Losing weight on amitriptyline

mossstitchmama

I can completely identify with you, OP. I am in a similar situation. I have an underactive thyroid and chronic back and shoulder pain following a car accident (other driver not insured).

I was also prescribed amytryptilene and pregabalin (not sure my spelling is correct) to be taken at night to help me sleep. Unfortunately they make me so fuzzy in a morning that I am unable to function and that is before I factor in the weight gain. I tried to explained to my GP that I can either take the tablets and them get someone to get my children up, and to school each morning, or them find some alternative so that I can function normally.

Even before the back injury, I have struggled to lose weight. I have been asked to leave Weight Watchers twice because they thought I was not adhering to the diet. I actually struggle to eat the large portions they recommended. My friends are following Slimming World at the moment and if I started eating the quantities their diet suggets I would quickly be the size of a house.

I have had physio which failed because they expected me to be able to get someone else to look after the kids, clean the house, do the shopping etc which just isn't possible. I have had eight sessions of acupuncture which helped considerably but they finished two months ago and now I am back to square one. I am supposed to be being referred back to the pain clinic as I wanted to try their other suggestion, naltrexone (again apologies if I spelled it incorrectly) as I am advised it could have a positive effect on my thyroid function too. Has anyone else tried this and how did they get on?

It make me feel a bit better to know there are others struggling with the same situation. Please let us know if you find a better alternative so I can go and pester my GP for it!

codemonkey

jenniewb wrote: »

OP I was just wondering what you do for protein; you mention your diet and what you eat but it's all carbs (veg whatever the type is a carbohydrate) if you don't balance your diet, even if your eating not enough calories to normally gain weight, your going to be malnourished and this is going to result in your body doing weird things with your food storage and raise your cortisol levels; cortisol is a hormone which occurs when you are stressed (among other things) and as a result of a sort of flight-or-fight response which predates our current methods of survival.

If your body has high cortisol levels your body will work to store any excess calories/energy that it can around your waistline, it thinks your going into battle, it isn't sure when you will be eating again and it wants to make sure it has enough stores to get through.

Both malnourishment and not eating enough to sustain yourself can lead to heightened cortisol levels, a popular term for people who diet to extreme and do lose weight but have done so in an unhealthy way is "skinny-fat" because they can look skinny but actually have quite high fat percentages and this is (not all but partly) due to their higher cortisol levels, their bodies are experiencing undue stress.

I eat lean meat, eggs, cheese, nuts, milk etc for protein and am trying to eat as much protein as possible because I excercise a lot and decided if I can't lose weight, I may as well try to be as healthy and muscular as I can. At the moment I use MFP to keep an eye on the calories and it gives a nutritional breakdown for esch day which is really helpful. I've tried low carbing and Atkins and it made hee-haw difference. The cortisol levels are a thought though - I get stressed, then I get pain, then I get stressed because of the pain and I do keep fat around my middle. Thanks. Its given me something to think about.

mossstitchmama wrote: »

I can completely identify with you, OP. I am in a similar situation. I have an underactive thyroid and chronic back and shoulder pain following a car accident (other driver not insured).

I was also prescribed amytryptilene and pregabalin (not sure my spelling is correct) to be taken at night to help me sleep. Unfortunately they make me so fuzzy in a morning that I am unable to function and that is before I factor in the weight gain. I tried to explained to my GP that I can either take the tablets and them get someone to get my children up, and to school each morning, or them find some alternative so that I can function normally.

Even before the back injury, I have struggled to lose weight. I have been asked to leave Weight Watchers twice because they thought I was not adhering to the diet. I actually struggle to eat the large portions they recommended. My friends are following Slimming World at the moment and if I started eating the quantities their diet suggets I would quickly be the size of a house.

I have had physio which failed because they expected me to be able to get someone else to look after the kids, clean the house, do the shopping etc which just isn't possible. I have had eight sessions of acupuncture which helped considerably but they finished two months ago and now I am back to square one. I am supposed to be being referred back to the pain clinic as I wanted to try their other suggestion, naltrexone (again apologies if I spelled it incorrectly) as I am advised it could have a positive effect on my thyroid function too. Has anyone else tried this and how did they get on?

