Experiences tend to be different for every single person. Just like overwhelming feeling of happiness, experiencing pain varies for every person. Some people have a high level of tolerance to pain and feel almost nothing. However, for some people, even the sight of needle can be traumatizing and that’s of no judgment because it varies medically for every person. Today, this blog focuses on a specific type of pain; Nerve Pain or also known as Neuralgia. This type of pain is described as “the pain that is different from any other type of pain”. All kinds of pains are transmitted through the nerves but the difference in this one is that nerve pain or neuralgia feels like an electric shock. It feels like a stinging pain inside your body and often lasts for a while. Many people experience such a pain in their backs, spinal cord and in some cases, it feels like the sensation is travelling throughout the body. Such sensations are mostly felt while a person may be walking for too long or standing for too long or even sitting in the same position/bad pose for a long time. In such cases, you may get signals to change the posture and sometimes, it can be serious signals of serious conditions.
Whenever you visit a doctor and you explain the situation; stinging sensation of electric pain in your body, the doctor will definitely ask you about four things:
- Location of the Pain
- Description of the Feeling
- Intensity of Pain
- Frequency
After these questions, your doctor will identify what kind of pain you are going through and is actually identifying if the pain is neuralgic or not. This kind of pain causes irritability and frustration because it has a stinging sensation and because of that, it becomes quite unbearable. Moreover, this pain tends to get crucial at night and can be treated if proper medicine is taken at the right time as per doctor’s prescription.
A good night’s sleep is of utmost importance for many people but what some people don’t realize is that not every pain killer can cure nerve pain. Today we will take about use of Amitriptyline for Pain. Amitriptyline is a pain killer medicine or dug that is used to cure pain or nerve distress. This drug is commonly used by people to treat neuralgia and has been the talk of the town. However, it must be brought into attention that every medicine is not suitable to cure every kind of disease. So it is highly recommended to seek professional medical help to make a much more informed decision. It is important to take the right dose of the right medicine or else there can be serious complications.
Branch: This medicine is available under the name of Elavil and is structurally similar to phenothiazines.
Class: It belongs to the class of anti-depressants and is a tricyclic anti-depressant (TCA). Other than that, this medicine can also treat nerve pain or neuralgia.
As mentioned earlier, this medicine was initially introduced as an anti-depressant to treat depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar disorders but now, it is also used as a pain killer to treat migraines, back or spinal cord pain, neuralgia and somehow, insomnia only if it is caused by some sort of nerve pain.
Working of Amitriptyline:
Since this medicine is originally an anti-depressant and works as a relaxant, it releases serotonin, also known as the happy chemical and noradrenaline which works to elevate the low blood pressure. These two chemicals when work together, increase the potential of amitriptyline and hence, the nervous system generates impulses directly to the disturbed or stressed nerves. As a result, the body starts to become relaxed and the blood pressure levels start to go back to normal. Hence, the pain is relieved and the mind doses off to sleep by being relaxed.
An important point that must be noticed is that this drug is specifically prescribed in cases of mental illnesses or neuralgia. Other than that, the prescription is completely and entirely different even if the
Benefits
This medicine is used to treat mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Along with that, it is also used to treat acute or chronic nerve pain as explained earlier.
Side effects: Short term and Long term
Every medicine that tends to treat or fix you, has few side effects and not all of them do much damage. This is to say that it all depends on the way you take your dosage. Amitriptyline has following common side effects:
- Blurred vision
- Dry mouth
- Low blood pressure on standing
- Sleepiness, and constipation
- Loss of libido and impotence
- Insomnia
- Nightmares.
Serious side effects may include
- Seizures
- Suicidal Attempts/thoughts
- Urinary retention
- Glaucoma
- Cardiac Issues
Usage and Overdose
Drugs that are primarily used as anti-depressants can have adverse effects if they are not taken in the right way. These drugs are not prescribed straight away, it is made sure that no other method works before you finally take these. If a person does overdose of amitriptyline, he/she will face:
- Decreased Body Temperature
- High Blood Pressure
- Excessive Sleepiness
- Seizures
- Agitation
- Rigidity in Muscles and Difficulty in Performing Coordinated Functions
- Vomiting, nausea
- Congestive Heart Failure
- Even Death, in extreme cases
Interaction with other medicines: It should not be taken with MAO inhibitors because it can cause serotonin syndrome and with the medication of cisapride as well.
Latest researches
According to latest researches, Amitriptyline is said to be taken for neuralgia only if prescribed by your respective doctor and that too, after proper therapy sessions. Excess of everything is bad and that is why no drug must be overdosed. It is highly important to take consultations from professionals like UK Pharmacy Meds because not only they offer the right prescription, they make sure you are well informed about your intake.
