r/nortriptyline

My ENT wants me to try 10-20mg of Nortriptyline for Post-Viral Laryngeal Hypersensitivity and I’m always scared to take medicines. I do have Moderate Generalized Anxiety and a little bit of Health Anxiety because I don’t like side effects and stuff that makes you worse than what your taking it for but I do need to calm the nerves in my throat to hopefully allow my nerves to return to the normal state of calmness instead of always feeling hypersensitive which causes chronic throat clearing, tickly itchy sensations.
I don’t have heart problems or Migraines and the ENT said it would be used as a Neuromodulator, not an Anti-depressant.
Does anyone have any experience with this or the diagnosis or any useful positive information about this Nortriptyline drug as a trial. He said it may take a few months to get full results and then stay on for 3months or so then taper off over 3 months.
Is this medicine difficult to get off and does it have any lasting effects? Does it mess with your brain to where you can’t get off of it? I’m trying to weight the pros and cons and decide whether I should take it & try it or not.

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.

I've been on nortriptyline about 14 months, started it for nerve pain, and it worked. Daily pain went from about a 6 to a background 2.

What surprised me is how much was still there once the pain quieted down. Years of cancelling things, not committing more than a week out, saying no by default — those habits didn't leave when the pain did.

The gap between sessions is where it falls apart for a lot of people — and honestly that's a format problem more than a you problem. There are CBT platforms built for exactly this, where you submit worksheets and a therapist responds every weekday. Happy to point at the one I'd look at first. Affiliate link, disclosed: https://go.online-therapy.com/aff\_c?offer\_id=2&aff\_id=6221

This is alongside the medication and your doctor, not instead. Not a crisis service — if you're in a dark stretch, use your local line.

Anyone else find this? Pain got better

I am using it for spasms of the esophagus, which cause chest pain and sometimes head pressure. I had been using Nitroglycerin, which worked well, but my doctor said Nortriptolyne was better long term. I used it for five days and had a constant headache, spacey too. So I stopped. I'm wondering if this is common and I should give it more time.

I've been taking 30mg nortriptyline nightly for migraines for around 2-3 months. Over the past month, I've started getting intermittent episodes where my resting HR is around 105-115, compared to my usual 80-95. When standing, it can reach around 115-120. It is usually there for a few hours/the whole day.

It happens a few times a week rather than every day, and during these episodes I sometimes feel like I'm breathing slightly harder than usual, and I sometimes feel a thumping in my chest, can’t tell if there is much chest pain or just discomfort, and other than being anxious about it I guess I feel okay.

I've been to a&e twice and seen my GP, and my ECGs have all been normal with no afib. I also had a 24-hour ECG about two weeks ago and am waiting for the results.
Has anyone else experienced this on nortriptyline, particularly at 30mg? Did it improve or did you have to change medication?

Any advice is greatly appreciated as I am very worried right now 😿😿

Hi I don't know how active this reddit is but I'm really freaking out. So I have been taking escitalopram for a long long time for my anxiety 20mg to be exact now recently at my last doctor's appointment I mentioned how sense may of 2025 I have been getting headaches every month several times a month usually on the right side of my hide and eye ranging in pain from 1-5 (usually 1-3) so she said let's try 10mg of escitalopram and to come back in a month and see what happens. So I just took it for the first time and I saw it was an anti depresent so out of curiosity I looked up if the two can be taken together to which I saw that it can't or it's risky too and needs to be closely watched so now I'm scared to sleep or do anything because I'm scared I'm going to die so like help?? Am I actually in trouble??

Alguien por aqui tomando nortriptilina para la hipersensividad visceral? Yo acabo de empezar la semana 4 y aun no noto mejoria, estoy en 25mg.

Como efectos secundarios tengo sueños vividos y algo de cansancio.

Me gustaria leer vuestras esperiencias.

My doctor is brainstorming with me about making the switch from Amitriptyline (Elavil) to Nortriptyline (I don’t know yet if this would be pamelor or Aventyl) for me due to excessive weight gain from the amitriptyline. I have gained 40 lbs in exactly 1 year even though I eat healthy (I’m mindful abt calories), I walk 30 minutes every single morning, and I do core exercises. The weight does not budge, it goes up if anything. I’m currently on 100mg of Amitriptyline nightly. It does wonders for the symptoms I was experiencing such as chronic nausea, vertigo sensations, anxiety attacks and migraines but I just cannot function or mentally be well with the weight gain that isn’t stopping. Has anyone made this switch and has had a positive experience? Did you have to taper / cross taper?

I’m posting this with hope that someone can share their experience with this drug. I’m being prescribed 10mg of Aventyl to address “visceral sensitivity”. Basically, I have been experiencing IBS and GERD symptoms for a long time. Doctor thinks this drug can help. However I also live with Hyperacusis (sensitivity and pain to sound) as well as mild tinnitus. I read that this drug can cause or worsen Tinnitus and I’m very afraid.
I tried one dose last month and woke up with some ringing in my ears. I panicked and stopped.
However, the digestive symptoms are becoming too much to bear. I’m already on Mirtazapine. I’m terrified of losing weight because I’m starting to fear food again.

I know I sound like an absolute mess. I am very much in need of some hope or encouragement. I’m at my wits end.

