Migraine

A couple weeks ago, I took Elival for a couple days...(about 3 mg) and had weird heat sensation & stiffness throughout my right side of body & lots kaliedescope (turquoise blue background & bright pastel floaty shapes swimming & moving) & pinwheel hallucinations throughout the nights. I wasn't sure if it was normal, so I stopped taking it.

Last night, I had some more psychodelic hallucinations, mostly of a dark brown background, green outlines of leaves, vines, flowers and fruits and hot pinkish-red insides and they kept ebbing & changing...I have not taken Elival since, but it's similar to the stuff I had when I was on Topamax- I have not been taking any meds, but I have been having my period & had pretty long PMS period with wicked dreams (which I normally do).

Has anyone had this kind of experience on Elival? Any idea if this is typical? I was a little trepidatious because of my weird experiences w/meds, but my neurologists did say it was ok to continue w/Elival.

I spoke to a woman once who was using Elavil (amitriptyline) for neuropathic pain and she described a very similar experience of having hallucinations at night while trying to sleep. Lots of very psychedelic stuff. If I remember correctly, her doctor told her that it was benign and to continue on with the treatment, but that she was bothered enough by it that she elected to stop treatment (it wasn't really helping either as I recall).

I did find this too:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&d...95&dopt=AbstractPlus

No, it's not 'typical." There have been a few, very few cases of hallucinations with Elavil. Since you only took it a couple of days, and that was a couple of weeks ago, I don't see how it could have causes the latest episode. It takes two - ten days to build a consistent blood level of amitriptyline, and the half-life is 10-26 hours.

Could it have been an aura like nothing you've experienced before? Maybe time to talk with your doctor.

quote:

Originally posted by Alexandra "Morpheus":
A couple weeks ago, I took Elival for a couple days...(about 3 mg) and had weird heat sensation & stiffness throughout my right side of body & lots kaliedescope (turquoise blue background & bright pastel floaty shapes swimming & moving) & pinwheel hallucinations throughout the nights. I wasn't sure if it was normal, so I stopped taking it.

Last night, I had some more psychodelic hallucinations, mostly of a dark brown background, green outlines of leaves, vines, flowers and fruits and hot pinkish-red insides and they kept ebbing & changing...I have not taken Elival since, but it's similar to the stuff I had when I was on Topamax- I have not been taking any meds, but I have been having my period & had pretty long PMS period with wicked dreams (which I normally do).

Has anyone had this kind of experience on Elival? Any idea if this is typical? I was a little trepidatious because of my weird experiences w/meds, but my neurologists did say it was ok to continue w/Elival.

Thanks for the information...I actually do get hypnagognic hallucinations and sometimes hypnopomic hallucinations, but they are usually more realistic, cartoonish or shadowy if they are visual...more like slide shows or silent videos of people or animals doing something or auditory stuff (like when I am reading) like radio sounds/voices or tactile stuff like a weight on me (nope, that was my cat this time) or flying. These pscyhodelic stuff started when I was on Topamax, but they got less frequent when I stopped Topamax. Then it happened again on Elival...then when I got my period, it did it again (normally my arms vibrate weirdly in my sleep or my right arm stiffens & clenches up & my hand is sore when I wake up (or my hand is sore which makes me think something may have happened) during my period).
Maybe since I am prone to this already, my brain is more likely to produce this? If it's benign, I'm fine with it, but I didn't want to cook my soup more, if you know what I mean.

Last night, I drempt I was a 3-D cartoon monkey with blue & dark red fur (but I felt plush & furry like a stuffed animal) and somehow when I was swinging in the vines to escape someone, I ended up in the "real human world", but wasn't sure if people could see me as I was cartoon. When I kept waking up, I went back to being that monkey, so no psychodelic hallucinations this time. If only if I was more productive like some of my friends...I should had several graphic novels created by my dreams right now...it's too bad that the images don't go right on paper.

I haven't contacted my doctors yet, because they are extremely busy & hard to get ahold of. I'm also in the process of evaluations, so in someways, I feel like a child in a divorce: ring, ring to migraine specialist: " Dr. ______ says you need to talk to the seizure specialist." ring, ring to epitologist, "Dr. _____asked if you told this to your migraine specialist." Me:????

Are they a varient of aura? I don't know. From what I am aware of, my HH (visual, auditory, tactile) seem separate from my migraines & don't follow a pattern (beyond related to my consciousness level/alertness). The only auras I have noticed are a vibrating/numb nose, weird smells/tastes & sometimes sparkly flashing colors & more recently, increased parasthesias. Oh...and tinnitus...get it always when I have the basilar varity. Nothing terribly exciting, but I'd like to keep it that way. It's enough to deal with.

BTW, I wasn't sure if Elavil caused the latest episode...it's probably unlikely. But I seem to defy the typical time it takes medicnes in my blood & them leaving my system. My main concern at this point is I don't want the med to alter the results of my upcoming EEGs.

I guess I just need to sit tight for another month until I can see one of my doctors..unless something major happens.

Good to know, at least, I'm not the only one.