I sit and/or lie down (for pelvic/feet.) I have also experienced some increased tinnitus in one ear about a month into the withdrawal, but tinnitus has been a life long problem and that ear has been finicky way before I started to taper so Im not quick to blame it on the withdrawal. 😅 I am also not sure if my extreme anxiety these days can be credited to the withdrawal, since I was unfortunately in a pretty similar state of mind prior to tapering. I have since spoken with my GP, and my GP's opinion was that it is not withdrawal and entirely psychosomatic since Ive been in a state of chronic high anxiety for nearly a year and was expecting my taper to go wrong in every way possible. However I have been referred to a neurologist and a new psychiatrist anyway. The new psychiatrist I saw is actually quite incredible, and believes what is happening to be withdrawal related. The psychiatrist is even familiar with the 10% taper, and in my circumstances, even recommended I taper by 5% if/when I decide to continue. I have also since started counseling to help reduce my high levels of anxiety, so hopefully with all these things combined I am well on my way to recovery, however difficult it may feel now. To conclude this terribly long introduction post. I am now left with some questions on how to proceed forward. First question being about compounded pills, my psychiatrist recommended compounding doses at a pharmacy for future tapering, but also said I could manually weigh them. I recall seeing some posts saying compounded pills can be quite variable in weight and thus they concluded they are unreliable for a taper. Is this true? My understanding is that even the non-compounded pills tend to vary in weight, but this doesn't seem to have many negative repercussions. I would prefer to compound since it is much more convenient, and manually calculating doses would make me nervous. But if it is unreliable I would rethink this stance. Second question I'll admit is less of a question, and bit more in the realm of seeking reassurance. But please bear with me. Should tapering correctly and slowly (5-10% decreases) reduce my chances of getting PSSD? I have had no sexual dysfunction from these pills, yet PSSD is my biggest fear and I have read plenty of worst case scenarios on the internet of people being stuck with no emotions for years on end. My understanding is that PSSD comes with two camps, one as a result of adverse reaction from being on the medication (SD while still on the drug) that then doesn't go away after taper. Then the other as a symptom of withdrawal. It seems like adverse reaction PSSD seems to be the more common case with terrible long term cases, whereas withdrawal seems to be more forgiving and more likely to go away with time. Is this assumption correct? Have you guys seen cases of PSSD/anhedonia emerging after conservative 10% tapers? I understand there are no guarantees with tapering, but I am hoping to find something to latch onto to to put my mind at ease. Thank you for taking the time to read my post! I wish us all to have smoother journeys going forward.
  5. Original full topic title before condensing: coming off low-dose Amitriptyline after 8 years, the under-informed way - deeply awful.... not sure what to do now... Hello, I came across this forum thankfully, after looking for info and advice/support for withdrawal from Ami. The rough timeline and history etc are in the signature. It is 4 weeks since my last dose of Ami. I was under-informed by the GP when I first went on it 8 tears ago. He told me something like "it's no big deal, you're on such a low dose (10mg or on occasion 20mg per night for anxiety induced insomnia after a triggered latent trauma episode), you can take it as needed - no worries"...... NO mention of having to stick to a regular every day dose, or the horrific withdrawal effects, or tapering, or long term effects etc... nothing. So, to try to cut a long story as short as I can, without compromising context, here goes: Please use the signature timeline to get the picture of how things have passed. I came off Ami "unconsciously" and only really clocked it when I suddenly had a **** yourself horrendous headache, and a "wave of despair" and "rotten-ness" experience one day, and because I kind of recognised the headache, in particular, as feeling somewhat "chemical" in nature, I thought about it, and then realised that I had not had any Ami in about a week. I had been cutting back on the Ami since end of Dec 2021 into Jan and Feb 2022, as I was concerned about a few "low blood pressure/hypo" type experiences I had been having, and wondered if they may be caused by the Ami. I still don;t know whether this was the case or not, but regardless, I started to cut back on Ami, and miss doses here and there, sometimes taking herbal sleep aids to help with sleep.... I was not paying too much attention to what I was doing with the Ami, as I had the story that it was "no big deal" as mentioned above, from the GP. Of course, I realise now, after having done some research after the event, that this was a disaster waiting to happen. I had "accidentally" gone cold turkey, and also spent 2 months on some kind of hap-hazard detox/retox behaviour. I had been suffering from constant diarrhoea for most of Jan Feb 2022, but put this down to a prolonged bout of IBS, which is something I have had, on and off over the years anyway. Notably though, previously I had always had IBS on the constipation side, rather than the other side. Once I realised that it was likely the Ami, I reinstated at half doses (5mg) straight away, and sure enough the "chemical" savage headache reduced in intensity the next day, by about 60%. I continued like this for about a week. The following week, I reduced the dose to about 2.5mg every other night for about a week. Then I took my last dose on March 5th. Obviously I know now that this was way too quick a taper. I am having a deeply awful experience with severe symptoms. The headaches have been getting a little better over this last month, but are still there daily. I have high anixiety and my guts are absolutely trashed. I have had random weird bruising on my arms, not caused by impacts. These have been fading in the last 2 weeks though. Chronic dry skin and rash on the tops of the shoulders and upper back, maddening itching all over. Chronic fatigue, chest tightness, dry mouth, muscle aches and pains, tingling sensations, restless legs at night sometimes, insomnia, early morning wakefulness, nausea, feeling faint, coughing in the morning, runny nose all day. I'm listing these for completeness, not for a sympathy vote! Just so we have the details and scope. I am trying a few supplements: Zinc NAC and Milk Thistle Activated charcoal Digestive enzymes at mealtimes, plus peppermint oil capsules And a few days ago, I started L-tryptophan 500-750mg with valerian root, at night - don't know whether this is making things worse on the physical side, and the anxiety.... So, I have, at least, a couple of questions please? The pharma companies state "up to 3 weeks" for the withdrawal process to be over? (not that I trust big pharma one bit of course), but it appears lots of us are experiencing effects way beyond 3 weeks? What is the explanation for this discrepancy, and what is a more realistic timeframe for my case? I read about reinstatement, but have not done this, as I was already at 4 weeks with no Ami, once I began educating myself about it. I am reticent to go back on the drugs at this stage, but at the same time, I can;t see myself being able to cope with this level of ill health for weeks more on end..... Should I be considering re-instatement, given what is said about it being "too late" to try this, in that it may not work or even make things worse? I would say the most distressing and intolerable symptoms I am dealing with right now are the body pains/tension/anxiety, and the totally screwed digestion - I have a lot of intense pain in my guts, and this affects sleep also. i dread mealtimes, as I just don;t know whether, in an hour's time I'm going to be totally screwed and in pain. Any advice or comments would be truly appreciated. Thank you so much for listening, Kev
  6. Original topic title: Imperialtin Dosage 10g From 2019 June until 2022 June only I am a 43-year-old woman who has been treated with amitriptyline from June 2019 to 2022 for migraines. After that my life turned upside down Digestive disorder, sporadic aches in the arms and legs also I quit my job, I can no longer stop because of the dizziness I feel in my head and feeling weak, sometimes I feel like I'm in another world, heaviness in the tongue Forgetting slurred speech I don't know what to do? I am in a difficult condition. I do not want to go back to treatment. I have gone through 4 months without it completely, but I miss myself, my life, and my relationship with my wife. It has become problems because he cannot believe that what I am ordering is withdrawal.
