I also take elavil. I was prescribed elavil to help me sleep which it does help. It also knocks me on my butt. I am asleep within an hour of taking meds. I have found with a good nights sleep I am able to deal with the pain a little better,
Susan

Early on in my spine journey I was given Elavil to help with nerve pain. It did not touch it at all. I seem to respond far better to anti-seizure meds.

I hope you find it works for you.

"C"

Generic version of Elavil for about a month now. I asked the doc to take me off of it though. It was prescribed for nerve pain but it does not help. It does put me into a coma like sleep at night though. So much so that my alarm clock has not woken me once since being on it. This is a problem as I still have to go to work! Maybe it will work for you. I am going to try increasing my Lyrica dosage to see it that will help.

One Love,

Stephanie

I have had it avialable for the last two years. For me - it is a med for emergency use for myself. It puts me out into a deep sleep - and allows my body to heal. I get reduced pain levels and if I keep it up for 3 days - I can normally get rest @12 hr sessions.

For me it is a rescue drug. I have hit the pain wall, have time available and take several days off to heal myself.

I cannot use it in my normal life - it gives me dry mouth - feeling like I am hung over - into the evening and by 8pm the next night - whether I have taken it or not - I must sleep again.

That is my experience with it. C45

I have only taken one dose...

Just a little background, I work 12 hour nights and since I have no kids, I keep a night schedule meaning that I usually go to sleep any where between 6:30am and 9:00am.

I took the one dose at about 12 noon on Tuesday and slept until 8:30pm (which was fine for me). I then fell asleep again from 2:30am to 6:30am and then again from 8:30am til 5:00pm when I finally had to drag myself out of bed to go to work last night. I really want to give this med a fair try before moving onto something else, but as mentioned before its hard to if its going to knock me out like that. I have a job that requires me to be on my toes and able to think fast (I'm a nurse).

I can't handle a foggy brain but I'm also trying to find a way to deal with this nerve pain...the pain also makes it hard to concentrate most of the time too.

Consider this a first med in the pool of tricyclics - they are a class of meds, but many do not have the side-effects that Elavil has. Try it again when you have a free spot in your schedule and report back to your Dr what your findings are. He does have a list of others in the same family that have differing effects.

Cheers - C45

I was on Elavil 20 mg for a long time and it never seemed to help my leg pain. I'm on Cymbalta now which seems to be helping more for me. my brother who had a fusion for a shattered lumber spine 25 years and recently started taking Elavil for a few months now and only a small dose and he says it helps his leg pain. It still makes him sleepy at night when he takes his one dose, Good luck and I hope something can help you have less pain. Charry

Feeling a little discouraged tonight. Had to leave work early due to the pain, started my shift off strong and 5.5 hours into it I was purely miserable with leg pain and spasms up and down my leg, hip and butt. Getting ready for my next epidural next week so I'm completely off my Aleve for now, tried Tylenol and it didn't do a thing. Somebody at work had a lidocaine patch and it didn't work. Finally left at 2:15 am when my friend came in for me. Once I got home I took a Zanaflex & a Vicodin and its not really done much. I also tried a warm moist compress to no avail. This is all so frustrating. I actually broke down and cried twice before I left (I'm usually the strong one).

So, I'm gonna go ahead and try a second dose of the Elavil, at least I'm pretty much guaranteed to sleep well!

I'm feeling kind of desperate right now, not finding many solutions. I can't keep missing work though I do have small amount of time available to me and I have been approved for Intermittent FMLA.