I took my first dose of nortriptyline (Teva) 10mg last night for post-concussive symptoms and slept very hard. About two hours before I actually got out of bed, I woke up and noticed that it felt like my automatic breathing wasn’t kicking in normally. Whenever I started drifting back to sleep, it seemed like my body wouldn’t automatically take the next breath, so I would have to consciously breathe and it would wake me back up. This happened for a period of time and made it difficult to get back to sleep.

Eventually it seemed to go away enough that I was able to fall back asleep for another hour or so. I’ve also been extremely tired/groggy today.

I’ve experienced a similar “manual breathing” sensation with a couple of other medications in the past and ended up discontinuing them. I’m curious whether anyone here has experienced anything similar when starting nortriptyline, and if so, whether it was temporary and went away as you adjusted to the medication.

Edit: noticed the auto mod post for manufacturer, unfortunately it’s not allowing me to update the title though I did add it in after nortriptyline in the first paragraph.

A question for people who have successfully used TCA’s to treat their IBS-D… did you gain weight? I’ve read so many successful stories with these antidepressants but I’ve also heard so much about substancial weight gain. Has anyone not gained any weight?

57F. I’m considering restarting very low-dose nortriptyline and would really appreciate hearing from people with similar symptoms.

I have a complicated GI/motility picture with documented rapid intestinal transit. My worst days usually start before I eat: I wake up profoundly fatigued/woozy with heavy or burning legs, nausea/upper abdominal pressure, multiple bowel movements, and then my intestines can develop hours of very strong cramping/spasms and trapped-gas pressure.

My doctors have discussed a gut-brain/nerve-signaling component, and I’m now also pursuing neurology because of the burning/heavy leg symptoms. I’ve tried antispasmodics and peppermint products, but they don’t reliably prevent these all-day flares.

I have nortriptyline at home and am wondering whether a very low dose could calm the GI nerve signaling/cramping and possibly help the nerve-type leg pain too. I’m sensitive to medications and worried about fatigue, constipation, and feeling drugged.

For anyone using it for IBS, visceral pain, functional dyspepsia, neuropathic pain, or similar symptoms:

• What dose did you start with?
• How long before you noticed improvement?
• Did it help nausea, abdominal cramping/spasms, gas pressure, or diarrhea/rapid transit?
• Did it help any nerve pain or whole-body symptoms?
• Were the first couple of weeks rough?
• If nortriptyline wasn’t the right medication, what neuromodulator worked better for you?

I’m especially interested in success stories from people who started very low and slowly increased. I’m not looking for a diagnosis...just real experiences before deciding whether to try it again.

I have been prescribed 10mg of nortriptyline for VM after failing a ton of meds. I took it last night at 9:30pm for my first dose with a late dinner. Ive been on the couch all day. Its not nessisarily like sleepy I feel like my brain is just like muted and sluggish. I was told this is like a pediatric dose. Anyone else experience this? Will it get better?

I (24M) started Amitriptyline over a year ago due to chronic pain from neuropathy in my legs. I also have IBS, raging insomnia and seeing how much this drug covered it seemed like a God send. The daytime drowsiness was the only side effect that bothered me but it felt worth it at the time. Now the drowsiness and the weight gain really got to me so I researched Nortryptyline and my neurologist let me switch.

Now that 3 weeks has gone by, I couldn't be happier. I never realized how burnt out constantly being tired makes you feel (shocker). I found I was hating my job, my performance and lates at work was a problem and I was just short and pissy with everyone. I gained around 20 pounds and due to the muscle fatigue and PFP in my knees, I needed physio to help gain the strength in my legs back. I found I was catching my legs giving out and I fell a few times. It was really disheartening since it felt like I was just losing control.

With sleeping I was so in love with the idea of falling asleep right away that I ignored the fact that I would sleep 8-10 hours a night and never feel rested. I was drinking around 3 coffees a day and still felt awful and if I didnt have any caffeine I was screwed.

Now that I made the swap, life couldn't be better. I stopped hating my job, the brain fog disappeared, I've lost 10 pounds already since I'm able to walk more and not feel always snacky or never full. I am able to wake up before my alarm again and if I have a coffee, its usually a small one from time to time because I get jittery now. The pain management is still effective while having no crazy side effects.

The only side effect I had that was a bit annoying, but my neurologist warned me about was rebound insomnia. But I was able to fix that pretty fast with melatonin.

Sorry for the long post, I am just so happy I wanted to share this.

Chronic pain sucks and I am wishing the best to everyone going through it!

TLDR: Amitryptoline make me too sleepy and gain weight, Nortryptyline make me not too sleepy and lose the gained weight.

Hi, I’m still experiencing heart palpitations and increased anxiety 5 weeks after my last dose of nortriptyline.. Is this normal??

I had to taper down quite fast as my heart rate was too high, doctors orders. I went from 40 down to 0mg in about 3 weeks time.

I started taking 10mg for pain in mid march and slowly went up to 40mg. After a couple of weeks on 40mg I started noticing my resting heart rate being too high. Went to the doctors.. Had and ECG, blood pressure, pulse and was told to stop the med because of my increased heart rate. My heart rate has since gone down to normal. Only thing left are my daily palpations. More annoying than anything but still, I was never like this pre nortriptyline.

Anyone else experienced something similar. I’m 30 F and on no other meds except the birth control pill.