Amitriptyline for Chronic Daily Headache+ Migraines?

[Trixx123]

Hi everyone,
I have had a continuous headache and at least 8 migraine attacks for the past three weeks. They feel more like spasms shooting up from the back of my head, sometimes pulsates, sometimes jabs, sometimes involve eye pain, and alternates between both sides of my head. I am waiting for an appointment to see a neurologist so in the meantime I just keep going to my family doctor. I had a CT scan without contrast at the hospital, showed nothing, so they gave me IV of a muscle relaxant + anti-nauseant and sent me home.

Tried so far: tramacet (tramadol+tylenol), naproxen, advil, tylenol, tylenol + codeine+ caffeine and imitrex. Nothing has worked.

So my doc prescribed Amitriptyline (elavil). I started at 10mg for 7 days and I am now taking 20mg and it is day 10. Headache pain still here (some spasms throughout the day). The drowsiness and dry mouth side effect I can handle but it seems to have increased my heart rate and increased my anxiety (leading to a few panic attacks) as well.

My question is: has anyone tried Amitriptyline and it worked? how long does it take to work and at what dosage? I am just concerned that the anxiety is being caused by Amit. and I don't want to keep taking it if it does not work. Also if I keep taking it, and it does not work, then I will have to deal with the withdrawal symptoms. Please help, I need advise. :(

[catdog7878]

Your story is so similar to ours. Our 7 year old daughter was just seen by Dr. Hershey for headaches and diagnosed with Primary Stabbing Headaches. He put her on the same amitriptylene dose regimen as your daughter but we just started the 7th day of meds and have not yet seen an effect. I am hopeful we will get there. Please email me if you'd like. I'm nearly desperate to talk to someone with this similar, rare situation.  ***@****

[catdog7878]

Your story is so similar to ours. Our 7 year old daughter was just seen by Dr. Hershey for headaches and diagnosed with Primary Stabbing Headaches. He put her on the same amitriptylene dose regimen as your daughter but we just started the 7th day of meds and have not yet seen an effect. I am hopeful we will get there. Please email me if you'd like. I'm nearly desperate to talk to someone with this similar, rare situation.  ***@****

[sara12345]

You should NEVER take any pain reliever every day to treat headaches.  It just results in rebound headaches.  There are other daily migraine preventative medications, including an herbal one called Petadolex.  Please see my entry just above.  Headaches are very disabling.  So if the Petadolex (get online) doesn't work, you really need to try one of the other daily preventative medications. If they don't work, then your daughter would qualify for Botox injections which have been more help than anything else that I do.  They are safe in the recommended doses.

[sara12345]

Thanks for alerting people to this herbal medication that has helped me.  One butterbur pill that does make sure that there are no impurities to cause liver damage is Petadolex. Plus herbal medications are notorious for having toxins in them since our FDA does not evaluate them.  Petadolex is manufactured in Germany where they DO evaluate their herbal medications.  So that's what I take. And yes they helped me whereas all the other daily preventative migraine pills either didn't work or caused terrible side effects.  The only thing that you need to do with the Petadolex is to take it with food.  

[Plutes]

I did amitriptyline, with success for a year. It was the only thing that prevented the migraines. Unfortunately I gained 15 pounds and was groggy much of the time. My neurologist switched me to butter bur extract, which seems to be working, without the grogginess, and I've shed four of those pounds. And have more energy for working out and other activities. Try it, it has no side effects for me. Just make sure you get it from a high-quality manufacturer, because if it is not formulated properly, it can cause liver damage.

Good luck to you

[tennislover]

Thank you all for your posts.  I am new to this site.  My daughter had a VERY rare bacteria in Sept '13.  She had been on 5 different meds before the stupid bacteria grew and they could treat correctly.  The one antibiotic was wicked (the pharmacist said they were only allowed to keep 2 in stock).  Long story short, she was on antibiotics for 3 months (until Dec 16). January '14 she started having headaches every day.  They did an MRI to make sure the virus hadn't come back. It was clean. Her pediatrician put on her prescription strength Aleve.  She had no relief. We waited 2 months to get an appt with the pediatric neurologist. He ordered a spinal tap to measure the pressure in her spine and it was fine.  He started her on amitriptyline (10mg). 2 weeks later no relief. Upped the dose to 20mg. Still no relief. Upped the dose to 30mg. Still no relief.  After reading all these posts, I just don't want her on this drug!! Can someone tell me what the "ginger" therapy is?  I would like to try the natural path as I feel drugs just create more issues.