DWP " Medical " Assesment :(

veryunsure

rbradley89 wrote: »

Thanks for the replys everyone, its greatly appreciated.

I am needing to go see my GP sometime this week as I feel the amitriptaline is not helping with my depression so I am most likely going to be put on a higher dose.

I take amitriptyline for pain. The pain clinic specialist told me that the anti-depressive effect kicks in at around 75mg. I take 50mg each night and it does work for pain.

The packet info states anti-depressive treatment needs single dosage of 150-200mg a day and maintenance dosage of 50-100mg at night 'to prevent relapse'.

I have to say it hasn't made me that sleepy!

rbradley89

veryunsure wrote: »

I take amitriptyline for pain. The pain clinic specialist told me that the anti-depressive effect kicks in at around 75mg. I take 50mg each night and it does work for pain.

The packet info states anti-depressive treatment needs single dosage of 150-200mg a day and maintenance dosage of 50-100mg at night 'to prevent relapse'.

I have to say it hasn't made me that sleepy!

I am confused, I need to go see my GP tomorrow, no wonder I am not feeling any better.

veryunsure

Yes you do. You don't know the medical qualifications of anyone over the internet. Your GP needs to help you. Good luck.

sunnyone

woodbine wrote: »

sorry to contradict you but amatriptaline is still used as an anti-depressent,and a 50mg dose can believe me make you tired,i take 50mg am and 75 mg pm and i can sleep for england.
the effects would also be more pronounced in the early stages of taking it.
Back to the OP and yes its not unusual for medicals to be done on a saturday but if you tele them and explain why an appointment at 1pm might not be a good idea for you they may change the appt for you.
Im genuinely sorry for your problems and i hope the ordeal is soon over,please do try and see a counsellor it will help to talk to someone who doesnt know you. And im sure if you had concerns for other family members you have 100% done the right thing,please keep telling yourself that.
If you have no support from friends/family you will always find someone on here to talk to if it helps.
good luck
John

Your on the same dosages as me and if you read the patient information leaflet you will see that the dosage that we are on is for pain and too low for antidepression doseage.

It dosnt make me sleep, Ive been on it for 18 years and my current dosage for ten, I did take higher dosages about 8 years ago to use it as an anti d but changed to a diffrent drug after a few months.

System

OP if you fail you can appeal the descion, you'd need a GL24 appeal form, this site has more info on it
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/BeginnersGuideToBenefits/DG_10013949

System

sunnyone wrote: »

Amitriptaline is used for nerve pain now, your dosage is for nerve pain, not as an anti deppressant and it is normally taken as one dose later in the day and it shouldnt affect your ability to go to a medical at all during the day at all.

Have you had CBT?

I did and it changed my life, my PTSD is now adjustment disorder.

Well..

An alternate method of initiating therapy in outpatients is to begin with 50 to 100 mg amitriptyline HCl at bedtime. This may be increased by 25 or 50 mg as necessary in the bedtime dose to a total of 150 mg per day.

Her GP could be doing that...

Though i admit its rare they prescribe the old drugs when they usually start with SSRI's now.

Apologies OP this is kind of irrelevent, all things considered. Hope your medical goes ok.

pebbles88

hiya,

here is my experience of amitriptyline.

I was prescribed it for nerve pain along with strong painkillers a couple of years ago. At the time i was also suffering depression, but had tried other anti depressants before hand, which hadnt had any effect apart from making me dizzy! so , my GP thought it would have a double whammy effect :eek:

I started off with 50mg ( think it was mg) of amitriptyline, and moved up to 200mg over a few months,they have to start you off low i think in case you cant tolerate it/get side effects. (i was prescribed Efexor once, i couldnt stand up with it as it gave me really bad vertigo and vomiting)

I felt like an utter zombie when i first started taking amytriptyline, i took it at night, but i ended up being awake til early hours of morning, then very groggy midday time. So i can understand you wanting a later appointment.

it helped with the nerve pain to some degree, but i was very forgetful whilst taking it, and couldnt hold a train of thought or conversation for the whole time i was on it! and to be honest, it helped diddly squat with my depression. and that after a few months i felt no effect from it at all. my pain came back as bad as ever! I think i have a high tolerance to a lot of meds now though.

not too sure what my point is, probably just that like has already been said, the same medication will affect everyone differently, and if you are concerned at all about it, see your GP, he is the one that can help you, either by adjsting the dose if he thinks its best, or by changing it over to something else

I hope it goes ok for you at your meeting.

norfolkshops

if you suffer from depression and for a long time why are you not seeing some one who deals with this at a specialised hospital. physiatrist about depression

loulou123

OP - i was on incapacity benefit (before they introduced ESA) for anxiety and PTSD and had to attend 2 medical as different times. The event that brought on my illness was similar to yours, though not as serious. The doctors were always friendly to me, just answer their questions and explain yourself as clearly as you can. If you have any evidence of the upcoming court case then id say take a copy of the letter etc with you, as most people would understand that this is going to add to your unhappiness having that coming up.

Even if worse case scenerio and they fail you for the medical then you can appeal this desicion and im pretty sure the CAB will help you out if it come to this.

As for the effects of antidepressants everyone will react differently to different doses and drugs. My doctor tried me on about 6 different kinds before i found the one that slowly actually started to make me feel better. So please go back to your doctors and discuss this with him.

Please feel free to PM me if you;d like someone to talk too.

rbradley89

Hello Everyone,

Medical assessment got postponed till tomorrow, I have made all the preparations.

If I am to fail tomorrow I have one question, obviously I will appeal it but what do I do about money when appealing, do I still get the lower rate ESA if my GP continues to give me sick notes?