I believe Amtriptyline is a tricyclic antidepresant. I do not take it. And Narcotic pain relievers are about the ONLY thing that do work on my pain consistantly. I could not get out of bed much of the time without them. I hope he changes his mind for you or that the amitriptyline does help you.

Rhonda, I've not tried it, but I know someone who swears by it! It's all she's ever taken for her fibro, and it's really helped her. I really hope it works for you.

Elizabeth

Amitriptyline takes a while to get into your system - the only thing you're going to feel immediately is sleepy.

I took it for years to help with sleep and it did well for that but it never helped with pain.

What dosage did he give you?

He started me on 25mg, he says you can take up to 450 mg.

I don't have any experience either through fibro or bipolar. I think you need a new doc, fibro patients don't always need narcotics, but they should have access to them...it would sure as hell cut down on ER visits. It did for me...I just had a little chat Tuesday with my Rheumatologist, reminding him who he works for. He was stacking my meds to help me sleep...great I love a good nights rest....what about the other 16 hours of the day? I told him there was a huge gap in my treatment which was leaving a gaping hole in my quality of life...Then he came around a bit

Kdavis I think your right about me needing a new doctor.

I started amitriptyline a week ago. It's helping with my sleep but I think it has to build in my system to help with the pain. So I'm waiting to find out. Lets hope it does!

I'm so sorry. I tried Nortryptiline, not amitryptiline, but it really did not do much for me, helped with sleep a little bit.

As for not beliving in narcotics for fibro pain, go tell him to take a bath in a pool filled with hot oil or boiling water or lay out in hot sun all day, take a few doses of pain meds, and then, come back and tell you that he doesn't believe in narcotics for fibro pain.
Take care.

oh, and nortryptiline also made me gain over 20 lbs in 4 months.

I get so angry with doctors and people in general, but especially the md's for saying all the bull about pain meds and fibro. I'm sure they would sing a different song if the tables were turned.

I know changing docs is not easy, also, if we are lucky enough to have insurance, it dictates who we can see or who's out of reach. I was blessed enough to have found a great fibro doc. I did, however, go through a year of seeing a pain doc who also didn't "believe in narcotics for fibro" As a matter of fact, as I found out toward the end of my treatment by the guy, he also didn't believe in fibro, he said it was all in your head. He didn't believe in narcotics for fibro, however, he did believe in $2,000 lidocaine injections performed at a surgical center so he could milk it for all it's worth. Let's see, $10 for a months worth of significant relief vs $2K for a few days if you're lucky.

What a joke, my current doc does the injections in office, without the extra heart monitors, recovery room, all the bs, and he gives me steroid injections which are much more appropriate for my condition because I have severe inflammatory arthritis in my spine and most of my joints in addition to fibro and myofascial pain. The previous doc kept telling me I had no inflammation or arthritis, that my pain was all imagionary.

Lets see, old doc, 36 years old, about 3-4year experience, the current doc, in his sixties, highly recognized, about 30 years experience. the old doc, physical medicine, pain management, the current doc, rheumatologist specializing in fibro/ and pain managament. The old doc, cold and calculated worried that the dentist next door drives a better car than he does, the current doc, friendly, caring, worried about the patients' quality of life.

Sorry, got a little ticked off. I feel like crap and your post is not the first one this week or two, talking about docs not believing in narcotics for fibro. I'm greatful to WebMd for posting a decent article about pain meds and fibro.

Hope you don't mind my rant too much.

Take care.

I only take one tablet of it a night now and I guess it helps some with sleep. I used to take 3 a night and it helped with pain during the day but I was too exhausted from it that I decided not to take that much.

I've made several phone calls today trying to find a new doctor. I think I found one so I go Monday to my current PCP again and request a referral to my MIL doc who treats her for fibro. I ask her if he gave her pain meds and she said absolutely, she said Savella helps her tremendously and she told him at her last visit that she didn't think she would need the pain meds any more and he told her, she needed to keep some or a current prescriptions at all times because you never know with fibro if the savella will stop working or if she has a flare up the savella may not be able to take care of all her pain. So I'm thinking he sounds fantastic and almost unbelievable considering the BS I've been through with my PCP. I don't have insurance and MIL's doc give a 30% discount for cash paying patients. So wish me luck, I'm hoping I can get in next week and get some RELIEF!