UCPPS - Prostatitis, Interstitial Cystitis Forum

I tried taking low doses of Elavil a few months ago and gave it up due to side effects, primarily constipation. I had a flare up a week or two ago and decided to try the Elavil again, starting at 5 mg. Since then I've had a different problem, and I am wondering if it might be due to the Elavil. Elavil famously makes you drowsy, and it affects me that way, too: If I take it at 8:00, by 10:00 I'm getting pretty sleepy. But I'm not sleeping as deeply as I was before; I keep waking up and going back to sleep. I'm not waking up to pee. Nor does it seem to be discomfort waking me up; while I generally feel the most discomfort while lying down, the flare has died down and I'm not in too bad of shape right now. Has anyone else experienced Elavil disrupting their sleep?

Hi there,

I'm honestly not certain about Elavil waking you up. However, I would note the general expectation that most people will adapt to the sleepiness side-effect of the drug. It may be that your body has adjusted, and so you're no longer as zonked out when you take it.

Could be, although I definitely have the sense that I started sleeping worse than usual as soon as I started taking the Elavil.

According to ePocrates, Elavil can cause restless legs, which probably in turn causes your insomnia, especially if your body isn't used to it.

coppertop wrote:According to ePocrates, Elavil can cause restless legs, which probably in turn causes your insomnia, especially if your body isn't used to it.

I'm sure that RLS would cause sleeping problems, but I haven't had any signs of RLS.

I have been on Elavil low dose for 2 years. I take 5mg and even skip doses and go every other day to see how it effects me through my doctor's care. It is such a low dose that I can do that. I have been a wake up and go back to sleep person all my adult life...So I'm no help there.

You will adjust and can counter the constipation with a high fiber diet and lots of fruits and veggies...

Elavil is safe and proven...low dose for anxiety/pain and panic disorder and high doses for depression according to my doctor. It's a neat drug because at the very low dose I can skip a day or go every other day depending on how I feel like I did for a few months...even went every 3rd day for weeks...I did have a spike of a bit of anxiety lately...but my doctor gave me the OK to go back on everyday at .5 for a few weeks and then go from there. Based on how I feel...

With other drugs...you can't do that.

I'm pro Elavil all the way for a number of reasons...

mast cell protector which is key for pelvic myoneuropathy
calms nerves
aids in anxiety at a very safe low dose...

Best

I guess my dosage would be considered high at 25 mg a day, but my Pain Management doctor started me off at 50 mgs. Yikes.. I woke up groggy and decided to cut it out instead of reducing it or giving it some time. Over time, I decided to "self-medicate" after reading the info on this site. With the info and my new experience, I went back to my doc and explained.

Now, I do not think I dream as much or at all... I know in about 90 minutes from intake, I am falling asleep. 90% of the time, I remain asleep until my alarm. Elavil has some affect on the quality of my sleep or what level of sleep I attain, but I wake up restful (for the most part) so I guess I never really thought about it.

Sounds like an unusual case, but drugs affect all of us a little differently.

ATMA

Thanks for the input, folks. At 5mg I don't have any worries about missing does, as Carl says. So I may stick with it, but skip doses the night before I have something important to do the next morning. I'm an educator, so the summer is an easy time for me to play with this a little. If I am still experiencing this effect in a few more weeks, though, then I may have to give it up. Or if the constipation is still an issue---and I eat a reasonably high fiber diet and take fiber supplements, so that isn't the problem.

Are there other muscle relaxants people use with good results?

A magnesium supplement helps with the constipation and is a natural muscle relaxant. There are many types, find out which one works for you.

1. Magnesium Citrate (Natural Calm which is what I use)
2. Magnesium Glycinate
3. Magnesium Oxide

There are so many studies out there that argue which one is better. It is relatively cheap, try each one and monitor the affects.

ATMA

atma wrote:I guess my dosage would be considered high at 25 mg a day ATMA

I still think 25mg is on the lower end...Everyone is different for sure...I'm not a big person...5 6" 155lb, so 5 mg is just right for me...

Carld - You mentioned .5 mg in an earlier post. I assume you mean 5 mg or are you actually only taking 1/2 a mg of Elavil? Just curious because I have been on doses of 5, 10, and 20 mg. I'm thinking about possibly trying it again. My only side effect was drowsiness at first, but that wore off. Never had constipation or trouble sleeping. I stopped taking it because I couldn't notice any benefits at the time.

Sandcrab wrote:Carld - You mentioned .5 mg in an earlier post. I assume you mean 5 mg or are you actually only taking 1/2 a mg of Elavil? Just curious because I have been on doses of 5, 10, and 20 mg. I'm thinking about possibly trying it again. My only side effect was drowsiness at first, but that wore off. Never had constipation or trouble sleeping. I stopped taking it because I couldn't notice any benefits at the time.

Hi Sandcrab...I made the corrections. Yes 5 mg. I cut 10mg in half with a pill cutter.

The benefits are subtle and over time at the low dose, if you are anxiety prone...It helps there and intern will help set the environment to slowly heal your UCPPS as long as you are on a program that deals with all the complexities of our syndrome through our protocols.

Thank you...

I wanted to follow up my initial post because I don't want to scare anyone else off of Elavil. I'm no longer having a pattern of bad sleep after Elavil. I've had several nights of fine sleep after taking it, and also one bad night after not taking it. I still wonder if it might be bad for my sleep if I take it too early: an hour before bedtime seems to be better than two.

Elavil worked great for me for one month. After that I started to get night terrors = nearly zero sleep. I'm only just now off of Elavil. So far no night terrors, but my level of pain has gone back up again.