Amitriptyline

Amitriptyline is a reliable, time-tested, anti-depressant drug. This medication causes drowsiness, so it is particularly good at helping people who have depression accompanied by increased anxiety and insomnia. The medicine is intended for long-term use. The first positive results of the treatment process are shown only in a month after you start taking the drug. It is therefore important to continue taking the drug, even if a noticeable improvement does not occur initially.

Indications

Amitriptyline is used to facilitate depression condition of endogenous, reactive, involutionary and medicinal origin. The drug showed high efficacy in the treatment of depression that occur due to the organic brain damage and chronic alcoholism. Besides, the medication is prescribed for diabetic and post-traumatic neuropathy, bulimia nervosa, schizophrenic psychoses, nocturnal enuresis, postherpetic neuralgia, rheumatic pains and various emotional disorders of mixed character.

Dosage

Pharmaceutical companies produce Amitriptyline in tablet form and a solution for intramuscular injection. The dosage and duration of treatment is determined by the attending doctor on base of the severity of the disease. According to the instructions, the drug in the tablets are beginning to take in a minimum dose: three times a day to 25 milligrams (total – 75 milligrams). After some time the dose is gradually increased, and during severe depression – to 300 milligrams per day.

Contraindications

Amitriptyline has quite extensive list of contraindications. Do not assign this medicine during high blood pressure, heart failure, epilepsy, glaucoma, abnormal hepatic and kidney function,simultaneous taking of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Do not use the drug during the period of recovery after acute myocardial infarction, during intestinal obstruction, atony of bladder, enlarged prostate, acute gastric and duodenal ulcer. Do not use Amitriptyline with individual resistance to its ingredients, pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under 6 years old.

Side effect

Amitriptyline also has side effects. Instructions on the application identifies the following negative effects: sleepiness, taste disturbance, loss of appetite, heartburn, constipation, urinary retention, dry mouth, decreased libido. At the beginning of treatment blood pressure can dramatically lower. Sometimes there are allergic reactions (rash, itching, skin rash).