Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Are there drugs that are used by the majority of pelvic pain sufferers. For instance, for the first time in 25 years I am trying gabapentin. Because our condition is neurological in nature, I was curious if certain drugs have been utilized for years or if newer drugs have also been helpful. I know many have used cymbalta successfully....for me it causes more anxiety and urine hesitation. As pain sufferers we are always looking for some road to relief. Think it would be helpful if we knew the go to drugs to try. Odd that I have never taken gabapentin before. Hoping it will help with both the condition and my nervous reaction to it.

Low dose tricycle antidepressants are helpful to some with nerve pain. I took one named Doxepin for several years, but came off of it about a year and a half ago. I was only able to take 10 mg. due to the side effects.

I agree with Stephanies that tricyclic antidepressants are a good choice. I've been on both amitriptyline and nortriptyline (separately), and I think those drugs have done more for me than any of the others. They help me sleep, they reduce bladder frequency, and they reduce the intensity of the burning. And I know they are not hard to go on and off, because I've done it a couple of times. I switched from one to the other when I developed a tolerance to one, so they are different enough to get a benefit from switching and the switch was simple (just taper off one and on to the other).

April

April wrote:I agree with Stephanies that tricyclic antidepressants are a good choice. I've been on both amitriptyline and nortriptyline (separately), and I think those drugs have done more for me than any of the others. They help me sleep, they reduce bladder frequency, and they reduce the intensity of the burning. And I know they are not hard to go on and off, because I've done it a couple of times. I switched from one to the other when I developed a tolerance to one, so they are different enough to get a benefit from switching and the switch was simple (just taper off one and on to the other).

April

Hi April
Thank you for posting this. My amitrptyline stopped working at 50 mg after 2 years and want to try changing .. I know it stopped working because I now have insomnia ..and it is impossible to have insomnia on amitriptyline
Have you changed from ami to nortriptyline ? or vice versa?
Thank you

Hi Mary Jane,

I was on amitriptyline for a little over a year, went off it for several months, then went on nortriptyline for about 1.5 years, and then switched to amitriptyline. I had clearly developed a tolerance to the nortrip, so that switch to amitrip was very helpful. My wake-ups at night went way down. But, amitriptyline is stronger than nortriptline, and I think I went on the same dose of amitrip as I had been on nortrip (50 mg), so I was getting more medication with the switch too. But, the change was so dramatic that I'm sure it was largely because it was a slightly new drug to my system. So, if you switch to nortrip, I would ask for a slightly higher dose, maybe 60 mg? You could start with 50 mgs of nortrip, and if that's not enough, move to 60 mgs. You'd have to combine the 50 mg pill with a one 10 mg pill (or do some pill cutting). They make amitrip in 10 mg tables, so they probably do that with the nortrip too.

April