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Re: Elavil withdrawal??

Posted by Ellie on November 12, 2001 at 19:12:33:

In Reply to: Elavil withdrawal?? posted by M on November 11, 2001 at 13:22:59:

Hi M, I have had terrible chronic insomnia for 8 years now since the birth of twins. Went to doctors, sleep clincics and tried many, many different drugs that didn't work. Was finally given Elavil and the dose had to be constantly raised for it to work. I finally hit 250 mg. (that is an extremely high dose) that made me sleep fairly well for a couple of years and then it stopped. I managed to slowly wean myself down to about 50 mg. and had the worst time, nightmares ,waking constantly and no deep sleep. HORRIFIC. It was so miserable that I went to another doctor who put me on Klonopin (to replace the Elavil) and Neurontin. Of course the dose kept going up because it would stop working. I then weaned off of that (TORTURE!!!). SO MISERABLE AND NO SLEEP that the doctor decided I was depressed and that's why I wasn't sleeping.(Of course I wasn't sleeping, obvious drug withdrawal, NOT DEPRESSION) that he put me back on Elavil. I was so sick that I agreed. Went right back up to 250 mg. again.(Didn't work this time even at this dose) Decided again that this was it - NO MORE MEDS. - and I got off of it 1 year 2 mos. ago. My insomnia is SO MUCH WORSE than it was before I started all this. I really think the Elavil was the real culprit. Immediately after slowly getting off the Elavil, it took a couple of months, nightmares again, waking up constantly and no deep sleep. The pattern has not let up since. My question is there anyone else who has experienced this? Does it get better or is this just insomnia that's much worse from drug use. This is a very long-winded reply but I have not had any answers. Also, just discovered this forum and am really glad about that. Oh - what the doctor said about 5 days is ridiculous. Has he ever tried getting off of Elavil? I guess you can tell I am fed up with doctors, the ones I saw anyway. Good luck. Keep posting to let us know how it's going.

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