going off amitriptyline
Question:
Haven’t had experience but had a friend whose MSer husband used it with good results for fatigue. hmsa…@minn.net wrote in article <3322DD7B.2…@minn.net>… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Has anyone had any experience with Amatadine? It is suppose to help with > fatigue, but in my drug handbook it says it is used for parkinsons > disease.
Response:
Has anyone had any experience with Amatadine? It is suppose to help with fatigue, but in my drug handbook it says it is used for parkinsons disease.
Response:
I’ve been taking Amantadine since 1988 and I find that it does improve my energy. I go off of it every once in a while and I do notice a difference. On Tue, 27 Aug 1996 hmsa…@minn.net wrote: > Has anyone had any experience with Amatadine? It is suppose to help with > fatigue, but in my drug handbook it says it is used for parkinsons > disease.
Nancy Pope ^..^ Without music life would be a mistake (oo) =========================================================== International MS Support Foundation P.O. Box 90154, Tucson, Arizona 85752-0154 URL: http://aspin.asu.edu/msnews ============================================================
Response:
ball…@vcn.bc.ca (BA Lloyd) wrote: >about six years ago my neuro prescribed low dosage (30 mg at bedtime) of >amitriptyline (elavil) to help with migraines and sleep disturbance. a >second neuro then suggested i go up to 70 mg to help with constant aches >(which he called fibromyalgia). >i want to find out if i can live without the drug — i’ve never been real >comfortable taking something for so long — and am cutting back by 10 mg >a week. my doctor and naturopath know and have okayed this. >what i’d really like to know is if anyone else has done this and if there >are any consequences that they noticed. >thanks — bethan
Hi Bethan, I was taking amitriptyline (25 mg at bedtime) given to me by a doctor who routinely prescribed it for all his MS patients to "relieve muscle spasms and pain". Of course, I realize now that it does nothing for the spasms, but if I forgot to take it I had horrendous nightmares and insomnia. Like you, I was not comfortable with taking something for so long. After taking it for about 8 years, I quit last Jan. when the muscle spasms became bad enough to keep me from sleeping and a different doc prescribed baclofen. The baclofen does a great job controlling spasms. However, my sleep pattern was disrupted for months. It was as if the amitriptyline had been acting like a sleeping pill. Then realized that I needed to change the schedule of taking amantidine from morning and night to morning and no later than 5 pm after reading in this forum that it can disrupt sleep. I’m finally sleeping somewhat better and no nightmares. Don’t know if any of this helps or not. Good luck. Edie
Response:
Hi Bethan, I took it for about two years, 25 mg. at bedtime. Got tired of it, and not being able to enjoy an evening beer or two (I tried a few times, it gave me the worst hangover of my life after two beers). I quit cold turkey, the only side effect was some insomnia for two or three nights, it passed and I’ve been fine and sleeping like a baby for a year and a half. It doesn’t seem to be addicting (other than perhaps psychologically). Good luck, and find a good book for the wee hours! — Aloha, Mark "When sitting, just sit, Above all, don’t wobble." -Zen poem http://www.verinet.com/~cummings
Response:
about six years ago my neuro prescribed low dosage (30 mg at bedtime) of amitriptyline (elavil) to help with migraines and sleep disturbance. a second neuro then suggested i go up to 70 mg to help with constant aches (which he called fibromyalgia). i want to find out if i can live without the drug — i’ve never been real comfortable taking something for so long — and am cutting back by 10 mg a week. my doctor and naturopath know and have okayed this. what i’d really like to know is if anyone else has done this and if there are any consequences that they noticed. thanks — bethan
Response:
In article <4vt1r7$…@milo.vcn.bc.ca>, ball…@vcn.bc.ca (BA Lloyd) wrote: > about six years ago my neuro prescribed low dosage (30 mg at bedtime) of > amitriptyline (elavil) to help with migraines and sleep disturbance. a > second neuro then suggested i go up to 70 mg to help with constant aches > (which he called fibromyalgia). > i want to find out if i can live without the drug — i’ve never been real > comfortable taking something for so long — and am cutting back by 10 mg > a week. my doctor and naturopath know and have okayed this. > what i’d really like to know is if anyone else has done this and if there > are any consequences that they noticed. > thanks — bethan
Bethan, I have been taking various doses of Elavil between 100mg and 575mg per day for many years. The higher doses have been based on actual blood levels of the drug. As you no doubt know, there are side-effects (aren’t there always?). At the moment, I am taking 200mg of Elavil per day (225mg was making me sleepy during the day.) plus DHE inj., Imitrex inj., and a some other things. This has been a very good drug for me in the 200 to 250mg range. My doctor says that there is no "withdrawal" from dropping or stopping this medication. Well …. there is for me, and it’s not pleasant! I drop in 25mg increments, with no significant problem. I take my Elavil about an hour before bed. If I forget, I have frightful nightmares and/or very vivid dreams and get up feeling like hell. ———————————————————————– This article was posted to Usenet via the Posting Service at Deja News: http://www.dejanews.com/ [Search, Post, and Read Usenet News!]
