withdrawels from elavil

i was diagnosed with cml in march of 2009 and was also taking 150mg of elavil at bedtime to control migraines for like 10 years.  then this past dec. a heart test showed i had prolonged qt of the heart so i was stopped 'cold turkey' by a dr and its been down hill ever since.  i have had the shakes, loss of appetite and constant nausea.  i wake up evey morning shaky really bad.  got new dr after this and he has put me back on the elavil but at 50 mg to try to increase my appetite and gain weight back plus the headaches were coming back but the withdrawels problems are still with me i guess cause its a low dose of elavil.  i get my heart checked every 2 weeks now and i am fine with the qt thing.  i take the chemo pill called gleevec and have to force myself to eat so i dont get sick when i take it.  how long will these withdrawel problems go on? i have xanax to take (1mg) but dont work to good.  i should would appreciate any advice from any one on how to deal with these issues, family dr says its anxiety but i think its the withdrawels from the high dose of elavil.  i was doing ok on the 150mg of elavil and the chemo pill (i had my days when i would get sick) but this is awful right now.  i have lost over 20lbs since they stopped me in dec. and cant afford to lose any more.  please help!!!
           thanks, dee

[Ken_PA]

hi. Sorry, I don't know of anything to help with Elavil withdrawal. Maybe on other forums here:
http://www.medhelp.org/search?query=elavil+withdrawal

Some guesses:

It sure sounds like withdrawal, and Elavil shouldn't ordinarily be stopped suddenly... EXCEPT that the 1st doc was justifiably afraid that the long QT could end in sudden cardiac death. Elavil is known to sometimes cause long QT, and 150mg is a pretty high dose of Elavil.

You might think of long QT as when the heart is not firing crisply... let's say it's sluggish. That might ultimately make the ventricles of the heart get really wacky and vibrate and not pump blood.

Here's an interesting angle: If a person had a *very* severe long QT, they might be given intravenous calcium to counteract that. That's because Calcium is an excitatory chemical. And guess what? Gleevec can cause low levels of calcium. So maybe both drugs together resulted in your problem with the long QT.

The offshoot is that if you ever were to go back on a higher dose of Elavil, you might want to make sure you get enough calcium. But that would only be with a doc's say so, of course. Too much potassium might be not so good - potatoes, bananas etc

Also, there is a drug that might increase appetite called Megace. It's a shame to add one drug on top of another, but if your weight loss is bad it might be advisable to ask your doc about it.

Also, are you exercising? Some people (like me) think that exercise helps to make the body run right :)

Good luck.

[Ken_PA]

and have you heard about magnesium as a possible preventive for migraines? It helps for some people, not all.

With your history of long Qt, it might be risky to alter mineral levels without asking your doc, though. Minerals are very related to muscle and nerve function, so that includes heart muscle firing.