r/Amitriptyline

Hello just documenting my beginning experience with 10 mg of AMITRIPTYLINE in case anyone is interested.

I am prescribed it for burning upper stomach pains, extreme bloating, loss of appetite and insomnia due to pain.

I am now able to sleep as before i would be woken up every 3-4 hours due to pain and would remain awake the rest of the night. It was a tortuous experience. Now I average 6-7 hrs of sleep but I still wake up at the same intervals bc my symptoms are still there but I’m in a sedated state so it’s easier to fall back asleep.

Increased appetite. With my pain subdued I am able to eat more. I have been able to maintain weight whereas before I was steadily losing a pound per week. I can see how this medication can easily cause weight gain for those without bowel issues.

Constipation - before, my bowel movements were regular and everyday. Even when I started developing gastric pains. Now I have only been able to poop twice in the past 10 days. It’s uncomfortable and does not help with the bloat I’m experiencing.

Vivid dreams - I experience very graphic dreams towards the end of my sleep.

Foggy brain - I feel like my brain is wrapped in plastic on this medication. Everything just feels numb and there’s a heaviness in the back of my head that I can’t seem to shake.

If I am able to fall asleep on my own again I would likely stop the medication despite the pain relief it offers. I can deal with the pain just not the sleeplessness. Can anyone share their experience with using AMI for sleep and coming off of it?

I was just prescribed 25mg of Amitriptyline today for my migraines and OCD. I really want to take it but google says weight gain and extreme fatigue are very common. How bad/common are these side effects?

I've been taking 10-20mg (almost always 10) nightly for sleep for 5-6 years. Does anyone have any experience getting off of a dose like this? I'd love to hear about your experiences.

I’ve been taking 10mg Amitriptyline prescribed by my GI for almost 3 months now. I’ve also been experiencing insomnia for about 3 months due to anxiety. I saw a psychiatrist last week who prescribed me 7.5mg Mirtazapine. She knows that I’m taking 10mg Amitriptyline and she said it should be fine - that was 5 days ago and I’m yet to take the Mirtazapine as I’m afraid it might have some bad interactions.

As my GI issues is now better, I plan to taper off the Ami soon. Anyone taking this combo? My plan is to taper off the Amitriptyline by .25mg each week while taking the 7.5 Mirtazapine at the same time. So in one month I’ll just be on the Mirta. TIA.

I've been prescribed Amitriptyline to help with depression. But I also have migraines, PMDD, and fibromyalgia, and GP said it might help all those things.

I feel nervous to start because I'm scared of feeling worse before I get better. I'm feeling really bad right now and don't know how i could cope with feeling worse and still do life. Do i need to book a week off work to get used to it?
The idea was I just take it during luteal phase, but i'm on day 21 now and feeling awful (and had migraine for 2 days).. was gonna take tonight but then got scared reading about feeling so tired when you start. And i'm already super fatigues rn. So maybe i should just start after my period and then cut back to just luteal when i'm used to it? i don't know :(

I've had bad experiences in the past with antidepressants and getting side effects (both physical and mental/emotional), but it's been around 8 years since I last tried one. I've never tried amitriptyline before.

I welcome any advice or reassurance.

I've been on amitriptyline for about a month for migraines. Very low dose. I've been eating a grapefruit almost every other day for the past week. Tonight I took my pill and ate a grapefruit at the same time. Welp.. i just learned that you shouldn't eat grapefruit at all while taking amitriptyline. Am I in danger? What symptoms should I look out for?

I have been on this for the last 6 years at a dose of 50 initially for neuralgic pain then went down to 25 and stabilised there. I have been dropping amitriptyline further from here for the last year since fluctuations in dose due to generics caused unknowingly withdrawal symptoms that at one point because almost incompatible with working.

The main issue I had on a higher dose of amitriptyline was relative gastroparesis and very slow motility that had me looking into SIBO/IBS trying to understand what I was experiencing. Within a few months of starting the drug I because quite bloated and gained weight. I suddenly could not eat pulses or i would balloon and have bad reflux that kept me up at night coughing. I also had palpitations that were sometimes a bit alarming.

On going down, i started to experience itchiness at night and allergy like symptoms I had never had (but not true allergies once tested), congested nose that stopped me from sleeping well and mouthbreathing, reflux that became a bit worse temporarily to my baseline, poor sleep with nightmares and no deep sleep, and whooshing tinnitus/ pounding in my ear at night. It took me a while to realise this connection, but I can now identify it as a reliable constellation of symptoms with every drop in dose. My withdrawal symptoms peak at 2-3 weeks which apparently makes sense with the effect to be felt in the neurotransmitters fully, and stabilise by 5-6 weeks on the dose.

I have worked out why this happens. Apparently amitriptyline is a “dirty” drug that targets multiple neurotransmitters (not selective) : serotonin, noradrenaline, acetylcholine and histamine.

