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Nortriptyline (Nortriptyline) - Reviews, Ratings, Comments by Patients

 
 



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Below are Nortriptyline reviews, ratings, comments submitted by patients and caregivers. Based on a total of 8 ratings/reviews, Nortriptyline has an overall score of 6.88. The effectiveness score is 8.25 and the side effect score is 7.25. The scores are on ten point scale: 10 - best, 1 - worst. This information is not vetted and should not be cosidered as clinical evidence.
 

Nortriptyline review by 41 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Highly Effective
Side effects:   No Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   joint/muscular issues - fibro
Dosage & duration:   25mg taken once a day for the period of 5 years
Other conditions:   sleep issues due to pain but was alleviated by meds
Other drugs taken:   advil for occassional pain during the day
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   ability to sleep though the night decreasing joint/muscle pain and cramps allowing for a more productive day
Side effects:   none once proper dosages were found....higher mg's made me "foggy"
Comments:   when I was not able to sleep the pain would increase which would lead to a cycle of not being able to sleep as I could not relax..the meds would help me to sleep which would allow my body to relax - this in turn led to a decrease in my symptoms..though there were still times when this would not be effective, such as if I was under high levels of stress or could not get 8 hours of sleep..if the condition continued for to long, severe depression, weepiness and other symptoms would begin to appear - usually a week of prescription sleep aides would help "re-set" my system and we could get back to the original program.

 

Nortriptyline review by 52 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Highly Effective
Side effects:   Mild Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   Originally depression, later for chronic pain
Dosage & duration:   50 mg taken 1 time at bedtime for the period of many years, still taking it
Other conditions:   endometriosis, chronic migraines, fibromyalgia, CFS
Other drugs taken:   liquid advil, clonazepam
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   good lifting of depressive feelings, reduction in chronic back pain associated with endometriosis and fibromyalgia
Side effects:   Dry mouth and shaky hands . Shakiness subsided in 3-4 days
Comments:   Initially given Nortriptyline for depression. It helped and after months of therapy the decision was made to discontinue. I noticed an increase in low back pain that I had in the sacral area associated with endometriosis and all over body aches associated with fibromyalgia. I read that Nortriptyline at that time was being experimentally used for neurological pain so I asked to go back on to see if it helped and it did. ALthough I eventually had to have a hysterectomy due to the severity of the endometriosis I still had/have to deal with chronic pain of fibromyalgia. I cannot tolerate the pain without the Nortriptyline 50mg at bedtime. I would highly recommend a trial of this if you have any chronic pain issues at all. Although other pain meds may have to be taken occasionally due to severity changes the Nortriptyline for me really cuts that down.

 

Nortriptyline review by 28 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Considerably Effective
Side effects:   Mild Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   back pain; restlessness
Dosage & duration:   1 capsule before bed taken every night until caught up on sleep for the period of off and on for 2 months
Other conditions:   Insomnia
Other drugs taken:   ibprofen
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   I was suffering from mild back pain for a sports injury and also insomnia. Not only was my back pain temporarily eliviated, I got uninterrupted sleep while I was taking this medication. Before then, I hadn't slept for almost a week straight. It was very important that I allowed at least eight hours of sleep. I made the mistake a couple of times of taking it when I wasn't going to get a full nights sleep and ended up severely drowsy and unalert. On those two occasions, I "made-up" for the missed hours of sleep and over slept. This did not help, as it furthered my sleepiness. I sort of had to get on a schedule again. When taken properly, it can be very helpful.
Side effects:   Drowsiness if not enough time is available to sleep. 8 hours.
Comments:   To treat aches and pain associated with back pain and insomnia.

 

