Generic Name: Amitriptyline for Vulvodynia (amitriptyline)
Amitriptyline for Vulvodynia Reviews
"Amitriptyline was the best thing for my pain. Took 4 days to start working. I started on 10 mg and now taking 20 mg at night. Had no side effects at all. This medication saved my life after 5 months of 3 doctors, 1 dermatologist & 3 gynos to figure out what was causing this pain. Would highly recommend Amitriptyline for vulvodynia."
"I started with a 10 mg dose of amitriptyline and then slowly worked my way up to 35 mg over a period of about 2 months. I found that the 10 mg dose didn't do much for pain but helped with my insomnia and sleep issues. At 20 mg, my pain was reduced, and at 35 mg, the nerve pain is completely gone. Initially, I was scared of the side effects like weight gain, but because this drug helps with insomnia, I'm getting better sleep and am now more active and have lost about 8 lbs over a period of 4 months. I know there are quite a few medication options for nerve pain, but this seems to be the most affordable. Lyrica isn't covered by my insurance anymore and would cost me $350 a month. Amitriptyline is covered, but if I did have to pay out of pocket, it would only be $20 monthly."
"I started on amitriptyline 4 weeks ago, firstly on 10 mg, which didn’t help at all. I still had the pain and burning, which was excruciating. Upped to 20 mg, and still no relief a week later, the pain was still present. Then upped to 30 mg, 40 mg, and now 50 mg a night, which has eliminated all my pain. It does take up to 6 weeks to really work, so be patient. Hard, I know, to tolerate the pain, but it helped me. Had a dry mouth initially and was sleepy at first, but now don’t get any side effects."
"On Dec 2015, I had excruciating cutting burning vaginal pain. Along with frequent urgency to go urinate, all the tests under the sun were done, but all came back negative, and after 2 months of tests, my urogynocologist said it's vulvodynia. He prescribed Amitriptyline. I was very skeptical about this. Then finally, I started with 5 mg for my body to get used to it. Then, 1 week after, I did 10 mg... and after 10 days, I went to 15 mg... that did the trick, no more pain, but then I amped it to 20 mg. I never thought I would be able to have a normal life again, but this med saved my life. In these 6 weeks of taking Amitriptyline, I had few days of pain at level 2, but the rest of the days so far, okay, no pain!! I have been told to take this med for 3 months."
"I've been on amitriptyline on and off for several years. I take only 5 mg at night and have had such significant relief from many of my issues. My anxiety is much better, and my chronic lower back pain from a ruptured disc is so much better. I also have vulvodynia and have had significant relief from that as well. I think this drug is under-prescribed because it’s old and the drug reps aren’t pushing it. But it is well studied and very safe. I have no real side effects on 5 mg, but on 10 mg, I do get dry mouth and fatigue. I highly recommend trying amitriptyline!"
"I was diagnosed with vulvodynia after taking 3 courses of antibiotics for a urine infection, horrendous nerve pain for 3 months, I was prescribed amitriptyline one 10mg before bed and I woke up the next day and the nerve endings had dampened and the pain had pretty much gone. I’m still on it 4 years later as I was told if you come off it and the pain starts up again, it does not always work second time around, so I am on them for life now."
"Amitriptyline has worked the best for my vulvodynia compared to gabapentin, nortriptyline and venlafaxine. The side effects from the others were intolerable. Unfortunately amitriptyline causes bowel urgency and diarrhea for me but on 10 mg I can manage it with dietary changes. This drug allows me to sit and walk with less pain and offers about 40% overall pain relief so it’s worth it! It also helps with sleep disruption and mood."
"This was the first medication I was prescribed once I was finally diagnosed with vulvodynia. I have experienced a tremendous improvement after two weeks of taking this medication. I was originally started on 10 mg with no relief after 2 months of use. My doctor increased it to 50 mg last month, which has really worked. My personal regimen includes 50 mg amitriptyline at bedtime, Estrace topical, B complex vitamin, and alpha-lipoic acid. My pain went from a 7 to 2 in a matter of two weeks. It makes me constipated, so I use fiber supplements daily. I was very drowsy initially, but you will adjust in a few days. Exercise and a healthy diet have greatly decreased the side effects (sleepiness, weight gain, constipation) associated with this drug."
"I have been taking 10 mg for about a month, and it had almost completely eliminated the pain. Within 2 days of my first dose, I had relief. At 10 mg, the only side effects I've had were dry mouth and mild sleepiness, but only at night and in the early morning. I imagine if I were on a higher dose, I might have more side effects. I occasionally will get a twinge of pain here and there, but mostly I've been pain-free."
"Worked on the vulvar pain right away but the side effects at 5mg were unbearable. I took 1/2 of the lowest dose and could not tolerate the medicine. Feel asleep for 12 hours within 2 hours of taking this medicine. Then woke up and had racing heartbeat for the next 8 hours. It was scary. Called Dr. contemplated going to ER but heart settled down by 3pm the next day. NOT worth it at all. Switched to Vaginal Estrogen and Vaginal valium and problem solved. Local therapy is always better than systemic."
