Tried stopping Elavil; Not successful

I take 10 mg of Elavil at night for my Interstitial Cystitis. After starting the Quercentin about 3 weeks ago, I tapered off the Elavil but it has been a mistake.I am having frequency at night and my IC pain is at a higher threshhold.. I am disappointed.

I wanted off the Elavil because it has a major interaction with Multaq. Dr. Natale was aware of me taking Elavil with multaq as well as my cardiologist. My dosage was so low I guess they figured it was not a big issue. I was actually taking 25 mg at night but had cut it to 10 mg 2 months ago.

Elavil makes me sleep thru the night without having to urinate 2-4 times at night. It also works as a good pain receptor for IC.

ELAVIL also causes weight gain which I despise. I have put on 20 lbs since my diagnosis with IC and taken the drugs Elmiron and Elavil. Really stinks.

Back to the Elavil tonight. I must find a diet to take off this 20 lbs I have gained. I should be getting off Multaq by 1ST of May.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2014 02:20AM by smackman.

This is not uncommon. Sudden stopping of this or other drugs, often causes severe reactions. If this is a tablet form, you could try shaving off small amounts so you gradually wean off very slowly.

Jackie

Smsckman, is it the frequency of nocturnal urination that is the problem and which then, in turn, cases the pain?

If so, you may well have low vasopressin hormone as a main driver, not of the cystitis itself, but of the frequent nocturnal urination that causes the flare up in the IC pain.

This is very common in men and women, again with aging when most of our endogenous hormones have long since statutes to decline in production or in cellular binding.

Often vasopressin deficiency is accompanied by adrenal deficiency as well and can be masked by a corresponding aldosterone deficiency which shares many of the physical signs and symptoms of vasopressin deficiency such as frequent urination and need to pee soon after drinking water , though one of the distinguishing traits between aldosterone and vasopressin deficiency is that aldosterone deficiency mostly causes excess day time urination while a lack of vasopressin mostly causes excess nocturnal peeing ( having to get up twice or more from bed to pee at night) with vasopressin deficiency you typically feel better laying down while with aldosterone deficiency you can starry to space out and lose your ability to focus or concentrate when laying down or sitting or even standing on one spot for too long, you will notice you tend to get the thousand yard blank state (or rather other people will notice this about you first typically :-) and find your SF forgetting what you were talking about almost in mid sentence or forget the persons name you are talking too etc and generally feel like you are having a senior moment but which will be greatly relieved when you start to move around and walk some.

A lit of general tiredness and brain fog go along with aldosterone and to some degree vasopressin deficiency as well.

While both deficiencies can have sunken eyes and sharp wrinkles as defining markers, vasopressin deficiency tends to have the deepest sunken eye and the sharpest wrinkles plus all those fine consecutive wrikeines around the sides of the neck, around the elbows and other area where the skin is thin to begin with and gets this tiny consecutive rows of shallow little ripples of wrinkles from the lose of collagen with age plus dehydration.

That's why taking Desmopressin which is the almost BioIdentical form of vasopressin is called ' natural Botox' because its do good at smoothing out fine and even deep wrinkles and making the skin thicker and healthier looking.

Anyway, Smack, we can talk about it later but with what I can almost guarantee is a fair degree of adrenaline issues from all your symptoms and the anxiety tendency as well as the impact of the combo of meds you are on, I wouldn't at all be surprised if vasopressin deficiency might be part of your IC equation. At least in turns of maki frequent night time urination a bigger problem yet still with your underlying IC..

Worth investigating and maybe take a trial run with some Desmopressin for a month or two and see if your night time peeing doesn't drop considerably? You'll get much better sleep too as a bonus and not waste all your electrolytes by flushing them out so often, and will look ten years younger too boot :-)

