Trazadone

Does anyone here take this to help them sleep at night?  My doctor gave me 50 mg to try to help me sleep and I am a little leary about taking an anti-depressant for a sleep aid.  Any advice or personal experience with this that you can share would be great.  I am so scared of taking new medications.  Always worried about the side effects and stuff.

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Diane (ocean1)

I *love* my Trazadone!!!!

Lupus fatigue has had an enormous effect on my sleep. I was sleeping up to 18 hours a day when on Plaquenil, 10mg Prednisone, and Piroxicam. Of the remaining 6 hours, I was still exhausted. *And* I had periods of time when I was that exhausted, and couldn't sleep for 2-3 days!

When my rhuemy suggested I was probably not sleeping well, I thought he had totally lost his marbles!! I was sleeping very soundly (when I slept), it was apparently difficult to wake me up.

But, I tried what the dr said. (He said Trazadone is very often used as a sleep aid.) The first couple of weeks I still slept for 10-12 hours, and had a groggy in the morning feeling (some people liken it to a hangover, I didn't find it nearly that bad).

Since then, I take my Trazadone every evening and sleep deeply through the night (about 10 hrs) and awake refreshed. (I *never* felt refreshed before Trazadone). I haven't had any side effects since those first few weeks, and it's been more than 5 years now.

I would suggest you try it for at least a week and see how you like the results. If your sleep improves, go ahead and take it through any morning-after side effects you might have.

One warning -- the tablets can dissolve quickly and taste NASTY, so I try to take them with something w/flavor (cranberry juice for me) at room temperature -- that seems to help them go down easier and not taste so bad if they do start dissolving.

Hope it works for you, a deep healing sleep really makes a huge difference with this disease.

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Lynnwood, Co-Moderator: Lupus Forum
SLE(’00), Sjogren's Syndrome, Raynaud's Syndrome, SAD, Depression, Herpes Simplex 1
Piroxicam, Plaquenil, Cellcept, Prednisone, Xanax, Trazodone, Fosamax, Wellbrutrin SR, Valtrex
Click: DIAGNOSING LUPUS (4 of 11), LUPUS INFORMATION, LUPUS RESOURCES, Donate to HealingWell, Drug Interactions

Diane, I don't take trazadone for sleep, but I do take amitriptyline to help me sleep and it's one of the older antidepressants (not an SSRI). I think to help with sleep, a lot of these meds are given at a lower dose than when they are used to treat depression. I had a similar experience as Lynnwood with my med at first making me kind of groggy, but now that feeling is pretty much gone and I love the quality of sleep I get.

I hope you have good luck with trazadone and let us know how it works for you. Take care

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Diane, my dad took trazadone to help him sleep. I take lunesta and wonder how I ever lived without it. Once you find something that works for you, it will make such a difference in the way you feel.

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<sub>Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sjogren's, osteoarthritis, fibro, ibs, renauds, restless leg, hiatal hernia, double vision, migraines.

cellcept 1,000mg, neurontin 1,200 mg, prednisone 5mg, plaquenil 400mg, synthroid .15mg, triamterene 37.5mg, tramadol prn, lunesta 3 mg, actonel, tri-est (compounded estrogen) 7.5 mg, imitrex, cymbalta 30mg, multivitamin, calcium w vit D, fish oil, aspirin</sub>

Hi--

I used to take it at night and for a while I liked it.  Some things to know:

--like all these antidepressants, it can be very hard to stop taking it

--I see you have chronic hives, be sure you aren't having a medication allergy when you start it because sometimes if you start one in the middle of an allergy you can have problems knowing if the new medicine is working right

--Short term on mild bipolar or people with severe thyroid problems seems to help but it can cause very bad hallucinations and psychosis, I was hospitalized for a reaction to trazadone. Many docs don't know it is not good for bipolar people and is hard on the liver, so you can get a nasty reaction to it if you become "allergic" to it.  I probably had a mild form of encephalopathy due to my liver and very high thyroid antibodies, so I'm not sure it would be good to take if you had hashis encephalopathy.

--My mother still manages to take it although she has some problems, she doesn't equate them with the medication and has tried to stop it unsuccessfully.  Getting off of it can cause some weird sort of psychotic stuff, more than the plain old anxiety.

All this being said, I liked it while I took it but had such a bad reaction to it that I'll never take it again.  My psych in the hospital says they see a fair bit of people in there for trazadone reactions like I had.  It's a little more dangerous than the others. 

Another drug if you can't take trazadone is risperidol and I took that and liked it but they wouldn't let me stay on it, they said its only for bad spells, but I really liked it better than the trazadone.

Oh, I forgot, I occasionally use melatonin as a sleep aid, though my klonopin at night works well.  There is some natural stuff and benedryl and atavan always knocked me out and aren't as strong.  Trazadone always made me function better the next day until I started hallucinating, getting panicky, hearing things, and having obsessive bad thoughts.  That's the bad side I had but it took me a month or so to get it, but if you find your mind racing and you can't sleep and keep seeing things out of the corner of your eye and all, you need to seek help with it.

Hi Everyone.

I took one half Trazadone a few nights back and it did nothing as far as helping me get to sleep or stay asleep.  Took it the next night and 2 1/2 hours later was still awake.  Took it again Saturday night and woke up about 3 hours after taking it with nause and vomiting and diarrhea and racing heart.  Needless to say, I have not taken it since.  I talked to my doctor on Monday and she said those were enough major side effects that I shouldn't take it any more.  I'm back to my Lunesta and getting about 5 hours of sleep taking it and then am wide away about 3am and stay awake after that.  I found out that Trazadone is an anti-depressant and in the past when I have tried taking anti-depressants have had the same bad reactions.

