Salut, première fois que je poste. Je prends 50 mg d'amitriptyline pour l'anxiété depuis décembre 2016 ! J'ai décidé que je voulais réduire progressivement la dose car ils n'ont pas aidé mon anxiété et je pense leur avoir donné assez de temps. Comme je ne veux pas prendre de médicaments du tout ! Je me suis engagé dans un mode de vie sain et j'ai vu de grandes améliorations dans ma santé mentale. Ma question est : puis-je réduire progressivement de 1 comprimé de 50 mg le soir à 35 mg ou même 25 mg ? Je n'ai pas souffert d'effets secondaires forts en commençant ces pilules, cela aidera-t-il lors de la réduction progressive ? J'ai l'impression de continuer avec les 50 mg ne fait que prolonger l'inévitable et rendra plus difficile l'arrêt. Mon anxiété signifie que je déteste aller chez le médecin et je n'arrive jamais à avoir de rendez-vous de toute façon ! J'ai des doses plus faibles de ces pilules, donc je n'ai pas besoin d'ordonnance. J'ai juste besoin de savoir jusqu'où réduire progressivement. Merci d'avoir lu si vous êtes allé jusqu'ici.
I have only taken this drug in very low doses for pain and only for a few weeks.
That you have only been taking this for a short time is good and should make withdrawal easier. I found info on the mentalhealthdaily website. I won't post a link to avoid this reply going into moderation but find it if you can. It says:
"To be on the safe side, experts recommend tapering by 10% of your current dose per month. If you feel this is too slow and/or you don’t notice any extreme withdrawals, you can tweak the percentage to suit your needs."
"It should also be noted that personal habits such as: diet, exercise, social life, productivity, etc. can also play a role in influencing how a person is able to cope with their withdrawal. Additionally if you are on any other medications, it may make the withdrawal process easier."
It goes on to list a lot of potential side effects of withdrawal but hopefully you won't be too affected as you have not been on the drug for long but anxiety is one so watch out for a potential increase in that as it is something you are prone to.
It's good that you have committed to a healthy lifestyle. What kinds of things are you doing? I find walking is great for my mental health. I try to go for a deliberate brisk walk every day even if I can fit in only 30 minutes or so. I find it clears my head or if I am feeling worried by something, I listen to a book or a podcast for distraction.
Good luck.
Merci pour votre réponse. J'ai mangé proprement. Je ne bois pas d'alcool de toute façon, c'est un bonus. J'ai essayé de faire comme vous. 30 minutes par jour. Je cours/marche avec quelques petites sprints, YouTube a aussi été génial pour les vidéos d'inspiration fitness et les routines d'exercice que vous pouvez faire dans le salon si je sens que mon anxiété est très mauvaise et que je ne peux pas sortir de la maison. J'aime aussi dessiner ou essayer d'être productif si j'ai une journée anxieuse à nouveau comme vous l'avez dit pour une distraction. Je pense que je vais essayer 45 mg ce soir car j'ai des boîtes de 25 mg et de 10 mg. J'ai commencé directement à 50 mg comme prescrit et n'ai eu aucun effet secondaire à part la bouche sèche. Beaucoup de personnes à qui j'ai parlé ont dit que c'était une dose assez élevée pour commencer, donc j'espère que ce sera aussi fluide pour moi lors du sevrage. Encore merci pour votre réponse
That sounds like a good programme. I like to craft. I knit, crochet and sew and I can get lost in an interesting project. A lot has been written on the therapeutic benefits of knitting in particular. Something about the rhythm of the work calms the mind and I imagine drawing is the same.
The dosing info on drugsdotcom says:
Usual dose: 75 mg orally per day in divided doses; this may be increased to a total of 150 mg per day if needed
Alternate dose: 40 to 100 mg orally as a single dose at bedtime; this may be increased by 25 or 50 mg as needed at bedtime to a total of 150 mg per day
Maximum dose: 150 mg orally per day
So it sounds like you are at the lower rather than high end as other have said. Hopefully that and the brief time you have taken it should make it easier to withdraw. I took only 10mg for a very short time for neck pain that was preventing me from sleeping so fortunately I did not have to go through withdrawal.
I hope this goes well for you.
Hi
It's good to find a current amitriptyline thread. There are quite a few out
there but most are a few years old.
Anyway, I'm attempting to come off amitriptyline for the second time.
