MaymieCat: Suffering immensely from amitriptyline and ativan withdrawal - help

[MaymieCat]

Hi everyone,

I was put on 50 mg of amitriptyline for migraine prevention. I took it for 3 1/2 years successfully without side effects. Decided in June 2021 that I wanted to get pregnant again and began tapering (did not know of this site until recently). I tapered down to 20 mg by the end of October 2021 without too much of a problem other than insomnia for a few days with each taper that resolved quickly.

I held at 20 mg until after the holidays and then began to come down by a half mg every couple of weeks. I began having some panic attacks and insomnia once I got to around 17.5 mg. I saw a psychiatrist in February 2022 who advised me to go faster with my taper and be done with the drug by March. She also put me on lorazepam, assuring me I was not at risk for addiction.

I took the lorazepam at a dosage of between 0.5 to 1.5 mg per day about three days a week for three weeks while weaning down to 15.5 mg of amitriptyline. It was then that all hell broke loose. I stopped the lorazepam totally last Sunday (so four days off). I tried reinstating my amitriptyline to 20mg but got worse. I have since gone down to 16 mg (my last somewhat stable dosage). I have severe insomnia, literally cannot sleep except for half hour naps totaling two hours per night. I have constant panic attacks. I have lost all pleasure in everything, and I cannot eat at all and can barely keep any fluids down. I weighed 142 pounds in October and am down to 116 pounds, 10 pounds of that in the last couple of weeks. I have constant diarrhea when I even drink Gatorade or Pedialyte.

I just want to stabilize again so I can get back to taking care of my son and living my life. I was doing really well before my most recent taper - running several miles a day, migraines very stable, calm and patient with my son. I just want to sleep and eat again. My doctors have been no help. Please help me. I don't care about having a second baby anymore. I don't even care about stopping this drug. I just need sleep and food and to function. I will stay on it the rest of my life rather than go through this again.

Edited March 3, 2022 by MaymieCat
Added more details

[Shep]

Hi, Maymiecat.

 

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants.

 

On 3/3/2022 at 2:56 PM, MaymieCat said:

I held at 20 mg until after the holidays and then began to come down by a half mg every couple of weeks. I began having some panic attacks and insomnia once I got to around 17.5 mg. I saw a psychiatrist in February 2022 who advised me to go faster with my taper and be done with the drug by March. She also put me on lorazepam, assuring me I was not at risk for addiction.

I took the lorazepam at a dosage of between 0.5 to 1.5 mg per day about three days a week for three weeks while weaning down to 15.5 mg of amitriptyline. It was then that all hell broke loose. I stopped the lorazepam totally last Sunday (so four days off). I tried reinstating my amitriptyline to 20mg but got worse. I have since gone down to 16 mg (my last somewhat stable dosage). I have severe insomnia, literally cannot sleep except for half hour naps totaling two hours per night.  I have constant panic attacks. I have lost all pleasure in everything, and I cannot eat at all and can barely keep any fluids down. I weighed 142 pounds in October and am down to 116 pounds, 10 pounds of that in the last couple of weeks. I have constant diarrhea when I even drink Gatorade or Pedialyte.

 

It's possible you developed a dependency to lorazepam, even with periodic use. 

 

I would reinstate .50 mg lorazepam and see how you feel. If you feel better, it's likely benzo dependency. 

 

Please tell us more about your amitriptyline taper - we need the exact day and month of each reduction going back to January of this year.  

 

One you provide this information, we can give you more targeted advice. 

 

Also, please set up a drug signature. Here is how: 

 

How to List Drug History in Signature

 

A direct link to your signature is here:

 

Account - Settings - Create or Update Your Signature

 

Please continue to use this thread to document your taper and to ask questions. Please let us know how you feel after taking .50 mg lorazepam.