I'm posting here as well as in the anxiety forum. My doctor has told me I must take something for my severe anxiety and as I have refused to take any of the "new" meds (I'm a med phobic), and he won't allow me to take my Ativan long term, he wants me to start on 30 mg daily Amitrip. I have done a search here but reading the bad feedback on this med has increased my anxiety. I realise that I may or may not suit this drug, but some positive info would be encouraging and helpful for me. I have had anxiety issues for years, agoraphobia and probably some degree of depression too. After years of struggling on with no meds I have finally started on Ativan and finding 1/2 mg twice a day very good. But doc says its the wrong road to go down on a daily long term basis. I don't think meno is playing a big part in this, I'm 18 months post. I've had a terribly stressful 6 months and this has cranked my anxiety up to a stage where it is 24/7 and I am desperate. Please help me with some stories of hope.

I do not know alot about this drug but i do know that my GI doc wants me to take a low low dose of it. She said like 5 mg a night and it was suppose to help with pain from IBS. Might take the edge off the anxiety and depression at that low dose.

hey girls, i just wanted to chime in here..i was on this drug for many, many years for depression, anxiety, and insomnia...i think i actually took 25 mgs of every night for around 12 yrs...it worked wonders for me...controlled my symptoms, and i'm not sure they were peri symptoms either..just ordinary life problems..but it helped once i was facing the peri symptoms...i would still be taking it..except i changed drs and the new doc was going over my symptoms and found that it made me have a very dry mouth, so he changed me to nortriptylin(which he said is basically the same--but doesnt give you as much of a dry mouth....the doctor told me these drugs are safer for long-term usage..said i could take it forever.....they are not the ssri's--they want to give now...my husbnad and daughter have used those types for depression and i can see that they change a person's personality...DO NOT FEAR AMITRIPTYLINE .....my mom and grandma have taken it for yrs also..with no side effects other than the dry mouth.....

i can give you lots of hope..this medicine brought me out of a terrible, sinking depression...i have even went off of it for a few months with no problems..i just prefer to stay on it, since i feel no effects from taking this drug!
if you have any more questions, feel free to PM me!

Thank you all. Your help encouraged me to start taking it and I have been taking 10mg at night for a week now. It was a huge step for me to even start. At this low dose, after just a week, I am not noticing much effect, good or bad, but I do feel a bit calmer, and one thing it HAS done is provide HUGE relief of my terrible reflux/stomach trouble. For the first time in many months my stomach feels fine. So that's a bonus. I guess I need to up the dose by 10 and take 20mg for a week, then up to 30. 30 is what my doc prescribed. I hope I will be OK with the increases. So at this stage it has helped my anxiety slightly, improved my (nervous) stomach greatly, but of course is not touching my depression. So jhawley, I don't thing 5mg will do anything at all for depression. Thanks again for helping quiltangel.