I'm ging to tell you a story, if there's anything you get out of it, good, if not, not.
Years ago I had my third child, an unplanned pregnancy for a woman that plans everything, and only 13 months after having my daughter. 10 days after delivering, I got a horrendous headache, and my blood pressure went sky high. Found out it was a doozy of a migraine (I had never had one before) and after a few months, ended up on an old, cheap antidepressant, Elavil. I've been on it ever since.
I was not depressed, just under extreme stress, and not able to sleep, I got some hormone treatment because they said sometimes after delivering, the ???(name?)gland shuts down. It's the gland that helps you deal with stress, fine time for THAT to happen.
It works, I've been taking it for 24 years.
My sister's an RN in a pain mangement clinic, and they use Elavil there (I didn't know this until about 10 years ago) I do notice in various things, it does eliviate some pain.
Arthritis is in the family genes, and I'm included, but to be honest, I have very very little pain.
Also, today, while there for a PAP, I learned from my doc that Elavil will also relieve menopause symptoms, which he said explains why I have very few hot flashes.
It's an antidepressant that has other uses