  7. I’m at my wit’s end here. Earlier in 2023 I was on 20mg of Citalopram after having been on them (with a brief change to Sertraline in 2020 after upping Cit to 40mg in 2019, if I remember correctly) since 2017. I was given them alongside 20mg Omeprazole for suspected anxiety-induced gastritis, which still hasn’t been confirmed. They helped me cope well enough, except for the dip that caused me to change to Sertraline. Sertraline wasn’t as effective and seemed to give me IBS. In January this year I was given 10mg Amitryptyline for painful IBS symptoms. it made me feel confused and limited my cognition and concentration, and didn’t seem to help my pain either. Meanwhile, I had decided to go off antidepressants altogether as I have now been in therapy for three years and wanted to explore my emotions properly in a safe space that I didn’t have when I started. The antidepressants had made exploring my emotions very difficult and I was under the impression that coming off would give me the space to move forward. I was instructed to taper off over three months, decreasing to 10mg, then alternating between 10 and 0 before dropping altogether. After the last decrease, I started to feel odd, but decided to persevere, not knowing any better. My appetite started to decrease and my health anxiety was increased. I thought I had breast cancer and in the first week off Citalopram entirely, I was in a massive depressive state convinced that I was dying. It gradually subsided as everything was fine health wise, so I again decided to persevere as I was desperate to feel like myself again and move forward, having felt stuck for years. I now realise that I should have reinstated at 10mg. I thought I was getting on okay, but very lethargic and my appetite was slowly decreasing, which I didn’t quite notice. Citalopram had made me voracious and almost overweight before I got that under control, so I was pleased to lose that. I was able to maintain my weight for a month or so, and thought that I was just going through the motions and must be getting better. My mood was a bit off, but there were positives coming up such as old memories and generally feeling more like myself. But I was starting to have brand new depressive thoughts creeping in, and suicidal ideations, which have never happened for me. Making my mood worse was the mental impairment caused by the Amitriptyline. I can’t work much at the best of times and do very minimal freelance work at home, and this was just making it worse, so I was desperate to get off. I had told the doctor about all of my symptoms (so so many, including no appetite, weight loss, heavy heartbeat, fatigue, weakness) and had a clear blood test come back, with a note of low iron that was just left at that. I had mentioned wanting to come off Ami and doctor told me to do it over a week, taking a pill every other day. I had a feeling this was a bad idea, but I was desperate and trusted that the doctors must know what they’re doing. I could get through the initial symptoms, but then I had another huge depressive episode, maybe even psychotic, where I was doubting my own mind and unsure of what to trust, my anxiety was huge and I had to drop everything I was doing because everything made me too afraid. I had real trouble eating after this, not wanting to eat much other than carbs and fridge snacks. This regressed into being unable to eat anything without sobbing because it made me too anxious. I am still in this place. I have continued to lose weight because I simply cannot eat enough. I have had a lump in my throat (apparent globus) since July or so, which makes swallowing extra sensitive now. I’m experiencing an intense internal electricity panic sensation, and tremors, which is increased when I try to eat, hence the sobbing. I got desperate last week and asked the doctor to increase back to 10mg Citalopram because of how hungry it had made me in the past. Instead, I now just have impossible insomnia and flare up of my gastro issues, nausea, excessive burping, early fullness, catastrophic thoughts, and complete food aversion. My sense of taste has also changed, it’s oversensitive and makes eating so so difficult. I keep descending into moments of fear that I will keep wasting away and end up in hospital and inevitably be put on more medications. I’m trying to eat more, and realise that I probably got my stomach used to too little food, but it’s incredibly tough and I’m having to rely on high calorie foods and Complan. The doctor had initially wanted to give me Mirtazipan for my appetite but I really didn’t want to be on a sedative after how Ami made me feel on it. I’m at a complete loss of what to do, I realise that my central nervous system is in complete shock and I’m so scared that this has done some real permanent damage. I’ve never felt so hopeless in my life, how am I supposed to get to sleep? I just lay awake buzzing with electricity. On the off chance i get an hour or so, I jolt back awake. Some moments I feel like I can handle this and things will slowly get better but that's quickly replaced by panic. If anyone has any advice or kind words, please please leave a comment.
  8. Hi everyone, I’m a 40 year old male at the moment coping with nasty issues after the use of one tramadol tablet half January this year. let me first start where my problems with psymeds started. In the year 2016 i got prescribed Amitriptyline for neuropathic pain in a 10mg dose in the upcoming years to 2019 the dose was upped to 30mg per day. In 2019 i noticed the amitriptyline did not do anything for me anymore except that it made me sleep well. In 2019 i tapered amitriptyline based on a schedule one week 30mg next week 20mg and last week 10mg and 2 weeks after 10mg with skip days as suggested by my GP. This worked but i noticed erectile disfunction after stopping. Later i found out that this could be pssd. since the disfunction was mild and i’m in a stable relation with my partner it wasnt a real problem. the disfunction got better in the upcoming years and even had a newborn son in the meantime. until last january 24 where everything changed for me, i used one tablet of tramadol and i woke up with numb genitals the next day, in the upcoming 2 weeks i got emotionally numb, severe ED, decreased sense of touch on my skin, anhedonia, insomina, waking up and cannot sleep anymore, smell and taste got bad and my vision is not clear. I went for help at my GP who says im depressed, i prescribed me quatepine for sleep and after 3 days taking this i got suicidal ideations, so i stopped it. But the suicidal ideations did not go away. GP still says depression, and prescribes me Amitriptyline in a low dose for sleep, after a few days i feel my genitals getting number again so in 2 weeks i stopped the amitriptyline again from 40mg to 30mg to 20mg to 10mg and the stopped in one week. my GP now sent me to a psychiatrist who at the moment put me on olanzapine 5mg. my sleep is now better and suicidial ideations are in the background. ( in day time i use 3 * 10mg oxazepam to keep calm) now for upcoming week i have a new appointement again with the psych to talk about new antidepressant to go on. im not sure what to do because i think it is pssd or some sort of withdrawal im coping with. gp and psych says depression. at the moment i cant do my job or look after my family because of all this. does anybody have some advice in my situation? Could a new Antidepressant give some relieve of the symptoms im experiencing and not make them worse?
