3 replies to this topic

[Beckett]

Has anyone here tried this, or better yet, still using it?

I am looking to treat fibromyalgia, disordered sleep, and BP II.

So that's depression, insomnia, and pain. Add anxiety to the list. TCA's scare me because I tried doxepin once, and the following few days were awful. But I am running out of options since Cymbalta was intolerable, and so many other meds have failed. I don't have much faith in the ssri/snri class except for effexor, my concern being effexor might be too activating and blunting. (However, doxepin seemed nightmarish....) I would be discontinuing Emsam to give trimipramine a try. My pain levels have risen, and the MAOI action of Emsam limits my ability to treat pain.

I would welcome your input.

[Simba Cub]

From my archives:

A strongly sedative tricyclic antidepressant, trimipramine has a powerful anxiolytic effect on patients, making it a decent medication for depressive illnesses of the anxious type; its antidepressant effects are also very marked. Unlike most tricyclic medications, this drug exerts only weak inhibitions of monoamine neurotransmitter reuptakes; instead, it seems to exert its therapeutic effect by means of a strong postsynaptic blockade.

Interestingly, this drug is one of the few treatments for insomnia that doesn't alter the stages of sleep, including REM-sleep. Happily, it also seems to brighten up the dreams experienced by patients which is no bad thing! It also exhibits antipsychotic effects, but is not as of yet established as a first or second line treatment for psychosis.

During trimipramine therapy, frequent blood pressure readings and EKG-profiles should be taken, especially at high doses. Blood tests every now and then are also a good idea and patients who are prone to seizures may also want to submit to the occasional EEG test.

Hope that helps!



Rich::

[Beckett]

Thank you for your reply. I have read something else along these lines which influenced my decision to give Surmontil consideration. Right now I'm in an an Emsam wash out. My shrink seemed to think it would be alright to try. If anyone is curiuos, I could report to the TCA forum, especially since it seems so seldom used....

[Semiconductor]

Beckett, did you end up giving Surmontil a trial? If so, how did it go? I'm looking into taking a low dose of one of the TCAs to help with messed-up sleep and maybe chronic pain too, and from what I've read on this site (thank you, everyone) trimipramine is the most intriguing of the TCAs for this. I've tried a bunch of other stuff to help with sleep, both prescription and herbal, but haven't found anything that works for me yet (Seroquel did for a blessed while, but then didn't so much, and I didn't want to up the dose because it made me feel like a zombie, one who shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car).