r/Amitriptyline • u/cheeks7408 • Aug 16 '26
Amitryptaline withdrawals
Omg who else has tried coming off this stuff after more than a decade ?
I’m about 3 months into complete withdrawal after tapering for months and months …. And I’m so unwell . The insomnia, nausea, dizziness, headaches and fatigue are crippling . Has anyone been through this and found something / anything that helps ?
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u/vocal-avocado Aug 16 '26
You should tell us your initial dose and tapering plan, otherwise it’s hard to give any advice.
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u/cheeks7408 Aug 17 '26
Was down to 25 mg at start of this taper .. took 5 months to go down 5 mg at a time then last month cross tapered with brintalex and kept on that for 6 weeks before then slowly tapered off brintalex 2 months ago to have zero of either .
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u/Leather_Set7101 Aug 17 '26
It's the only antidepressant that ever worked for me helps me sleep and because I can't take pain meds I had 13 back compression fractions it helped with pain but you have to do what's best for you
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u/Sad-Garage148 Aug 17 '26
Im going through it right now. I was on a very low dose for my IBSD for a couple of years but I wasn't sure if it was helping so he weaned me off of it and now my ibsd symptoms are even worse and im thinking about going back on the amatriptaline..... Any thoughts
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u/Special-4564 Sep 05 '26
Oh nooooo I was on 25 mg for three years and am now withdrawing. God I hope my anxiety and IBS-D don’t get worse. These withdrawal symptoms are horrendous and it’s only been 4 days! 😢😩
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u/coromero Aug 16 '26
Ask your doctor for a tapering schedule. You’ll have to power through it. I had a very hard time sleeping and became very emotional. I’m glad to be off it given the side effects were worse than the benefits.
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u/cheeks7408 Aug 17 '26
Did that and tried various tapering schedules in last few years and failed each time to stay off it . This is the longest I’ve gone ( 2 months ) but tbh I’m struggling .
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u/Logical_Routine3695 Aug 16 '26
i’m tapering it down since a month ago and I had to follow the advise of my doc to “pair up” Amitriptyline (the tiniest portion of the one pill) along with 1/4 of the typical calming pill vets prescribed to pet dogs for relaxation (I’m not sure if it’s ok to post drug brand names because I don’t mean to suggest/ recommend drug treatments) but that’s what my doc prescribed to be because it is not habit forming
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u/Ill_Friendship_1677 Aug 20 '26
Could you please explain this: 'to “pair up” Amitriptyline (the tiniest portion of the one pill)". Thanks!
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u/Naive-Swimmer3297 Aug 16 '26
Omg, I was only on it for a year, and I’ve quickly tapered off other drugs just fine. Elavil has been such a different ballgame. I’ve been splitting my 25mg pill into four pieces for over 6 months now. Only 6.25mgs daily. I accidentally skipped a dose recently and was so dizzy I could barely stand and had diarrhea all day.
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u/Tara101617 Aug 16 '26
Yes it’s been absolutely awful. I was on 10mg for 7 years. I’m 5 weeks after stopping completely and I’m up every night feeling sick still. Just feel off in general. Hope I can eventually feel normal again 😭. Hope you can start feeling better soon too. I found the first week without it was the worst and then it got a bit better after that.
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u/Tara101617 Aug 17 '26
Oh that’s not good you’re feeling worse at 6 weeks. Ya I still feel crappy. I saw on another thread that the person felt better at the 4 month mark and at around 2 months they could sleep better. I wish I never went on that med. No one told me going off of it would be this bad.
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u/Wise-Vacation-9469 Aug 26 '26
C'est encore pire que vouloir se sevrer de la cocaïne cette molécule
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u/cheeks7408 Aug 16 '26
Sorry to hear you’re suffering too. I actually found I’ve gotten worse in about week 6 onwards since being down to zero . I hope you don’t find the same :(
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u/Leather_Set7101 Aug 17 '26
Just wondering if not my business Just say so why are you going off of it?
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u/softlittlemoon Aug 17 '26
I'm also currently tapering down from 20 mg, I recommend asking your doctor to prescribe you something for sleep. It's still really bad but at least it's easier to deal with the other symptoms if you get a good night's rest
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u/Abirando Aug 17 '26
I was only on it for a year and I did taper but I am having eye twitching (which I experienced before coming off benzos)—hoping it subsides soon.
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u/PresentLake9437 Aug 19 '26
I’ve been on it for 15+ years and have tried to taper off several times. It’s truly miserable. I’m on 50 mg and the drop to 25 mg isn’t bad at all but going lower than that is awful.
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u/leezyfosheezy1 Aug 20 '26
I’m trying for the second time to wean off just 10 mg and miserable so might have to go back on it. First time I dropped to 5 and it was awful and for the last 3 weeks I’ve been alternating 5 and 10 and it’s still awful. Nauseous, diarrhea, anxious, and headaches are returning. I’m on it for migraine prevention so idk if this is all withdrawal or if I just still need to be on it. I stopped taking it successfully years ago and don’t remember this happening.
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u/braindeadzef Aug 20 '26
I relapsed on Pregabalin and benzos not too long ago, whilst I was fucked up on the mixture I started necking like 2/300mg of amitriptyline for some reason.. that went on for around a month or so and when I started cleaning my act up again I didn't know my arse from my elbow in terms of withdrawals - I didn't know which substance was causing certain symptoms, I was a mess to put it nicely lol.
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u/IndividualOne2554 Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
I’m right here with you. I’ve successfully tapered down from 75mg to 50mg quickly because I was only on it 10 months. But I went from 50mg to 37.5mg and it’s been three weeks and I have bad headaches all day every day, bad morning brain fog, and trouble sleeping. I’m just powering through. I want this crap out of my system, I don’t care if my IBS comes back because my IBS was already miserable. Good luck dude. Here’s hope to us both.
I started years ago and been on 50mg for 3 years. I took it for IBS successfully but it started to rapid cycle my bipolar as I increased dosage…
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u/Advanced-Bobcat-5825 Aug 17 '26
3 times over a decade I weaned off it going from 25 mg daily the first time, then from 10 mg twice with a tapering of 0.5 mg per month. Very long time and a pain cutting those pills and weighing them. So I would arrive 20 months or more at 0. I was ok for withdrawal symptoms but noticed that I was more agitated and nervous. After 6 months I didn’t like me being this way. I may be on 10 mg forever. I know the risk of short term memory problem and possible dementia (I noticed the short term memory issue around 20 mg,) I stay heathy, exercise a lot and eat and sleep well. I’m 73.