  9. Hi i am new here so let me introduce myself and give you the history of why i have become member. I originally got tinnitus about 18 months ago from noise. I was a sound engineer when younger so my past had caught me up. I went and had all tests and was told nothing could be done. I started to get headaches and siatic pain down left side which seem to come on at same time thetinntus did. The doctors prescrided me 20mg of amitriptyline to be taken at night to help prevent migraines and help with sleep. I took it for about 11months but for last couple months i started feeling anxious, paranoid and suicidal in waves. I attended to A&E department who said that only way to tell if the symptoms were side effects of drug was to come off them and that i would have see GP. I went see the GP who didn' t believe the drugs were causing issues and that i had aggitated depression and needed to take different anti-depressent and stop the amitriptyline. I wasnt feeling well and did what GP had said and stoped the amitriptyline with no taper and started citrolpam. I took citrolpam for 4 days but just felt out of it so i stopped it. I didn't sleep for 14 days and had massive waves of syptoms. Went back doctors and he said i was ill like he had said and looked anxious. Tryed get him understand it was withdrawl syptoms. Doctor told me i needed to go back on amitriptyline but 50mg this time. I questioned the dose increase but as i wasn't feeling mentally or physically well i got tablets. I reinstated back onto the amitriptyline but only took 25mg for first week. The withdrawl symtems were still there but slowing a little. Decided to take the 50mg as doctor said as i really didnt know what i was doing by then. Made feel even worse than i was feeling. Friends told me to go back to GP but get second opinon from different doctor. Changed doctor and explained i was in withdrawl and i wanted to come off amitriptyline due side effects. She listened but still really didn't want say it was in withdrawl altho see did agree if i felt i wasnt depressed i should drop back to the 25mg as only been on 50mg for few days. I have had to take 9 weeks off work and am taking 25mg amitriptyline hoping i will stabilise to some kinda human being. At first i was having the windows and waves were as last few weeks i feel like the windows are getting smaller and waves bigger. I saw the mental health team who again avoided the whole withdrawl thing and tryed blame me. I advised her i want get off the drugs and after reading many forums realise i need to do a very slow taper as i am super sensative. I come here as many do in hope of some feeling like i will be able to come off the amitriptyline at some point and regain the person that i feel i have lost.
  10. Hi, I took Mirtazapine 15mg for 2 weeks and stopped due to severe side effects. I tried Amitriptyline 20mg, i took it for about 3 weeks but it started making me very dizzy so i stopped. Started Mirtazapine 7.5mg again as it was helping me initially for sleep, but it did not help as before so i stopped it again after 2 weeks. After all this, i came to know that these medications should be wean off or taper gradually. None of the Dr's i saw educate me about it. now i am 3 months off these medications, i get anxiety, restlessness in waves, my sleep is very broken but since last 2 weeks i feel very tired and fatigue even without doing anything. will this pass? is it the part of recovery process? Is there anything i can do about it? Any reccomendations?
  11. I've successfully tapered off other medications in the past, but am really struggling with this one. I was on 25 mg Amitriptyline since 2015. Last year, I tried tapering off and ended up back on, but gratefully, only at 12.5. I was originally put on this to help with IBS-C pain and found it helped my migraines as well. I'm 64 and am seeing cognitive issues and complete constipation, both of which are well-documented as side effects and why seniors should not be on this drug. So I really want to see how I do off it. Last week, I went down to 10 mg (I have those pills as well). But I'm really feeling withdrawal effects. The problem is that I'm not sure Amitriptyline HCL is stable in water. Here's what I read: http://www.pharminfotech.co.nz/manual/Formulation/mixtures/amitriptyline.html Indeed, as the article states, the liquid was really bitter and had a weird localized effect when I tried to taper this way last year. And I can't cut the pills down to make small enough doses because the pill is already tiny. The best I can do is cut the 10 mg into four (2.5 mg), but from what I'm reading, that is too big of a jump. My doctor is useless about these things. He says the drug can't cause these problems because of the low dose and that I can just stop taking it at this point because the dose is so low I won't have withdrawal. I'd appreciate any suggestions on what I can do to taper under these circumstances. Thanks, Susan
  12. Hi, I am new here, I was put on klonopin for 6 months then I had to taper because I developed a tolerance to it. Accidentally did a rapid taper off of it with out realizing how fast and dangerous the taper was. I am suffering from a lot of systems from getting off of klonopin. I am 4 months out since my last dose of klonopin. As soon as I got off of my doc put me on Amitriptyline for sleep. I don’t why I excepted Amitriptyline I wasn’t thinking straight at the time. I just need to now if it is ok to be on a sedative like Amitriptyline while trying to heal your CNS from a benzo like klonopin? I know that Amitriptyline has a long list of symptoms just like klonopin. And I am getting scared that the symptoms from Amitriptyline might be intertwining with the withdrawal symptoms from klonopin.
  13. Excuse me if I'm being vague / chaotic, it's too hard to focus or think about anything, also I apologize for not researching much on the site, it takes a lot of effort just to type this and I'm too desperate, however I'll take as much as time as needed to follow through any reply / references I get, thanks in advance. It's been years and I didn't know the cause was antidepressants, I only remember a few names (Clonszipam, Fluxtonin[I think], Seroxat, Alprazolam..) I've been through 10 different doctors and each gave me a different pack of 4 meds, I don't remember many of the names since it was more than 4 years ago and I spent 3-6 months on each pack, I just remember suffering from 24/7 seizure symptoms, endless fear, and stomach complications, they're still with me till now, calmed down a little after 3 years of fighting, but I made a mistake an started Amitriptyline, and I'm getting complications each time I try to lower the dose (it's only 10 mg, and I get seizures whenever I go off it for half a day) Somehow my migraine med (Zomitriptan) eases most of the symptoms, doctors keep brushing off my pain saying I'm fine. Basically it was: 3 years of chaotic 4 pack prescriptions by 10 different doctors >> cold turkey withdrawal (because they refused to tell me how to go off the meds and I screwed up) >> withdrawal effects for 3 years, slight recovery after the long fight >> getting stuck with 10 MG Amitriptyline (reduced to 5 now) and getting seizures if I go off I'll add in any details when I remember them, My symptoms before Amytriptyline were: - Nausea (too heavy) - chronic fatigue (too heavy, hardly can stand up) - dizziness, lack of coordination, - full time panic - twitching in muscles, uncontrollable - mouth shivers like it's cold and it becomes hard to talk or stop it - seizures trigger after eating, along with psychological complications like extreme fear, anxiety and loss of coordination, I still have no idea why this happens, and it mostly happens if the food is dense / oily (even drinks trigger that) - too hard to think, focus or even read messages - full time fear - too hard to identify my pain type, source or symptoms (including the ones I mentioned, took me months to detect them) - unidentifiable heavy pain I hardly managed to overcome the seizures before I started Amytriptyline, but they were back as soon as I tried to withdraw Symptoms on Amitriptyline : same except: - extreme fatigue - sickness (as much as Sinus / Vertigo, I mistook it for them at the beginning, I'm using their med to relieve the symptoms - increased fogginess / separation from reality - loss of taste, and increased craving for all sorts of organic / liquid materials (including the most disgusting ones, I can't distinguish in terms of feeling) - decreased energy from the already low levels On Amytriptyline withdrawal : - Seizures, mild to heavy I guess - Suicidal behavior on extreme seizures, because I lose all awareness / emotions and only pain remains, feels like I'll only live pain for the rest of my life A few notes: - The symptoms I mentioned are based on my own research and I could be describing them wrong, for example I though I my "seizures" were simply "panic attacks" until I checked how panic attacks are and checked the first search result of "seizures" in Google, I still don't know enough about seizure types but I know that it's more than a panic / fear, you're welcome to ask me or correct me about any symptoms and / or their meaning - Doctors never told me any diagnosis, they simply threw me meds after a short interview, I was 18-ish back then and didn't know the risks of what they were doing, you're welcome to ask me about that part too since I'm not in the best country to get diagnosed
