User Reviews for Nortriptyline

I was recently prescribed Nortriptyline for my chronic migraines and thus far 6 weeks in I've seen no noticeable difference in frequency or severity of my migraines. The only side effect I've had has been grogginess in the morning.

My doctors were treating me for pain and nerve damage. I also happen to have anxiety too. My adjustment was easy.. but that's because I went from Lyrica to this lol. If you've had Lyrica, you know what I mean. I adjusted quickly. It helped for a while, but I got used to it so after 2 months it didn't work. They doubled my dosage and now I feel great.

From the age of 15-16 I have had stress/tension induced muscle cramps and severe muscle spasms in my neck and back. They were severely debilitating and occurring weekly. Each incident lasted about 4-5 days and then I would get another. This went on for many years. The doctors simply gave me strong muscle relaxers and pain killers. After so many years, at the age of 40, my doctor prescribed Nortriptyline. I took 10 MG everyday for 2 weeks, then increased it to 25 mg. In the end I was taking the maximum, 150 mg (50 mg 3 times per day) everyday. I am now 67. 4 days ago I took my last pill after cutting back over a 2 month period. In the beginning, I had sound hallucinations, mostly in large groups of people or when there was a fan or motor noise I could hear voices. I put up with it because it was mild and did not happen all the time. Eventually, they went away (or I learned to ignore them). In all those years, I had only two episodes of back spasms and they were never as severe as before and went away overnight. I had great sleep every night. The pills made me a little drowsy with dry mouth during the day but they worked so well to fix the issue that I was ok with the mild side effects which went away. After so many years of taking them I was nervous about quitting but I have not had any muscle spasms and the withdrawals are not severe because I cut back very slowly over 2 months. I am having great difficulty sleeping though and it worries me as I become a real basket case without my regular sleep. However, I had a good sleep today for the first time: restful, rejuvenating, and deep. I hope I make it through this. The reason I quit is because I felt the pills were "holding me back" from achieving things that are hard to accomplish. I was complacent and too satisfied with the way things were rather than seeking out change for the better. Hope I did the right thing. Read More Read Less

Started about four months ago at 25mg went up to 50mg on second week. Worked good with some mild side effects: dry mouth, taste gone, constant ringing in ears, swelling of ankles and feet, difficulty with urinating, tongue discolored. Beginning of fourth month. Tongue swelling more, taste gone ringing in ears more intense, dry mouth horrible and occasionally trembling in tongue. It did stop pain.

I've been on this drug for 2.5 months now for tension headaches that I've had for 35 yrs finally had enough of them and asked for help I started on 10mg but now on 50mg headaches are very mild now when I get one so thumbs up on that score but I've had some side effects dry mouth at start OK now sleep pattern is good but I see floating heads nightly when I wake up in night which is a bit concerning but I will live with that to be free of constant headaches as long as they go away soon I had weird dreams to start with but they have gone now . I am happy with Nortriptyline so give it a try and hopefully you will get a positive result also perhaps with less hallucinations than me but remember they are only scary if you let them beRead More Read Less

Horrible cholinergic side effects. I only made it to the second week of tapering up to 75 mg. Never again.

Currently on 50mg of Nortriptyline (Allegron) for ongoing nerve pain due to a previous testicular torsion. Yes, I am living every man's worst nightmare and in his 20s at that. Before I was on Pregabalin (also known as Lyrica) but this made me extremely anxious and drowsy, to the point where I felt everything was a hallucination and felt drunk all the time as well as regular panic attacks. I was then prescribed 20 mg's of Nortriptyline which came in the form of two pills in the evening. After 2 months on it, my pain was gone. I could finally do 'activities' with the wife and not feel like Mike Tyson had just given me an uppercut to the taint. Side effects were minimal, at first I had some really wild dreams but that was about it. The Nortriptyline also helped with my General Anxiety, which is definitely a bonus. A few years later I somehow pinched a nerve. Symptoms returned but I was recommended I increase my dosage to 50mg/day. A few more months later (and being very cautious in that regard) no more burning pain down my entire right side of the family heirlooms. Side effects did appear at around this dosage. Constipation is an issue but this can be negated with fibre-based supplements or dried fruit such as Apricots if you need things to move in a hurry. Small side note, whilst generic brands are equally effective as the named brands, the generic brands have no coating on the pills which taste horrible. Also, be careful if you're on the 10mg pills. If you drop them, they disappear into the void never to be seen again as they're very small. This medication is a form of Antidepressant, known as a tricyclic antidepressant so your mileage on this medication may vary. It is, however, a less 'aggressive' antidepressant than modern SSRIs.Read More Read Less

Nortriptylene was recommended by the Mayo Clinic for acid reflux that did not respond to acid suppression drugs. Within 3-5 days acid reflux was gone. I also had anxiety, panic attacks, retinal migraines and daily headaches. They were gone as well. For me this is an incredible drug. I suffered all my life and finally at the age of 73 I got relief. SSRIs never worked for me. I have had no side effects at all on Nortriptylene at the one year mark. And to think this drug has been around since 1964.Read More Read Less

