Benefits of Elavil

[Star B.]

I've been taking Elavil for 1 month now and haven't noticed much of a difference. I just got upped to 25mg, so maybe that will help.

I'm curious, for those of you that were helped with the Elavil, which symptoms did it help?

[123456]

I take the sister drug imipramine. It took 75mg for me to notice any kind of difference. Also the drug works opposite for me. It wakes me up and makes me jumpy so I have to take it in the morning. I am now down to 50mg.

[Star B.]

It helped me only with frequency and sleeping thru the night. Not for pain.

I have issues with pain and frequency/urgency. If it helps any of these symptoms, it will be amazing. What was your doseage when you noticed it was helping?

[123456]

I did not notice it working until I was up to 75 mg (25 mg, 3 times a day). Now I only take 50 mg one time a day.

[ruthl]

how long for elavil to take effect

I just started Elavil yesterday, having seen it mentioned with hope so many times on this forum.

Approximately how long should it take to show an effect?

I have seen a number of posts where people have indicated they don't take this drug all the time, only when in a flare. Is the drug still effective when taken only occasionally?

Thanks!
Ruth

[ICNDonna]

Our doctor explained to us that anti-depressants at low doses interfere with the transmission of pain signals through the nerve system. My husband takes 10 mg daily for arthritis pain and it does help him. He takes it full time.

Donna

[Mothergoose]

I can't take it, but I have tried it.

My son used it on and off for a few years for nerve pain after breaking his elbow.

His Ulna nerve (the one you hit when you hit your funny bone) got moved during surgery and now has no bone protection over it, and it is/was very sensitive.

He said it does work for him on occasional use, by this he means a week or two, at a time. For a few years he only needed it if the weather was cold, and we live where you get real winter, so no avoiding the cold and he works outside.

He didn't try using for shorter periods of time because each time he restarted he would loose a day or 2 sleeping, it makes him really tired, after a bit he gets used to this side effect.

So I am not sure if it works for occasional use.

I think it might because the 3 separate times I tried it, it helped my bladder right away, but within a few days I could not pee, so I could not continue to use it, but it does work that is why I tried it 3x's.

This is just my thoughts though becuase I have been told it works better over a period of weeks as it builds up in your system.

MG

[meResque]

I'm a little biased because Elavil literally gave me my life back. I went from being unable to get out of bed, to back to work full time after being on it about 6 weeks. Every day kept getting better and better and I now have some completely pain-free days. The other days I have a low, completely mangeable without pain meds, level of pain. My pain was not bladder related, for the record. I suffered from crippling pelvic floor pain for months before diagnosis. PT helped some, but it wasn't until I took my first Elavil that I had hope something would help fully. I woke up the morning after my very first dose with a reduction in pain.

I can't really speak to it helping with frequency and urgency. Hydroxyzine does the trick for me on those. But if I had to pick only one med to be on for the rest of my life, it would be Elavil, hands down.

[nanawaggs]

Hi, Star ~ I took Elavil (Amitriptyline) and experienced very high blood pressure so stopped and my BP went back to my normal. I was prescribed it to help with bowel problems and it did help me when I increased from 10 to 50 mg. a day gradually, but the BP interfered way to much to continue.

Hope you find what works for you soon.

Blessings,

[polygon]

I'm about five days in, at 10mg a night.
It's been three weeks since my hydro/cysto, finally recovering from it. Saw my uro last week, was prescribed Detrol LA and Elavil, and I've started doing bladder retraining, all of this to try and keep my bladder capacity up (hopefully reducing pain and spasms as well.)

Tentatively speaking though, I think it's helping a bit with frequency, but it's a little too late to tell for sure.
I hope lots of people share their stories, good and bad.