Diane, I'm sorry the trazadone didn't work for you and that you had a bad reaction to it. It's wierd how everyone reacts so differently to the same med. The lunesta sounds like it works a little bit for you, but you need more than 5 hours of sleep. It can be such a tricky thing to find a med that really works and doesn't have too many bad side effects. Does your doc have any other ideas for sleep meds?

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Hi--
I have problems with antidepressant and am allergic to most, my liver just can't handle them. I can take some of the older ones in very low doses which can be helpful with sleep. The dosage I'm talking about is usually less or about what they might give a very very young child. For example, on imipramine, I took 1 mg when the starting dose is 25 mg. They are, of course, addicting, but at such a low dose it is much easier to quit. Trazadone come only in prettyhigh doses. I've had some luck with melatonin, but only for a few days at a time, other people have lots of trouble with it. I wouldn't consider it without talking to your doc, but it might be an option. I think there is some new all natural non-addicting stuff that doctors cam out with, I saw an ad on tv. Ir may be over the counter. I take 1 mg, a baby dose of klonopin, which is like valium or xanax but better, designed to wean people off the other two, but it didn't quite work. This often knocks me out and relieves my anxiety, but I take a small dose so I don't develop side effects. The old time antidepressants can really be helpful in baby doses for pain, sleep, and mood stuff. You can really feel great on them and I took them for many years and was able towork and was very successful and it helped withthe brain fog and pain, but eventually my liver couldn't handle it and the medicine I was on couldn't be taken for ever, because it caused neurological damage over time. When I developed neuropathy, they took me off, though it may have been from a variety of other causes, better safe than sorry. I don't like the side effects and addictiveness of antidepressants, though my klonopin is just as bad as far as addictiveness, I feel I get more benefit with less bad side effects. I hope you get something good for sleep, you do't want to develop fibro, if you don't already have it. Take care and sending best wishes for a good resolution and lots of zzzs.

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Love, Marji

I am with Lynnwood

LOVE my trazadone

NO hangover feeling and a full night sleep stops all the stinking thinking going on in head just for a few hours but I will take those few hours believe me ........


LYN

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Hi Diane,

I also love my Trazadone. I have been taking it for about 5 years now, 100 mg per night. It is the only thing for sleep that I can take for a long term basis. Hope it goes well for you!

Denise

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dx - sle 2001, fibro 2006, depression

Is Trazadone an SSRI or a tricyclic antidepressant? I am looking to get on an antidepressant, I don't know if you remember but the doc gave me samples of Lexapro earlier this year and had another bad reaction. That's 3 SSRIs that didn't do well with me (Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro). I'm kind of looking into the tricyclics now and this sounds like a good med. I really need something for sleep too. I finally fell asleep at 1:30 and had to get up and 5:00 this morning and earlier this week, I got NO sleep and had to go to work that next day. I can't function like that much longer. I'll have to ask my doc.

Diane,

I'm sorry the Trazadone didn't work for you but I'm glad to hear that you are able to go back to your Lunesta since you aren't getting bad effects. Is your doc going to try something else to help with the sleep?

Take Care

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Des,



I know several people that take anti-depressants of different kinds, and none of them has ever tried Trazodone....not sure what, if anything that means.

I personally have tried Zoloft, Lexapro, and a couple other anti-depressants, but the first one that actually helped me any is Wellbrutin.

Good luck,

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Lynnwood, Co-Moderator: Lupus Forum
SLE(’00), Sjogren's Syndrome, SAD, Depression, Herpes Simplex 1
Piroxicam, Plaquenil, Cellcept, Prednisone, Trazodone, Fosamax, Wellbrutrin SR, Valtrex
Links: DIAGNOSING LUPUS(4of11), LUPUS INFORMATION, LUPUS RESOURCES, Donate to HealingWell, Drug Interactions

Oh wow... thanks Lynn. I may have to do more reading on this med. May be the one, I'm surprised also that my doc didn't bring it up... unless its a generic med which unfortunately many docs nowadays don't initially prescribe since they get the pharmaceutical kickbacks on the newer ones (which there seems to be alot of with antidepressants). I'll save that for another discussion.

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I took trazadone about 11 years ago. My case was a little different. My brother had just commited suicide and I was having a rough time. Like others said it did give you a deep sleep but I would wake up with the screamin meemies! I had the most vivid nightmares I have ever had in my life. I stopped taking it after a couple of months. I take effexor now. It doesn't seem to have any side effects. When they first increasd the dose it gave me gas but that seems to have cleared up on it's own. I hope they can come up with something that will give you better rest.

I took Trazadone (generic for Deseryl) off and on for over 22 years and was happy with it.  It helped me sleep and get up refreshed and also helped my depression.  My dr. took me off it last fall because I was on it so long and I've been a mess since then.  Nothing else has worked for me.  Drs. have tried every med. under the sun and I've had bad reactions to them all.  I just switched drs. and asked him if I could start Trazadone again.....with a yes answer.  Pray for me that it works.  I've been so full of anxiety from lack of sleep.  I haven't slept since 10-21-07...it's 11-9-07.  A little FYI for you on another drug...I tried Wellbutrin XL and it did not help my anxiety but I lost over 44 lbs in less than a year.  I'm not doing well physically now because I'm undernurished and am having trouble gaining weight even though I'm off the Wellbutrin.  I was also on Ambien CR during this whole time with the Wellbutrin and found out that a study was done on Ambien patients and found that it could also cause weight loss and anxiety!!!  It took drs. this long to figure out that the Wellbutrin could be causing my "unexplained" weight loss and fatigue.  My husband found this info out online and by calling the companies directly who make the stuff.  My dr. didn't know about the Ambien study results....it could have saved me a lot of grief that I'm going through right now.