Difficulty typing. Having to use assist. I am a writer. On this medication, I can't even drive my car. I can't sleep. Loss ofcoordination. Van't focus. I can't speak. J by ke I was less suicidal before I started this stuff. Besides, itdm does nothing for my anhedonia. I am swearing at my spouse just for knocking on my door. I'm a bad person on this stuff . Can't think. Can't do anything. Can't lift my arms l. It's so hard to type. I'm sorry. God help me

My doctor prescribed it to try for my frequent migraines when Sumatriptan and another triptan's made me feel like I wasn't in control of my body and defeated the purpose of giving me the ability to work consistently with frequent migraines. It's been a lifesaver truly. We moved to 50mg a couple months in and I've been migraine free for over two years. I still get the aura and blindspot like I always did right before the migraine and now I can take some OTC ibuprofen and have little to no pain. I still feel worn out afterwards like my body experienced the migraine but I don't have to pause my life anymore and I don't have to fear losing my job because of migraines. I didn't want to have to take a daily pill but this one has been worth it.Read More Read Less

After one pill, I experienced sleeplessness, paranoia, hallucinations. I never took a 2nd pill.

I have lichen schlerosus. It's a vaginal condition that causes a lot of burning and some pain. This has helped me tremendously. Before I was awake at night because I was so uncomfortable. I don't think it makes me sleepy. I take other things to help me sleep so haven't had insomnia problems. After reading these comments I realized my chronic headaches are better.

I was prescribed this for chronic migraines. I'd been taking a combination of acetaminophen/ibuprofen 3-4 times daily. My neurologist told me I was experiencing "rebound headaches" from taking so much medicine. He told me to immediately stop taking them, although he didn't suggest anything else to help me that I could afford.(Newer migraine meds such as Nurtec and Ubrelvy, aren't covered by Medicare, and would cost me $800-900/month out-of-pocket.) I started with 10mg daily and worked up to 30mg by week three. During that time, I sat in a dark room during the day; was in too much pain to sleep well at night; and literally did nothing but the basics due to debilitating pain. I eventually started to experience less pain, which I attribute to stopping the OTC meds that were causing the rebound headaches. After another month of being on the nortriptyline I decided that the side effects were worse than - or at least as bad as - the headaches. I was so tired during the day, I could barely motivate myself to do anything. I experienced muscle weakness to the point where I could no longer perform simple tasks like carrying a laundry basket or a gallon of milk. The dry mouth was so intense, I'd wake up during the night unable to swallow; my tongue felt like it was coated with lint; my breath was horrendous; and my sense of taste was off.in addition, I started craving sugar. It got so bad that I couldn't control it and ended up eating cookies, candy and pastry throughout the day As a result, I gained 13 lbs. in 10 weeks; and my glucose went from 91 to 128. Then there was the constipation, another horror story. As of this writing, the migraines are only sporadic, and less severe than they used to be. If I feel a headache coming on, I take an OTC sinus and congestion medicine and it goes away completely, something I wasn't able to achieve with my other OTC combination. And I haven't had to take them more than once a day if I need them at all. I've only been weaned off nortryptiline for a couple of days, and I'm feeling much better. Soon after cutting back on my dosage, the tiredness, muscle weakness and sugar cravings are significantly diminished.Read More Read Less

I have a migrant headache ,sinuses,problems with sleeping and anxiety for years,I see 15 doctors or more ,my ENT doctor sent me to see Sleep Oral Dental specialist,she thinks I have Central Sensitizaton syndrome,i don’t even know what that mean,she said I need to take Allegron Nortriptyline starts 10mg lower dose for week 1 first.Then increasing 20mg second week if not working and then increase 30mg but not more than 40mg.I tried first pill 10mg,I felt abit dizziness and nausea,after day 2 I started notice my driving abit better ,lesser anxiety.I still have to take it until week 2-3 wks to see it works,but my headache still just abit better on day 3.I will you know again .I usual took Cetapram 50mg for my anxiety and it was really good helped sleeping and anxiety for a year,but then my symptoms was back again.So the doctor subscribed this medicine Nortriptyline 10mg,I’m on lowest dose ,it helped my sleeping better ,best to take it 1-2 hours before bed.Every body is different,but do not be scared just give it a try otherwise you don’t know which drugs are better for you out there.Everyone deserve a better a life,but please do not be like me.I was locked up myself at home for 3years ,because of my anxiety,migraine,nausea,dizziness,arthritis,osteoporosis,jaw’s pain..etc..all these called Central Sensitization symptoms .I hopefully can help everyone but this drug quite new to me ,so I don’t know yet .but my driving at least a bit better.Goodluck everyone.Buddha and gods bless you all! Read More Read Less

