Just a quick question as I’ve been on 60mg of Amitriptyline an (extra 10mg) for 4 weeks now and I have been experiencing some visual changes, (slightly blurred/light flashing between blinks) kind of vision problems, this morning I woke and felt my eyes to be very dry. Botox was one week ago and I’ve had some increase in ear pressure along with actual migraine headaches. After botox it can usually cause an exacerbation in headaches but not really the visual changes I’m experiencing now.
I’m just wondering could it be the Amitriptyline? I have booked in at the Optometrist just to check the pressure behind my eyes because I know that Amitriptyline can cause a rise and cause blurred vision.
It’s highly anticholinergic and yes it can cause all manner of visual disturbances. It’s propensity to do that is the reason I was long ago advised not to even trial it. I have a congenital eye condition. Good news is the visual problems are totally reversible if they are drug related once the drug is removed.
One of the commonest eye problems (from tricyclics and betablockers and no doubt drugs I’m not aware of) is excessively dry eyes which can in turn cause a lot of different, and seemingly unrelated, eye issues. Warm compresses or non medicated eye drops can be the solution if that is the case.
Oh thanks Helen! It’s just so hard to get to the bottom of what’s migraine and what’s side effects isn’t it? I think I should wait it out and see what this eye pressure test comes back with on Wednesday. If my vision is still off then perhaps come back down to 50mg. I’ll email Neuro and see what they say.
It’s so muggy here and I’m half thinking the weather is causing my ear fullness today! It’s so muggy and showery.
I’d say treat the dry eyes. Starting now. That may be all it is. I had terrible dry eyes first couple of years with the Propranolol. Warm compress three times daily I found much more effective than drops. Later discovered possible reason why. Warm compress will stimulate lazy/unbind tearducts to get them working properly again. Drops won’t. Just my experience. I very rarely use a compress these days despite the higher Propranolol dose.
I did use eye drops earlier and it’s definitely more comfortable, do you think the blurred vision is to do with the dryness? I could try the warm compress for sure, anything to help really. Typing this to you now feels like somebody shone a torch into my eyes and it’s hard to see what I’m writing….
Personally I don’t recall blurred vision rather more light sensitivity however just searched and apparently yes. Moorfields Hospital website says so. As do others.
Thank you for that info Helen, I am feeling up and down still so it’s good to know that it could be the Amitriptyline causing the vision issues, I’m still quite symptomatic but everyday is different. I’ll definitely try what you’ve suggested with the bathing and hopefully it helps.
If the cause ends up not being the medication, another explanation could be screen time. Have you engaged in alot of screen time during the pandemic?
On 2-3 occasions in the last year, I’ve had incredibly tired and painful eyes with poor long range vision, blurred/dry/stingy eyes & extreme light sensitivity. When it comes to eyes, there’s a huge cross over with migraine type symptoms, so initially it was hard to differentiate!