  14. Hello everyone! I apologize this will be long but unfortunately doctors played me on a hamster wheel. I now realized how bad I affected my CNS because of writing out a timelines of everything I took. Summer of 2021 I went into depression and actually did not know what was happening to me. Extremely fatigue, could not sleep, could not eat, nothing made me happy, complete anhedonia. I was so scared because of what was happening to me...then came in anxiety when my neurologist friend says I should start AD meds. I was loosing it....so after 2 months of pure agony here it goes: July 2021 - started prozac 20mg, romeron 30mg and ativan 1mg September 2021 - started going down on prozac as I got to 50mg and was having horrible side effects (headache, dizziness, etc.) October 2021 – switched to Zoloft 50mg and added Lyrica 75 with the to drop the Ativan. was taking Romeron on and off, was able to get off it easily. January 2022 – still taking Ativan and Lyrica also, tapering down Zoloft as I got to 125mg and was again feeling horrible. Headaches, zombie, numb no feelings. Went down according to my dr from 125 to 75mg and felt horrible, the dr wanted to put me on Cymbalta. I decided to try to get off meds totally. January-end of March 2022 – by the end of March I was done tapering Zoloft, I had no actual taper rules because I did not inform myself anywhere and I did not tell my dr either. I was just cutting small pieces of the tablet off. The whole experience was horrible, I had bad anxiety, nausea, fuzzy head type of feeling, vertigo, emotional numbness, anhedonia – I was just there and felt horrible physically too. April 2022 – After 3 weeks totally off Zoloft I am back at new psychiatrist and got back on Prozac 20 to take me out of withdrawal. Bad mistake. All this time I was still taking Ativan and Lyrica. May 2022 – Major headaches started again, I got switched directly from Prozac to Cymbalta 30 and from Ativan 1mg to Valium (10mg). June 2022 – upped Cymbalta from 30 to 60 being a therapeutic dose. This increase totally kicked my a$$. July 2022– my dr. started tapering my benzo, she really wanted me off (so did I!!!) She insists I do it like she says and not go to “forums I keep reading”. I told her about Ashton Manual and my Cymbalta hurts worse group and she was not happy. So, I said ok, lets do it like her and started tapering Valium by a quarter every 7 days 😕 August 2022 – by the time I got to the last quarter (2.5mg) of Valium I was a mess: anxiety, complete fatigue I could barely do anything, my whole body hurt, blurry vision, wanted to sleep and lay down all day. I lasted like this 10 days and could not do it anymore. I have 2 small children to look after. Dr says to go back to Valium 10mg and increase Cymbalta to 90 saying 60 is not enough to get me off of valium….. October 2022 – headaches start here and there. I was feeling okish other than headaches. December 2022 – by Christmas time I was so desperate to do something, I was having day and night pressure type headaches that did not go away with any meds for the past 5-6 weeks nonstop, from the minute I opened my eyes. December 2022 – dr. switches me from Cymbalta 90 straight to Effexor 75 without any tapering. I was still on 10mg Valium and 225 Lyrica by now. January – March 2023 – the switch to Effexor was bad: constant faint like feeling, stiff neck and painful neck and skull/head and major anxiety. Got increased to Effexor 112 and the anxiety was much better. Within 14 days headaches started again, I was terrified. April 2023 – had headaches most of the time from January to April when I suggested my dr to back to Cymbalta 60 when I was fine and had no headaches. She agrees and has me direct switch from Effexor to Cymbalta 60mg. The switch was horrendous: bad migraines for days, flu like feeling for days, tired, anxiety and continuing headaches. May 2023 – my doctor makes the wonderful decision of trying to get me off antidepressants to see how my natural state is and figure out this headache mystery. She says go from 60 to 30 cymbalta for 2 weeks and increase lyrica to 300 and then zero Cymbalta and 375 lyrica and 1mg Ativan again (instead of Valium). OMG OMG OMG. I lasted 2 weeks off Cymbalta while I was having mild anxiety and what bothered me most was very intense pain, burning, pins and needles at the base of my skull and going up my skull in the back of my head like someone just hit me with a baseball bat. I called my dr crying and she says to start Cymbalta 30 again and see what happens. I was a little better, the pain was better but still there. I find the Cymbalta hurts worse facebook group and post my story there also. They advised me to go up on Cymbalta (try weighing beads if I can and take less then 60 or just take straight 60). June 2023 – I increased to Cymbalta 50, the first week was great I had such pain relief and I was getting excited I am finally a bit better after everything I have been through. The increase in Cymbalta was rough on my body again, I was having BAD headaches daily, the neck pain returned. I go to the dr again and she wants to switch me to amitriptyline. She says go down to Cymbalta 30 and start ami 12.5 for 10 days then drop Cymbalta to zero and go up to 25 ami. I went down AGAINNN to Cymbalta 30 and added 12.5 ami on June 10th 2023 and have been there since then. I did not go CT on Cymbalta again, I am honestly scared to do any other change. I still take 1mg Ativan and 225 Lyrica. So 4 drugs total…..I am 35 and have 2 kids and psych meds totally ruined me so far. What I have now is a different symptom every week (that s about how long it lasts untill a new one comes or they keep rotating). They are probably still withdrawal symptoms, that is my guess: -neck and head pain/headaches - I am almost sure cymbalta is also causing my headaches -nausea -anxiety especially in the afternoon but not too bad -anhedonia - I could care less that it is friday, monday, vacation or I am at the office. I have not felt happiness, excitement, joy or even sadness in a longgg time. -lack of motivation or excitement to do anything. I was a very active person that loved to do things/go places. What I take now (nothing changed to the AD since June 10th): -0.5 ativan in the AM -75 lyrica at noon -30 cymbalta at 5pm -0.5 ativan afternoon or whenever I feel it necessary (it helps most with the neck pain) -225 lyrica and 12.5 ami before bed usually around 8.30 pm Pls help! where do I start tapering these 4 drugs? I am familiar with the scale method, the bead method for cymbalta. Do I have to wait until completely stable after the cymbalta dose change in june? Tthank you so much. You are honestly my only hope that one day I will be free from all of this. I have been to multiple drugs and they all have no clue....I have been to 2 of the top doctors in Bucharest Romania and I felt I knew more... -
