addicted to amitriptyline

im wondering if anyones nos of the side affects cuming off amitriptyline im askin this for my grandad hes 73 an been taking this for 9 years 2 help him sleep he takes 80mg a nite. hes bin trying 2 wean himself off them but hes feeling really ill having bad head aches feeling awful. does anyone no of the side effects cuming off this drug an how long would it take 2 feel normal again its been two weeks shud he start feeling better soon please help if u hav bin in this situation or someone you no has i would be really grateful 4 any help thanx

[TrayCee]

why is he trying to come off a sleep med at 73?

[blackie01]

he said the dose was making him sick so hes tried lowering it but nothinks working 4 him

[TrayCee]

it wont be easy but it can be done.  He will be sick.  He simply has to lower his dose a small amount at a time every few days until down to zero.

Good Luck

[flob]

amitriptyline is an antidepressant...it will probably cause w/d effects similar to any other antidepressant. i take imipramine (very similar drug) and know from experience that there are some very weird side effects that go along with abruptly stoping the med. a slow reduction in dose should be done over a period of a couple weeks to avoid bad dreams, sickness, etc.

i'm not offering any medical advice...but out of curiosity, are you sure that the illness is being cause from this med? it isn't a drug of abuse and it doesn't creat tolerance like the barbiturates/benzo's....as far as sleep meds go, sleep really is only a side-effect. it's primary action is as an anti-depressant and it's also used to treat neurological pain. what i'm getting at is that there shouldn't be a psychological dependence on the drug like what you would see with a barbiturate or benzo. that isn't to say you don't come to rely on it to help you sleep...but it doesn't cause drug seeking behavior or euphoria or a need to increase doseage..etc....and w/d is usually only physical.

anyway...does his doctor think it's a good idea to d/c this drug?

[ZJILLIAN]

I have to disagree with the above. Amitriptyline, if discontinued, should be done EXTREMELY SLOWLY over months not weeks. And it would be much better for him to stay on the drug since there really is no physical downside to continuing the drug as prescribed especially if it is working for him.

The usual problem is that since the drug is working we forget it is the drug that is helping us and think we don't need the drug because we feel fine. And then eliminate the very thing that was making us feel better.

Again this is not an addiction. But his body/mind has a dependency that will cause great distress if abruptly terminated.

If he insists on going off his medication he needs to do it with his doctor's supervision.