Well, as you have seen me post many a time before, I’m a big fan of Amitriptyline.
It started working within days for me, but at 20mg I felt a lot of relief such that some days I no longer felt dizzy. However, breakthrough symptoms and relapses happened in anycase, but generally I got my life back.
Side effects for me were threefold:
- Dry mouth … but this went after a couple of months
- Vivid dreams/nightmares … rare but definitely not ‘normal’
- Slower bowel … much better after a year on the drug but definitely the worst side effect.
HOWEVER, none of these side effects come anywhere CLOSE to the symptoms I had before taking it:
- Migraines - i’ve had ONE since starting Amitriptyline
- Rocking … used to have visual hallucinations of floor rocking … this has gone since taking Ami, but sometimes I get a breakthrough feeling of swaying very slightly.
- Nausea - before Ami I used to get HOURS of nausea every few days … since taking it I sometimes get it in the mornings but very rarely indeed and usually comes as a phase for a few days, then disappears.
- Inability to tolerate TV/video/computing - on 20mg I can compute all day!
Doesn’t do anything for:
- Tinnitus
Helps but doesn’t eliminate:
- Vestibular attacks. Spinning feels less spinny but you spin nonetheless. Rocking feels a lot less rocky, but you rock sometimes nonetheless.
I think you have to accept that any med comes with side effects, its not like you are back to normal, and breakthrough symptoms come with the territory - a nominal dose won’t mask (but may dampen) EVERY bad sensation and indeed i’ve had some really bad vestibular attacks including spinning and one ‘magneto head’ incident whilst on Ami, but GENERALLY it has made life much more bearable.
Do not expect perfection from any med, but persevere and see if ON BALANCE (lol) it makes things more bearable for you: quite frankly I can’t imagine a life WITHOUT medication as it was so desperately AWFUL!
I accepted the med was not perfect and indeed aimed not to take too much in the hope that one day if things calmed down I could come off the med and it would be easier to do so from a lower dose. I also didn’t want to mask all the symptoms so I could keep an ‘eye’ on my condition more easily.
Oh and I knew instantly 30mg was too much for me - it made me dizzier, so that’s how I settled on 20mg. I didn’t bother titrating up and waiting a few days to see if this subsided, I just simply didn’t bother … just remained on 20mg and have not regretted it.
Good luck Jess!
James