Nortriptyline Withdrawal Symptoms?
I started taking nortriptyline for anxiety/depression/insomnia in early May. I started at 10mg for about a week, then increased to 25mg. In early June, my doctor increased me to 50mg since I was struggling to fall asleep. At the end of July, we followed up and due to daytime grogginess and other unpleasant side effects, she decided to take me off of nortriptyline.
In early August, I decreased to 25mg for a couple weeks, and in a couple days I will be going down to 10mg for the next couple weeks.
I have been reading up about people's experiences with withdrawal symptoms, and I am terrified. I am trying to be hopeful that, since I will have only been on the medication for 4 months, my symptoms might not be so severe. However, I do know that the 2 times I have missed a dose (only 25mg, once when I was increasing and once when I was decreasing). I experienced heart palpitations, increased anxiety and irritability, muscle aches, and horrible migraines.
I have also been reading that withdrawal symptoms typically worsen after a week or so, when the medication is out of your system, and that may include GI issues or flu-like symptoms. I am really worried about this because I had planned a trip, and I just realized it would be exactly a week after I would have stopped the nortriptyline entirely.
Does anyone have any experience tapering off nortriptyline on a similar timeline/dosage? Most of what I am reading is talking about higher doses or after taking the med for years, so I am curious to know if it would be just as bad if I had only been on it for a few months. I know everyone has different sensitivities to medications, but I would just like to get some idea to prepare myself best.
I have also been told that 10mg is the smallest dose in pill form. Is that true? I have only ever seen them in capsules so I cannot cut them in half. I'm not sure if I'd be able to do a liquid medicine, but I would try it if it's the only option and if I end up struggling with withdrawing.