Nortriptyline and effexor?

Has anyone taken these together? Have been on Nort for 4 weeks now, up to 40mgs, no change in my symptoms. I have developed terrible insomnia, I thought Nortriptyline helped make you sleepy, not me. I was thinking of adding Effexor to the mix and slowly tapering off Nort. Doc thinks it will be ok, but I have read of some terrible side effects with Effexor, especially if you have to taper off of it if it does not work. I have also read that Effexor and Verpamil together have shown some positive results. What’s your experience with these drugs?

They say you have to give a med a fair trial for about 4 months. I’ve been on Nort and am slowly increasing my dose. I am at 40mg and have been on it for 7 weeks. I do feel better than I did before starting the Nort, but I’m not 100%. Hang in there and give it a few more weeks… good luck!

I am on all 3…I am on Effexor (name brand, not generic) XR 75mg, Verapamil ER 240mg 2x per day and Nortriptalyne 75mg per day. I have been on all 3 for about 5 years. I always believed I was med sensative, but I have had no side effects whatsoever. My life went from 0% function to about 95+% daily. I started with the Nortriptalyne then added verapamil and then finally Effexor. You must give the meds a proper and fair chance to work. Most “side effects” the we experience in the beginning is just our migraine being triggerd. Migraine hates change of any kind. so if you add in a new med, our migraines begin to raise its ugly head with symptoms. Do your very best to tolerate what you can so that you see if the med will work for you.
Hang in there and we are all on this journey together!!!
Pam

Hi
You can take a tricyclic antidepressant with effexor. It is always preferable to take the least amount of meds but many of us are in some sort of cocktail. Not getting good sleep is not good for migraine so you may want to switch over to amitrityline from the nori, as the ami is more sedating. I find taking phenergan before bed has helped my sleep and cleared my head quite a bit. I take 10 mg. which is a low dose. The antidepressants either “wire” or “tire” you, and you don’t know till you try. Nori hits a neuro receptor called norepinephrine which can be activating for some people.
Best of luck to you.
Kelley

Effexor is a very nasty drug to come off. Have you tried taking nort in the morning.
I had insomnia for 2 weeks on nort but it passed. I would wait a little longer.

Currently taking 150mg Effexor and have improved about 50% from it after about 3 months. Wanting to add nortriptyline starting with 10mg in hopes of improving the rest of my symptoms. I found this thread from awhile back and wanted to start the discussion again to see if anyone else has used this combo of Effexor and nort and has had success with it?

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Suggest you might try PM’ing @blueberry0. The only one I know on both. Helen

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Effexor is really good with visual induced symptoms, nort is more generic. Anyway I replied to your message :slight_smile:

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