  15. I started taking MMJ two years ago to help “manage” my anxiety so I could come off of 50 mg of Amitriptyline and .50 of Klonopin. My doctor was completely on board with this as he said it’s “natural” and really wanted me off Klonopin. This past February I ended up accidentally overdosing on MMJ and started to hallucinate. I was told my metabolism must have changed and that I would have to readjust the dose. Even in my state of mind I knew that was a horrible idea and CT’ed the MMJ. I had NO idea what I was doing or what was in store for me. I was put on 2 mg of Abilify and was told that it would help “speed the withdrawal process.” I never even decreased the Amitriptyline or Klonopin the entire time I took the MMJ. I was told after a month to just stop the Abilify. I can’t even attempt to describe the terror I felt the next two months. I had de realization, depersonalization, disordered thinking, panic attacks, it goes on and on. I didn’t sleep AT ALL the first month and then the second month I was getting 1-2 hours a night. I didn’t even know that it was physically possible to go that long without sleep. I developed paradoxical insomnia as well as a fear of insomnia. I stopped the Ability after one month. I decided by the third month I would taper the Amitriptyline since I initially took it for sleep and it wasn’t helping. Did I mention I had NO idea what I was doing? I went from 50mg to 6mg in two months. I honestly was about to throw in the towel at this point and go on an antidepressant but then found this site. I knew at this point I was in PAWS from MMJ but didn’t realize cutting the Amitriptyline this fast was a contributing factor. I thought that this was my “mental illness” coming back. I increased back to 10 mg in July and am holding steady. I am currently on 10 mg Amitriptyline and .50 mg Klonopin. Seven months later I still have a lot of issues. More importantly I have a lot of hope. I worked with a wonderful hypnotist and am at the point where I don’t worry about sleep. I eat well and exercise every day. I practice gratitude and am learning to live in the moment. I still wake up every 1-2 hours a night; most nights I fall back asleep and I am grateful for that. I’m learning to observe my thoughts and use my anxiety and fear as guides. I am already the strongest person I know. I’m only starting my journey but wanted to share early hope for those that may be struggling with acceptance. I also want to thank everyone on this site, you have been a part of my journey.
  16. Crochetchica

    Introduction

    Hi, I’m 70 and have had depression and anxiety on and off for most of my life. I weaned myself off Valium in my thirties successfully. I was prescribed Citalapram 20mg 15 years ago and it works for me. In the past twelve months my mobility has not been good and I have struggled badly with depression as I have the motivation but my body says “no”. My family had to intervene to get me some help and I was prescribed Mirtazapine which helped me through a bad patch. I now would like to come off Mirtazapine as I feel tired all the time. My doctor is aware of this and told me to do it gradually, which is sensible. I’ve been checked for everything to explain my tiredness and everything is fine, so my next step is to look at the meds I take. Thank you for reading this and any advice on coming off the Mirtazapine would be gratefully received.
  17. Hello I'm 23 male, started amitriptyline 20mg in Jan 2022, without prescription (worst mistake I've ever done) in hopes that it could help with my chronic hyperventilation syndrome (it's much better now thanks to buteyko exercises) The med didn't affect me in any capacity for a year, no sedation, sleepiness, no side effects either. Suddenly though, December 2022 I got some adverse reactions (so I had to start tapering) out of the blue that lasted till early February 2023, finally felt better for a while with the decreased dosage, but now the reactions came back full force again all of a sudden (adverse reactions: constant dizziness, weakness, pre fainting, unable to focus 100% my vision, feels like hypotension, can't walk or stand more than a few steps. The first time I've got these side effects I went to do blood test, cardiologist, and general doctor, they all said that I seem healthy from the tests results) So I don't know what to do, I'm afraid of tapering faster and getting withdrawal, but my side effects while on this drug are debilitating too. I've tapered by -10% of last dose on December 22, hold for 1 month, -10% January 23, hold 1 month, -10% February and want to try to taper now every 3 weeks, in hopes that I can eventually taper every 2 weeks. But I think I'll have to go even faster, so I don't know what to do. Thanks for your time. (buteyko as far as I know can lower blood pressure and make me feel all these symptoms even more?)
  18. SleepPls009 - Luvox Withdrawal, Insomnia, and Heart Problems (Oh my!) Hi All, It’s great to meet you! Though I wish it were under better circumstances. I’m looking for advice around Luvox reinstatement and doctors who deal with withdrawal; more information is at the bottom of the post. I thank you in advance for your help! I am seven months off of Luvox after having taken it for roughly 20 years. After years of experiencing persistent fatigue, muscle twitches, and some increasing insomnia, I decided to go off Luvox in March to see if that helped my symptoms. Go figure, it made everything ten times worse! I was on 200mg daily in winter ‘21, went down to 100mg without incident at the end of the year. Then in March ‘22 I began tapering little by little until I hit zero on April 12 (note: I was aware that stopping cold turkey was a bad idea, but I was unfamiliar with the concept of protracted withdrawal). Little by little I kept waking up earlier and earlier until I could barely sleep, and depression symptoms kicked in hard. My PCP started me on Prozac in mid-May to treat what she thought was underlying, emergent depression, and after a week I reacted so badly to it that I went to the hospital (couldn’t sleep for days, got a fever, upset stomach, shaking uncontrollably). I proceeded to try a number of different meds with my psychiatrist, but every antidepressant would either keep me awake for days, and every sleep med would lose effectiveness fairly quickly. I eventually got the idea that I might still be withdrawing from Luvox, so we decided to do a med washout to see what would happen. I survived on melatonin at the time, which was abnormally effective at low doses, and kept putting off going back on Luvox, somewhat out of stubbornness, since I felt it would be a “waste” to go back on after all that effort if I could make it to the other end of withdrawal. Eventually (about mid-late August), my brain flipped a switch, and the deep depression spontaneously went away. At the same time, my insomnia problem switched from staying asleep to falling asleep (kind of like what I occasionally had before stopping Luvox but much worse). That’s when medicine reactions became weird. I’d taken ambien before a number of times (roughly 10, 11 in total?) before August. I tended to avoid it because it made the depression a lot worse. I tried it again when the depression went away, and started having strange heart palpitations. One day after I took ambien, I went to the hospital for chest squeezing, but they found nothing. Thinking I was being paranoid, I tried it again a few weeks later and started to have what felt like a full-on heart attack. After working with a cardiologist for a number of months, it seems that ambien was causing vasospasm, or prinzmetal’s angina. A few other meds started causing this, too: Lunesta (I let a doctor convince me it was chemically different enough from ambien - dumb mistake), Quviviq (totally different mechanism than ambien, so confusing), and even melatonin causes odd heart palpitations now. The vasospasm itself seems to cause some sort of injury, because running (which I could do with ease before) brought on an episode, and after episodes I am weak and have chest pain for weeks. I am now at the point where I’m trying to decide what to do next. If my nervous system is still changing, I’m worried that it could further affect my heart or other systems if I let it continue to go unchecked. So this is what I’m wondering: Bottom line: I would love advice on whether I should reinstate Luvox. While I know this is a doctor’s realm, my current psychiatrist doesn’t understand (or acknowledge) protracted withdrawal. I will either need to take evidence and a concrete plan to him, or find a doctor who better understands these issues. As for the arguments for/against reinstating, I am now sleeping better, though not well (I still go about two nights without sleep a week and average 5-6 on a good night). But the crazy/dangerous reactions to meds give me pause. On one hand, I don’t want to cause more problems, and I’m almost worried that taking Luvox now would trigger another vasospasm. But if my nervous system is still rearranging itself I’m also worried that, left alone, it’s bizarre reactions to things could get worse! I would also like to get rid of the visual snow if at all possible. I’d also love recommendations for doctors who deal with or specialize in this sort of withdrawal and nervous system disregulation. I know they are few and far between, but I’m willing to travel pretty much anywhere at this point to get the help I need. Thank you all for your help, and I look forward to hearing back from you!
