amitriptyline and other TCA anti-depressants (sleeeepy)

[fossyant]

Ouch, hope it gets better!

So do I. Specialist said its scar tissue. I said I was expecting less not more tissue in there after my operation. Fortunately he said its nothing nasty, but if the pain doesn't settle, they will need to remove it.

I should be OK to get back on the bike, although it may be rather painful. Bugger all else I can do other than look after myself, take the Ami to help pain and sleep and just take ibuprofen and paracetamol to control it, and hope it settles.

All from a little operation. The specialist said it was a mess in there and was a difficult procedure to remove my plumbing.

 

[vickster]

Was this from the snip? Ouch

 

[fossyant]

Was this from the snip? Ouch

It was from the snip, and this is a second op. Had the snip 15 months ago, then had to have an epididymectomy 3 months ago to repair (remove) the mess.

 

[vickster]

Double ouch, all the best for a speedy recovery

 

[Melonfish]

just got back to this thread, ouch.
so christmas was fun, couple of migraines i figured i would have due to eating naughty foods. sleeping in really helped i must say, didn't wake up as groggy @doog i think you're right on the 12 hours thing so i'm going to give that a bash and see how i get on.
i have noticed something new is my sense of smell, it gets randomly powerfull. things that normally smell nice make me want to heave. hence when i went in the shed over christmas and picked up an old innertube just wow. it was like i'd been skunked up the nostril hah!

@MrPie glad to see i'm not the only one with MAV! i have heard of the vestibular exercises but i am yet to try them, i did go and see a neurologist but he was about as useful as a paper towel at a wet t-shirt contest, the nhs are somewhat hit and miss aren't they?

 

[fossyant]

Back off it ! The Ami knocked me out a bit during the holdifays, but, and it's a big BUT, brought back my 'restless legs syndrome' and caused night sweats. My 'restless legs' are generally not too bad, usually in summer when it's hot and I get itchy feet and a twitch as I'm going to sleep. Well it came back with a vengeance, so I came off the tablets this week. Left with achy 'bits' again, but no twitchy legs. Might get better sleep. It's not for me ! Grrrr !

 

[Ajstradey]

Tricyclic anti-depressants appear to all have a similar affect on the body, which is shortly after taking them you are asleep whether you are standing or not. they don't half knock you out, however it is the morning after that i'm seeking advice on. has anyone got any experience with them?

I've been off the bike for a good 4 months now, at first i thought i had labyrinthitis (turning into david bowie wouldn't be all that bad i guess) and so did the doc, but as it progressed it eventually turns out i suffer from a form of migraines known as Vestibular migraines (lots of investigations have been done, MRI, specialists etc etc.) in essence i'm drunk without being drunk, at least when i have an attack, which are frequent without the meds.
i have been prescribed 20mg of amitriptyline nightly which is an anti-depressant the way it works is by inhibiting serotonin absorption in the brain so you have more happy chemicals knocking around rather then being soaked up by your receptors and leaving you feeling like a deflated balloon full of the blackest black times infinity, the knock on effect of this is it prevents migraines, they don't know why but it does. all i know is it stops me from falling over and i'm not depressed about all the lovely foods i can't have anymore (trigger foods such as chocolate and caffeine!)

ok, the side effects are well known, you take them at night as they make you sleepy but the morning after is like waking up after a night drinking, it is Really, REALLY hard to get up which for me is a polar opposite to how i was before, i was usually awake before the alarm, i am now increasingly sleeping through it.
so i'm groggy in the morning, less alert, my hope is that jumping on my bike in the crisp air and dicing with the morning traffic will awaken my brain like it did before i was taking these, i do find that i am a bit zombie like for a while and you can imagine my trepidation of cycling 7.5 miles in the morning against idiot drivers.

has anyone got any experience of cycling on these meds and can they offer advise?
thanks!
Pete

Tricyclic anti-depressants appear to all have a similar affect on the body, which is shortly after taking them you are asleep whether you are standing or not. they don't half knock you out, however it is the morning after that i'm seeking advice on. has anyone got any experience with them?

I've been off the bike for a good 4 months now, at first i thought i had labyrinthitis (turning into david bowie wouldn't be all that bad i guess) and so did the doc, but as it progressed it eventually turns out i suffer from a form of migraines known as Vestibular migraines (lots of investigations have been done, MRI, specialists etc etc.) in essence i'm drunk without being drunk, at least when i have an attack, which are frequent without the meds.
i have been prescribed 20mg of amitriptyline nightly which is an anti-depressant the way it works is by inhibiting serotonin absorption in the brain so you have more happy chemicals knocking around rather then being soaked up by your receptors and leaving you feeling like a deflated balloon full of the blackest black times infinity, the knock on effect of this is it prevents migraines, they don't know why but it does. all i know is it stops me from falling over and i'm not depressed about all the lovely foods i can't have anymore (trigger foods such as chocolate and caffeine!)

