Post Vasectomy Pain Forum

Amitriptyline. Anyone know if its any good?

After over a year of pain, my doctor has give me Amitriptyline.
Just curious has anyone tried it? Did it help? Or should i not get my hopes up?

My opinion on Amitriptyline is that’s what they give when they know they’ve screwed you up and can’t fix you.

That’s a drug for people with nerve-damage related pain.

This is what I know about it.

It’s an old school anti-depressant, a tryciclic, if I’m not mistaken. The brand name is “Elavil”.

It can make you pack on weight. It makes some people ravenously hungry for sweets and carbs.

It can raise your blood sugar.

It will help you sleep, BIG TIME, but it may also make it hard to get up.

If you are someone that responds well to Antidepressants, it can help you with your mood.

If you are somewhere on the Bipolar spectrum, it could cause you problems.

It doesn’t make your pain heal, it just masks the nerve related pain and makes it tolerable/less noticeable. Some believe that this can help you break the dangerous loop where pain can get ingrained and become harder to treat. I am not aware of anyone that took it and was able to wean off of it because they no longer needed it unless that person had a procedure that physically changed the anatomy of the nerves.

It’s worth a try.

I don’t metabolize most ADs properly because I have a gene that makes me a poor CPY2D6 metabolizer. I have almost no enzyme activity that is required to break this drug down to it’s active metabolites.

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What he said, yes all their drugs do is just mask the problem but its still there.

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I took it 20 years ago for a spinal cord injury - it was a temporary fix for a few months until I could have a spinal fusion. I put on a good amount of weight but was also very sedentary and had access to a college meal plan so the meds weren’t all to blame. I didn’t have any mental issues from it or anything and I really don’t think it had a huge impact. It did take the edge off nerve pain I had down my legs. I was never given it for my post vas pain. My urologist felt those were older type drugs. I was put on Lyrica instead and it helped a bit.

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I would suggest Nortriptyline over Amitriptyline. A few Dr.s who treat pvps use this one and have had the best results compared to any other. I find Lyrica and Nortriptyline help me.

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Amitriptyline was the only drug I found helpful early in my issues with PVPS nerve pain. I didn’t stay on it long because it didn’t solve my abdominal pain, it seemed like just a band-aid, and I hate taking meds. But, if needed, I’d take it again.

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Kevin, did you end up getting a reversal? I think if you are at a steady state pain wise it is just a band-aid. Anything that relieves suffering is good I suppose. It has some pretty heavy side effects though.

I took it for 3 days. I was wired, couldn’t sleep and it made me feel like I was nuts. NOT GOOD STUFF for me anyways.

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A short update. I’ve taken them for 3 days now. Pain is the same. I just feel like a zombie.

You are probably like me. I took Immipramine once, or maybe it was Trofanil? I can’t remember which but I layed in bed and I remember I did not get one iota of sleep. It’s like I just layed there not awake but definitely not alseep either all night long. I was fried the next day. Just exhausted.

Yeah Keef that stuff is known to really knock you on your a$$. Have you tried Gabapentin/Neurontin?

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Yeah, it’s bad stuff. My GP gave it to me when I was freaking out after my vas and when i told him i was in pain. he was like, maybe this will help and to calm you down too. I tried it and told him what happened and he was surprised. I end up with so many meds in the cabinet cause they don’t work and they just keep pushing them! That’s the scary thing. They hand them out like candy to me.

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You are probably a CPY2D6 poor metabolizer. I bet codeine does not do a thing for you. It’s a pretty crappy condition/genetic disposition because it makes a lot of medications simply not work for you or leave you with more side effects than benefits.

No opioids work on me. I brought it up to my GP before and he kind of brushed off the idea. But who knows.

As well as the Amitriptyline, the doc also gave me Naproxen. Said to take them just when the pain was really bad. Not tried them yet.

I had some decent relief from amitriptyline, but like MikeO said above, I put on 7-8 pounds. Can’t blame that entirely on the meds, though, as I haven’t been nearly as active since the pain re-started about a year ago.

I tapered off of it recently as I’m headed for a spermatic cord block with Dr. P. this week. I wanted to make sure the meds weren’t masking any pain so I’d know if the cord block helped on its own.

Overall, both amitriptyline and gabapentin have some impacts I’m not fond of. Weight gain, lethargy, etc. It’s all about balancing their pain masking capabilities with the downside side effects.

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didn’t help me unfortunately. BUT we all react differently to different meds that’s for sure, so might be the magic pill for someone else.