  19. Thank you for accepting me into this group, I am so grateful to be here. I have only recently (after many different types of tests) realised that I have been in AD protracted withdrawal for around 2 years, it has been the most hellish time of my life. I am so broken and quite distraught that I can't get the help and support that I need to navigate this situation that I have found myself in 😥 I am not sure how to go about making contact with other members so I'm writing this in the hope that someone would kindly point me in the right direction. Thank you.
  20. Hi everyone, Happy New Year! I came across this site by reading the Reddit thread about amitriptyline so I’m hoping you can help me before I go out of my mind with worry. I started suffering from insomnia a couple of years ago - I never had trouble falling asleep but would wake up at 3 am and not be able to get back to sleep - but it got worse in August 2023 and my GP put me on amitriptyline. I started at 10mg but it did nothing so she increased the dose to 20mg a night. When I fell asleep, I slept fine but it would always take me ages to get to sleep so I didn’t love it as I felt like I had just changed the insomnia round to pre-sleep rather than after some sleep, if that makes sense. I also started to put weight on and I started to snore, which disturbed my husband. I therefore decided to come off amitriptyline. My GP told me when I started taking it that I could stop at any time…so this is what I did. No taper, just cold turkey. That was on 12th or 13th December 2023. Since then I have had a constellation of odd symptoms that have got me feeling very worried and anxious, especially as I already suffer quite badly with health anxiety. It started with extreme itching in the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet as well as in my eyes with a stuffy nose and a cough. At first I thought it was related to dairy because it came on after drinking coffee and a cup of tea with milk and sugar. It then became a bit more generalised - coming on after eating a store bought sandwich, for example. I went to my local pharmacy and they told me to take fexofenadine 120mg once a day, which does seem to have helped the itching. Since that point, the itching has turned into a burning/tingling/prickly sensation in my cheeks predominantly although I have also felt it all over my body. My cheeks sometimes go pink when the pain is really bad. This was especially acute after eating some cheese at Christmas - something I have done always and never had a reaction to. I have had sweats and chills and found it very hard to regulate my body temperature. I’ve had diahorrea, nausea (both pre and post eating), a cough/wheezing (which came on after cheesegate), acid reflux, hearing my heartbeat pounding in my ears as well as insane amounts of anxiety. I read somewhere that amitriptyline is a histamine moderator so I wonder if some of the allergy symptoms are being caused by the sudden rush of histamine in my system? I always react badly to mosquito bites so have wondered for a while if I might be a bit histamine sensitive. I also read that GI and GERD symptoms can come from amitriptyline withdrawal which might explain the nausea, diahorrea, cough etc. I guess what I am looking for here is to see if this rings true for anyone else before I lose my mind with worry. I saw my GP today and she told me that it could be any number of scary things so now I’m doubting the assumption that the symptoms are withdrawal-related with the associated hike in my anxiety levels. She is doing blood tests so we’ll see what those come back with. Any advice or pearls of wisdom you have would be very gratefully received! Thank you so much in advance.
  21. Hello everyone, I am so glad I found this forum. I feel so lost and alone struggling to navigate this withdrawal. Here's my story: I started 10mg of Amitriptyline on November 1st 2017. I was originally prescribed this for sleep when the doctor took my off my pantoprazole 40 mg cold turkey and I ended up very sick ( I was put on that because they thought maybe I had H. Pylori so once the test came back negative they took me off of it cold turkey.) Due to being so sick coming off the pantoprazole they decided the taper me off it properly by reinstating it and lowering the does by 25% each week. In the mean time he gave me amitriptyline 10mg to help me sleep as I felt so sick. I came off the pantoprazole properly this time, and decided I didn't need to be on the amitriptyline it was making me feel sick to my stomach and making me VERY dizzy to the point where I passed out and hit the floor. So I called my doctor who said just to stop the amitriptyline, it is not an addictive drug and he has never heard of withdrawals on this med. After his last cold turkey mistake I dropped down to 7.5mg of Amitriptyline and felt fine...until day 10 then was I sick!!! After 9 days of this (extreme nausea, headaches, anxiety, aches etc) I couldn't take it anymore and reinstated to 10mg, within 24 hrs I was feeling much better but back on 10mg. Of course when I saw my doctor after this he rolled his eyes and said I must have had the flu. So fed up I got a new doctor. The new doctor also felt that 10mg was such a low dose and withdrawals are impossible on this med. However the fainting and bouts of nausea concerned him, I explained this all started once I began taking this pill but he told me there is no way I could have such bad side effects on 10mg. He sent me for a CT scan on my head, lots of blood work, hooked me up to a blood pressure monitor, heart rate monitor etc. In the mean time I passed out a few more times and continued to feel sick, finally he decided that I must be having an allergic reaction to the meds (im sensitive to meds anyways) since it was causing my blood pressure to drop VERY low. He then told me I must come off them tonight!! 10 to 0 ill be just fine and he refused to give me any more refills because this drug is too dangerous for me this was in March 2018. I refused to go cold turkey (as i had no support on this) so I tapered off of 10mg over 50 days dropping .2mg per night which brought me to the end of my pills. I have been off of Amitriptyline for 2 weeks now as I took my last dose on April 14 2018. For the first 2 weeks I experienced headaches, fatigue, aches, nausea, anxiety etc. I am now dealing with an emotional roller coast and nausea that comes and goes throughout the day. Some days are okay, some days are bad. I have not had any fainting spells since I started tapering which is great but how long will this wax and wane nausea last? Im feeling really low at the moment. Everyone expected that once i was off the drugs I would be perfectly fine within a week or two and the doc will never admit there is withdrawals and just put me on another med :( No one really understands, im hoping someone on here does <3
