Thanks for the welcome. My situation (as anyone’s) is lengthy. I just got caught in a whole cascading set of events “wrong place wrong time”. I have no history of depression/anxiety. It’s purely situational at this point, which of course a negligent PCP will always try to classify as the root issue. However I’m in a lot of physical distress, which in turn is definitely fueling anxiety. I utilized Nortriptyline for its properties to slow digestion down, as I had a weird lingering issue that could not be solved. In using it as a “diagnostic” tool, I have since found the root issue and have taken care of it (the whole reason I’m even in this mess!). Nortriptyline actively started changing things in me at the 2-3 week mark of taking it, but being I was still having a specific set of symptoms from the true gut issue, I ignored it and trudged on. After solving the issue, I wanted to come off this as I don’t feel I need any medications, my body and mind ran flawlessly for my 25/26 years of life. Unfortunately, my doctors negligence put me in a rough spot (a few times this year). My first reaction was Paxil given by my previous PCP. After a week it made me extremely tired, complete lack of appetite, brain fog, etc… so I went cold turkey off that. No big deal! Suffered for a week and felt better. A few months later (due to the gut issue, and having extensive testing done to no prevail) I decided to quit nicotine to see if it would help my gut issue. To combat the cessation my current PCP put me on Buspar 15mg a day. After a month of taking it, I had a severe reaction. Hopelessness, brain fog, dread, depersonalization, extreme torso guarding/pain. I cold turkeyed off that per my PCP’s instruction and it took me a month/month and a half to recover. There was still the whole underlying gut issue that didn’t work itself out, which is what led me to doing my OWN research and “diagnostics” using nortriptyline for its anticholinergic properties. And it worked! I solved the whole root issue of 7 months. However…. My doctor told me taper a certain way, and I tried. After telling me my dose is like drinking water (meaning it had little effect on me, even though at 2-3 weeks into taking it I was constipated for 3-5 days at a time, and I could feel things in my digestive tract that I never felt/heard before), it failed miserably. 10MG for a month and a half (roughly), drop to 5mg for a week, and do a skip-take of 5 mg for a week. After the second day of skip, my insides were cramping, had diarrhea, muscle pain all over my torso, mild brain fog, lack of motivation, heartbeat/abdominal aorta “thumping” awareness (palpitations) and very “wired but tired”. There essentially was no happy medium to my days at all. If I got up to do things, my body would say no. If I tried to relax as if I had the flu, my mind would say no and my body would be restless (vibrating, palpitations, digestion sensory things). After the skip take chaos I went to 2.5mg and held for a week, but things were not getting much better. I reinstated at 5mg and I’ve now been on it 19 days. Things are leveling, but day to day the symptoms change in timing and intensity. What may happen to me today at noon, may not happen tomorrow at noon. My doctor has since “washed her hands” with me for the most part… meaning I had to source something else and continue my research while also feeling like this. Of course I am worried about the digestive symptoms, however they aren’t even the same as what they were when I wasn’t on Nortriptyline, but the doctor won’t listen or validate. Maybe due to lack of knowledge on the drug? I have since partnered with outro to validate/help with the taper. My impatience gets the best of me, because pre-January of this year I was a normal healthy guy who had zero anxiety or distress. Sorry for the length, I just want this to be a resource for myself, and anyone else that may have had something similar happen to them. Also I believe people who have seen/spoke with others who have went through something similar may have some good positive insight for me, as I’m currently blowing in the wind hoping things start getting better soon. (In a non linear way, they do seem to be improving, but my impatience gets the best of me). It’s difficult finding anyone else who may have had similar sensory/audible digestive symptoms like myself.
Nortriptyline — 5mg (tapering) — <3 months — holding