ok, the side effects are well known, you take them at night as they make you sleepy but the morning after is like waking up after a night drinking, it is Really, REALLY hard to get up which for me is a polar opposite to how i was before, i was usually awake before the alarm, i am now increasingly sleeping through it.
so i'm groggy in the morning, less alert, my hope is that jumping on my bike in the crisp air and dicing with the morning traffic will awaken my brain like it did before i was taking these, i do find that i am a bit zombie like for a while and you can imagine my trepidation of cycling 7.5 miles in the morning against idiot drivers.

has anyone got any experience of cycling on these meds and can they offer advise?
thanks!
Pete[/

just got back to this thread, ouch.
so christmas was fun, couple of migraines i figured i would have due to eating naughty foods. sleeping in really helped i must say, didn't wake up as groggy @doog i think you're right on the 12 hours thing so i'm going to give that a bash and see how i get on.
i have noticed something new is my sense of smell, it gets randomly powerfull. things that normally smell nice make me want to heave. hence when i went in the shed over christmas and picked up an old innertube just wow. it was like i'd been skunked up the nostril hah!

@MrPie glad to see i'm not the only one with MAV! i have heard of the vestibular exercises but i am yet to try them, i did go and see a neurologist but he was about as useful as a paper towel at a wet t-shirt contest, the nhs are somewhat hit and miss aren't they?

hi melon fish I was googling ami and cycling and came across this forum, the symptoms you've got sound exactly the same as mine, down to chocolate and caffein to name a few setting it off, iv also had tests for everything including MRI, saw a neurologist a few weeks ago and he prescribed ami starting 10mg going up to 70mg, I do a few sportives but when iv got an attack which seem to be getting worse iv got no strength to cycle and then on other days a good day I'm back to full throttle, do u think the ami has slowed your performance on one of you good days iv only just started to take it and the more I read about it the less it seems like a good idea.
Anthony

 

[Andrew_P]

Well I remember reading this and thinking bloody hell sounds like a shoot situation for these fellas, and here I am staring down the barrel of a prescription for Amitriptyline, and I don't even believe I have what has been diagnosed as Atypical (Of Unknown Origin) Facial Pain been off the bike mostly since the 27th of June, probably only done 300 miles in that time. All started after some crown work and then three infected teeth. Been and still on load of antibiotics.

Everything I read about them makes me not to want to even start, but I am starting to feel, and I think be treated like by the health profession as loon as I do not accept the diagnosis, so any good positive stories?

 

[roadrash]

they are normally prescribed as a mild anti deppressant, or as a muscle relaxant, they can have some pretty nasty side effects.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Amitriptyline has a well documented side affect of suppressing nerve pain so it comes down to how much pain you want to be in verses how well you can cope with the side effects of Amitriptyline. What dosage have you been prescribed?

 

[Andrew_P]

Amitriptyline has a well documented side affect of suppressing nerve pain so it comes down to how much pain you want to be in verses how well you can cope with the side effects of Amitriptyline. What dosage have you been prescribed?

10mg starting rising to 20mg over 2 weeks via the GP, or nortriptyline up 40mg via maxillofacial consultant.

 

[Drago]

They tried my Missus on these recently for MS pains. Within a few days she'd put on a load of weight and her legs stopped working.

I periodically get some chuffing unpleasant pain in my titanium elbow from damage to the ulnar nerve and they want to put me on Ami, but they can jog on.

 

[mrandmrspoves]

they are normally prescribed as a mild anti deppressant, or as a muscle relaxant, they can have some pretty nasty side effects.

Amitryptyline is not a mild anti depressant, it is quite potent in larger doses, but it does have a large side effect profile that restricts its use in many people. Tricyclic anti depressants have been around for decades and have been largely superseded by Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRI's) which tend to have less side effects.
Amitryptiline is NOT a muscle relaxant.

Although Amitryptiline is often used for neuropathic (nerve) pain , it is not actually licensed for this use.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

10mg starting rising to 20mg over 2 weeks via the GP, or nortriptyline up 40mg via maxillofacial consultant.

I don't remember having an issues with that dosage. Mine was significantly higher (in the order of 375mg at the worst and then I did have issues with the side effects, mostly sudden onset drowsiness after being up for around 90 mins in the morning, it would just hit me like a sledge hammer - probably the morning dose). I'm glad I am off it, but I needed it at the time along with tramadol 100mg 4 times a day) - ended up having the various branches of the ulnar nerve severed and a segment removed so that it could not try to heal again... I came to the conclusion I would rather live with a semi numb hand than permanent, chronic pain! It was for me the correct move.

 

[Andrew_P]

WOW 375mg is that not way over the max?? Everything I have read about it is quite dangerous at high dose that would have scared the crap out of me.

Not that many positives yet then!