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 |
| 5 | Interstitial Cystitis | I have experienced weight gain, but am now on a high fiber, low-fat diet and LOTS of exercise..slowly, I'm losing the weight | I have suffered with bladder pain for almost 20 years. This is the first thing that has ever REALLY helped me. I pray I never have to give it up. | F | 41 | 14 months | 6/11/2007 | 4 | blurry eyes, extreme lethargy, but once i get out of sitting or lying position I am fine. I have had less appetite, trouble falling a sleep..slept for three hours today and that is so not like me. I was able to work out though. | i was prescribed elavil for depression and nervousness with my fingers. I constantly picked at my head and twirled my hair and it just hit me all of a sudden. I have not picked my head today..I twirled my girls hair..but not mine. My doctor also said this would be good for my migraines but since I have been on toprol xl I rarely have them..now I havew a mitral valve prolapse and high blood pressure. I also have hypothyroidism which I take synthroid 100mcg a day. I couldn't even deal with the weight gain because I work out two hours a day and find it hard to lose weight. I am five feet 7 inches and weigh 165. I have not had any cravings for sweets and I had slight dry mouth and feel tired after taking it but find it hard to go to sleep...fidgety like rls...but not in the legs | F | 28 | 2 days | 6/6/2007 | 3 | Chronic Back Pain and Insomnia | Weight Gain. | I started taking 10 mg of this medication about 2 years ago. I immediately noticed an increase in appetite and weight gain. I watched my diet but I put on 30 lbs in 18 months. I would rather suffer the pain than put on the extra weight. I stopped cold- turkey with no side effects. I am taking Restoril for sleep and mobic for the chronic pain. I still hurt but I need to lose the weight. | F | 54 | 18 months | 6/6/2007 | 5 | migaines, chronic pain, | very sleepy, slurred words, terrible hang over wanting to sleep, moody, loss of sex drive, dry mouth, nightmares, memory loss 200mg nightly | it takes my pain away, it turns off my pain meter which sometimes is very bad, I can sleep, but sometimes way too much, feeling blue every day | M | 39 | 5 years | 5/30/2007 | 2 | severe insomnia, fibro pain | Increased appetite, esp.for sweets; weight gain; lethargy/no energy-- want to lie around all the time, which really piles the weight on; irritability and anger. All this on a 10-mg dose. Took intermittently for 2 years, then upped it to every night during a period of extreme stress. | It's great for sleep-- I have terrible insomnia without it. But taking it every night seems to be too much. I'm tired of feeling stupefied all the time, and seriously worried about the irritability and anger(rage might be a better word). Seems too easy to blame a drug for my mental state, but I think Elavil is definitely contributing to it. | F | 56 | 3 years | 5/29/2007 | 4 | Chronic Fatigue | Weight Gain | It has helped tremendously with being able to get into restorative sleep so I could heal, but the weight gain has been horrible. I have tried EVERYTHING. My efforts are futile. I wonder if I go off of it...will it be easier to lose the weight? | F | 30 | 3 years | 5/25/2007 | 3 | Shingles, insomnia | Profuse sweating while I am working, very embarrassing and miserable. Helps me sleep, but I worry about other side effects. My doctor says it is not the Elavil (75mg.) that makes me sweat, he says it is anxiety. Bull, I have always had anxiety, this is different, sweat just rolls down my face all day at work. I wonder if I reduced the dosage, would it help reduce the sweating? | F | 50 | 2 years | 5/21/2007 | 5 | Interstitial Cyctitis/bladder | I have been on elavil for 16 years. I have Interstitial Cystitis, a bladder disease with no cure. I lived with non-stop pain for 4 years and was in deep depression from pain. Elavil took my pain from a 10 to a 2 (10 being severe pain) within 2 weeks. I have gained over 50 pounds since going on it. I was always a thin person. It has changed my metabolism. But, you have to weigh living with constant pain or having weigh on with gaining back your quality of life. I thank God every day for Elavil. It gave me back my life. But, I have never given up trying to lose the weight. | F | 54 | 16 years | 5/18/2007 | 1 | Migraines | extreme tiredness, weight gain, moodiness, loss of libido | It makes me sad to think what my life might be like right now had i never been prescribed this EVIL drug! I started taking it at 21 for migraines, it helped my migraines greatly Howver, ver the years I took it I became overweight, I slept for 15 hours at a time, I felt like a zombie when awake. I went to the doctor numerous times about my sleeping so much, and I figured the weight gain was just me getting older and eating more etc. The doctors always told me "you dont excerise enough" or "eat better" or "your depressed". Not one doctor ever thought it could have been the Elavil. So one day I was searching the web because I was considering raising my dose of Elavil since the doctor had told me, once again, that I was depressed, while searching I stumbled upon a website like this. ALL my "depression" symptoms were mentioned by people taking this evil drug. I felt a sense of relief because I wasnt weird there were others sleeping 15 hrs at t | F | 25 | 4 years | 5/8/2007 | 5 | chronic migraines | dry mouth only for a few weeks; weight gain first month but now I'm watching what I eat and the weight is coming off | I am two months free from horrible migraines. (I had suffered from weekly migraines since October '06) If I do get any symptoms of a migraine, they are minor. I can take an Aleeve, and it nips it. I sleep better than ever! | F | 38 | 2 months | 5/6/2007 | 4 | chronic pain/unspecified neuralgia | weight gain | LOVE IT. I have taken elavil 25mg every night for two years. My reason for taking this medication is chronic pain in my right leg. During the day I can tolerate the