I started on it in 1994 and had 16 years where I was on 50mg for the
majority of the time but up to 75mg at one stage. Around 2010 I spent
a few months weaning off slowly. I just didn't want to be taking them
anymore and was curious to see what I was really like underneath the
medication. I can't remember too many details but over the following
months I ended up being prescribed Tramadol, Seraquel, Olanzapine,
Valium and Norspan pain patches. It was a nightmare. I thought that
was just 'me' without amitriptyline and needed all of those other horrors
of meds to deal with it.
Not one medical professional explained to me that all of these new
symptoms were due to withdrawal from amitriptyline. I thought it was
just how I was. After the 2 year roller-coaster ride juggling and eventually
getting rid of all of the meds I remembered that I never had any of these
problems when I was on Amitriptyline so, I went back on it 😔.
If someone had told me at the time that it was actually withdrawal
symptoms I would've persisted and worked through it and, hopefully,
come out the other end in much better shape and medication free.
I've gotta go to the physio now but will write again later about where I'm
at now with the tapering.
All the best 😊
Me again. I'm back from the physio now.
After being back on 50mg for a couple of years I slowly tapered down to
25mg where I've been stable at for the last 2 years. Ready to take the
next step I worked out that I would reduce by 2.5mg every 6 weeks.
I've got a pill cutter so I can cut the 10s into 1/4s. As for the 6 week
time-frame, I chose that only because it is supposed to take us 6 weeks
to learn a new habit and so, I thought I'd give my body and mind 6 weeks
with each reduction to get used it before I moved on.
I know it will take months doing it this way but I figure after after all
these years what's a few more months. I'm sure you could taper as
quickly as you wanted to as long as you were not getting any of the
nasty side effects.
So, I've done 6 weeks of 22.5mg and now it's been 2 weeks on 20mg. It's all
going quite smoothly so far. My sleep is still ok which is great as I do
remember last time once I got down to 20mg there were many nights
where I was awake for 2-3hrs in the middle of the night. So, so far so good.
This time I feel like I have more information and a much better chance of
doing it right. I don't think I'll be able to avoid withdrawal symptoms
completely this time but at least I'll know what to expect.
hi, im currently on 10mg i have tried to wean off this drug twice this year, its horrible hence being back on 10mg, i have done it over several weeks but i agree it needs to be 10%. ive been on it 14 months good luck and keep us updated.
hi Sheena, i have had 2 failed withdrawal attempts from amitriptyline and am currently on my third and final attempt. i know have it in liquid form to help with the slow taper as, cutting tabs into bits is tricky. this medication is so addictive and has such an effect on our bodies. are you still on it Sheena?
Hi Sheena, we could be taper buddies. im curently on 8mg of amitriptyline, following my 2 failed withdrawal attempts.
Hi Amanda, We have to keep in touch for sure. Too hard to do this alone. I am doing it VERY slowly this time and I'm still on 20mg now. I'm due to go down to 17.5mg tomorrow night but I'm away travelling at the moment and sharing with a lady who snores like a train and I've had 2 bad nights already. So, I might stay on 20mg for a few days yet 😔. I'll let you know how I go. I might try the 17.5 tonight as I should be so tired I'd sleep anyway.
Where did you get the liquid form? I've never heard of it. My pill cutter is quite good at cutting 10s into 1/4s.
I've got to head out now but I'll update you when I can.
What's your plan of action at the moment?
Hi Sheena, thanks for getting back in touch. I spoke with my GP re the liquid amitriptyline 10mg / 5ml and she agreed to allow me to have some but, it is expensive in this form and only lasts one month once opened. She only allowed it if i use tablets when i can. I am currently on between 8.5mg and 9mg as its hard cutting the pills into more than 1/4. Im not too worried re the amount at present as i have sucessfully been on 7.5mg last time. I did experience some abdominal / gastric problems when i dropped from 10mg to 7.5mg last time and am now keeping a journal so to monitor all this. i plan on dropping to 7.5mg next week and stay there for 3 or 4 weeks. i will then use liquid and drop to 6mg for 4 weeks before dropping to 5mg. Thats my plan so it will be a few weeks yet. I am a little anxious about 5mg as have experienced my worst withdrawl symptoms twice at this point so fingers crossed the liquid will help me wean to this level with less symptoms. xxx
That's a good plan. I will look into the liquid form and see if we have it here. I can't remember what mgs I got down to last time before I started having problems. It was over 8 years ago now. I'm due to go down to 17.5 now but as I'm currently travelling and sharing rooms with others it would be a nightmare if I wasn't able to sleep properly. I don't sleep well sharing with others at the best of times. Also, we're heading inland South Australia today and will be out of phone range for the next week. I'm not sure if I'll get any wifi anywhere as I'll be on a small boat along the Murray River but I will email if I can. Otherwise I'll be back in civilization on the 13th April. Talk to you soon.
