Elavil May Help- to a Degree

My new rheumatologist put me on a new medication, Elavil. He only prescribed 25 mg and I’m to take before I go to bed at night. I wasn’t too keen on starting yet another pill, but I was getting to the point that I would do practically anything to get some relief. So, I started taking it last weekend.

He wasn’t kidding when he said to make sure to take it right before bed. Wow! That stuff knocks me out. There was no way I could possibly have stayed awake after taking that the first few times. When I woke up I was still wonky. Not like “I didn’t get enough sleep” wonky, but “I’m still high off that pill” wonky. It really took me a couple of hours to wake up in the morning. And I was pretty bitchy last week too. More so than usual, but it wasn’t really a bad thing, I think. I considered it a good thing that I could be emotionally bitchy again.

Tonight I was considering whether I’ll continue on this pill. All week I was pain free. Literally. I didn’t have so much as a backache. And when the pain disappeared so did my rash. BUT… and this is really important here… it made the brain fog worse for the first few days. I completely bombed a test and I know it was because of that. Like any other antidepressant it makes my brain crazy. I can’t focus, my thoughts go beserk, I most certainly can’t learn anything. But the pain was gone. And I could sleep. But I was bitch and my mind was nuts…

I don’t know if the medicine actually helped me through a flare or not. Today my face broke out and my right eye got droopy. That’s a sure sign a flare is coming. I look horrid, to say the least. But so far I don’t feel so bad. My ankles are a little sore, but I was raking leaves, so that might explain it a little. I’ll wait to see if this flare is as bad as the last one before I decide to keep taking this medication. It’s a little up in the air right now.

I’ve got to say, though, it’s way better than that other crap Dr. Quack was trying to shove down my throat. I’m surprised, actually, that he didn’t think to prescribe it. I wonder if they’ve stopped giving out kick-backs for prescribing the oldie-but-goodies.