Hi I’m currently on 15mg of amitriptyline for migraines it’s been over a month now and my migraines are a little bit better although I still get them. I wanted to start doing cardio workouts again but read alot about weight gain and no weight loss even with exercise. Has anyone managed to lose weight while on this med?
No. It was impossible for me to lose weight at 20mg. I cut down the dosage from 20mg to 10mg. And now trying to see if i can lose some weight but even at 10mg it is stubborn. This might not be what you want to hear but it is my experience. ( As i reduced Ami, i increased effexor so even that might be contributing to weight gain).
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Ah the other $million question!
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Oh no that’s not good. How soon did u feel the weight gain? And was it alot of weight or just a few pounds if u don’t mind me asking.
Lol
I was on 20mg Ami for almost an year…i gained 15 to 18 pounds !
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I didn’t put weight on at 30mg but I couldn’t shift it at all. I was eating a lot less as I was so zonked out (so theoretically should have lost weight) but it just stuck. I think that as I was a of a zombie I wasn’t using the “brain calories” I usually would.
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Dont know abt ‘brain calories’. My mother lived on various antidepressants for decades for depression. She went from being 8 stone in weight (she was quite tall, 5ft 7in maybe) to 14 stone over the first few years. Ami was on if her regular drugs. I think some drugs just change metabolism. OK She was on much higher dosage but bearing in mind she was depressed and often went days eating hardly anything. At 14 stone and widowed she’s regularly walk 3-4 miles too without a thought but she didnt lose much ever.
I take Propranolol for MAV. I read you would put on 7lbs almost instantly and I did after decades of being a constant (slim) weight. Since I upped dose I’ve put on bit more and it wont shift. Read Propranolol alters metabolism by one third guess Ami’s doing something similar. Helen
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It’s quite worrying for me that it’s caused weight gain for most people I really don’t want to gain extra weight as I don’t want other health problems. So far it’s helping my migraines about 50% I wanted to get back into cardio exercises hoping to tone up one way or the other. Thanks for the responses.
No, I didnt want to gain weight either. Few plp do. I didn’t want MAV either. None of us do. Very unfortunately we are kinda stuck with what life throws at us. Personally I’d never dreamt such a rubbishy condition could even exist. I’ve got friends who appear to have had less life distruption and suffering with heart attacks. MAV gets to us because it adversely affects our balance system which in bipeds particularly is a very fundamental part of our being. I shouldn’t worry too much about weight gain at the moment. There are far worse side effects that mean some plp are unable to take meds at all. Better to get the MAV under control first. Once you have done that, and it will take some time, you should be able to move about much more and much more comfortably and be able to start exercise regime etc to sort the access lbs! Just be careful of overdoing exercise until the MAV’s conquered. Helen
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I am on 100mg of dosulepin now and I have managed to lose some weight and not put on any . It IS possible to do so . You have to be strict and get your walks in. I track my food using my fitness pal highly recommend 
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Also on 100mg of propranol and a trycilic so technically I should be screwed for weight gain and although it’s harder it isn’t impossible to do so. I saw loads of people saying it was impossible and that simply isn’t true . Hope this helps
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Thanks everyone I should add I’ve had this condition for 6 years and I’m going through a bad patch atm especially with painful migraines so first time trying meds.
Amy I am so inspired by u so glad I came across your social media channels. That’s what I needed to hear it’s not impossible once I can get these migraines under control I hope to start jumping rope again and doing basic cardio again will just need to be strict.
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Ahhh your so welcome lovely thank you for always giving me positivity that il get through this rubbish you can keep on top of your weight I have lots of clients on ami and nort for other reasons and all doing great . Yes they slow down your metabolism and incerease hunger BUT it’s still possible with effort to stay on top of things xxx
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I did lose a bit of weight when I went on to amitriptyline (25mg), I think. At the same time, I was making a change from inactive / slothful to active and getting plenty of exercise, and my diet also changed. I’ve since gained back maybe 4-5 pounds because I’m once again somewhat inactive and eating crappy food.
However, I don’t eat a lot. I do intermittent fasting – basically, about 2 meals per day within an 8 hour window. It’s not a disciplined thing, it actually works well for me because I’m too lazy to spend more time preparing food. I think I could shed my small amount of extra weight if I felt motivated. I’m a guy, and tend to put on muscle easily, which may make things a little different for me.
I do get one of the ami side effects – excessive sleepiness. I need 10 hours a night now, which I hate. Will be switching to nortriptyline soon to see if that helps. But overall ami has been great for me with fewer side effects than venlafaxine and better effect on my MAV.
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Thank you for replying, I have been looking at intermittent fasting myself. I probably need to be more active and make better choices when it comes to food but my problem is these bad migraines I’ve been getting for a few months now ami is helping but not getting rid of them all so it’s like my brain knows when it gets less food lol but ill need to gradually do it plus get more active.
Give it a shot, but go slow! Start off with a wide window (like 12 hours eating, 12 hours not) and something close to your current number of meals, then very gradually shift toward your goal. Keep your meal times consistent and you should be OK. Now that I’ve been doing it a while I am not super consistent about times, but it definitely took some effort to start out. For me, it also took a while to realize that my trigger is not so much eating or not eating as it is eating the wrong thing – a hit of sugar on an empty stomach, like a popsicle, can set off a really nasty migraine that lasts for day. Good luck
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For those of you on Ami, have you gained weight? I have gained 31 lbs in the 9 mo I have been on it. I am so scared to come off of it because I don’t want to have another episode to where I thought I was having a seizure! It was the most terrifying experience. Walking to my car, started feeling like I was falling, then had about a 5 minute episode where it felt like my head was being electricuted. The ambulance came, my blood pressure was super high, my heart rate was super fast and I was extremely dizzy. Couldn’t lift my head off the pillow. I was hospitalized for two days, had MRI- thankfully no stroke. Was dx with MAV, came home and had to use a walker for a week just to get around my house due to the vertigo. If I lifted my head off the back of my couch, it was misery. To this day I still can’t lay flat or look down without extreme vertigo. This is just awful. Anyone experienced anything like that?
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Well I’m not on Ami but it is renown for weight gain. I’ve read average expected to be 26lb. So would imagine it would take a starvation diet and some unearthly amount of willpower to shift much. My mother was on it on/off with other ADs and went from about 100lbs (far too thin for her) to an undisclosed weight but it was almost certainly double that in the course of maybe five years.
Getting off Topic here. Would be great idea if you were to start up your own Personal Diary to record your experiences and discuss (perhaps @turnitaround might have time to cut n paste this bit into a PD for you) meantime but very briefly, if you refer to the can’t lay flat or look down without extreme vertigo then that is commonplace with MAV, most would agree.
If you refer to your experience where you ended up in hospital personally I’ve innumerable attacks like that over fifteen years, lost count of how many. Main difference being in UK you need to be much nearer death to get taken into hospital. Vertigo attacks just don’t count here, Helen
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@Dkkrueger, I have been on Ami for a bit over 6 motnhs up until about a week and half ago. I expressed to my Dr my concerns about the weight gain. Funny thing is that I knew going in that it would be a challenge to maintain my weight on Ami… I just had no idea how fast it would add on! Strangely, I cannot possibly have any idea why… but I have always maintained my weight and proportions. Heavy bottom and thin waist, flat belly. The lbs Ami packed on went straight to my waist and belly! I do not know how many lbs I have gained since I swore off scales 25 years ago, but I have gone up one dress size. My Dr switched me to Nortriptyline with NO side affects, equal mg / mg switch over and actually one positive is that it has helped manage my actual head pain too. It might be worth talking with your Dr about.
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