10/14 Started on this medication 2 nights ago. It was prescribed to me after trying 3 other antidepressants (paxil, terazodone and mirtazapine) that didn't work for me horrible experiences. I litterally felt like i was losing my mind. I had to stop the mirtazapine cold turkey last Sunday. I started with 10mg of nortriptyline which I finally slept intermittently but slept. But i don't know if it was because i didnt sleep the night before and that's why it worked a little bit. I thought it would provide more of sedating effect but it didn't which my doctor had mentioned that to me. She prescribed it for anxiety and insomnia due to my symptoms lingering after getting the COVID variant on 7/24 took paxlovid and rebounded the following week after taking that drug. I have lost 18 plus pounds since getting the virus and still suffering from loss of appetite. Dont get me wrong i could of stood to loose some weight, but not like this. I have been out of work since August 15th and now on FMLA. I hate taking western medicine and still confused on why my doctor put me on this. Because I read its primarily used more for nerve pain. I told her I didn't want to be on anymore antidepressants but she said it wasn't considered a antidepressant only at the higher doses. I upped the dose to 20mg last night and hoped I would get the sedating effect and sleep, but it didnt. I had to end up taking 10ml of liquid benadryl 4 hours later to help me get some sleep. I may have slept 2 or 3 hours and now I'm awake with dry mouth and feeling nauseous and tired. My doctor said I can gradually up my dose up to 50mg. I hope that won't be the case for me because I have a low tolerance for medication. I am going to try 30mg tonight in hopes that it will finally work for sleep. But then again it may work because of me not sleeping last night. I have got to get back to work and start feeling like myself again. I would like to see more positive reviews about this drug. But I keep reading bad ones and getting discouraged. But like people have said on here that this medication may not be for everyone. Because at this point I am starting to lose hope that this will not work for what it was prescribed for. So please someone out there, let me know that there is hope on the horizon. And that I will start to see the light at the end of tunnel. And be able get off this medication roller coaster that I have been on for 2 months now.Read More Read Less

I am always deathly afraid of big pharma products like this and this one just added to my fear. I was only prescribed 10 mg a day for occipital nerve pain and two doses in was enough to make me lose my mind, just two doses. I can echo much of the side effects mentioned by the other horror stories here, including jacked up thinking, more depressed, insanely anxious, sleepy beyond any normal reason, and an overall lack of clarity in my mind, to the point where you question reality. I repeat tread very very lightly with drugs like this, if you have other options that are not drugs, by all means stay the heck away from this drug. Pharma does not cure anything, and with this drug, and many others, the side effects are far worse than my symptoms. This is poison. Read More Read Less

I have a history of hard to treat depression, ADD, chronic fatigue and insomnia. I had an accident that caused nerve damage to my neck and was in a lot of pain that otc meds or gabapenten wouldn’t help. My dr started me on nortriptoline and within 3 days I had pain relief. Mood was still the same. But after 3 weeks on nortriptoline my depression and pain was completely gone! I was sleeping like a baby, I woke up ready for the day, joined a gym, I was happy, pain free, had energy. It was truly a God send. My only side effects was weight gain and constipation. After 2 years on it I decided to quit taking it because despite exercise and eating healthy, I couldn’t lose a pound. I only had bowel movements once a week. I didn’t have any side effects coming off of the medication. I tapered myself. I’ve been off of nortriptoline for over a year now. My pain is manageable. I’ve lost the weight I gained. But the depression is kicking my butt despite trying all sorts of natural antidepressants (SAM-e, St. John’s wort, etc) So I’m actually thinking of going back on nortriptoline. I’ve never felt as good as I did on it. Its almost worth the weight gain to be happy, have energy and sleep normal. Anyone who’s scared to try nortriptoline, don’t let some of the reviews scare you. It may not work for everyone, but for some people it’s a miracle! Read More Read Less

Excellent for pain and depression

I have horrible dry mouth and constipation from the medicine. I've been taking 50 mg per day for a month and just this week I've started have hallucinations. My neurologist is lowering my dosage to 10mg per day. Hopefully this will work because the next step is injections in my head to put the nerve to sleep. I also have been dealing with RA for the last 25 years.

I experience severe post-operative abdominal pain (probably neuropathic). It took a while to find Nortriptyline, I stared at 10mg, then 20mg, currently taking 25mg, and will trial 35/37.5mg in the next month. My pain relief is not complete, I still have to be very mindful of movement because of breakthrough pain at 25mg. I missed a dose the other week and the pain that crept in towards the next dose time was quite high, so I know that it's providing quite a bit of relief. The side effects are much easier for me than Amitriptyline (very groggy/hungover even at low doses). Mornings are not my friend now, but they're manageable. I can't tell if I've experienced much weight gain (breakthrough pain limits my movement and I find it hard to lose any weight without exercising), and I don't think I've experienced dry mouth or any other negative side effects.Read More Read Less