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how does amiltriptyline work?

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Posted 3/14/2010 9:59 PM (GMT 0)
Please explain to me how taking amiltriptyline at night to combat pain in the day is possible?  I am finding it so hard to trust this. My pain is at an 8, an 8 is how I start each day. I am not what you would call a "complainer", I am just letting you know how bad its gotten over the past 12 months. So I am putting all my hopes on this new med, almost like a hail mary pass rolleyes I feel like a teenager in rebellion of this health challenge. At first I tried taking 10mg in the day, but for the past week I have been trying to do it right, taking 30mg at night. The good news I don't need trazadone for sleep [has anyone been on trazadone? I need more personal info on this med.] My pain has gotten so bad that is affecting my attitude and my faith. What can I reasonably expect from this med? I didn't realize how bad I was doing, physically and emotionally, until the doc offered this. I hope this makes sense. Any thoughts and personal experiences on how this med helps with pain will be most appreciated.
Posted 3/14/2010 10:34 PM (GMT 0)
It sounds like it has something to do with your quality of sleep. That is what I take on it. I have never taken it. I also heard that it helps other medications to work better, such as pain medications. I think that you take it at night because it is sedating. Have you asked your doctor about this? I think he would have the best answer, or maybe look it up on the internet. Hopefully somebody here will have more information than I do for you.

Hugs, Karen
Posted 3/15/2010 1:31 AM (GMT 0)
I was on this for awhile and at first it worked great for me! I loved it! But once we had to start uping the dose I didn't enjoy it as much and I started at a very very small dose 5mg. It is my understanding that they prescripe this med (as well as trazadone) to improve the quality of sleep. With fibro you are not getting restful sleep with is causing your body to not heal itself which only adds on to the pain. And I believe that both of these meds have proven to help with pain througout the day as well. This is what I understand of these meds.
Posted 3/15/2010 2:14 AM (GMT 0)
Sera,
This med, along with your Cymbalta, should be helping with your serotonin levels. We need serotonin to regulate our mood, help with our pain threshold, regulate circadian rhythms and to help with appetite, among other things. It has drowziness as a side effect so it is often prescribed at night to help with sleep. This medication may take several weeks to build up an effective feeling in your body. It doesn't work like a pain reliever, with relief in a half hour. Hope it starts helping soon.
Posted 3/15/2010 8:14 PM (GMT 0)
I took amitriptolyne for about 6 months. It helped me to sleep a bit better,but not so much with the pain. The dry mouth was
horrible and when my hair started falling out at an alarming rate I stopped taking it altogether. If you take True Calm by NOW
brand herbals, it works in the same way without hurting you. I sleep great and most of the spasms have stopped.
Posted 3/18/2010 11:11 PM (GMT 0)
I've been on Nortriptyline for 18 years - it's just 1 molecule different from Amitriptyline (it's less sedating.) I take 25 mg at night, but for the first few years, I took 50. My sleep was so chronically interrupted by waking. My pain is definitely better than it was back then...well, lately the intensity has been creeping up again, so I'm trying additional drugs, too...but my doctor always wants to keep me on the Nortriptyline. Actually, he himself takes Amitriptyline for sleep, though he says it doesn't always work! Good luck!!
Debbie
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