elavil withdrawal

[Mitch5483]

  I had been taking elavil for 8 years for irritable bowel syndrome. In late 2007, increased dosage from 35 mg. to 50 mg. This caused constipation and within a few months a thick sticky saliva with a horrid taste in my mouth. For months I was misdiagnosed with acid reflux and finally went to the Cleveland Clinic where they had seen this thick saliva and horrid taste from elavil - this was diagnosed by a neurologist who prescribes elavil for headaches and has seen this side effect/result.
   The diagnosis was dry mouth syndrome(xerostomia) caused by elavil. By the time I got to Cleveland in September, has reduced dosage over 3 months from 50 mg. to 25 mg. I was told to get off the drug very slowly. I reduced by 2.5 mg. per week (over 10 weeks) and use ativan to help with the withdrawal - I try to take as little ativan as posible because I don't want to get hooked on this - take .25mg at bedtime and .125 mg 2-3 times per day. I realize that this low dosage may not be enough to ameliorate the withdrawal symptoms.
    I have now been off of the elavil for 12 days. My withdrawal symptoms are terrrible at times and vary daily - dizzy, headache, nausea, thick saliva and taste, tremors - usually have the "shakes' in the morning, some bowel discomfort.
    When can I expect to start feeling better - what if anything can be done to relieve the withdrawals symptoms or hasten the drug out of my system?  I would have thought I would have started to feel better by now - this is really negatively impacting my quality of life.