Peripheral Neuropathy Of Arm, Shoulder, Palpitations, Increased Pulse, Lack Of Sleep, Side Effects Of Prothiaden ?

Posted on Mon, 21 May 2012

Question: Hi, I have peripheral neuropathy of right arm and shoulder and have been advised 25 mg of prothiaden once daily. I have been taking it for the last 2 months and off late have started having problems like palpitation, high heart rate around 125. I also feel very confused and disoriented and forget what i was talking about or thinking and other recent events. It is really difficult to keep sleeping at night due to breathlessness and feeling of tremors in my head neck and hands. Are these the side effects of the medicine? or are the symptoms because of something else?

Answered by Dr. Sumit Bhatti (1 hour later)

Dear XXXXXXX

Thank you for your query.

1. Your tachycardia (increased heart rate), palpitations (awareness of heart beat), confusion, disorientation (forgetting recent events), breathlessness (due to dry mouth) are side effects of Prothiaden which is a tricyclic antidepressant.
2. Your feeling of tremors may be related to your peripheral neuropathy.
3. Your dose of Prothiaden is low at 25 mg once daily. You may taper it down and discontinue it under supervision of your local physician (to avoid withdrawal symptoms after two months of use).
4. You may avoid further use or request your doctor to try amitriptyline or gapapentin instead. Another option is to change to a different class of medicines such as mild anti-inflammatory medications.

Hope I have answered your query. If you have any follow up queries I will be available to answer them.

Regards.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar