Advice on Amitriptyline

Hi ladies!

I would like to get some advice from you regarding ami
My specialist prescribed 10mg for me to take everyday, I am still a bit concerned about the side- effects such as drowsiness, difficulty in concentrating and constipation. Do you have any advice on how to reduce/manage the side-effects? Would these slowly go away?
Thank you in advance!

Hi there. I've not tried amitriptyline but am on similar - nortriptyline. I'm on 10mg. The first few weeks I had a dry mouth but countered it fairly easily with lots of water. Gave me some crazy dreams too. I would say persist if you get any mild effects as my side effects started to calm down after a few weeks.

Hi WaahWaah,

Thanks for the reply! How long have you been on that medication and did it help?
So far it's been a month and my side effects are increased tiredness and maybe a bit of constipation but overall it is not too bad. I hope my side effects would subside like yours!

I've been on 10mg for I think about 7 weeks. The side effects I had did lessen after about a month. I am about to increase to 20mg. As for did it help? Hard to say... I have heard that it can take months for a drug like this to work. So I'm remaining hopeful. It has possibly reduced my pain slightly but not much so far. However 10mg is a very low dose. I'm also having osteopath treatment which is causing pain flares so it's really hard to say. I do believe its worth giving these drugs a few months though. I've been in agony for a year so figure it will take time to see any effect. How about you, is it helping at all yet?

Oh and prunes daily help me avoid too much constipation!

To be honest I can't feel any different yet either, probably because it's only been a week and the dose might be too low. Hopefully I get to see some difference after a month. At least the side effects seem to be reducing by now
Is it normal that osteopath treatment cause flare ups? Does it help with the pain?

A week is a very short time to be on it. Persist as long as you can I'd say! I've read it can take a few months to show its effect for some of us... I think the osteo flares are because he's working on trigger points. I then generally have a few better days so it sort of makes sense to me that he's working on the right area. I think I flare at certain times of the month when I'm hormonal too. And my GP said that may be because of the changes in blood flow, muscle tension etc in the pelvis area. Apparently my hormones are normal so I guess it's just the rise of them at ovulation and period.