Experiences with amitriptyline

Topics mentioned: medications, amitriptyline, sleep problems, self-care

About: Eden talks about her experience trying amitriptyline, sharing the side effects she went through and what helped.

I was prescribed amitriptyline as I had been having ongoing issues with my physical health and was starting to struggle with my mental health as a result. It was also to help me manage my chronic insomnia due to the pain I was experiencing. I live with a chronic illness and have done for almost four years. So it was prescribed to see if it could support me with this. I had tried different SSRI medications previously but they hadn’t worked, so my doctors prescribed this one.

I wasn’t on the medication for very long, but long enough to see if it would work and to experience side effects that were quite severe. It didn’t massively help any of my symptoms. It really caused me issues in terms of communication and brain fog. I was very spaced out and even had one day where I couldn’t communicate at all as a result. This was a very scary experience for me.

I know that with some medications the side effects take some time to wear off. But I wasn’t willing to wait it out, as this was having a huge negative impact on my daily life. So after six weeks, and with medical support, I gradually stopped it.

What I wish I had known before starting the medication would have been the different side effects. This wasn’t explained to me, especially the ones that might have affected me physically.

What helped me during this time was getting additional support from my family and also speaking to my friends about it. I think I was quite frustrated that it was causing me additional side effects and making me feel physically worse. So I think being kind to myself was important during this time, prioritising rest and self-care. Practicing self-care can look different for everyone. For me during this period of time, it included taking part in hobbies that were important to me, such as writing and creative arts.

I also made sure to look after myself physically by making sure I got enough sleep and by doing meditations and yoga to help myself relax. Keeping track of side effects so that I could speak to medical professionals about them was also important.

Overall I had a pretty negative experience with this particular medication. However I know that for some people it has really helped with a wide variety of different things, not just for their mental health but also physical health. I think with a lot of medications it’s sometimes trial and error to see what ones you might benefit from.