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Has anyone tried anti-depressant medication for neuropathic pain?
Neuropathy | Last Active: Dec 8, 2022 | Replies (107)Comment receiving replies
Good evening Michelle and others exploring options for medications that can help with neuropathy symptoms. Here is another option. My neurologist started with Nortriptyline when psychologically I was depressed as the physical pain from SFN began increasing. That medication made it possible for me to find sleep and rest. When the neuropathy pain and discomfort kept increasing we (my PCP and I) decided to taper off Nortriptyline, my nighttime helper, and relace it with cannabis. The urgency was to address the diagnosis of GAD in the mornings. The level of anxiety was causing more pain making it tough to get up and get going. We decided on Duloxetine (Cymbalta) for the morning when I really needed to calm down and go with the flow......so to speak.
The tapering off of the old, uptaking of the new, and rearranging of other dosages has been very successful. We will take a look at the entire situation again in February. This lady, my PCP, practices shared decision-making with me. It has been several years now and we are still reviewing and researching at least once a year. I will have had two additional orthopedic surgeries this year so we will begin by reviewing the impact of those procedures on the major ongoing concern of SFN and its progression.
Your contributions are very helpful. Do you plan to make medication changes for next year? Will you share your decision-making outcomes?
May you be mentally healthy
May you be physically healthy
Chris
Replies to "Good evening Michelle and others exploring options for medications that can help with neuropathy symptoms. Here..."
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Good morning Chris @artscaping It sounds like you have found a good doctor to team up with. It's encouraging to hear success stories in finding ways to manage living with this disease. I'm guessing your positive attitude plays a huge role in all of this.
As I've mentioned before this research is for my husband.
Currently the medications being taken are 600mg Gaba/day (200 x 3) and the lowest possible dose of Doxepin (5mg) at night...so low it has to be compounded. Medical marijuana on and off but it doesn't effect the pain.
Had tried Amtriptyline early on at night and while it seemed to be help ameliorate the pain the sedating side effects along with the Gabapentin was to much. Perhaps that was because at that time the dose of Gaba was much higher? It also caused issues with dry mouth, constipation and strange dreams. The main complaint was that the waking hours felt like sleep walking.
Was considering trying the Nortryptyline in a low dosage during the day but also the Cymbalta as a different approach/option. While there hasn't been a diagnoses of GAD, some anxiety is present and wondering how much that plays a role in the pain.
Still getting acupuncture and just started with the myofascial release with a Barnes trained therapist and now looking into the Curable Health website for help with managing the pain. I'll keep you and the community posted.
I'm wishing you success with your upcoming surgeries. Thank you for supporting this community with all your helpful posts.
May you be safe and protected,
Michelle