amitriptyline hydrochloride 50 MG Oral Tablet

INDICATIONS AND USAGE: For the relief of symptoms of depression. Endogenous depression is more likely to be alleviated than are other depressive states.

DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION Oral Dosage Dosage should be initiated at a low level and increased gradually, noting carefully the clinical response and any evidence of intolerance. Initial Dosage for Adults For outpatients, 75 mg of amitriptyline hydrochloride a day in divided doses is usually satisfactory. If necessary, this may be increased to a total of 150 mg per day. Increases are made preferably in the late afternoon and/or bedtime doses. A sedative effect may be apparent before the antidepressant effect is noted, but an adequate therapeutic effect may take as long as 30 days to develop. An alternate method of initiating therapy in outpatients is to begin with 50 mg to 100 mg amitriptyline hydrochloride at bedtime. This may be increased by 25 mg or 50 mg as necessary in the bedtime dose to a total of 150 mg per day. Hospitalized patients may require 100 mg a day initially. This can be increased gradually to 200 mg a day if necessary. A small number of hospitalized patients may need as much as 300 mg a day. Adolescent and Elderly Patients In general, lower dosages are recommended for these patients. Ten mg 3 times a day with 20 mg at bedtime may be satisfactory in adolescent and elderly patients who do not tolerate higher dosages. Maintenance The usual maintenance dosage of amitriptyline hydrochloride is 50 to 100 mg per day. In some patients, 40 mg per day is sufficient. For maintenance therapy, the total daily dosage may be given in a single dose, preferably at bedtime. When satisfactory improvement has been reached, dosage should be reduced to the lowest amount that will maintain relief of symptoms. It is appropriate to continue maintenance therapy 3 months or longer to lessen the possibility of relapse. Usage in Pediatric Patients In view of the lack of experience with the use of this drug in pediatric patients, it is not recommended at the present time for patients under 12 years of age. Plasma Levels Because of the wide variation in the absorption and distribution of tricyclic antidepressants in body fluids, it is difficult to directly correlate plasma levels and therapeutic effect. However, determination of plasma levels may be useful in identifying patients who appear to have toxic effects and may have excessively high levels, or those in whom lack of absorption or noncompliance is suspected. Because of increased intestinal transit time and decreased hepatic metabolism in elderly patients, plasma levels are generally higher for a given oral dose of amitriptyline hydrochloride than in younger patients. Elderly patients should be monitored carefully and quantitative serum levels obtained as clinically appropriate. Adjustments in dosage should be made according to the patient’s clinical response and not on the basis of plasma levels. 2 2 Hollister, L.E.; Monitoring Tricyclic Antidepressant Plasma Concentrations. JAMA 1979; 241(23):2530-2533.

