Elavil for Nerve Calming During Sleep Tachycardia

[sailer]

My doctor recommended Elavil for nerve excitation that creates surges of adrenaline and feelings of suffocation that wake me every night from sleep. This lovely feeling (usually out of a terrifying dream) is accompanied by nausea, extreme anxiety,diarrhea, uncontrollable shaking and alternating chills and dry heat. The syndrome can repeat every hour or two all night.  Doc's theory is that this is due to post-radiation complications following breast cancer 17 years ago, now that more studies are coming out discussing long-term side effects. My question: a) is this a plausible explanation for my syndrome (going on for the past seven months..), and b) if I can't tolerate SSRIs at all, will the Elavil cause me to have a serious reaction as all other drugs affecting serotonin levels invariably have?