Hi
Just wondering how tapering off is going great?
I will need to do this due to liver test results,don't fancy going cold turkey!
Any advice? I'm on 7.5 just now and have been for 6months for migraine.
Thanks
hi lynne im also currently on 7.5mg of ami, tried twice to reduce got to 5mg and had to increase due to symptoms of withdrawal. i plan on staying on 7.5mg for another couple of weeks and am going to taper to 7, 6 them 5 the following month using the liquid amitriptyline. do it slow x
Thanks for your response. Im just very worried about doing it and managing to get to work etc if anxiety gets bad. I had anxiety before taking it,they said it wasn't a big anough dose to affect anxiety so no point to talk g it for that, then my.migraines went crazy so they gave it as a preventative, and for that it's been ok, but i feel less anxious on it until now when iv read so much about how hard it is to stop it and I'm so worried about elevated liver results. Would see if a lot of people coming of it already had anxiety and that's why they feel it so much,just a thought.
Anyway thanks for reply, i I my have tablets so will just try chopping them as much as i can to wean dose down very gradually until Dr says def stop them.
Not sure if my reply posted to you Amanda, if not sorry, not sure what happened. Basically said i o my have tablets so can't do liquid to drop down, I'm worried re liver results from go and will try to taper as much as i can until Dr says def stop the tablets. I'm a worrier and have anxiety, which i felt these tablets helped although Dr says too low a dose to help that but i feel it did until now as it's health anxiety so with results has me so so anxious again. Worried about feeling that way and making work etc.
How do you manage that?
I would see if a lot of ppl who get anxious when trying to stop were already anxious to start with, just a thought.
Thanks for reply,keep me posted on how your doing if u can/want to.
Do you have a pill cutter? I've been using one to cut my 10s into 1/4s. I wish I could cut them smaller than that for when I taper down to less than 10mg. I will check with my GP but I don't think we have the drops here (Aust).
I have been taking ami for depression, anxiety and general body pain from spine damage in a motorbike accident. I have been taking 50-75mg since 1994 but have been weaning down very slowly for 2 years now. I'm going ok and don't see any increase in those things but it might be a different story when I get lower (on 17.5mg now). Will continue to decrease by 2.5mg every 6 weeks. After 6 weeks on 2.5mg I might even go to 2.5mg every 2nd night for 6 weeks then every 3rd night and so on. It's a very slow way of doing it but hopefully it will retrain my body along the wayGood luck
Hi again. My last msg sent before I was ready.
I just wanted to add that from memory (I tried to come off ami about 7 years ago) the main withdrawal problem I had was not sleeping. There must have been other problems but that to me was the biggest.
All the best
Thanks for your reply, tbh if it wasn't for the liver results i wouldn't even try to come off this low dose as it has calmed my migraines down a bit but i have health anxiety so now i have the liver results stuck in my.mind and can't stop worrying about that and withdrawel symptoms as as soon as i feel anything wrong in my body i panic, i know they say 7.5 is too low a dose to help anxiety but i really feel it does help it. Anyway I'm going to go to see my GP and discuss it and see what she says again as i need to make work or il lose my job, no pressure eh!
Thanks again, good luck reducing further
Hi Lynne, i take it for something called Vulvodynia which is basically pain in my lady bits. Yes i am anxious it will come back as i do not want that again but, i cant be on this drug forever. I feel for you as many take it for migrains and it helps. You say your Dr says its too low a dose to help with anxiety, but Drs also say 10mg is a low dose which you can just stop. YEAH right what do they know i wish i could just stop it but like many i cant i have to wean even a tiny 10mg dose.
Im still on 7.5mg and i too have a pill cutter so can cut into quarters but for me even 7.5mg to 5mg is too big a drop hence needing the liquid to do an inbetween dose xx