pain, but it's very difficult to sleep when your leg hurts. Elavil eliminates the pain and helps me sleep. I absolutely love it. Being on a low dose has probably kept me from the horrible side effects others have had. | F | 27 | 2 years | 5/6/2007 | 3 | Depression, Anxiety | Memory loss, cold hands & feet all the time. Initial weight gain but that has come under control. The dry mouth is unbelievable, always need a drink around need to suck on some candy. Tin taste in mouth, that has tapered off. | 150mg at night. Depression is under control. I don't get in those deep dark places anymore. Anxiety not too bad. Definetely helps sleep but side effects are rough. Memory loss is scaring me to death, I have days when I don't remember what I did a few days ago. Work is suffering from my memory loss. | M | 36 | 3 months | 4/17/2007 | 5 | Fatigue 10 mg | Conks you out for a solid 8-9 hours at night. | Both this winter, and 20 years ago, I took 10 mg of Elavil specifically for long-term fatigue (with no other symptoms). 20 years ago, it was day 3 when I started to feel normal energy again. This winter, it was day 4 when my days became normal again. I have my life back. 20 years ago I took the Rx for 30 days, this time I tried it for two weeks and stopped. It's been a week off the Rx and I still feel normal. This dose of this Rx has been fantastic. | F | 47 | 14 days | 4/13/2007 | 4 | Chronic pain | Extreme drowsiness on waking. General malaise through the day. Very dry eyes. Severe weight gain. Flushing/photosensitivity. | As a treatment for chronic pain elavil has been great, although I have had to steadily up the dose over time. As a sleep aid it is fantastic. The downside is the difficulty in waking up in the morning. I have an esophageal motility disorder which has definiotely been better whilst taking elavil. However despite the benefits I am now slowly weaning myself off this drug. The weight gain in particular is intolerable. Ironic that the side effects of a drug that is most widely used to treat depression is provoking that reaction in me! Also the dry eye syndrome is driving me nuts! In many ways I will miss this drug, but continuing with it is no longer an option. If I had been aware of the problems it can cause I don't think I would have agreed to take it in the first place! | F | 42 | 2 years | 4/13/2007 | 4 | Migrains | Dry mouth, sharp chest pains, increase appetite, gained 35 pounds in 6 months, slight headaches, body ache, stayed tired, at times no energy, blurred vision, dizziness, drowisness, memory lost, nausea, shortness of breath. | Helped me sleep at night. If I took medicine by 10pm I was fine in the morning, if not it was hard for me to get out of the bed. It helped my migrains 98%. Even though it does have a lot of side effects, I am a little nervous about coming off of the medicine. My headaches was so bad that at times it makes me want to stay on it. | F | 28 | 6 months | 4/11/2007 | 1 | Sleep-aide | RAPID weight gain of 23 lbs IN 5 MONTHS! Standing at 5'4", 153 lbs. is way too much weight for my back to handle. Yuck! I wished I had known all this before I started taking this medicine. | It did help me to sleep, but the weight gain far exceeds the benefits I am getting for the sleep. I am going to wean myself off. I am at 50mg per night, and I am going to cut the dose in half each night for a week and then into 1/4 so I do not have withdrawal. I am not even sure if one has to be weaned off of this med, but NO MORE ELAVIL FOR ME! I am going back on Unisom Tablets....not the gelcaps...they don't work for me. | F | 61 | 7 months | 4/2/2007 | 5 | sleep | weight gain slight drowsiness the next day | This medicine helps me go back to sleep if I get up to urinate etc. You can also wait a while before falling asleep if you want instead of 'knock out' like Ambien etc. | M | 32 | 1 days | 3/31/2007 | 2 | Chronic Pain | Instant weight gain (within 4 days), increased appetite, craved more sweets, dry mouth. | I've only been taking 25mg for roughly 2 weeks now. I'm a very athletic, healthy person. I was at 116lbs when I started it, and I'm at 120 now - I've been working out more and eating less and I still seem to gain a 1/2 lb almost every few days. I am never full, I eat portions about twice the size I normally do when I'm not paying attention - and am still starving afterward. I've started to use a calorie counter this week to ensure I'm keeping it under control despite behind hungry ALL OF THE TIME. And I crave sweets constantly, I don't typically give in but I am always wanting chocolate or candy whereas normally I'm more of a salt lover. Definitely have the cotton mouth, though I could live with that if it weren't for the instant weight gain. I work hard to be athletic and I find my energy waning despite my 4 - 5 workouts per week, and my weight just keeps going up... | F | 25 | 13 days | 3/27/2007 | 1 | Migrains, Cluster headaches | headaches, dizziness, Very tired all the time, Slept for long periods at a time and when I woke up felt like I had been hit by a bus. loss of sex drive, Increased appitite, weight gain. | All I wanted to do on the medicine was sleep, and sit on the couch and eat. and I still had migrains. | F | 25 | 3 months | 3/21/2007 | 3 | migraines | HUGE weight gain and increased appetite especially for sweets. After taking for 3 years it actually increased my headaches. Slept well but was drowsy and out of it the next day. Major withdrawal symptoms including severe insomnia. Light headed and dizziness after about 2yrs of being on the medication. It lowers your blood pressure so you have to be careful. | I gradually reduced my dose so that I could get off of this medication after being on it for 3 yrs. I have been off of it for 2 months and I'm still having major withdrawals. I have insomnia that has last the entire 2 months and nothing has helped it including Lunesta and Ambien. Might possibly have to start taking it again just to sleep but only at a dosage of 12mg. | F | 24 | 3 years | 3/16/2007 |