I think my migraine meds are making me sicker. I started amitriptyline in December and quit it at the end of February when going up to a dose they commonly give children resulted in half my body going numb and feeling like my heart was being squeezed by a very angry giant. I started a related drug that tends to be nicer (nortriptyline) at the beginning of March.

I’ve wanted to stop taking it for awhile because of some side effects, but also because it clearly isn’t helping my migraines and looks like it may be making them worse. Aside from barometric pressure changes, screwing with my sleep is the surest way to give me a migraine. Nortriptyline makes me drowsy after I take it, but also makes it hard for me to sleep. And I’m exhausted when I wake up in the morning. I think this is making my migraines worse. Regardless, it makes me unproductive even when I don’t have a migraine.

When tricyclic antidepressants like nortriptyline are used for migraine, their effects take awhile to kick in. The rule of thumb for preventative migraine meds is to wait three months to six months before making a decision. If these meds helped, I could expect 1 to 2 fewer migraines a month. Even if I am in the lucky group of people these meds help, the side-effects and side-effect induced migraines overwhelm any potential benefit. (While side effects typically decrease with time, mine have been getting worse.)

I’ve scheduled three appointments with my doctor to talk about stopping the meds. I’ve had to cancel all three because of migraines.

I can’t wait for my next appointment 6 weeks from now to stop nortriptyline. Stopping these meds all at once seems to be a bad idea, so I’ll slowly taper off over the next few weeks. My doctor had me stop amitriptyline all at once. That led to a week long headache that triggered 3 migraines and I felt terribly anxious and upset. Hopefully stepping down slowly with nortriptyline will be easier.

Wish me luck!