ELAVIL Reviews (AMITRIPTYLINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 3.1 (585 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ELAVIL with similar:
Type: Brand name discontinued; available as generic
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 |
More on ELAVIL: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ELAVIL | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 3 | Migraines/Insomnia from Cymbalta | Tingly fingers, dizziness, cold night sweats, intense sugar craving, intense hunger, and massive weight gain. | I am going to ask my MD to take me off Elavil due to the weight gain. I've always been good about maintaining a healthy BMI (23-ish), but now no matter what I can't seem to stop gaining weight on this med. I HAVE to have sugar now. I will literally break down in panic when I try to keep myself away it. I will also wake up in the night because my stomach hurts from hunger (I've never, ever been a night snacker). I've tried working out 2 hours a day, and aside from the ice cream and dark chocolate I crave, I eat a very good, balanced diet, yet I am gaining weight at an alarming rate. I feel miserable in my own body, my clothes don't fit, and I avoid seeing myself naked. I think that if I stayed on this medicine I would probably die within a few years from complications of obesity. I thought this medicine would improve my quality of life; I was wrong. | F | 25 | 2 months 25 mg 1X day | 2/21/2010 | 2 | chronic pain | At first extreme tiredness, dry mouth, and over time complete loss of libido. But this past year can't even go to the grocery store without sweat pouring off my body. Just showering is so much work I have to lie down awhile to stop the sweating. | I first started Elavil because I suffer from so much pain following a car wreck 21 years ago that I could not sleep. Although the doctor thought it would help the pain, it didn't, but I could at least go to sleep at night. I have tried different doses, but 25 to 50 works best. More and I sleep through the next day. I have a glass of water with me at all times for the dry mouth. At first I was still able to achieve an orgasm, but as time went by I lost my libido, and for the last 3 years can no longer achieve an orgasm no matter what I do. About a year ago I started having problems with sweating. If I try to do any activity, I start sweating so much that it just pours off me. So much that people in the store have asked me what is wrong. Talk about embarrassing. I have been trying to figure out what was causing it, and began to suspect the Elavil. So I weaned down on my dosage and stopped taking it a few days ago. I am hoping I will still be able to sleep at night. I also don't want to live anymore without a sex life. The past couple of years my Pain Specialist has done 4 procedure to burn the nerves in my back. This has helped the pain and muscle spasms enough so that I may be able to sleep now. We'll see how life goes without Elavil. | F | 57 | 5 years 50 mg 1X day | 2/7/2010 | 3 | sleep disturbances and depression | I was taking trazodone for 10 years to treat my sleep disturbances but my Dr. was concerned about possible long-term effects so she switched me to 50mg amitryptiline (Elavil) one year ago. I was finally able to sleep through the night again and I did not feel groggy when I woke up (but I did allow myself at leat 8 hours to sleep). My energy returned and I was very happy with this drug. However, some of the side effects are really bothering me. I've learned to live with the dry mouth and I have not had any significant weight gain, but my short-term memory is getting so bad I wonder if I am in the early stages of dementia sometimes. I lose my train of thought in the middle of a sentence and no amount of reminders will help me remember what I was trying to say. I will leave one room to go get something but forget what I was looking for by the time I get to the other room. This happens many times every day. I also have a hard time coming up with words when I am talking. Some might attribut | F | 54 | 1 years | 2/2/2010 | 2 | Depression | Spaciness, very mechanical movements. Emotional numbness, apathy. | It wasn't worth it. It gave me a whole different sent of psychiatric symptoms and I wouldn't even that it helped my initial complaints. Took it about 2-3 mos. | M | 21 | 3 months | 1/31/2010 | 4 | post herpetic neuralgia and allodyn | Initially 10 mg made me feel bad. Took for 4 days and stopped. Later, was on zoloft 25mg in morning so it offset the 10 of elavil at night. It helps the allodynia but i gained 2 lbs after 2 days and then about 1-2 lbs per day since. Aboyt 10 lbs in 2months. Excercise 6 hours a week all cardio. Hope i don't have to be on it to long because of weight gain. Sleep is great. So I will miss that but would like to get my weight under control. | F | 54 | 2 months | 1/21/2010 | 3 | vulvar vestibulitis | extreme weight gain (20+ lbs on a 5'1" frame), grogginess, difficulty waking up, difficulty focusing | started taking in July, helped with pain at 50 mg. extreme and quick weight gain of 20+ lbs. I went from a size 4 to a 10. Yes it worked for the pain during sex, but now I am too selfconcious and uncomfortable to be intimate. It is depressing. Tried strict diet and working out regularly, but the weight wont budge. It is mostly around the belly. Has anyone lost the weight after coming off of elavil? | F | 32 | 6 months | 1/18/2010 | 1 | depression,insomnia | dry mouth,extreme fatigue,felt tired and angry all day,cravings for cigaraettes and weed, wanted to stay "high",felt like a zombie | will go back to zoloft,this medicine might work after a month but i cannot deal with the side affects for that long | F | 21 | 1 days | 1/16/2010 | 2 | Insomnia | Significant weight gain; grogginess but that's the point of taking it so it's a good thing. | REALLY on the fence about getting off as I really can't afford a brand new wardrobe to accomodate my "new" body. A couple days ago, looked at myself in the mirror and I looked 5 months pregnant. Anyone else getting weight gain primarily around your abdomen. I feel like I'm wearing once of those life guard ring buoys around my waist. I was 115 lbs and 5'6" and I'm too scared to get on my scale. | F | 45 | 1.5 months | 1/10/2010 | 4 | Vulvar Vestibulitis and Migraines | I just started taking Elavil last week. I had to take one 25 mg tablet for a week and then as of two nights ago I had to up it to two at bedtime. It does make me extremely sleepy but taking it at night helps me sleep. The day after I first took it I noticed that I became extremely irritable and angry to the point that even the announcer at the supermarket bothered me. I've not had that happen again since. I've also woken up twice in the past week panicked and gasping for breath. I think I was dreaming but I'm not sure. I don't know if this is as a result of nightmares from the Elavil or my sleep apnea (I've never had the apnea wake me up like that before). I've been having bad dry mouth in the mornings but it goes away after I drink something. | As to whether or not it works, I don't know yet. My husband and I have not been able to consumate our marriage as I have too much pain and hypersensitivity (I waited until marriage to have sex. We've been married now for little over a year.) While we haven't fully tried to have sex yet, we did fool around a bit and normally when he uses his finger it gets to be uncomfortable and bothers me. This time it didn't hurt or irritate me at all so I'm a bit encouraged that the medicine is actually working. As for preventing my migraines, I haven't had one since I started taking it but it's only been 9 days. | F | 30 | 9 days | 1/8/2010 | 3 | chronic pelvic pain, anxiety | drowsiness | Took 25mg. Was told that for pain, 25 is best and is safe. Apparently at higher doses there are more risks. Elavil made me feel more energized and focused for about an hour and then made me promptly fall asleep followed by waking up in a haze- it was a positive feeling though. I also have taken zoloft, and elavil has way, way more of a sedative effect. After a few days, the dizziness went away but so did the positive effects. I took it for chronic pelvic pain but it did little to relieve that condition, though I hear that it has helped others. It did prevent headaches, though. Not a bad drug but I feel that there must be better ones out there. | M | 25 | 2 weeks | 1/8/2010 | 3 | Insomnia | Difficulty falling asleep but also waking up once asleep. Craving for sweets and have never liked sweet before. I'm finishing off my 4th bowl of ice cream, & bought candy from kid going door to door last night. | Even though I have difficulty falling asleep using this drug, but it's so much better than Ambien. I don't have to worry about sleep driving and wrapping my car around a telephone poll and not remember any of it. I don't like the groggy feeling the next day but better than no sleep at all. I'm 5'6" and have always weighed 114 lbs and have never liked sweets (I like salty food). I just ate almost an entire 1/2 gallon of ice cream in one sitting tonight. I'm 45 and have never done this before in my life. I realize I'm going to have to stay away from food no matter how badly I'm craving ice cream, etc. A note to anyone reading this: DO NOT TAKE AMBIEN NO MATTER WHAT! It's the devil's drug and a portal to hell. | F | 45 | 2 weeks | 12/21/2009 | 1 | diffuse abdominal pain | tremors, extreme drowsiness, dry mouth, constipation | I tried this for three days--25 mgs. It was definitely not worth the side effects. | F | 75 | 3 days | 12/20/2009 | 3 | IC | I take Elavil for IC pain, but it causes me to sleep so much that I cannot even get up to go to the bathroom at night. When