I have been on Nortripyline for 2 weeks. I was told to start on 10mg per day but I decided to start on 5mg because I have been so senstive to loads of medications in the past. I didn’t have any problems while I was on 5mg but since I have been on 10mg (for the last 7 days) I feel really sedated and tired; I can barely summon the energy to get out of my dressing gown and I haven’t really moved from the sofa much at all. I currently take the tablet 2 hours before bed.
has anyone any experience of this drug? Do you think this sedation will wear off? Have I given it long enough? Should I take it at a different time of day or increase the dose? I am so sick of trying different medications so I really want to stick with this one but I don’t want to feel this tired either! (I am going to go and ask my GP but he normally just changes my medication and I’m not sure whether I should do this this time but maybe make some suggestions to him to try something else first).
Becky
PS. Apologies if I sound like I’m on a real downer, its just that I seem to be one of the most drug-sensitive people in the world and it is really frustrating!
*Elavil’s Typical Side Effects: The anticholinergic effects typical when starting TCAs - headache, nausea, sweating, dry mouth, sleepiness or insomnia, and diarrhea or constipation and blurry vision. If you get any, or all, of these, expect them to pass in a week or two. Maybe. Weight gain and sedation are common and constant. *
Is that ambiguous? sedation is constant? Meaning it will NOT go away?
Let me email Kira. She hasn’t been posting because she’s going through chemotherapy. Her daughter has been on nortriptyline for at least 10 years. She’s doing so well that she just got married. She lives a full happy life, if that helps.
*Elavil’s Typical Side Effects: The anticholinergic effects typical when starting TCAs - headache, nausea, sweating, dry mouth, sleepiness or insomnia, and diarrhea or constipation and blurry vision. If you get any, or all, of these, expect them to pass in a week or two. Maybe. Weight gain and sedation are common and constant. *
Is that ambiguous? sedation is constant? Meaning it will NOT go away?
— End quote
Important lil’ fact: elavil is amitriptyline, not nortriptyline.
That’s important, because amitriptyline usually is seen to have more side effects, especially sedation, of the two.
I don’t know if I can blame the med(s) or not, but I’m still on amitriptyline and I’m feel pretty tired most of the time. It could just as well be another med, or it could simply be the disease and/or having zero activities going on.
Okay, here’s what crazymeds has to say about Pamelor (nortriptyline)
*Typical Side Effects: The anticholinergic effects typical when starting TCAs - headache, nausea, sweating, dry mouth, sleepiness or insomnia, and diarrhea or constipation and blurry vision. If you get any, or all, of these, expect them to pass in a week or two. Weight gain is common and constant.
Not So Common Side Effects: Urinary hesitancy (a.k.a. forgetting how to go), heart palpitations, no libido and other sexual dysfunctions. Nightmares. The urinary hesitancy is something that meds that hit your norepinephrine receptors will just do randomly through the course of treatment.*
In this case it does NOT say that sedation will be constant. So Becky, according to this, the sleepiness should pass.
Thanks for this guys. I haven’t noticed any improvement in my symptoms, in fact I feel dizzier if anything. However, my neurololgist did say that this can happen when you first start a new med and this is a good sign. I think I am going to carry on taking it for a while but I’m going to see my Doctor this afternoon so I’ll let you know if he advises any different.
Thought sharing my experiences with Nortriptyline may be of some benefit to others on this forum. I was put on the medication for treatment of MAV 3 weeks ago at 10 mg. a day. The first week was kind of rough, the brain fuzz was non stop and was accompanied by insomnia. Started to feel slightly better after that and the insomnia has mostly gone away. I’m now up to 20 mg. a day but not sure if I’m better off on or off this medication as it seems I’m having about the same amount of episodes before being put on nortriptyline. Hopefully, I’ll have a better idea of whether I should ask the neuro to continue with this medication during my next appt. on 9/30. I’d be quite interested in hearing from others who have had a longer history with nortriptyline. Thank you.
How are you doing with you nortriptyline? Kira has not gotten back to me via email, which is unusual. That could mean that she’s either busy with her chemo, or busy with her teaching.
So i snatched a portion of her “Post your Story Here” - this is the portion about her daughter, who is on nortriptyline:
*Since she was a little girl, she would wake with the room spinning. She developed classic migraine with aura at around age 11, was fairly stable, but during high school–when she played the saxophone every day–she complained about her head not feeling right. She got acutely ill after tonsil surgery, and had a week long bout–mostly vertigo–which stumped the neurologist and ER doctors. Then after the flu in 2005, she ended up in the hospital with a status migraine–again, mostly vertigo. She was in rough shape for the next year or more, but was started on nortriptyline. It was difficult to find the right dose, because 50 mg made her ill, and 25 mg didn’t control the vertigo, but 30mg has worked well for her. She just finished her first year of college, and although she had a few spinning mornings and some dizzy moments, she could control them with ibuprofen.
Her neurologist just suggested trying to taper off the nortriptyline, but since she woke up just last month with the room spinning, she’s declined that suggestion.*
I might add that over the last year she took a trip to Europe and also got married. She’s living a full life, refuses to go off her medication and refuses to let this illness take her life away. She’s one stubborn young woman. She does load up on ibuprofen when needed. Hain told me that 400 mg is fine to take as often as 2-3 times a week and is VERY effective.
Sorry I haven’t replied until now, I didn’t notice the post. I’m really not with it at the moment! I’m still feeling really tired on the Nortrip, both sedated and lacking energy. Before I started on it I was able to go on a little walk every day but now I just don’t have the strength to do it, my legs wobble and shake and I just need to lie down ALL THE TIME.
Ive now been on 10mg for 2 weeks, but I want to give it longer because I just don’t want to quit another drug. I may even try and increase to 20mg, who knows the tiredness might be better on that doseage (ha!).
Heritage - I think it will be a few more weeks on that dosage until you notice an improvement. I know someone who started to see improvement after 6 weeks.
Good luck Becky, i know what you mean, when you’ve gone through one med after another, and you start running out of options, you hate to give up on one more.
Becky - Thank you for your post. If anybody else on this board has an experience to share with nortriptyline, or knows soneone who has, I’d appreciate hearing from you. Thank you.
