sertraline / amitrypteline

[goldilocks]

i was on 150mg a day of sertraline for several years, no side effects, all ok. when i was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, my doc swopped me onto ami, as it has a pain killing effect which she thought would help with the fibro. it does, the only thing is, i wonder about the dose and the effectiveness of ami. i've just seen the doc and she has increased my ami to 75mg a day, after months of me not feeling good at all, and me not realising until about a week ago.

so does anyone know if 75mg of ami is equivelenat to 150mg of sertraline? If the ami is stronger than i can understand, at the moment i can't though ??? this is the 2nd time i've had to go back and get my dose increased, as i've been having problems. it feels as though i keep slipping under the water a bit

any help would be appreciated, no good asking the doc they never seem to have the time

[SteveW]

I would say your dose of Sertraline was rather stronger than your dose of Amitryptyline. The starting dose of Sertraline is 50 mg with a maximum recommended dose of 200 mg. So your 150 mg dose was moderate and approaching the top end. The minimum anti-depressant dose of Amitryptyline is 75 mg. When given for pain doses below the anti-depressant range are often used. I wouldn't expect Amitryptyline doses of 25 mg or 50 mg
to do much, if anything, for depression.

You may well feel like you are taking more drug with Amitryptyline. It tends to have more in the way of side effects than Sertraline. But 75 mg is very much a starting dose for Amitryptyline.

[Pip]

I agree with Steve over Amitryptyline as I've been on it for some time now for pain relief and was taking 20 mg a day.  A few months ago it was changed as I have had trouble sleeping for years so take 40 - 50 mg a night which has no effect for depression but it does help me sleep.