Nortriptyline review by 43 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Considerably Effective
Side effects:   Moderate Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   shooting nerve-type pain in legs/fibromyalgia
Dosage & duration:   25 mg per day taken once at night for the period of 2 years
Other conditions:   fibromyalgia, neuralgia
Other drugs taken:   none
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   the excruciating, shooting nerve pain in my left leg stopped after about a week although I could still feel that the nortriptyline just masked the pain ie. In the past 6 months I have got down to 12.5 mg per day although a recurrence of the terrible shooting pain (after 2 years) had made me decide to try Gabapentin instead- my doc recommends this
Side effects:   Fuzziness of thinking/short term memory loss- although this might be due to my fibromyalgia. Sexual disfunction- ie inability to have a full orgasm- and after 2 years of this, thi sis one of the reasons why I am ready to change to Gabapentin- as recommended by my doc. Sleepiness etc goes away after the first few weeks although it took me a good 6 months to properly adapt to this drug
Comments:   10mg at night for the first 6 months, then the pain came through again so I upped this to 25mg per day. Six months ago, I wasn;t aware of any pain behind the pain that I had been used to so, thinking I was maybe a bit better, I cut the intake down to 12.5 mg a day by cutting my 25mg tablet in half each night. this was fine until a week ago when the shocking shooting pain returned accompanied by pin-prick sensations on my face and on my limbs- I've not had thi sin 2 years. I intend to try gabapentin now, although some people have referred to it as the 'zombie drug'. My main reason for not upping the Nortrip back to 25mg, is that I want to see if I will be able to have an orgasm on the Gaba- although maybe this is a luxury- as anyone with nerve pain knows, sex is the last thing on your mind when you are in such pain. But who knows, maybe I will be able to be pain-free and get my libido back...!

 

Nortriptyline review by 56 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Marginally Effective
Side effects:   Mild Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   panic attacks/feeling low
Dosage & duration:   25mg taken i per day for the period of 5weeks
Other conditions:   n/a
Other drugs taken:   hrt
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   very little benefit, slept a bit better, still got anxiety, cant always sleep, offered valium as well for bad days, good days are wonderful, stressful time isnt over yet so body still goes into panic
Side effects:   dry mouth, thirst
Comments:   25mg more than one month, given more for another month, unsure of the benefits, need to ask a professional about amitryptiline

 

Nortriptyline review by 21 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Highly Effective
Side effects:   Moderate Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   migraines
Dosage & duration:   50mg taken at night for the period of 4 months
Other conditions:   n/a
Other drugs taken:   nuvaring
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   I had migraines everyday, this slowly worked it up to where i'd only get a mild migraine once maybe twice a week at most.
Side effects:   I lost 10 lbs over the course of 4 months, my ears hurt and sounded more muffled, my glands in my throat swelled but don't hurt. I had HORRIBLE dry cotton mouth in the morning, when i got to the 50mg of the medicine my heart rate was 144 hr. My insomnia got worse but even though i wasn't sleeping as well, i wasn't ever tired.
Comments:   started at 10mg and worked my way up to 50mg weekly, the side effects got worse as the dose got higher.

 

Nortriptyline review by 28 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Moderately Effective
Side effects:   Severe Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   a typical migraines
Dosage & duration:   25mg upped to 75 mg taken 1 at bedtime for the period of just over a week
Other conditions:   none
Other drugs taken:   none
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   I have A-typical migraines which gives me weird sensation in my ears such as roaring and the sense that they are vibrating. I also do have headacheds that seem to come from ears and the back of my neck. It help me feel better and started to decrease my symptoms but side effects were worse than original symptoms. It helped me to ignore my symptoms and helped me to get through the day.
Side effects:   ringing in the ears, sensitivity to noise, phantom noise in head, which all lead to anxiety
Comments:   stopped medicine, looking for something else to help.

 

Nortriptyline review by 58 year old female patient

  Rating
Overall rating:  
Effectiveness:   Highly Effective
Side effects:   Mild Side Effects
  
Treatment Info
Condition / reason:   Severe depression
Dosage & duration:   10mg, just starting taken once daily for the period of Ongoing
Other conditions:   None
Other drugs taken:   Some Oxazepam
  
Reported Results
Benefits:   Mood lifted considerably. Able to live life again. Life is much lighter. I am no longer oversensitive, things like life's little injustices don't hurt so much anymore. My daily experiences in this initial period can be followed on: http://nortriptyline.blogspot.com/ where I am keeping a diary. This is for the benefit of others who are indecisive and want to know more details before embarking on a course of medication themselves with nortriptyline.
Side effects:   So far all the side effects seem temporary. Cold hands/feet, white face. Bad taste in mouth. Fuzzy in the beginning. Nothing serious so far.
Comments:   So far the treatment is only to take one tablet a day, and occasionally an Oxazepam in the first two weeks, if I am afraid of falling back into a depression. I started taking both for the first three days, but will soon leave off the Oxazepam. We'll see what happens, it can be followed on my above-mentioned blog. In any case so far I am happy I am taking this medication, I feel much better. I was severely depressed when I started taking it, but the depression seems quite suppressed now.
 


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