  22. I have been on citalopram since 2009 then it stopped working. The Dr put me on citalopram and mirtazapine combination which worked for a while then that stopped working. The Dr then put me on mirtazapine and Venlafaxine 150mg XL combination which workes for a while again ans then stopped working. The Dr put me on amitriptyline 50mg saying thay would be the best drug for me while i took 8 months to slowly remove each bead from Venlafaxine capsule to come off it. As soon as I took my last beed i went into crazy angry depression. The dr increased my dosage of amitriptyline from 50mg to 150mg but the side effects were horrible and at this point i got sick of these meds and decided to quit CT. I had horrible withdrawal symptoms and i started acting like a child and not being able to walk, had balance problems. I reinstated back to 50mg amitriptyline since april 2018 and i have been getting worse. I cannot sleep. My vision is so badly affected that i have grainy vision and floaters have increased dramatically . I see after images and it's as if the lights have been turned off. When i begin to fall asleep, i start to have dreams before i actually fall asleep and my brain keep. Waking up just before i am about to sleep. I cannot follow conversations, I mishear things all the time. I am totally dependant on others and i feel people think i have gone crazy. I don't know what to do i am getting worse and worse. I often trip, lose my balance. I hardly have any short term memory and cannot do simplest of things. I cannot even watch anything on TV as i cannot follow.it I'm having major concentration problems. I don't know how. I'm writing this. I cannot work or drive. Please you have no idea how i am putting these sentences together. I need urgent help. Please advice. I have no energy, no appetite. If I'm posting this in the wrong place, please accept my appology as I can hardly read and understand things. P
  23. Thank you for taking the time to read this, I am a 62 year old man with Ankylosing Spondylitis that was diagnosed 40 years ago. This systemic autoimmune disease made life quite difficult. And it began with going from being a decently talented Track & Field athlete, to not being able to walk very well. Along with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), I had a spondylolisthesis, which led to temporary paralysis a couple times. While my doctors told me I needed a double fusion back operation, I was terrified of such a surgery, and put it off until the second time I lost the feel of my legs. I then went in for surgery the very next week! After the surgery I thought I would just take off and be back to sports. But I struggled another few years until they found I had AS. Dealing with sciatica for years prior to the surgery, and after the surgery, I had to use anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxants to get through the really difficult times. Aside from the anti-inflammatories though, I never really took any drugs for long. I had to take steroids for inflammation many times, but they were short lived dosages. But around 2002, a doctor prescribed amitriptyline for nerve pain, and strange, severe muscle cramps I would get during sleep. I ended up taking that drug on an off from that point up until three months ago, when I did a very short three week taper from 50 to 25 to 12.5 to stopping. And for the first time I had many side effects that I don't recall experiencing any time in the past when I stopped the drug for awhile. Even three years ago when I stopped it, it wasn't bad at all, and I never even concluded anxiety could be from amitriptyline. I truly thought it was the safest drug ever! And if I am honest, I had forgotten it was an antidepressant drug being used off-label for so many things. Since Ankylosing Spondylitis is systemic with inflammation, I ended up with blocked arteries, kidney issues, and hypothyroidism. I had to take beta blockers the past 6 years, along with some other heart medications, and a thyroid medication. I went on a strict whole food plant based diet 8 months ago, and have since stopped all medications except the thyroid medication. I stopped the beta blocker Atenolol 4 months ago (and my blood pressure and heart rate has been amazing), and quit the Amitriptyline completely almost 3 months ago. I went from feeling very clear minded, serene, and proud of my strict diet accomplishments, to feeling odd heart fluttering (maybe palpitations), anxiety, panic attacks, hypersensitivity in these cuts on my hands that get during the dry, cold winters here, and waking insomnia (I would fall asleep but wake up restless, worried, etc.). This all started a few days after I stopped taking the amitriptyline completely nearly 3 months ago. I didn't expect the amitriptyline to cause this. But I noticed when I began taking metoprolol 6 years ago, that I angered quickly, became impatient, and things began to feel harder and harder to do. With AS, I am fused in much of my spine making simple movements difficult; which of course makes life filled with daily pain already. But I thought the beta blocker metoprolol was the reason for it all, and tried changing over to other drugs (I only had two drug class options due to my blocked arteries). Only when I was able to change from a lipid beta blocker to the water based atenolol did it improve a bit. But it only improved somewhat. I learned that amitriptyline was so good at getting past the blood brain barrier that it was often used with other drugs designed to heal brain issues (because most drugs were not able to get past the blood brain barrier). I then began to think that the amitriptyline was escorting all the beta blockers I had been taking and perhaps acting as a potentiator, augmenting the different side effects I had (hallucinations, nightmares, numb hands and fingers, eye issues). It wasn't till I got off the beta blockers completely that it seemed amitriptyline may have been behind all the difficulties over the last 6 years. Sorry for the lengthy story. I just wanted to share that while life with AS is difficult, I was never into any type of drugs. I had problems with drinking beer at times of my life, but always managed to stop that. And I only had alcohol once during the past several months during a horrible panic attack! I don't wish to take anything to get through this, unless someone thinks that starting amitriptyline again to taper slowly is a plausible course of action?? I would rather not though. I just wanted to know what others taking amitriptyline thought about all of this. I can already understand that there is no definitive time frame for discontinuation syndrome, or protracted withdrawal. I can only recall stopping the 50mg amtriptyline back in 2020 after having Covid (stopped for about 4 months without much of an issue). I did take 100mg a couple times after a new blood pressure medications terrified me after a single dose I went through several trying to reduce the horrid side effects, and used amitriptyline just to calm myself and get through that night. Other than that, it was always 50mg. Thanks again for taking the time! WestOn4th
  24. Hey everyone, I discovered this website yesterday on Reddit after feeling like I hit a brick wall while trying to taper amitryptiline 30mg. This may not be the most organized post since it’ll be detailed but I can answer questions and fill in some holes. I’d like to first rewind two years ago how I got here in the first place. I was 27 at the time in my last semester of grad school, no medical history, anxiety/mental illness history and a dedicated power lifter in the gym 2 hours a day 5 days a week. i decided to cut to single digit body fat percentage and so many things went wrong after a month in suddenly. I had a strange feeling one evening suddenly start in my chest/abdomen that hit me in my head with nausea that could put anyone down to their knees. I told my mom what has happened and we went to the hospital to get checked out. I waited two hours without seeing the doctor since I felt fine and would follow up with my primary care doctor. That morning I woke up with chills, vomiting, chest pain, and slept terrible. Blood work revealed that I was low in vitamin D. This was the beginning of hell. For 5 days I wasn’t able to sleep at all. Headaches, severe tinnitus worse than the tinnitus i was habituated that I’ve had since I was a child, my eyes would hurt I wasn’t able to eat or drink anything, acid reflux that was tearing up my insides and burned like nothing I had ever felt before. My entire head tingles like ants crawling all over it When I would try to sleep I would wake up