Posted by med_empowered on February 11, 2005, at 8:31:56
In reply to Re: Insomnia- Amitryptaline and SSRI's?, posted by MTNDOG on February 11, 2005, at 8:01:17
hey! Tricyclic antidepressants are tricky alone, and they get trickier when combined with other meds, like the ssris or newer drugs such as effexor or cymbalta. Apparently, tricyclics tend to boost blood levels of the other antidepressant, and, more importantly, the reverse is also true, so its possible to take a therapeutic tricyclic dose and have your other antidepressant boost your blood-levels up to toxic levels. Kinda sucks. That said, I did it...I took a full therapeuric dose of Tofranil PM, which is just slightly reformulated, once-daily imipramine (I took 150-200mgs) along with 60mgs Cymbalta and 60mgs adderall. At first, everything was fine, and my depression did lessen in intensity...but then my blood-pressure started to rise and stayed at the high-normal/high range, and then I saw spots one day...kinda scary. BUT I don't see how a small, sleep inducing dose of elavil or something could have the same effect, assuming you kept the dosage smallish and your doctor was good about monitoring you. A friend of mine takes lexapro, trazadone, adderall (which boosts levels of everything in your brain, apparently), AND an occasional elavil without incident. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:455941
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050207/msgs/456210.html