Posted by hyperfocus on May 27, 2011, at 10:34:48
In reply to Anyone had mood success on low dose Amitriptyline, posted by rculater on May 23, 2011, at 4:20:47
What other meds you are taking - non-psych and otherwise? Are you any diabetes drugs like metformin or glimepiride, or NSAID or opiate painkillers, or benzos? The presence of these drugs could interfere with the amitriptyline in your body and significantly increase the knock-out effect. I haven't read here about positive mood effects at that dosage. But it may take your body a while to get accustomed to the amitrip and then you might be able to raise the dosage without kicking up the SEs. For me amitriptyline has a narrow theraputic range: 150mg - 200mg. Any higher or lower and I feel much wore and the SEs are also worse.
We're all different in our response to the same meds - that's one of the things that makes med studies so flawed. You might not need to get as high as 150mg to get a theraputic response. Amitriptyline seems to be a very effective med for a number of things, and it's the only AD so far studied that has been shown to stimulate BDNF production that could be critical to repairing atrophied areas like the hippocamus in the brains of people with depression and anxiety. If you can tolerate the harsh SEs it's worth a trial for a few weeks at 75 or 100mg, or even at 50 or 30.
CPTSD: social phobia, major depression, dissociation.
Currently on 150mg amitriptyline + 12.5mg tianeptine + .25mg risperidone, single dose at night.
Improving.
poster:hyperfocus
thread:986011
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110515/msgs/986355.html