Hi marie,
The way I was introduced to Amitriptyline was to take one 10mg at night for 2 weeks, then increase this dosage to 20mg after 2 weeks. Basically, it was used to lower the pain and aid a better sleep routine. Now this was for pain in my neck muscles, which are always pulling to the left.
Every 3 months I have Botox injected in both sides of the neck and my shoulder. The trouble with Botox is it takes roughly 1-2 weeks before you feel any benefit at all, then it starts to where off after about 7-8 weeks. So, basically for the 3 month Botox injection, you only feel any benefit for about 8 weeks maximum.
So, during this period I also have to rely on Tramadol at 50mg every 12 hours to effectively take the sharpness of the pain in the shoulder mostly.
All of the above I take for Generalized Dystonia, and on top of all that I am also taking Madopar 4 times a day, Artane once a day and Clonazapam twice a day.
I have tried medications like Baclofen and Orphenadrine, but these had little effect.
What makes it worse in my case is I also suffer from Epliepsy and Functional Episodes, therefore I am on quite a dosage of Epilim. And if you look at side effects from Amitriptyline and Tramadol, you will see these medications can cause seizures, so at the moment I am being closely monitored by my Consultant Neurologist, Epilepsy Nurse and my own doctor.
At the moment I am coping not too bad - sleeping is okay at nights, pain is more so in the mornings, and getting dressed takes awhile. I do have periods whereby regardless of how much I try I cannot stay awake and cannot keep my eyes open and may sleep at anytime. The problem with this is I sometimes think I have woken up, when in fact I am still asleep, so I am talking to people and wonder why I get no response back. I put this down to the Tramadol, because I have only recently been put on these, (3 weeks).
Regards,