It blocks acetylcholine (which moves the bowels, produces secretions in the body such as stomach acid and saliva and activates muscle and is key for concentration and cognition), histamine (which is important for wakefulness and arousal as well as itchiness/ immune response in response to irritants), reduces noradrenaline (responsible for fight or flight and stress/ activation response) and increases serotonin(which regulates mood, again gut).

When ami is introduced, serotonin is increased which somewhat helps mood. It numbs the nerves and the acetylcholine mediated parasympathetic systems, which helps with nerve and visceral pain, and suppression of noradrenaline contributes calmness

BUT

histamine is also very heavily suppressed - this is the main cause of the sleepiness and sedation side effect (this was great for me actually as I needed the sleep), and it can also reduce mast cell activation and allergies in those who suffer them.

acetylcholine suppression is the main effect that may contribute to dementia in older patients, as this block can cause confusion and absent REM sleep.
It also slows down your digestive system and urinary system (difficulty emptying bladder) as well as dry out secretions such as saliva (causing dry mouth for example). This was my personal nightmare with the drug - gastro effects gave me awful reflux keeping me up at night, constipation and a very bloated belly).

When ami is tapered, the opposite happens. The systems that regulate histamine, noradrenaline and acetylcholine rebound up and become temporarily over active. Result : stress over activation, excessive REM sleep to the point of nightmares and lack of deep sleep, insomnia, diarrhoea, vasodilation and oversecretion of mucosas (stuffed nose), possible itchiness (lots in my case), muscle tension. I have all on withdrawal though my bowels working a bit faster each time is a blessing. The itchiness was very disconcerting until I realised it was linked to the drop in dose (at one point I thought I had bed bugs).

I have been on a slow taper for the last year and just made it to 17 mg. Every half miligram is felt and rather than struggling, I am opting for minimising discomfort since i am very dependent on sleep to function at my job and cannot afford to go off sick. But I don’t know how long it will take to drop to 0 at this rate, and often wonder if it would be the same cutting down bigger chunks each time.

This is my story, and I wondered- does this happen to anyone else?

I’m looking for a safe taper for Amitriptyline 200mg. It’s helped my chronic pain, chronic migraines, mood and sleep so I am scared to get off of it but the side effects seem to be burdening my body in other ways. The constipation is horrible, I look 9 months pregnant I stay so bloated and just my stomach protrudes out. I am not all that hungry and it seems crazy to force myself to eat and eat. I met with a coach who told me I need to eat more (I only eat 1,400-1,600 calories a day) but I am full. She said if I don’t eat more I can’t burn calories to lose weight. Sleep is good aside from perimenopause lack of sleep. I already take Trintellix for mood but I am thinking of lowering the dose due to hand tremors. It does help my mood for sure though.
At one point, back in 2014-2015 I was on up to 350mg of Amitriptyline. I tapered off of what I had and cold turkey the rest. I later, hoped that I could do a small dose for pain and sleep around 2017. Went back to 50mg, then with additional pain from injuries and migraines, I foolishly increased it thinking I’d be fine. Now I am at 200mg and need to get off of it. I know it will be a long journey but I just don’t know how slow to take it. I did meet with a neurologist about this and they seemed to think this would be easy and I don’t trust that. I was over tired when I saw my neurologist wasn’t in and they had me see whoever else was on staff. I work nights 11pm-7am and so the neurologist asked if I take it once or twice a day and I messed up and told him twice which isn’t accurate. So he gave me a taper to ween off the morning dose. I called the office back to let them know my mistake and that was two days ago. One other time I tried to taper by 10mg and I was extremely moody and had diarrhea and couldn’t sleep.

Hi,

I'm taking Amit for possible nerve pain and to sleep better.

I've been on it for around 10-12 days not at 10mg.

I'm not enjoying the side effects so how long before I can totally stop.

Thanks

I've been told this by 3 different doctors now that "it's such a low dose you can just stop taking it tonight"

This time I stopped taking my usual 10mg Ami (for IBS) last night and switched to 50mg of Trazodone as instructed by a psychiatrist (for insomnia). Taken Trazodone again tonight and it's been 2hrs and I'm wide awake

Has anyone done this and been ok?

More info if needed;

I suffer with chronic perimenopause insomnia that hrt hasn't helped, I suspect hrt should be the thing that ends my insomnia, however after 3 years and multiple different doses/methods it hasn't

I *think* amitriptyline helped somewhat as I did feel sleepy 1.5-2hrs after taking it, however I'd sleep for 1hr (to 2hrs on a good night), then I'm awake again for hours.. I may then get another 2-3hrs but it's extremely broken, sometimes it's just time to get up.

