# Low Dose Amitriptyline & IBS



## pinky86 (Apr 7, 2010)

Hi all!I was just prescribed Amitriptyline by my gastroenterologist for IBS. A little background: I became really irregular in December '09, frequent bms, cramping, mucus, etc. I've had multiple stool samples and a colonoscopy to eliminate Chron's, UC, and any bacterial infections. I've tried flagyl and suppositories with no improvement. I was diagnosed with IBS in March '08 and my doctor thinks that this must be a long bout of it. I can't believe I used to complain about IBS before! I don't think it ever lasted more than a few hours at a time back then, now it's all day, every day for months.







I'm a bit anxious about the posts on *weight gain* as I'm already bloated and struggling to fit into my clothes. I'm starting on 12.5 mg and moving up to 25 mg in a few weeks if there is no change. *Anyone have personal stories on this? Is the higher dose more likely to cause weight gain? *I'm conscious of my diet so I'm hoping that the weight gain is just a result of increased appetite rather than an unavoidable side effect. Thanks so much!!!!!!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

High doses are always more likely to cause side effects than low doses.Usually a lot of the weight gain is people get a bigger appetite so if you watch what you eat and practice portion control (so don't sit down with the whole big bag of chips, portion some out in a bowl and then put the bag away) as well as keep up with your exercise you should be fine.Even when medications effect metabolism if you keep an eye on things and change your eating habits early on you can avoid problems. Catching it when you gain 5 pounds is easy to deal with. Not ever getting on the scale and only getting worried 50 pounds later is never easy to deal with no matter why you gain weight.


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## Jillywindy (Jan 17, 2010)

I haven't experienced any weight gain on 30mg/day. I was worried about my weight dropping too much but I haven't actually put more than 1 kg on since starting with Amitrip. I'm also on a low starch diet (for pain rather than weight control). It's a lot harder to snack on this sort of a diet.


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## MIRMAK (Sep 27, 2009)

I haven't experienced any weight gain as well (maybe just small one, because I'm more calm to eat and maybe eating more than before, but it is not a side effect of amitriptyline, it is just that my IBS became weaker).And I started from 75 mg/day (with every meal), had some side effects, like dissy and sleepy. Currently I'm trying to get off from it and descreased my dose to 25 mg/day (taking before go to bed) and sometimes 50mg/day when I know that I will have some important meeting next day.


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## pinky86 (Apr 7, 2010)

Thank you so much for the info. I'm a little apprehensive since I stopped exercising a few months ago - there's no way I can afford a new wardrobe if I put on too much weight!I've been on the 12.5 for 3 days now. No dramatic changes, although the grogginess and dry mouth have been killing me! I'm supposed to go up to 25 mg next week if I don't improve - hope you all found the med helpful!!!


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