Need advice whether to take amitriptyline?

[[Buddie]]

Has anyone taken this, how hard is it to come off. Been talking to friend her Mum on low dose really helps her anxiety, wondering about trying it as it works directly on the nerves. Couldn't get on with SSRI's but imagine all AD's are different , think SSRI's particularly potent. Just got stage really had enough after 31 months of this

[[Buddie]]

[...],

I had a terrible experience with amitriptyline. I went for flumazenil treatments, had improved greatly but my sleep was still bumpy and the doctor prescribed it for me, threw me right back into withdrawal. I know everyone's different but I know someone else that took a tricyclic that put them in a really bad place and that's the type of ad it is. Maybe someone else has had good experience but I am very afraid of it. I'm so sorry you're struggling I wish you could find some relief. Hugs!

[...]

[[Buddie]]

 First i wish you luck with your trial,

 But i need to say, it feels like you see ADs as the only thing your willing to take, maybe because its the only drugs that in your judgment are for case or your diagnose, but many drugs are used off label for anxiety,  or maybe for this kind of messed up toughts leaded by this drug injure, im dealing with that shit too,

 I told you what drug provided me relief back theh and i told you my history with it,  ADs are something that mess me up given my brain or cns or whatever what got sensible due to what benzos did, and it revs me up bad, im just tellin you that again and again, and again, because you already had a bad reaction to ads, anyway in your eyes or judgment only ads are for you because you dont have anything that other drugs are capable to help, well  good luck,

 I hope other folks could give you their experience with ADs

[[Buddie]]

I think that you should talk to your dr. as well
Anyone in your family ever take it and do well?

I just got a gene test done for over 200 drugs and most antidepressants are a huge no for me, as I'm either a poor metabolizer or rapid metabolizer etc.

Not sure if they have that where you are, but it's been invaluable to me

I also had great luck with L-Theanine and lemon balm in the past.

[...]

[[Buddie]]

I'd prefer to take anecdotal evidence from here than advice from a GP personally. But I wouldn't take another psych drug either way.

[[Buddie]]

Yes, that is certainly true [...].

One thing I would note [...], is that the addiction medicine specialist that I see, said that amitriptiline was one of the ADs that she never gives to people in [...], as it is way too stimulating and revs people up. I think this is the anecdotal evidence that [...] was referencing.

Once I'm off all this crap, I will also never touch another psych drug.

If you can get some neurofeedback done, that is really good for the brain.
Even 10 sessions, are a great start to help out.

Good luck
[...]

[[Buddie]]

I’m with mare. Talk to ur dr?!?!  The people that got us into this mess to begin with?

I had a top psychiatrist tell me [...] from antidepressants is like having the flu.

That is just not true. I’d rather take tips from people who have actually had it!

As u know Leanne I was polydrugged and one of the meds was amitriptiline. I have eye damage from it snd who knows if it will ever clear up. It can cause glaucoma. My dr had me take higher and higher doses and I had every symptom in the book but up she went. Thank god the psychiatrist I was seeing said get off that immediately and swapped me to dotheipine. All symptoms went away. It’s in the same family as amitriptiline.

Maybe u should have the genetic testing so u know which drugs are safer for u? I wish I had done that before chopping and changing on the insane advice of the “doctors” who were in charge of my care.

[[Buddie]]

Hasn't anybody had good experience on this, as acts on nervous system seemed good idea,  it's recommended by Ashton is symptoms are severe, just in need of life raft as sinking fast here😫

[[Buddie]]

I'll just start by saying I am super sensitive to antidepressants but I had to take something after my steroid experience put me into a huge setback, so sensitive to SSRI's that a 16th of a pill every second day of lexapro worked very well for me, I also tried Amitriptyline, I started at a quarter of a pill which made me a little bit tired but no weird side effects, went to half a pill which just made me tired again. I did get up to a full pill because I felt like 1/2 wasn't doing enough, didn't seem very strong and they were only 10 milligram pills when the starting dose is usually 50-100mg. No real negative experience except that it made me hungry all the time, I wasnt on it long enough for it to "start working" the month that a AD takes to work.
if you do decide to try it out I would just start off at a quarter of a pill of a 10 milligram which with that medication is a super low dose, wishing you the best.

I will add I am super sensitive to everything, so sensitive tomatos and pork would send me into panic attacks 1/2 haft eating them, this sensitivity is now gone, took about a year

[[Buddie]]

Have you considered Psilocybin (magic mushrooms)? I think I would try that before a chemical psych drug personally. As far as I'm aware (and happy to be corrected) there's not growing epidemic and online support forums for people damaged by them.

There's growing evidence of it helping OCD and intrusive thoughts.

There's talk of trials here https://psychiatry.arizona.edu/news/psilocybin-and-ocd

and some pubmed
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33225874/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17196053/