Anyone Have Experience with Elavil?

My Elavil experience update: there's less overall pain, though I'm having PT at the same time. Not quite sure what is doing it, except that I can manhandle the area that has always screamed "there's nerve pain here" to me and it only feels a little tender. (I couldn't wear socks up to that level of my ankle, touch it, shave it (I'm a girl, but fairly tomboyish, so no hair off my head), feel the wind on it by the time I broke down and did PT the first round--which helped it a little).

As for if it's doing anything for my headaches, anxiety, depression, way too soon to tell. I am detecting mood swings (which tells me my brain is reacting to the meds, but not that it's reacting in a good or bad way yet), and a more... "stoicness" even when perhaps I should not be stoic, or would not have been before. It's slight, but perceptible for someone as stuck in their head as me. Very well could be placebo.

I need more time and data for headaches. I keep a chart for how often I take my meds, and if I am still in pain afterwards. Once I see it all in that chart, I'll know, (as I've marked "started Elavil" on that chart) but until then, I won't.

I'm falling asleep a lot (only really if I try and go through the day on less than 8 hours of sleep. I can manage for about 6 hours, but then I have to sleep for 12 hours,) but having had a lot of experience with psych meds in general, Elavil gets at least the month trial period before any side effects that can't be managed or lived with (and seeing as I have lived with chronic exhaustion on and off most of my life, I can deal) get taken into consideration.

For those unawares, if you end up taking a medication that is also a psych med for your pain: psych meds' side effects tend to be front-loaded: first week is when you get the most side effects, second week less so, third less so, fourth tends to (for me) be representative of what it'll actually be like for me, but my psychiatrist's nurse told me that the fourth week ALSO should be included in that list of sliding scale side effects.

For example, on a medication I've gone through and am still on: Klonopin.

Week one: forgot I had legs one day. Was clumsy as hell. Trouble walking. Regular confusion. (changed my medication cycle so I no longer took it twice a day, once in the middle of the day so it couldn't do that to me when I'd be, y'know, doing things.)

Week two: I had serious trouble waking up to my alarm. I ended up "burying" three separate alarm clocks, set to go off 10 minutes apart from each other, in my room. (One was in my bookshelf, one in my closet, and one by my bed.) I missed work twice due to this. They knew I was vaguely sick, but have never known the specifics, so just accepted "a med did it" without repercussions.

Week three: nightmare week. I had a nightmare every night that week. I tried to get off the medication, doctor refused. I dropped the doctor because of how he treated me regarding this medication specifically. (He actually upped the dosage instead.)

Dosage got upped.

Cycle started all over again. Same side effects, same cycle, but easier. (Nightmares could barely be called nightmares, I didn't have to go so over-the-top on the alarms, could just set the three alarms on my cell phone within arm's reach). When I finally felt safe to take as prescribed, I did feel a little off and clumsy for a few days, but the medication had been in my system long enough that those side effects were largely gone.

Anyway, long lecture there, mostly there for those who might search this forum for the same question later on.

/r/ChronicPain Thread