with a bright flash of light waking up disoriented and panicked every 15 to 20 minutes. This carried on until I went to the hospital to get sedated and slept for 18 hours. I held steady for a week until the sleep issues came back again. I was put on a half dose of 5mg ambien for a week to reset. Once the ambien ran out I didn’t stabilize. I was put on buspar 30mg per day and 5mg of ambien until the buspar built up in my system. March goes on and things become far worse. The tinnitus became louder, sound sensitivity kicked in again, I wasn’t able to go to the gym anymore because the gym made my headaches and tinnitus worse, I wasn’t able to eat or drink anything again, my face and jaw hurt, my jaw felt tight. My head tingled all the time and I had no idea or understood why. It was back to square 1 again and my mental status completely changed again. I stopped the buspar cold turkey since I knew this wasn’t working. I google my symptoms and they sort of seemed like migraines so I tried taking magnesium and I was able to gain back a significant quality of life till I was able to see a neurologist. I saw the neurologist in April and and he puts me on 10mg of amitryptiline. It never really worked so we just went up to 30mg over the span of 3-4 months. My symptoms never really ceased either and I felt lost and hope and just wished for the best that things would stop one day. I tried going up to 35mg one time but it made me feel very jittery with poor sleep so I just went straight back to 30mg (fall 2021) Fast forward to December 2022 I decided to try supplementing iron out of instinct since I craved chalky and flaky foods and had strange appetite cravings that I thought was attributed to amitryptiline. I took 50mg of elemental iron and all of a sudden it’s like my blood vessels were able to chill out. I had shortness of breath go away I didn’t know and I could breathe! It was like I was choking on air. My sleep was deeper and better, the craving went away, my heart rate went down. fast forward to late February/early March 2023. I decided to taper amitriptyline. I started from 30mg and cut 2.5mg every week. I felt great, my lingering symptoms along with the tinnitus diminished, my mood was better, the annoying side effects were starting to go away as time went on, the headaches became more tolerable when I would go to the gym and it was like I was getting my life back and I could finally move on. the only issues I had were on the nights I cut down the 2.5mg it would take me a little bit longer to fall asleep for a few days but I would feel FANTASTIC as the week went on ready to drop another 2.5mg. Then one week I eventually reached 0mg and for 6 days then I was doing fine then suddenly here we are.. one night it was impossible to sleep and I cut in half a 5mg ambien to sleep or else I knew that the lack of sleep would spiral me out of control or else I would end up in the hospital. I felt nauseated, had no appetite, the tinnitus was loud, my head hurt, I felt jittery and anxious, my heart was pounding. I knew this was withdrawals and called in for work. I reintroduced 5mg to stabilize myself a bit to get some quality of life back after evaluating that the 2.5mg drops at lower doses were too big and too fast despite how well I was doing week by week over the past couple months. Here I am today going from 0mg over 6 days back to 5mg today and hoping to hold it down and keep myself steady on this dose going no higher (hoping I can stay steady and become steadier at this dose for the next month). I was able to ignore the tinnitus today and do most of my day to day, grocery shop, play video games (no gym for awhile it seems). I’m looking forward to sharing my journey, my struggles, and my progress with you all in getting off of this stuff once and for all THE RIGHT WAY with the 10% taper that I’ve learned over here.
  25. Hey everyone, I'll try to keep this concise. Background: Currently early twenties student in university. In 2017, I was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome (PCS). 40mg of Amitriptyline was prescribed by my neurologist to treat tension headaches. My first experience with rapid tapering of amitriptyline was in August 2018, when my neurologist asked me to switch from amitriptyline to valproic acid for PCS, at a rate of 10mg Amitriptyline tapered each week until I was fully cold turkey. Unfortunately, I found out around the 10/20mg range I wasn't handling withdrawal too well and was forced to stop and reinstate. In February 2019, I read about the link between dementia and cholinergic medications and went cold turkey by my own choice. This lasted for two months of difficulty where I struggled through my hardest semester of college. I ended up reinstating in April after a discussion with my therapist. Its important to note that at this point, for both aforementioned times I had attempted fast tapers I was not aware that withdrawal symptoms were a significant issue for antidepressants. Instead, I believed that once amitriptyline fully left my system I would be fine, and that all my symptoms were caused by PCS. In July 2019, I was able to recover from PCS after two years. A month later in August, I spoke to my physician about getting off amitriptyline. He prescribed me a somewhat slower taper at 10mg a month and 7 weeks for the final 10 mg. Thus, I began my taper from 40mg to 30mg. You can probably guess what happened next. This taper put me through hell and lasted a total of a little over four months before I stabilized. In December 2019, I discovered this forum and decided to give slow tapering a shot using liquid titration (water, not ethanol). In January 2020, I tapered from 30mg to 27 mg. It took me about two months start to finish to stabilize. I was mildly symptomatic, but my symptoms were manageable. In March, I tapered from 27 mg to 25 mg. This time, it took me nearly three months to stabilize. Even stranger, my I found that my symptoms were seemingly worse, even though the percentage tapered was still about 10%. In June, I tapered from 25mg to 24mg, hoping that a tiny dose reduction would alleviate most of my issues with tapering. Flash forward to today. Nearly three months after I had began that taper I find that my symptoms, while very mild at first seemed to have gotten worse over time. Furthermore, a three month long time span for a 4% reduction seems very unusual. Now I that school is starting and I am actively interviewing for internships, I am considering reinstating back to 24.5 or 25 mg. I'm unsure about why my withdrawals seem to get worse even though I try to reduce my taper amount each time. I can think of a couple theories, those being: Dissolving with water instead of ethanol causing issues somehow. I think this is unlikely because when I first was testing out a solution in water at my full dosage, I did not experience any withdrawal symptoms. Furthermore, when I switched to 1:10 ethanol:water solution for a couple nights while tapering, I did not experience any improvement in symptoms. Withdrawals from previous tapers coming back to bite me in my ass. I'm aware of the whole waxing and waning thing and I'm wondering if it's possible that when I began my last taper, I hadn't actually completely stabilized and am now dealing with prolonged symptoms from previous tapers. Not sure how likely this is. Kindling. This would make sense considering I have had three tried and failed fast tapers that each did a number on me. However, I'm struggling to find any sources regarding kindling in antidepressants to the point where I'm unsure if it's even possible. My symptoms are mainly just hypersensitivity, disheveled sleep/insomnia, and exhaustion. Thanks for reading this far.
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