Amitriptyline withdrawals/Chronic Pain

Hi everyone, we need help.

I'll get right to it. My girlfriend started getting chronic everyday migraines about a year and a half ago. She would go to bed with a migraine and wake up with a migraine. She tried many medications and none of them worked for her. Finally her doctor put her on Amitriptyline (elavil), and after a while, she felt some relief. At first it seemed like a miracle because she had gone months having migraines every single day. The medication worked for a while then stopped working, her doctor told her to up the dosage so she eventually went to 75mg. Along with this she was prescribed a blood pressure medication and it seemed like her migraines were under control.

Fast forward a year of taking ami and she is sick of it. She gained 20 pounds, felt mentally and psychically terrible all of the time (although her migraines were better), and she was feeling trapped by the meds. We did research and she started taking 5-HTP, Magnesium, and Fish Oil. She was feeling much better, but was ready to be unencumbered by prescription medication.

So, she started tapering off of the amitriptyline. We have both gotten off of anti-depressants before so we knew what we were in for. It took her a little more than a month to completely taper off and now she is no longer taking any. It has been about 3 weeks since she last took the ami, and the withdrawal symptoms are worse than ever. We have read on different forums that people who have been on high doses of ami for a while take months to years to fully get off of it. It's scary.

So now after 3 weeks of no ami, she has a slew of problems. First and foremost, she has chronic pain, which she thinks is fibromyalgia. Before she started taking these meds and when she had migraines she would have pain in her neck and shoulders, but not pain all of her body making her incapable of sitting still. We have read 5-HTP is supposed to help with this, and she says it does, but she is still in pain almost constantly. She describes it as incredible tension in her body/back/neck, making it impossible to concentrate at work or sit still. That is our main concern right now, she still has headaches, but not nearly as bad, and when they do become migraines, she controls them with midrin and maxalt. She is also having severe mood swings, which is expected going off a year long high dose of anti-depressants.

So I guess this is my question: Has anyone experienced chronic pain after coming off of a tricyclic/amitriptyline? How long did the symptoms last and how did you deal with them? We are not looking for more prescription meds, but any other natural supplements or cures that may help are welcome. We are going to try acupuncture next, hopefully that will help. This is really frustrating because she is 25 years old and suffering from almost debilitating pain. I am in relatively good health with no major problems and it destroys me that I cannot help her.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Hell Tuffcor
I wanted to pop in to welcome you here to the cp forum. Glad you found us but sorry that your girlfriend is having so much pain.
I can certainly sympatize with her as i suffer from continous severe headaches and it's been twelve years. Nothing has helped me and believe me, I have tried so many meds, seen so many doctors and done so many forms of treatment. What kind of doctors has she seen so far? Has she been diagnosed with fibro? has she tried any of the fibro meds such as lyrica, cymbalta, gabapentin? Maybe we can help you a bit more if you give us more of her history. Perhaps she would like to come on here and join us. She will get a lot of support from the members here.
One natural supplement you can google is curamin. It is suppose to be quite helpful.

Hope you can keep posting with us.

Suzane

A Rheumatologist is the one to diagnose Fibromyalgia....

And yes...Cymbalta or Lyrica are both medicines to help with Fibro pain..Since they have found that the nerves are overacting and sending signals that there is pain when there isn't anything physically wrong with the area....As in feeling like a broken leg when it's not...

I was diagnosed with Fibro back in 1995 when hardly anyone knew that word...I was blessed to have a great Dr. who is now the top Fibro Dr. in the U.S......He believes that a lot of the issue is not getting to stage 4 sleep...

Once I went on Ambien to get better sleep...I have to say at least 75% of my symptoms were relieved...I was like a new person!

I also switched to eating all Organic...this also helped immensely with my fatigue level..

The other thing I learned is that I have to do some sort of exercise and stretching each day or I get very stiff and more pain...Of course with Dr. supervision...

I walk about 30-45 minutes a day with my dog...As well as light yoga in the am/pm...

I have a muscle relaxer to take when needed as well to put a dent into the knots that can occur...

The main key is finding a great Dr. that wants to work on finding the best comprehensive plan that includes many modalities...not just one pill....to help live the best life possible with Fibro...

I wish you both luck!

I don't have experience with what you are describing, but I do think in susceptible individuals, med changes can cause physical pain.

I know she tapered over about a month, but is there a chance she could do an even slower taper to give her brain chemistry more time to adjust to each change? All the drugs that hit both serotonin and norepinephrine are notoriously difficult to get off of. I know someone who tapered off Effexor over 3 or 4 months with minimal effects, but any time she tried to go any faster had lots of withdrawal symptoms AND a triggering of her migraines.

Unfortunately the OP never returned. Maybe post your Q in the fibro forum since it sounds like it could be a common transition into fibro? Migraines are definitely common in fibro.

Hope you feel better soon.