If you are trying to get off amitriptyline, stay motivated by focusing on how much better you will feel without it.

If you are trying to get off amitriptyline, you are reducing it gradually, of course, because that is the safest way. But you will already be thinking more clearly, and your impaired memory will be improving. You're less thirsty, less constipated, steadier on your feet and less liable to faint, having fewer nightmares. Your breasts are becoming less swollen and less painful, your swollen face is returning to normal. You are feeling less bloated, your vision is less blurred.

 

There are so many side-effects of this dangerous drug, and they are so unpleasant and harmful - especially if you have been prescribed it in high dose - and the benefits from taking it are so few and, in my opinion, not worth the candle. You may find that the greatest blessing of all from getting off amitriptyline is that you will lose a lot of the weight gain that has been puzzling you. So you'll have more energy and feel ever so much better!

 

If you are about to start taking amitriptyline then be prepared for weight gain, bloating, excessive thirst, painful breasts, swollen face, constipation, memory impairment and other problems.

If you are about to start taking amitriptyline then be prepared for weight gain, bloating, excessive thirst, painful breasts, swollen face, sodium retention, fluid retention, constipation, memory impairment and other problems. You can read here about the adverse effects of taking amitriptyline. The adverse effects are not temporary. You can mitigate the severity of these side-effects by seriously cutting down on salt and salty food.

Pang Ya: Poor little BIG toddler!

In the Telegraph's Pictures of the Day today, the very first picture is of a two year old Chinese girl, Pang Ya, who weighs a massive 41.5kg (6.5st), although she was normal weight at birth.

I hope you can recognise the tell tale signs of thin skin and huge fluid retention? - Her poor vastly swollen face is beetroot red, which is a clear indication that the skin is thin and is so overstretched as to be near transparent, and that we are really seeing the vastly distended blood vessels beneath. Her poor eyes are barely able to open. And see how terribly swollen her poor feet are beneath their covering? - From my own experience, I can tell you without needing to see the feet themselves, that like her face, the skin will be taut and overstretched, and that dark red veins near to the skin's surface will be making her feet look red or purple or near-black. And I can tell you that they will be very painful, especially if she ever tries to walk on them, with her heavy weight pressing on those swollen veins. And when she lies down the pressure on her face will increase. Poor, poor girl! Her problem is massive fluid retention/salt sensitivity/morbid obesity/oedema/abnormally high blood volume. She must be in constant pain from those swollen veins and thin skin. She needs to be fed food that has NO ADDED SALT. She will certainly not live long if she is fed salty food and she will be in preater and greater pain.

Salty food is what causes babies and toddlers to become fat. But Pang Ya's obesity is so extreme that I strongly suspect that sometime in her short life she has been treated with one of the many prescribed medications that cause fluid retention and are even more harmful to children than to adults. Doctors around the world tend to be very ill-informed about the side-effects sodium retention and water retention which inevitably cause obesity unless salt intake is kept very low indeed.

See Child Obesity

And see Sodium in foods

Tara and her problems with prednisolone, a prescribed steroid. - Acne, Moonface, Night Cramps, 'Buffalo Hump', Insults...

Some while back I received an email to my website address from a schoolgirl who was very distressed. - The reason for her distress was that she had been prescribed prednisolone again because of a flare-up of a serious illness she had first suffered from 2 years ago. - At that time the steroid had caused her to develop a moonface, severe night cramps in her legs which woke her, and what she describes as a 'buffalo hump' but which, I believe, is more usually referred to as Dowager's Hump. She found it very hard to sleep. She said her face was huge and she had acne and red marks on her cheeks, and because she was so swollen she didn't like to be touched. (It's extremely painful to be touched when you are very swollen. - Think of when you have a blister or a boil or an abscess!)

These are all normally considered side-effects of the steroid, but of course they are not. - They are actually side-effects of sudden massive extra fluid retention in the bloodstream and are the result of not being warned to avoid salt and salty food when taking this medication.

Her life had been made hell by the insults she had received at school because of the change in her looks, especially the moonface, and she was very unhappy at the thought of it all happening again. She had found my website and wrote to ask me for further information and help, which of course I gave her.

She is a clever, conscientious girl - and she followed my advice exactly. She read the information I sent, checked out the links, became clued up. - She made soup with fresh vegetables and lentils, her father made her low sodium bolognese, her mum bought her unsalted nuts and stuff for snacks, and so on. - When she was unsure whether a food was safe for her to eat she emailed me to check its sodium concentration.

Well she is now practically recovered from this flare-up and she hasn't gained any weight at all this time - in fact, she's been so rigorous about avoiding sodium that she has actually LOST weight! - I believe that this is so rare as to be actually unique and it proves how important it is to be warned against eating salt while on steroids. I also feel sure that the low sodium intake helped her to get over the flare-up faster.She is very grateful to me and I am so very pleased with her. - She wrote: "Thankyou for your congratulations, you have put a smile on my face."

See Prescribed Drugs that cause Obesity

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
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