Second thoughts about amitriptyline

Is a pattern emerging? Tuesday I woke with a bad head that disappeared by lunchtime.

Yesterday I was clear in the morning but felt increasingly bad-tempered during the day getting cross about all sorts of things. We went out for lunch and I had a beefburger at Bistro Pierre's: very wholesome and free from additives but my husband reminded me that during the previous attempts to control headaches with diet, we had been suspicious of beef. By evening I was beginning to feel migranous. Today I woke with a bad head and feeling sick, but once again it did not develop into a migraine and after lunch I had a pleasant spell in the garden planting out.

Since coming off amitriptyline, I've been sleeping badly and waking early - usually around 5am, getting up around 0530. My husband looked at amitriptyline withdrawal again and was struck by the prolonged periods of tapering off which others seem to have used to avoid this and the other withdrawal symtoms of nausea, headaches and dizziness. Some people spent 6 months tapering away from 60mg down to 2.5 before dropping it completely, and most seem to take weeks over this. The overall wisdom seemed to be to reduce the dose by 5mg and stay on hte new level for 5 days before knocking off another 5 mg. There were also comments about going back up for a day or two if the withdrawal symptoms become intolerable, and then recommencing the taper.

I came off it (50mg to 25 to 12.5 and then none) in about a week, so maybe I'm paying for it.