I do wake up, I almost cry because I have to go so bad. I also eat a gallon of Blue Bell a day. I never have had such a sweet tooth in my life. I am gaining weight like crazy! I eat and eat and eat. I have been taking this medication for 1 month, but I have to quit. I can't handle the weight gain! | It has helped a little with the IC pain, but I can't handle the weight gain. I go to my urologist on Thursday and I am getting her to take me off of it. | F | 21 | 1 months | 12/15/2009 | 2 | Migraine | Sleeping was great-slept through the night without having to get up to go potty!Hard to get up in the morning even if I slept for 10 hours! Gained about 5 lbs. | Elavil worked ok for my migraines,..but I had to keep upping the dosage about every two months to keep it effective. Still had several migraines a month so decided it wasn't worth the side effects to stay on it. I used to take a nap every day-now that I'm off I don't feel the need to sleep so much AND I lost the weight I gained. Still get up to 5 migrains a month-thankfully Imitrex still works for me as an abortive medication. | F | 44 | 6 months | 12/14/2009 | 4 | sleeplessness, anxiety | DRY mouth, some weight gain, difficulty forming thoughts and getting words out when speaking, occasional rapid heartbeat | I started taking 50 mg of Elavil at night to help me sleep and relieve anxiety. It worked great for those two things! The dry mouth is the worst. I am a teacher and I talk all day. I usually pop a sour lemon hard candy and keep a water bottle handy at all times. The weirdest side effect has been the difficulty I have getting words out of my mouth; sort like writer's block for speakers. Rapid heartbeat is very infrequent. I have had two UTIs in the past three months - very unusual for me as the last one I remember was 15 years ago. I did gain about six lbs since I started taking it. I crave any kind of food with a bold flavor - sweet, salty, hot, etc. The doctor suggested I drop to 25 mg and I will try that starting tonight. | F | 54 | 3 months | 12/9/2009 | 2 | IC pain | Bad, disturbing dreams! Stopped after one pill. | F | 56 | 1 days | 12/6/2009 | 2 | Depression | Aches, pains, general malaise, difficulty urinating. | F | 23 | 6 months | 12/6/2009 | 5 | migraines with aura | Have trouble waking up in the morning....feel very sleepy and lethargic for a couple of hours after waking. But if I take the medicine at dinnertime instead of bedtime, it helps completely. Weight gain of about 10-15 lbs without any change in diet (from 120 lbs to 130-135 lbs) unless I exercise consistently. | Had severe and debilitating migraines with aura about 4-6 times a month. Had a scary ER visit after trying Imitrex, so decided to avoid abortive approach and try the preventative approach with Elavil. Started on 10 mg daily and had one tiny migraine in the first year. Had a few small migraines in the following year. After almost two years on Elavil, migraines started to increase in frequency and intensity to about 4 medium to severe headaches a month, so about a month ago I started taking 20 mg. Haven't had a migraine since then, but I'm feeling lethargic in the mornings again and have noticed a slight weight gain again. I will take the medication a little earlier in the evening and exercise more, and it shouldn't be a problem. This drug has been a wonder drug for me. I used to live in constant fear of a migraine striking, and after using Elavil I feel like I have my life back. | F | 31 | 2.5 years | 11/25/2009 | 4 | Insomnia | Weight gain (suddenly and haven't increased food consumption), DRY MOUTH, constipation, somnolence (which was great as I'm had insomnia forever) | I've just started taking this and LOVE the fact that I can finally sleep (I'm one of those Ambien "survivors"). I hate the instant weight gain. I've also been on the thin side so it's weird feeling fat on me. Am debating whether to keep taking it as I love the sleep but HATE the weight gain. Haven't experienced the anger issues that others have talked about. If you have to give a presentation in the morning might want to reconsider because your mouth will dry up instantly unles you take a sip of water after every sentence (yeah, right) | M | 45 | 1 months | 11/25/2009 | 4 | Anxiety and trouble sleeping | Severe weight gain! I gained 48 pounds while I've been on the drug. Increased desire for sweets. Sex drive is pretty much zero. Some hallucinations here and there. | I started on 25mg of Elavil in 2002 and I am now on 100mg. Talking to the doctor next week about finally getting off this medicine because I cannot deal with the significant weight gain. I go to the gym and try to eat right but it really makes no difference. I don't feel like myself anymore. It has definitely helped with my anxiety and sleeplessness but I wake up in the morning feeling exhausted. | F | 29 | 8 years | 11/13/2009 |