WARNINGS Clinical Worsening and Suicide Risk Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), both adult and pediatric, may experience worsening of their depression and/or the emergence of suicidal ideation and behavior (suicidality) or unusual changes in behavior, whether or not they are taking antidepressant medications, and this risk may persist until significant remission occurs. Suicide is a known risk of depression and certain other psychiatric disorders, and these disorders themselves are the strongest predictors of suicide. There has been a long-standing concern, however, that antidepressants may have a role in inducing worsening of depression and the emergence of suicidality in certain patients during the early phases of treatment. Pooled analyses of short-term placebo-controlled trials of antidepressant drugs (SSRIs and others) showed that these drugs increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults (ages 18 to 24) with major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Short-term studies did not show an increase in the risk of suicidality with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults beyond age 24; there was a reduction with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults aged 65 and older. The pooled analyses of placebo-controlled trials in children and adolescents with MDD, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or other psychiatric disorders included a total of 24 short-term trials of 9 antidepressant drugs in over 4,400 patients. The pooled analyses of placebo-controlled trials in adults with MDD or other psychiatric disorders included a total of 295 short-term trials (median duration of 2 months) of 11 antidepressant drugs in over 77,000 patients. There was considerable variation in risk of suicidality among drugs, but a tendency toward an increase in the younger patients for almost all drugs studied. There were differences in absolute risk of suicidality across the different indications, with the highest incidence in MDD. The risk differences (drug vs. placebo), however, were relatively stable within age strata and across indications. These risk differences (drug-placebo difference in the number of cases of suicidality per 1,000 patients treated) are provided in Table 1. $NoTableFooter $FootNote $NoFootNote Age Range Drug - Placebo Difference in Number of Cases of Suicidality per 1 , 000 Patients Treated Increases Compared to Placebo <18 14 additional cases 18-24 5 additional cases Decreases Compared to Placebo 25-64 1 fewer case ≥65 6 fewer cases No suicides occurred in any of the pediatric trials. There were suicides in the adult trials, but the number was not sufficient to reach any conclusion about drug effect on suicide. It is unknown whether the suicidality risk extends to longer term use, i.e., beyond several months. However, there is substantial evidence from placebo-controlled maintenance trials in adults with depression that the use of antidepressants can delay the recurrence of depression. All patients being treated with antidepressants for any indication should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of a course of drug therapy, or at times of dose changes, either increases or decreases. The following symptoms, anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania, have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants for major depressive disorder as well as for other indications, both psychiatric and nonpsychiatric. Although a causal link between the emergence of such symptoms and either the worsening of depression and/or the emergence of suicidal impulses has not been established, there is concern that such symptoms may represent precursors to emerging suicidality. Consideration should be given to changing the therapeutic regimen, including possibly discontinuing the medication, in patients whose depression is persistently worse, or who are experiencing emergent suicidality or symptoms that might be precursors to worsening depression or suicidality, especially if these symptoms are severe, abrupt in onset, or were not part of the patient's presenting symptoms. Families and caregivers of patients being treated with antidepressants for major depressive disorder or other indications, both psychiatric and nonpsychiatric, should be alerted about the need to monitor patients for the emergence of agitation, irritability, unusual changes in behavior, and the other symptoms described above, as well as the emergence of suicidality, and to report such symptoms immediately to health care providers. Such monitoring should include daily observation by families and caregivers. Prescriptions for amitriptyline hydrochloride should be written for the smallest quantity of tablets consistent with good patient management, in order to reduce the risk of overdose. Screening Patients for Bipolar Disorder A major depressive episode may be the initial presentation of bipolar disorder. It is generally believed (though not established in controlled trials) that treating such an episode with an antidepressant alone may increase the likelihood of precipitation of a mixed/manic episode in patients at risk for bipolar disorder. Whether any of the symptoms described above represent such a conversion is unknown. However, prior to initiating treatment with an antidepressant, patients with depressive symptoms should be adequately screened to determine if they are at risk for bipolar disorder; such screening should include a detailed psychiatric history, including a family history of suicide, bipolar disorder, and depression. It should be noted that amitriptyline hydrochloride is not approved for use in treating bipolar depression. Amitriptyline hydrochloride may block the antihypertensive action of guanethidine or similarly acting compounds. It should be used with caution in patients with a history of seizures and, because of its atropine-like action, in patients with a history of urinary retention or angle-closure glaucoma. In patients with angle-closure glaucoma, even average doses may precipitate an attack. Patients with cardiovascular disorders should be watched closely. Tricyclic antidepressant drugs, including amitriptyline hydrochloride, particularly when given in high doses, have been reported to produce arrhythmias, sinus tachycardia, and prolongation of the conduction time. Myocardial infarction and stroke have been reported with drugs of this class. Close supervision is required when amitriptyline hydrochloride is given to hyperthyroid patients or those receiving thyroid medication. Amitriptyline may enhance the response to alcohol and the effects of barbiturates and other CNS depressants. In patients who may use alcohol excessively, it should be borne in mind that the potentiation may increase the danger inherent in any suicide attempt or overdosage. Delirium has been reported with concurrent administration of amitriptyline and disulfiram. Angle-Closure Glaucoma The pupillary dilation that occurs following use of many antidepressant drugs including amitriptyline hydrochloride may trigger an angle closure attack in a patient with anatomically narrow angles who does not have a patent iridectomy. Usage in Pregnancy Pregnancy Category C Teratogenic effects were not observed in mice, rats, or rabbits when amitriptyline was given orally at doses of 2 to 40 mg/kg/day (up to 13 times the maximum recommended human dose 1 ). Studies in literature have shown amitriptyline to be teratogenic in mice and hamsters when given by various routes of administration at doses of 28 to 100 mg/kg/day (9 to 33 times the maximum recommended human dose), producing multiple malformations. Another study in the rat reported that an oral dose of 25 m

CONTRAINDICATIONS: Amitriptyline hydrochloride tablets are contraindicated in patients who have shown prior hypersensitivity to it. It should not be given concomitantly with monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Hyperpyretic crises, severe convulsions, and deaths have occurred in patients receiving tricyclic antidepressant and monoamine oxidase inhibiting drugs simultaneously. When it is desired to replace a monoamine oxidase inhibitor with amitriptyline hydrochloride, a minimum of 14 days should be allowed to elapse after the former is discontinued. Amitriptyline hydrochloride should then be initiated cautiously with gradual increase in dosage until optimum response is achieved. Amitriptyline hydrochloride should not be given with cisapride due to the potential for increased QT interval and increased risk for arrhythmia. This drug is not recommended for use during the acute recovery phase following myocardial infarction.

CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY Amitriptyline hydrochloride is an antidepressant with sedative effects. Its mechanism of action in man is not known. It is not a monoamine oxidase inhibitor and it does not act primarily by stimulation of the central nervous system. Amitriptyline hydrochloride inhibits the membrane pump mechanism responsible for uptake of norepinephrine and serotonin in adrenergic and serotonergic neurons. Pharmacologically, this action may potentiate or prolong neuronal activity since reuptake of these biogenic amines is important physiologically in terminating transmitting activity. This interference with reuptake of norepinephrine and/or serotonin is believed by some to underlie the antidepressant activity of amitriptyline hydrochloride.