Looking on the internet and on this forum it seems a lot of people are prescribed amitryptaline for pain. But my doctor has put me on it as he believes it helps to slow down the gut and stop the loose stools/urgency.I've tried taking 10mg and not much success, except for the first few days. I then upped it to 20mg, again it worked for a few days and then my system seemed to get used to it. he said I should try to take 30mg but I'm worried as the leaflet in the pack says that the elderly take that much for depression. So I wondered if anyone could give me feedback on exactly what a 'low dose' of amitryptaline is for IBS? All the reports on the internet mention a 'low dose' but I wondered what dose others were on for controlling diarrhoea and whether it works for them? Seems to work a bit for me but I still need to take imodium most days to stop the diarrhoea.Thanks.
Amitryptaline (Elavil) for diarrhoea problem
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I am sorry you are having problems with Amitryiptaline - I was on a 20 or 25mg tablet once a day for several years and they improved my D greatly from the miserable D-led life I was suffering. But recently a new gastroenterologist I have been seeing (as my D was getting worse again) has put me on a generic form of Amitryptaline in liquid form. I take 3 to 4 drops, 3 times a day and this has really improved my symptoms. Maybe spreading it out during the day is better than one dose at breakfast? I don't know the answer, but certainly my bm's are much improved!! Now, if only the urgency could be sorted out I would be soooo happy!! Why not ask your doctor if you would be better on a liquid version, spread out during the day? Like most people on this forum, I am open to anything that will improve my life. Do you take calcium tablets? I also found they helped me.
Thanks for your replies. Gill - do you find you're sleeping through the day taking it in small doses? I have taken the liquid form but only so I could have a small dose but I haven't tried as you suggest, ie taking it throughout the day. Did it stop working after a while, I mean before when you took the tablets? Mine seems to wear off after a time so I have to take more which worries me.I'd still be grateful for more feedback from any of you out there who take amitriptaline (elavil) for diarrhoea and how much you need to take for it to help?Thanks in advance for any advice!
No, I don't find that taking the doses during the day makes me sleepy. I haven't noticed much difference by switching to the liquid form. The total amount of liquid is less than the 25mgs tablet I was taking (at breakfast ) and the consultant told me that I was not to take more drops than he prescribed. I don't take it for pain, just to try to control Diarrhoea. Hope this helps. When I started taking amitryptaline in tablet form some years ago, I was really 'spaced-out', , but this only lasted about 3 weeks. I was careful not to drive until the afternoon, as I really didn't feel I was fit to drive til late in the afternoon!
I should have said that I have only been on the liquid form for about 2 or 3 months but so far the improvement in BMs is good. However, the urgency 'need to go NOW' is still there, which is a big worry and I am down for colonoscopy and endoscopy exams at the end of this month, so hopefully my consultant will have a better idea of what is going on with my intestines. Hard to stay positive after 40 years of this nightmare, but you have to have hope, don't you?
My specialist doctor said the normal dose for a grown-up is 35 mg.I have tried this drug and gonna explain my situation and why I quit it.I started with 10 mg but noticed no difference.After calling the doctor again I got to try 20 mg. I immediately noticed a huge improvement. Nont only did I only go to the toilet once only with firm stool in the morning. I was also hungry in the morning which my body usually never is.However as the days gone by it got worse and worse. The times I had to visit the toilet increased and finally the stomach pain came back also.My doctor said I could try 35 mg as that was the usual dose. I tried it but noticed no further improvement.My stomach continued to get worse.Before taking the meds my stomach was always fine 3 hours after each meal. But with the meds I could have to rush to the toilet even 4 hours or more after a meal.I therefor tried to stop the meds and immediately it got better and I had to visit the toilet during a shorter time period after eating.I want to note that my doctor said I should not quit the medication as that would probably make it even worse(He was wrong). For me amitryptaline caused more harm then good.About amitryptaline I think anything under 50 mg would be considered a smaller those. I recall 50 mg+ was used for depression.Try the Calcium method that is stickied in this forum. It seem to have helped many.
In my experience the mind get used to the drug about as fast as the stomach. Once you stop being tired/slow all day from it, is about the same time as it doesn't have any effect on the belly anymore.That is how it was for me atleast. I hope it is different for you. Good luck.
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Typically "low dose" can range from 10 mgs up to as high as 75.For depression the dose typically starts at 100 mgs and most people need to go up from that before they see a significant elevation of mood. At least for everyone but the elderly who often need lower doses of all medications because the body doesn't process things quite as fast at 80 as it does from 20-65.It can make people sleepy at any dose because it acts as a potent antihistamine and it makes you sleepy for the same reason Benedryl does.Reactions vary but a lot of people who get over the sleepiness in a week or two as they adapt do get continued benefit for the gut nerves.
ok so I've now been taking 20mg every night for a month now, plus a dose of imodium most days. Still 3 times a week I have bad diarrhoea. I've also noticed I get more abdo pains and wind than before, when I wasn't taking amitryptaline. Surely something wrong there! I thought it was supposed to help with pain, let alone diarrhoea.
I agree with you Siea - I found the same with imipramine, another tricyclic antidepressant. It worked pretty well to help stop the diarrhoea for about 3 weeks but then it stopped having this affect. Now the same has happened with Amitryptaline. I've been on it for a 2 months now, taken every night on a low dose. When I first took it it was like a wonder drug but now I am back to square one again (and it doesn't help with the pain either). Time to give up on it?
This post just proves how much the same medication effects different people!I was prescribed this last year for another painful medical condition - I was to start on 25mg once a night when I went to bed and to work up to 120mg.Straight away I had really bad side effects - sleepiness, pains in arms and chest, shortness of breath, confusion, dizziness among many others but I stuck with it.I found straight away that the drug helped with my IBS symptoms - firmer stools, less pain, I could drink ALCOHOL without been crippled in pain, less stomach aches on a morning among many other benefits.I could only work up to 50mg before the side effects outweighed the benefits and I had to be taken off them.A few months later I tried another anti-depressant called Fluxotine - which had less side effects but it made me majorly dizzy so the doctor took me off them after 5 days but said it wasn't actually due to the tablets and he did not know what was making me dizzy!Anyways after this I changed GP who was very worried about my irregular heartbeat and should never been out on anti depressants as I had arythmia which would explain my extreme side effects!Sorry to babble on I just find it ery interesting how different everybody reacts to the same thing.Steph.
i was on it for 20 years, started with 25mg and worked my way up to 100mg for the last 6 years ... just weaned off it and now on lotinex the last 2 months
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