It make me feel a bit better to know there are others struggling with the same situation. Please let us know if you find a better alternative so I can go and pester my GP for it!

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I haven't been offered any alternative treatments like acupuncture etc on the NHS. I wonder if its worth pushing for it or I could just pay.

dandelionclock30

I dont know if they do accupuncture on the NHS, it may vary area to area but its worth asking. I had really bad tendonitis in my wrist which was helped by accupuncture. They guy was very good he was a sports physio who explained how it helped. He said that the needles create little injuries and the bodies response is to send extra healing to that area, so it will help the area get better quicker. It was £45.00 for an hour and that included a sports massage of the wrist as well.
It was well worth it in my opinion and it got my wrist better. The Dr just said take painkillers and that was it.
It sounds to me that you are not eating the right things for weight loss. I'm being honest here not critical. Cheese, nuts and milk unless its skimmed are not good for weight loss. Try swapping normal cheese for low fat cottage cheese, ditch the nuts,and have beans/lentils for protein instead.

jenniewb

Also, don't forget that stress itself can slow you down, it can feel like a constant weight pulling you down and as if your struggling against what to everyone else appears like an invisible force but to the person struggling can feel like carrying weights constantly.


As a result you can end up slowing down without even realising, not being able to concentrate and in turn feel a bit less like doing what you would normally do in your day activity wise (eg just going home after work to get some time alone rather than going out with friends or normal activities which would get you moving around even if it was very mundane moving around, sitting alone your likely to be far less animated than if you were with others).
Add to this a chronic pain (I have been diagnosed with chronic back pain- I know what it can be like!) your activity schedule can deplete to zero (I did a lot of research and now do things that work around the back pain and it seems I can get away with a lot more than it sounds like you can, not saying this is what you should do, just my own experience of my own back problem).


Add all that together and your need for calories is going to go down, the less activity your body goes through, the fewer calories it will need. It sounds a bit mad to consider even the little things like being around friends, but they can and do all add up and will make a difference.


I don't have an answer for this- only to say a decent physio could advise if there was anything you could do differently but not to get advice online if that is a route you want to take because something this important and practical really needs to be done personally.


Another reason I've made such a deal of physical activity (not exercise, just movement) is that it can reduce cortisol.

codemonkey

Thanks. I am trying to do plenty of physical exercise as hard as it is with chronic pain because I think the endorphines help with the pain or something and because in the past I've always been able to tone up with exercise. In between dog walking, walking to work (30 minutes each way), doing the couch 2 5k program again, I'm doing 1.5-2 hours cardio each day and then there are strength sessions on top of that.

When I have a severe flare up I can't do much of course, but then I'm not eating much either.

The stress thing is definitely something to think about.

pulliptears

I've been on trips for about 6 months now. The first 4 of those were a haze but as my system has become accustomed to them I have found the side effects lessening.
My weight hasn't changed despite the fact I'm a lot less active now than I was 2 years ago.

Rachel_M

I'm stuck on Amitriptyline too. I get dreadful withdrawal no matter how slowly i taper.

What's more - it didn't work for pain relief, so I'm stuck on a drug i hate.

I have put on 1.5 stone in a few years. I have never before put on weight in my life!

I've cut out cake and stated exercising more over the last few months - and have lost NO weight.
It's sooooo frustrating

So, just to say, I share your pain. It's definitely the med. It's well documented that you put on weight on it. How to lose it is not so well documented, alas!

northernsaver

I was on medication that made me put on weight a few years ago, as I have trigeminal neuralgia, so I was probably on similar meds to you.

To be honest I carried on running but I didn't loose any weight. Some medication unfortunately, simply makes you put on weight.

As someone else has mentioned, look at myfitnesspal to ensure the problem isn't your diet.

Good luck

teddysmum

I have had a number of drugs for nerve problems and some do make you put on weight or retain fluid.


Perhaps ask for an alternative, as I was taken off two drugs;one caused extreme swelling and the other caused me to put on a stone in 6 weeks. The latter wasn't just my reaction, as my GP put on even more weight, when she was on this one.

Murphybear

I lost 4 stone while I was on amitriptyline. I followed the high fat low carb diet. My blood sugar was normalised and my diabetes meds were reduced and my cholesterol was within normal limits.