Cheers!
Shannon

Shannon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Smsckman, is it the frequency of nocturnal
> urination that is the problem and which then, in
> turn, cases the pain?
>
> If so, you may well have low vasopressin hormone
> as a main driver, not of the cystitis itself, but
> of the frequent nocturnal urination that causes
> the flare up in the IC pain.
>
> This is very common in men and women, again with
> aging when most of our endogenous hormones have
> long since statutes to decline in production or in
> cellular binding.
>
> Often vasopressin deficiency is accompanied by
> adrenal deficiency as well and can be masked by a
> corresponding aldosterone deficiency which shares
> many of the physical signs and symptoms of
> vasopressin deficiency such as frequent urination
> and need to pee soon after drinking water , though
> one of the distinguishing traits between
> aldosterone and vasopressin deficiency is that
> aldosterone deficiency mostly causes excess day
> time urination while a lack of vasopressin mostly
> causes excess nocturnal peeing ( having to get up
> twice or more from bed to pee at night) with
> vasopressin deficiency you typically feel better
> laying down while with aldosterone deficiency you
> can starry to space out and lose your ability to
> focus or concentrate when laying down or sitting
> or even standing on one spot for too long, you
> will notice you tend to get the thousand yard
> blank state (or rather other people will notice
> this about you first typically :-) and find your
> SF forgetting what you were talking about almost
> in mid sentence or forget the persons name you are
> talking too etc and generally feel like you are
> having a senior moment but which will be greatly
> relieved when you start to move around and walk
> some.
>
> A lit of general tiredness and brain fog go along
> with aldosterone and to some degree vasopressin
> deficiency as well.
>
> While both deficiencies can have sunken eyes and
> sharp wrinkles as defining markers, vasopressin
> deficiency tends to have the deepest sunken eye
> and the sharpest wrinkles plus all those fine
> consecutive wrikeines around the sides of the
> neck, around the elbows and other area where the
> skin is thin to begin with and gets this tiny
> consecutive rows of shallow little ripples of
> wrinkles from the lose of collagen with age plus
> dehydration.
>
> That's why taking Desmopressin which is the almost
> BioIdentical form of vasopressin is called '
> natural Botox' because its do good at smoothing
> out fine and even deep wrinkles and making the
> skin thicker and healthier looking.
>
> Anyway, Smack, we can talk about it later but with
> what I can almost guarantee is a fair degree of
> adrenaline issues from all your symptoms and the
> anxiety tendency as well as the impact of the
> combo of meds you are on, I wouldn't at all be
> surprised if vasopressin deficiency might be part
> of your IC equation. At least in turns of maki
> frequent night time urination a bigger problem yet
> still with your underlying IC..
>
> Worth investigating and maybe take a trial run
> with some Desmopressin for a month or two and see
> if your night time peeing doesn't drop
> considerably? You'll get much better sleep too as
> a bonus and not waste all your electrolytes by
> flushing them out so often, and will look ten
> years younger too boot :-)
>
> Cheers!
> Shannon

The pain does not come from urinating; The pain is called referred pain meaning the pain is actually coming from my bladder. I have no pain when I urinate. The pain is at the tip of the Uretha or the tip of my penis which stinks.

Elavil is used for pain relief for Interstitial cystitis; I do not use it for depression.

[www.arhp.org]

Here is part of a document about IC and penis tip pain;
Interstitial Cystitis - by Karen Delhey

Definition

Cystitis is a very nonspecific term meaning inflammation of the bladder. Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a condition that results in recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder and the surrounding pelvic region. Symptoms vary, but most commonly include an urgent need to urinate (urgency), a frequent need to urinate (urgency), and/or pelvic pain usually worsened with bladder filling and lessened with bladder emptying. The symptoms may worsen with certain foods or stress. It occurs far more frequently in women than men and it is estimated that of the 1 million Americans with IC, up to 90% are women. Women’s symptoms often worsen during menses and many women experience pain with intercourse. In men, the pain may be at the tip of the penis, groin, or testicles.

[www.pure-hope.org]

Jackie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is not uncommon. Sudden stopping of this or
> other drugs, often causes severe reactions. If
> this is a tablet form, you could try shaving off
> small amounts so you gradually wean off very
> slowly.
>
> Jackie

I did taper over a 3 week period. From 10 mg to 5 mg to nothing. The problem is Elavil works for me and is a prescription drug used frequently for IC patients. I thought I could do without it but the frequency and referred pain returned.
The Quercentin helps but not good enough to stop the Elavil.

Smack,

I know nothing about cystitis, but I do know a bit about referred pain. Much referred pain can be caused by myofacial trigger point spasms. I Googled penis referred pain and came up with a link suggesting that the Levator Ani muscle can cause this pain. I can't copy the link directly but if you look at the first reference (a doc file) in this search <[fficial&channel=sb&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=lEFLU4TQKOiH8gHwpIGAAQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1247&bih=661&dpr=2#channel=sb&q=referred+pain+penis+trigger+points&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial" rel="nofollow">www.google.com] Search in the doc for penis and you'll see what I'm talking about.

I spent hundreds of hours learning about trigger points and probably thousands working on my former wife & others. That being said, I've never worked with this muscle or your problem. However, there is no downside to this and if you are interested I'm willing to help you explore this and and teach you how to try some release techniques on this muscle. Let me know.

{edit} I looked at their book this morning <[www.amazon.com] A Headached in the Pelvis. I'm willing to download it and use what I know about trigger points in general to coach you through a trial of their techniques.

George



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2014 02:14PM by GeorgeN.