Hi Dizzyloop, Ive been trying to contact My neuro to with no sucsess,
I turns out that he’s in hospital due to an infected hip , he’s very sick. and wont be back untill after christmas. bumma!
Its funny you know, the receptionist at his surgery can sometimes be very ubrupt , you have to be on top of this when you call.
goodluck, let me know how you go,
Thanks for the info. Jenny. I’m seeing my GP on Tuesday to hopefully discuss another med.
Dizzyloopy
Hi Dizzyloop, as you know ive tried to get some answers with my neuro but he’s ill, so I called the dr that sent me to him, her name is Katherine Shulte, from the menopause institute at wickham terrace , I just spoke to her about the trouble ive had with the periactin not working, she has agreed happily to try me on a very small dose of Elavil,called ( Endep) in oz ,as she said she’s had some realy good results with another patient with mav on this drug,she said the dose he takes is 1Omg at night, for around six weeks and then if need be up the dose after 6 weeks to 20mg, At first I was worried about taking something from just a GP, but then I must admit this doc is no ordinay slap dash woman, she has been on the ball since I first met her, after 20 minutes with her she new what to do,and what was my problem, maybe it would be worth while you having a consult with her your self. her number is 3832 1666 have you tried this Elavil? she said the low dose is enough to get rid of the migriane but dosnt have heaps of effect at that dose as an anti-depressant, but works remarkably well formigraine, also it helps you sleep , so its to be taken at night, the first few weeks might make you sleepy during the day but that would slowly deminish after a few weeks, all the best dizzy, I hope ur ok,let me know how you go,
jen
Jenny,
My doc also suggested Elavil - he says it works very well for migraine. He likes Zoloft better, but Elavil would be his second choice, as far as antidepressants go.
Julie
Thanks Julie, zoloft was the very first drug they tried on me 13 years ago, I didnt work for me at all, and after around 8 months on it I started having strange Suicidal thoughts which i didnt have before going on the med. so a doc said oh just go off it, and I did but he neglected to tell me to taper off it, I almost ended up in the luney bin.
any way, Ive just realised this elavil or endep as it’s called in oz, is no different to prothiadon, which ive taken with no results already so ,I’m not sure if I should just wait the 2 months to see my neuro before going on another lost cause, I feel like i’m in the wizard of oz, popping on down the yellow brick road at the moment, Ive just got to keep my whits about me , so another Dr dosnt screw me up more than I am already.
thanks so much Julie.
jen from oz
Jenny,
I do remember now that you mentioned your bad times with Zoloft. It’s crazy that they didn’t tell you to taper. My guy actually told me i could go off cold turkey, unless i was past the 75 mg point - i couldn’t believe it! I guess they’ve never had to try these drugs themselves.
I started to have disturbing psychological symptoms when I increased my Zoloft too quickly. I cut back and started over more slowly, only because it is actually giving me some relief from the dizziness - that’s how desparate i am. So far, it’s going fine this time - i just have to be patient and go up about 3 mg every 2 weeks.
Endep is amitriptyline, which is a tricyclic, like prothiaden. I don’t blame you for not wanting to try another tricyclic, if you’ve had a bad time with one of them already.
Good luck to you and thanks for your input.
Julie
thanks Julie, yep I’m really not sure maybe this elavil has some diferent properties to it than the prothiaden, I’ll se what the doc thinks on tuesday.
I’m not expecting quick results, and am willing to take the time needed to try other options, only because Ive had this prob for so long now,waiting another two months out of my life for my neuro appiontment isnt going to kill me, if you know what I mean.
best wishes .jen
Elavil is a tricyclic antidepressant, and in low doses it can be helpful as a migraine suppresant. It’s also helpful for pain problems. (Some depressed patients will go higher, toward the anti-depressant doses.) The side effects are sedation–and it can be really sedating–so my ENT told my daughter to break a 10mg tab (they’re tiny) in half to start. Also, dry mouth, and a few other side effects. You do get used to the side effects after a week or so. My daughter ultimately ended up on a similar drug: nortriptyline, starting at 10 mg and ultimately ending up at 30mg.
Periactin is an old time anti-histamine that has effects on serotonin. Ironically, at low doses, the tricycic antidepressants are anti-histamines also. Higher doses, they are serotonin, norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitors.
The eMedicine article on MAV mentions the class as second line therapy, after verapamil. They mostly talk about nortriptyline. A lot of people go with the nortriptyline because it has less sedation.
I hope you feel better soon.
Kira
thanks Kira, It’s interesting that this doc said she’d try me on this drug as she should know about the sv tachycardia side effects, knowing that I take verapamil for the tachy probs already. strange she would suggest such a drug. by gingo’s we have to be our own doc’s, or we might end up dead. lol
I use to be on prothiaden and handled that drug well apart from the tachy,Its not a hard drug to handleat low doses, helped me sleep, but after a while I realised it didnt remove the rocking dizzy’s so why be on it?
thanks again,Kira all the best.
I didn’t realize you were already on the verapamil. It’s considered a good drug for MAV.
My daughter did get really tachy with the nortriptyline at first, and has the rare bout of racing heart, even at such a low dose. And a dry mouth. But, she feels so much better, that she doesn’t mind the side effects. (I think, because she fought with her neuro when he brought up the idea of weaning off the med. She argued that why would she want to go back to feeling so lousy, when she finally felt stable. He told her she was risk-adversive. In the end, he told her to stick with the medicine, and let him know if she changed her mind.)
Possibly the doctor thought that the verapamil would suppress your SVT, and a low dose of elavil wouldn’t cause a racing heart.
We do have to be our own adovcates. No one else gets the big picture.
Kira