anytriptiline: my 12 year journey with amitriptyline / Elavil

[anytriptaline]

On 6/26/2022 at 2:25 AM, ChessieCat said:

 

Other members say that when they do too much exercise it makes their symptoms worse.

 

exercise-do-more-do-less-do-nothing-what-worked-for-you

 

 

Too bad, I actually liked weightlifting even though I suck at it

Plan to invest some of my salary raise into an expensive gym membership since it has a pool. Want to see if I'm able to handle swimming

[anytriptaline]

Long time not writing

 

In July I attempted to quit amitriptyline for 5 days. Only for the insomnia to come back again

 

Really started to question if perphenazine was the culprit of my problems, so decided to do a 4-month taper of it with the approval of my doctor (he wanted 4 weeks). I’ve been staying at .84mg amitriptyline since then

 

I did 1mg tapers, since I knew I could handle it. The first two tapers weren’t perfect, I felt “off” for a couple of weeks. The last two went perfectly fine. And I’ve been perphenazine-free since the end of November

 

However, things haven’t improved at all. Still deal with fatigue, depersonalization. I’ve basically stopped using my car during the weekdays to avoid any stress

 

I found a gym a walking distance from my place, and at least I feel it’s helping me somewhat. Last year I dropped almost 10kg due to a severe lack of appetite and nausea. Now I feel like I’m starving all the time and weight is keeping pretty stable, plus I feel I’m starting to get some degree of cardio health

 

Tonight I will try to remove amitriptyline once for good. I plan to give myself at least three weeks to try. If I don’t sleep well for over 4 days, I will just take one hydroxyzine 

 

If I can’t handle it or the symptoms don’t improve I’m throwing the towel, I’ll just finish my current project at work, move with my parents and just see if some extended rest helps

[anytriptaline]

The drop seems to be going surprisingly well. I'm only taking 300mcg of melatonin each night. I'm also complementing with fish oil

I've been sleeping an average of 6-7 hours a day, I haven't slept this much without a medical help since 2007

Thursday was particularly good, but since friday I started having obvious withdrawal issues. I feel "off", sometimes very sleepy, and a feeling of the start of a panic attack, I'm slurring words. But overall I feel very calm. Yesterday I drove, although I will limit it to Sundays until I start feeling better

I also stopped taking coffee, so I might be going to a double withdrawal. Tomorrow I plan to test how I react to my usual cup of coffee in the morning

[anytriptaline]

OK, second week has been overall better than the first one, slept a lot and was more calm

Except yesterday that was an outlier, I had big anxiety and depersonalization in the evening, and I only slept 1 hour at most, probably the worst night in like four years, work seems to have started busy and demanding, so who knows how am I going to pull it off

I did removed the melatonin on Wednesday I believe, hoping it would help with the fatigue I've been feeling. I will obviously reintroduce it today

I did take coffee, a cup on Thursday and Sunday. It didn't go well, it didn't felt like coffee, it didn't felt like nothing as I've become accustomed the last few years. It felt like a psychiatric med, very weird feeling, difficult to describe, it made everything feel off the moment I took it. I guess it might be a good sign since it probably means my brain is rewiring and can't understand what to do with caffeine

This week I will start yoga training to supplement the gym, let's see how it goes, 2 days at most to start. Want to get a massage this Saturday since I've read it helps others. I also ran out of fish oil and got a cod liver variant from the same brand that has less omega 3 content per gram, but has more DHA overall, I've heard it's better for cognition and mental wellbeing, current fish oil has never felt like it does anything

[anytriptaline]

Haven't written in a while, might not do it again soon

In short, things haven't gone well

 

Week 3-4 felt like a step in the right direction and hoped things would get better after that, but they haven't

I have maybe one "not so bad" week followed by two really bad ones

Outside of reduced sleep, which isn't really that bad, I don't feel any different than I felt with amitriptyline

I'm beyond exhausted, with depersonalization, I'm so sleepy I have problems believing I'm not living in a dream

I'll see if time fixes anything, but I doubt it. I just feel I wasted so many years with the taper and it didn't fix anything

[Altostrata]

Hello, @anytriptaline What drug changes have you made in the last 4 months?

[anytriptaline]

Last 4 months? Only amitriptyline, I was taking 0.84mg in February when I dropped it and had been taking that dose for 6 months

I also tapered perphenazine quick from august to December last year.

 

Once in a while I've been taking hydroxyzine (10mgs) when I have really bad sleep nights, but never more than 3 nights in a row. Haven't taken it in two weeks

[Najla]

49 دقيقة، قال أيتريتالينا:

آخر 4 أشهر؟ فقط أميتريبتيلين، كنت أتناول 0.84 ملغ في فبراير عندما أسقطته وكنت أتناول تلك الجرعة لمدة 6 أشهر

لقد قمت أيضا بتناقص البيرفينازين بسرعة من أغسطس إلى ديسمبر من العام الماضي.

 

من حين لآخر كنت أتناول الهيدروكسيزين (10 ملغ) عندما يكون لدي ليال نوم سيئة حقا، ولكن ليس أكثر من 3 ليال متتالية. لم آخذها منذ أسبوعين

Did you get to zero? Unfortunately, I was also using Amitriptyline for only 18 months, 10gm ,and I stopped ten months ago, and I am still in very severe waves.

[anytriptaline]

10 minutes ago, Najla said:

Did you get to zero? Unfortunately, I was also using Amitriptyline for only 18 months, 10gm ,and I stopped ten months ago, and I am still in very severe waves.

Yes, it's been more than 12 weeks without amitriptyline. In my case, I took it practically non-stop for 16 years

[Najla]

قبل 31 دقيقة، قال أيتريتالينا:

نعم، لقد مر أكثر من 12 أسبوعا بدون أميتريبتيلين. في حالتي، أخذتها عمليا دون توقف لمدة 16 عاما

Ooooh you need patience then because you are still in the beginning all I can tell you is that the first months are the hardest and the symptoms improve over time very slowly be strong I hope we get out of this feeling soon for the better