Has anybody experienced worsening of depression/ anxiety while using? I was at 50 mg and we tried to go up to 75 mg after three or four days I called my Dr telling her I hated how it was making me feel…kinda like I wanted to crawl out of my own skin feeling. She said the dose must be to high and we went back down to 50 but even on 50 I notice my anxiety etc getting worse so last night I went down to 25 mg. Any experiences thoughts are greatly appreciated
Yes Jennifer me! I had high hopes for nortripyline as it really can bring big relief for some.Unfortunately not for me though.I couldn’t sleep,I was spaced out ,I was anxious(maybe from lack of sleep!) got rapid heartbeat and in the end came off it.Oh also to add I quickly developed a big fat waist!
Ughh its all so confusing on meds…what to stay on what to switch bla bla. Wish it was simplier. My pain was minimal for a bit and now I feel its getting worse…I don’t know if the nortrip is contributing to that…so its like to stop or not to stop. I think my Dr is sick of me emailing her literally every week so I’m not asking…she kinda let’s me do what I want anyways
You can go all the way down to 10mg and that may even be enough. Also you need to be on it more than a few weeks before you make a decision about your tolerance levels. I suggest you go down to 10mg and stay there for a solid three weeks before you decide. If side effects disappear, which they often do for antidepressants after the first few weeks then you can SLOWLY add it back up if the relief you get is insufficient. However if the side effects persist then you have to consider other tca antidepressants or cymbalta. However keep in mind that no matter what you choose there will be side effects. There is no free lunch in life. The question is whether or not the side effects are worth the relief you get. Even at its best nortriptyline will cause you to gain weight and usually have dry mouth.
I was on it for two weeks and got a racing heart but I may get back on it because the relief I got from just 25 mg for me atn was amazing. Or I may ask my doc to put me on clomipramine which is in the same family.
Be careful with any/all medication. Antidepressants have side effects that include worsening depression/anxiety and personally if it doesn't make you feel better and is making you feel worse, I would get off the med and contact your doctor for a new one. There are so many drugs they can choose from. Good Luck!
Thank you km. When I start to feel a medication is worsening mentally I try and give it the ax. And haach I tried cymbalta it made me a complete insomniac and elavil made my pain worse ( yes weird I know) I’m on 4 medications so I know all about side effects …but when you get the side effects of all 4 jumbled into one sometimes it can be hard especially when its a out of it type of feeling, memory issues etc
there is another class of medications you can try, this is the SNRI family which cymbalta is a member of. However, none of the other ones have been tried for TN but there is no reason you cant try them. I suggest you bring it up with your doc and if you have no other recourse give it a try, whats there to lose?
And you can report back your experience and maybe we all could benefit from that :D
So the other members of the SNRI group would be: Milnacipran (Savella) and Levomilnacipran (Fetzima). They are pretty new and also used for fibromyalgia and depression.
I always try to reduce the number of my medications. For example I have OCD and TN, so im trying to take anafranil which addresses both. Because when youre on more than one med then not only do you have to worry about the sideeffects of the individual ones but also about their interactions, (in the case of psych med, which these all belong to).
Having said that, I just want to emphasize that all Antidepressants take a few weeks before they stabilize. When i was younger and was starting to get horrific anxiety and OCD I was ready to throw in the towel and quit my university. But I was put on zoloft and after a really weird 2 weeks (crying fits, irritability etc) I started to feel normal and after 2 months my anxiety had been reduced by maybe 90%. If i hadnt powered through the initial two weeks I would probably have been homeless somewhere begging for spare change now lol. (seriously though, i was incapacitated by anxiety due to my ocd).
of course sometimes it just doesnt work, i tried effexor and i thought i was going to lose my mind.
So the key here is that:
- start with minimal dose, even less. I started by emptying half of a 10mg capsule of nortriptyline for the first week, and SLOWLY ramp up if you need to do so
- give it a good shot. ALL psych meds will make you feel shitty before they make you feel better, i say 2 weeks at minimal dose
- dont let your anxiety dictate your decision. I have anxiety about medication and sometimes that could cloud your judgement and make you wanna get off of it asap
- accept that there will be "Some" side effects (not at the acute level that you mentioned though).
- be very careful about mixing these psych meds (for example elavil with lexapro and all other similar combinations, discuss that with your doc, otherwise it could lead to some serious issues)
sorry for repeating myself, i know me and you both have ATN and i know how distressing it is (I have read some of your posts and I feel your pain). Given that TCA/SNRIs are the best solution for us ATN folk right now I hope you can find the one that works for you.
in the meantime for my ATN I have found that capsacin works well (but you already know that) and managing my mind. If I let my mind drift I feel awful about the situation, but if i engage fully in life and just power through the pain it dampens the suffering (not the pain).
There is a saying that I love, it says "better to wear out than to rust out".
H