Dariorexant was no use, Zopiclone worked well but quickly developed tolerance as I was taking it most nights as the insomnia is so bad.. done all the usual before that, melotonin etc..

diphenhydramine made me feel pretty much the same way Trazodone did last night.. stuffy nose, terrible joint pain, sweating but couldn't get warm, massive headache.. this went on for 12hrs and I got about 1.5hr sleep.

Is it really safe to "just stop" as I've been told every time?

I expressed my concern at doing so as I cut down to 5mg for a week and stopped, but despite that I got head zaps and worse insomnia... This fell on deaf ears as he repeated "on 10mg it's fine to just stop and switch" so I'm doing as I'm instructed as he's expecting me to be on 100mg Trazodone in 4 weeks when he next sees me. None of them listen and it makes me doubt myself.

Hello guys.. I WOULD like to say after 2 months stopping amitryptaline.. Im feeling better

Until 7 weeks I had mood swings, diarrhea and bad constant nausea, no appetite.. Anxiety every now and abit insomnia.. But all is better after maybe 7 weeks, I had like 4 days in row very good then today I feel low mood and abit nausea but I ate and clean nothing serious except like I dont feel happy..

ps Im on escitalopram since 9 months

On amitryptaline 2 years and half 25mg

I wonder if its normal after almost 8 weeks and suddenly have mood swing is normal with dizziness??

Also to tell people that it will end, dont worry

I was talking amitriptyline 10mg for 4 months for back pain. It really helped with the pain but I was ridiculously sedated on it all day and it only got worse the longer I was taking it. I dropped down to 5mg after 2 months and still really struggled with the sedation. I literally couldn't function, struggled to wake up and was just doing the minimum to get by, couldn't drive or work etc. I thought my back was getting better so I went down to a quarter pill for 2 weeks and then stopped completely 2 weeks ago. It's been awful, a significant increase in my back pain but also palpitations, headaches, muscle shivers, restless legs/entire body, temperature regulation all over the place, so unbelievably tired, constipation, tmj flare up and I just generally feel like my nervous system is in stress mode, like I can't relax. My muscles are aching from being so tense, it feels like I've been doing heavy workouts.

I really didn't expect such a small dose to cause such huge withdrawal effects. I feel like I'm being a total drama queen about it all. I was supposed to be going on a big holiday in 2 weeks but I've decided I need to cancel as there's no way I could cope.

Can anyone relate to this and offer me any hope?

I was on 150mg of amitriptyline for 6 years for MDD and insomnia. For context, I also have Multiple Sclerosis. I decided to stop taking amitriptyline after realizing the cognitive changes I'd been having for a few years had nothing to do with my MS. I was having issues remembering things, I was experiencing aphasia, and I was dropping everything from my hands. When I would take my pills at night, I would go into fight or flight mode, followed by being so heavily sedated I couldn't wake up if I tried. I noticed the sleep I was getting wasn't actually restful, and I wasn't dreaming anymore (that I could recall). In January of 2025, I started the process to taper off. I started by halving my dose to 75mg, and every 2 weeks, I'd go down until I made it to 10mg per my provider's instructions. I followed this exactly, and I finished the process, but I've been having withdrawal symptoms for over a year. This has been kicking my ass and leaving me for dead! I have dysautonomia caused by my discontinuation of Amitriptyline, and it doesn't help that I have MS. Every day, I have palpitations throughout the day. When I wake up, I'm usually nauseous and or sick to my stomach. Sometimes I have attacks where I suddenly can't move, and these scare me the most. It feels like my body weighs more than I can carry, and my heart feels weak. These attacks usually last between 20 minutes to a few hours. I have a hard time maintaining my body temperature to an extreme. If the temperature drops even a degree, I begin to tremble heavily, and my teeth start chattering. I have to be careful when I shower because if I get too hot, I get so dizzy and weak it takes everything in me to get out before I faint. I have an overactive bladder and go more times than I can count in a day. The worst symptom is that I wake up and can't go back to sleep because I'm as wide awake as if I had a cup of coffee. Once the sun comes out, I get horribly sleepy. It's such a roller coaster, and I've been hanging on, hoping it'll be over soon, but it seems to be the gift that never stops giving. Has anyone gone through something like this?

Ok here goes asking for advice ...

Im 33 days into zoloft/sertraline cold turkey after taking it for 5 weeks and having extreme reaction to it probably not helped by being on 50mg Ami ( dr advised CT)

I have chronic hyponatremia likely being caused now by Ami

My daughter graduates end of june im starting the ami taper after that so id appreciate some direction and success stories.

Also want to highlight that Ami is an amazing med for nerve pain and it worked well for me for the first 3-4 years but at this stage its actually doing less for me so im not here to Ami bash just for advice

( mods - i know im a baby acc but i lost my old acc so please dont dump me lol ive tried so hard to get karma points this last 13days 🙏)

Before you say ask my doctor I can’t because they literally haven’t responded to my chart and keep saying they will call back but I literally can’t talk to a human so I am coming to reddit.