"My bride and I were both hospital-based clinicians. She had chronic vaginal infections and treated without resolution. She registered for evaluation in a specialized GYN clinic in the mid- 80's and was diagnosed with vulvodynia. The cause was lifting patients and strain to her body. Symptoms were vaginal pain and discharge. Therapy was initiated with amitriptyline in a titratable dosage. With symptoms, increase amit.. maint. dosage by 10mg x 5-7 nights, then an additional 10mg amit. x 5-7 nights until relief. Then maintain her regimen x 10 nights, and then lower amit dose down in same fashion to establish new maint dose She was able to decrease amit. therapy 1 year later. In 2015, symptoms returned . She was told by nurse that: 1) she was too old, 2) insurance would not pay, and 3) my bride knew more about vulvodynia than nurse! My bride continued to maintain a set nightly amitriptyline dosage."
Elavil (amitriptyline) "Use of Elavil has not lessened the pain associated with vulvodynia (or nerve ending pain), but it seems I can tolerate it more. But I notice that my throat gets very dry and my voice is hoarse. Also I have been diagnosed with dry eye, and I do feel that is caused by the Elavil (along with dry mouth and throat)."
Elavil (amitriptyline) "Amitriptyline made a huge difference to my daily life in terms of pain relief from Vulvodynia, but it has many side effects. I stuck to a low level 25mg and had to wiegh up benefits vs side-effects. Changed to Nortriptyline and had the same benefits but less side-effects. Now take 30mg of Nortriptyline."
"I started Elavil 10mg once before bed time 2 weeks ago for chronic pain from a contact dermatitis that lasted for 4 months and that happened 5 months ago. I am so full of hope, because it's already been 2 weeks and I can see such an improvement (I'm also applying a protection on my skin to help my brain cut the wire of pain) . It can take up to 6 or 8 weeks to feel the full effects so I'm delighted with the idea that I might be no longer in pain until then. My dermatologist assured me that my pain was normal and would definitely go away because of the context of which it took place. Please people don't give up. The best is yet to come xx"
"I was on Amitryptline for 30 years.The highest dose for me was 40 mg.It helped me a lot BUT the withdrawal is a nightmare. Insomnia is brutal amongst other symptoms. I have been off it for 8 weeks and still going through the worst time if my life. It is a bad medicine all around. Wish I had never gone on this drug.I truly believe that it is addictive even though the doctors say it isn't. Weigh out how bad you really need this drug before getting on it because you will regret being off of it for certain. ."
"Started amitriptyline 25mg about a month ago (for vulvodynia). It makes me sleepy and I have dry mouth. It masks the pain and urgency to pee but the underlying condition still remains as when I only took 20mg one night the pain and urgency to pee came back."
"I have been on this for 3 days now and it has helped tremendously. Felt very lethargic the 1st 2 days and dizzy but much better today. Taking 25mg twice daily. Also have neurological pain in mouth. Still have slight pain but nothing like it was."
"Was on both oral tablets and cream at two different times: Once separate and once together. They did not decrease my pain in either case, and instead caused a slew of side effects. I didn't realize how many until I was off it."
"I started on 10 mg at night, the first dose worked immediately! I was having horrible burning pain, trouble sitting at my desk for hours, I was miserable. The 10mg slowly stopped working as well so went up to 25 mg. Pain was gone, but tachycardia, I almost passed out and had to go to the ER one day. I just wore an event monitor for my heart for 30 days and it was all tachycardia and some missed beats. And then the weight gain. I’m fairly tiny, I’ve worked hard to achieve my body and I exercise 4-5 times a week but pounds started to creep on. Every month it’s been a struggle to maintain my weight, which has increased 10-12 lbs. I count every calorie, I exercise more when I’m hungry (hungrier on amitriptyline for sure) so I can have extra calories. Nothing has stopped the chubbiness. I stopped taking amitript"
"I have taken this two time periods, the first time I took 60mg for 7 months (January 2019 to August 2019) and the second time I took 40mg for 3 months (October 2020 to January 2021). Both times it completely took away my pain from erosive lichen planus, but I struggled with bad side effects, the worst ones being completely dry mouth, weight gain, tiredness and brain fog/attention deficit. I gained a total of 60lbs over my time on amitriptyline, which is proving very difficult to get off, even though I'm now off the medication. I came off the medication because I couldn't function at work due to the brain fog. I would forget what I was doing, forget what we were talking about mid conversation, zone out, sit and stare into space.... It was awful. It does take my pain away completely, so I really wish that the side effects were milder. I'm going to try duloxetine now."
Elavil (amitriptyline) "Big help for vulvodynia."
Elavil (amitriptyline) "Awesome pain inhibitor for this condition but I had too many side effects like heart palpitations and hair loss."
Elavil (amitriptyline) "Elavil really worked for the vulvadynia discomfort. Unfortunately, it also made me super anxious and shaky, and I just couldn't tolerate it."
"I was very hopeful this would solve my vulvodynia pain, but had terrible headaches, stomach aches and acid reflux on 5, 10 and 20 mg. I decided to go off. Will now try gabapentin."
"I am taking Amitriptyline 30mg and do not feel any difference so might need to increase it to 35mg. However I have read that Amitriptyline could cause cancer so I am a bit hesitant."
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