A person's Amitriptyline level can be monitored by having periodic blood levels drawn. When I first started seeing a psychiatrist (My pain is/was not all in my head!! She happens to be a psychiatrist, who specializes in the management of pain; and because she is a medical doctor, she is able to write prescriptions for medications of all kinds.) in January 1997, she wrote a prescription for my doctor to draw a blood level of Amitriptyline. At that time I was taking 225mgs of Amitriptyline.
As a result of that blood level test, my blood level of Amitriptyline level was 525mgs!! My Amitriptyline level was at a toxic level!!! So gradually over several weeks my psychiatrist lowered the number of milligrams I was receiving so that I am currently taking only 100mgs at night.
She also started me on Carbemazapine (generic of Tegretol) - starting at a low level and gradually increasing over several weeks. Currently I take 200mgs in the AM and 400mgs before bedtime. As I mentioned before, my psychiatrist specializes in pain management -so she knows what she is doing.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE WITH AMITRIPTYLINE:
1.) Undiagnosed chronic pain finally diagnosed as adhesions in 1997...27 years later!
http://www.adhesions.org/forums/ADHESIONS.0006/0220.html
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2.) My Adhesions Quilt story
http://www.obgyn.net/cfm/adhesionsdisplay.cfm?SortName=FirstName&ID=22
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