Re: Amitriptyline nightmares & muscle spazz

[dommysdaddy]

I was just put on those stupid pills, and I stopped, I became very angry and moody, plus the nightmares I was having were sureal I did not know I was having a dream, It got to the point to where my fiance had to wake me up, I had never had anything like this before, has any one else...

 

[BusynMember]

Yes. Amitriplylene made me hallucinate like I was on LSD. Not only that, but my throat was closing up and all the way to the emergency room, as I saw things that weren't there and heard things that weren't there, I had to drink water or choke. I have never before and never since had such a scary, bad reaction to any medication. I won't go near it ever again.

 

[flutterby]

Yes. My daughter's hallucinations were controlled. Then they increased amitriptyline and she started having more visual hallucinations. psychiatrist said amitriptyline can do that. It isn't typical, but can happen.

 

[TerryJ2]

What's it used for?

 

[witzend]

Amitriptyline is one of the original anti-depressants in the tricyclic class of medications. It's often used for things like itching or neuralgia or to prevent migraines. It's super cheap.

With the newer SRIs and such, Amitriptyline is not prescribed very often. It has a strong hypnotic/sleep inducing affect that for many people just can't handle, me included. When I took it years ago, I'd take one and go to bed at night and struggle out of bed the next day. I'd feel awake about 5 - 6 PM.

Honestly, I think that just about any medication that induces sleep is going to be a **** shoot so far as how quickly the sleep will settle in and how quickly it will leave your body.

 

[Ktllc]

I guess I'm one of the few that react well to amitriptyline. I is litterally a life saver for me. I started about 2 month ago and The doctor prescribe it to treat severe migraines. I have been to the ER several times these past few years due to migraines. The accute crisis were getting more and more and the "regular" migraines were happening every day.
I suppose it like the regular medication talk we are having here: do benefits outweigh the side effects. In my case the answer is clear: yes.
Makes my mouth feel dry so I always have a drink with me now and I take it just before going to bed. No problem waking up in the morning but I sure sleep like a dead person. lol
If I miss a dose, I feel like sh*t the next day (like today, hehe...) but it is still better than a full blown migraine.
You can't beat the price: $2.60 for 30 days. Specially when you compare it to my emergency medication: $170 for 6 pills!
Why were you prescibed the pills, Dommysdaddy?

 

[TerryJ2]

Ohh, that's where I've heard of it--migraines! I'm glad you told me all of that. I just use Imitrex as needed and I'll stick with-that.
Ugh. No wonder Amitriptyline isn't used much any more.

 

[susiestar]

Imitrex is great, but not if you have more than nine migraines a month. I had one doctor years ago who would rx 18 imitrex, but then I learned how that can kill you and when I told her to only rx 9 because that, she got mad and I went to a new doctor. My pain doctor now rx's them and he just adores that I know things like that about my medications - and that I want to use non-medication treatments as well as the medications. It seems I am a rarity in his field, which never occurred to me. How can you be in pain and nto want to do ALL you can to prevent it?????

Anyway, amitryptyline is great for some people. It is often given in very low doses to those with fibro because it helps you get the right kind of sleep. If, of course, it works for you. I took it for several years but it was a PITA. I had to take it about 2 hrs before bed and then I couldn't drive or do much those 2 hrs. If I waited until later to take it, it didn't help and I couldn't get to sleep and then I couldn't wake up in the morning. I have an aunt who sleeps for about 48 hrs on half of the lowest dose pill they make it in. It really scared all of us when they put her on it.

There are a lot of other medications that can help most problems, and if you have sleep issues I recommend a comprehensive sleep study before you play around with too many medcations. husband and I had them done a few yrs ago. Turns out that his problems and mine looked similar but were caused by very different things. He uses an apnea machine and it solves all his sleep problems. That would do nothing for me and the medications that help me would do nothing for him. So by having the sleep study we were able to get the right kind of help for our problems.