I’ve been on 25 mg for IBS since last year. I am now tapering off. My dr told me to just go right down to 10 mg. It was fine for a week now I’m heaving headaches and on and off diarrhea.

The internet says you should go by 2.5mg so I’m concerned I’m going off of it too quickly. Does anyone have advice?

My thoughts are I could just keep doing 10 but I’m annoyed with the discomfort. Go back up to 20 then taper down slowly by 5mg every two weeks. Or alternate 25mg and 10mg in a pattern until I can go down.

Any insights are appreciated thank you!

Has anybody gained weight on this medicine, I’ve been taking it just over a month and I’ve put on 4 kg please help because I’m dieting like crazy and not losing ANYTHING

I'm after seeing if anyone else has had stomach pain as a side effect of amitriptyline and if so if it settled once your body adjusted to the medication.

This is my 5th form of meditation for my chronic migraine and I just want something to help so really want to give it a good try but the stomach pain is hard to move past.

I'm just hoping it's a small inconvenience that will pass?

Any help appreciated

Hi just saw my DR today and after discussing getting off the med, he told me to just start taking it every other day for a few weeks then I can stop taking it completely. Reviewing this plan I haven’t seen any people or medical websites that advise this or even mention this method. My main concern is experiencing withdrawal effects every other day for the weeks that I will be taking it every other day then be in full withdrawal when I stop. Any advice?

I wanted to post this because when I was going through amitriptyline withdrawal I felt completely alone, and I know there are other people searching Reddit terrified by what they’re experiencing.

I was on 15mg of Amitriptyline for about 7 months for pain. My brand got changed and it caused a massive cascade of side effects that eventually led to me coming off it completely.

Looking back, this drug clearly did not agree with me and I pushed through side effects I probably shouldn’t have ignored.

My withdrawal symptoms were honestly brutal and in no particular order included:

* Full body twitching. I had some twitching on the drug already but coming off made it 100x worse * Itching, probably because it acts like an antihistamine * Jerking like i was electricified when trying to fall asleep * Audible hallucinations at night while drifting off voices and tweeting birds (not uncommon i found out from a nhs spinal interface physio) * Brain zaps * Paresthesia * Brain fog * Loss of appetite * Debilitating panic attacks * Uncontrolled shaking and adrenaline surges * Suicidal thoughts. These were already bad on the drug but got much worse during withdrawal * My face moving by itself while falling asleep and restless legs * Pain, aches and increased pelvic pain * Crying spells

* Weird euphoria whenever i dropped down a dose would last 5ish days * Insomnia * High heart rate. I already had SVT before taking it and nobody picked up that this medication seemed to make it worse. Been diagnosed now though so theres that.

The worst part was how long it lasted. I stopped completely on the 4th of June and by October I was only just starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Propranolol helped me massively with the svt, adrenaline surges and panic symptoms.

It’s now May and I’m pretty much back to myself. I still get the occasional brain zap or twitch but nothing compared to before.

I also want to mention my taper because I genuinely think I came off too fast and I don’t want others repeating my mistake.

This was my taper:

* 12mg for 1 month * 10mg for 3 weeks * 8mg for 2 weeks * 5mg for 5 days * 2.5mg for 5 days

The taper got quicker at the end because my withdrawal symptoms were getting worse and the doctors got scared and rushed me off it.

I also had what people call “windows and waves” the entire time and didn’t even realise that’s what was happening until later.

During the taper and after stopping, I’d get short periods where I felt more normal again. Those were the windows. Then the symptoms would come crashing back hard again. Those were the waves.

At first my windows only lasted a few hours, but over time they slowly got longer and longer. Eventually they started lasting days, then weeks. Now I don’t really get waves like that anymore.

For me, my cycle massively affected my waves as well.

A few things that seemed to help me personally:

No alcohol No caffeine No sugar where possible Omega 3 supplements with high DHA Avoiding loads of random supplements because some seemed to make me worse Trying to eat even when I had no appetite, even if it was just porridge.

I followed that pretty strictly for around 3 months while my nervous system calmed down.

I know everyone is different, but I wanted to add this because when I was in the thick of it I genuinely thought I was permanently damaged. Time was the biggest healer for me.

Please go slower than I did if you can. I’m not saying everyone will react like I did because plenty of people come off this medication fine, but if you’re in the middle of severe withdrawal right now and scared you’ll never feel normal again, I just want you to know that things did improve for me with time.

I might not respond much, i wanna close this chapter but i made a promise that once i got better id write this to help others who are sensitive like me. You arnt broken you will heal but it does take time.

I’ve been on 25mg for over a year and one week ago I went down to 10 mg. I didn’t feel like this would change but i’ve been having bouts of diarrhea and i’m wondering if it’s related. I have emetophobia so this is super scary for me. Any help appreciated