Withdrawl hope: twitching, jerking, zaps and many many more
I wanted to post this because when I was going through amitriptyline withdrawal I felt completely alone, and I know there are other people searching Reddit terrified by what they’re experiencing.
I was on 15mg of Amitriptyline for about 7 months for pain. My brand got changed and it caused a massive cascade of side effects that eventually led to me coming off it completely.
Looking back, this drug clearly did not agree with me and I pushed through side effects I probably shouldn’t have ignored.
My withdrawal symptoms were honestly brutal and in no particular order included:
* Full body twitching. I had some twitching on the drug already but coming off made it 100x worse * Itching, probably because it acts like an antihistamine * Jerking like i was electricified when trying to fall asleep * Audible hallucinations at night while drifting off voices and tweeting birds (not uncommon i found out from a nhs spinal interface physio) * Brain zaps * Paresthesia * Brain fog * Loss of appetite * Debilitating panic attacks * Uncontrolled shaking and adrenaline surges * Suicidal thoughts. These were already bad on the drug but got much worse during withdrawal * My face moving by itself while falling asleep and restless legs * Pain, aches and increased pelvic pain * Crying spells
* Weird euphoria whenever i dropped down a dose would last 5ish days * Insomnia * High heart rate. I already had SVT before taking it and nobody picked up that this medication seemed to make it worse. Been diagnosed now though so theres that.
The worst part was how long it lasted. I stopped completely on the 4th of June and by October I was only just starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Propranolol helped me massively with the svt, adrenaline surges and panic symptoms.
It’s now May and I’m pretty much back to myself. I still get the occasional brain zap or twitch but nothing compared to before.
I also want to mention my taper because I genuinely think I came off too fast and I don’t want others repeating my mistake.
This was my taper:
* 12mg for 1 month * 10mg for 3 weeks * 8mg for 2 weeks * 5mg for 5 days * 2.5mg for 5 days
The taper got quicker at the end because my withdrawal symptoms were getting worse and the doctors got scared and rushed me off it.
I also had what people call “windows and waves” the entire time and didn’t even realise that’s what was happening until later.
During the taper and after stopping, I’d get short periods where I felt more normal again. Those were the windows. Then the symptoms would come crashing back hard again. Those were the waves.
At first my windows only lasted a few hours, but over time they slowly got longer and longer. Eventually they started lasting days, then weeks. Now I don’t really get waves like that anymore.
For me, my cycle massively affected my waves as well.
A few things that seemed to help me personally:
No alcohol No caffeine No sugar where possible Omega 3 supplements with high DHA Avoiding loads of random supplements because some seemed to make me worse Trying to eat even when I had no appetite, even if it was just porridge.
I followed that pretty strictly for around 3 months while my nervous system calmed down.
I know everyone is different, but I wanted to add this because when I was in the thick of it I genuinely thought I was permanently damaged. Time was the biggest healer for me.
Please go slower than I did if you can. I’m not saying everyone will react like I did because plenty of people come off this medication fine, but if you’re in the middle of severe withdrawal right now and scared you’ll never feel normal again, I just want you to know that things did improve for me with time.
I might not respond much, i wanna close this chapter but i made a promise that once i got better id write this to help others who are sensitive like me. You arnt broken you will heal but it does take time.