TRAZODONE user's. I need some advice

[FernRhizome]

I did not initially get worse on the trazadone in fact it did initially help with sleep, but then as the weeks went by I started to get sicker and sicker and have major gi symptoms (more major even than usual) and then got REALLY sick. Going off it was also hell. But thank god I did. So even if you do okay on it at first, be on gaurd that the problems could be weeks or months, or many months out...and the longer one is on it the harder it is go off.

Everything in the sedative family including xanax and trazadone are actually toxic to mitochondria. I ended up severely bedridden from a once every 24 hour dose of the smallest milligrams of xanax used just at night for sleep. It nearly killed me! Kept me severely bedridden for many months and even when I realized that was it, and stopped it, the recovery took a year.

It wasn't until my muscle biopsy to diagnose mitochondrial disease that I learned from my mitochondrial doctor that the class of drugs including xanax and traz are toxic to mitochondria. ~FernRhizome

 

[Sasha]

Thanks, Maxine & FernRhizome - obviously a lot to take into consideration with all this stuff! I'll keep you posted but maybe be offline for a bit, having succumbed to a bit of a cold. Meanwhile, sleep well, all!

 

[m1she11e]

WOW! Only had sleep problems these last few years and Klonopin was working just fine. It stopped working recently and my doctor put me on Trazadol. I have only took one and I feel AWFUL! I would rather just not sleep very well then ever feel like this again. I know we all react differently but Trazadol and I are not friends!!!

 

[Sasha]

Oh dear!:worried: I started Trazadone at 25mg for 2 weeks, then up to 37.5 for 2 more weeks, then up to 50 last night on my doctor's advice and have spent today basically stunned and feeling very drugged up. It made me realise that the fatigue of the last couple of weeks that I had put down to a cold also had the slightly druggy quality and was more likely due to the Trazadone. I've agreed with my doctor that I should come off it. I've been keeping a sleep diary for the last couple of weeks and it had become clear that although it had eventually started to help me to get to sleep faster, I was still having as many multiple awakenings and losing as much sleep during the night as before.

Oh well. It's a bit disappointing because I can see from Cort's excellent sleep info pages that many people with CFS do well with Trazadone. My doctor is going to start me on something else next week, for which I will start a new thread now so as to avoid confusion by bringing it in here.

Thanks to all those who have helped me with info about Trazadone on this thread - my lack of success with it doesn't of course mean that it won't work for other people, so good luck if you are trying it.:Retro smile:

 

[goldiland]

By far the best weapon I have found for deep sleep without side effects has been Xyrem. I recognize that it is expensive, even with insurance, but if you are able to afford, the benefits are significant. I had a bad relapse of CFS about 2 years ago and Dr. Klimas put me on. Xyrem works every night and is out of your system in approximately 4 hours. My sleep over the past couple of years has gone from broken to significantly improved. After about eighteen months on Xyrem, I was able to reduce my dosage and am now often able to sleep well without medication. There are very few other sleep medications which promote stage 3 and 4 sleep.... the only other that I am aware of is Remeron, which at lower doses, is used for sleep. The problem with Remeron (which I tried before Xyrem), is that similar to Trazadone, you may feel very drugged the next day.

 

[Hope123]

Trazadone has worked well for me - my probs were mostly staying asleep and not falling asleep. FWIW, the doses used for insomnia are generally low (less than 100mg); the doses used for depression are higher 300mg and up. I didn't have any side effects from it. For the people with GI probs, my bottle has a label that the tablet be taken with food although I take mine on an empty stomach before bed the last few years and have not had issues. I like the fact also that trazadone is cheap and is an older drug so has a long history of safety in many conditions compared with newer sleep drugs on the market.

 

[Sasha]

By far the best weapon I have found for deep sleep without side effects has been Xyrem. I recognize that it is expensive, even with insurance, but if you are able to afford, the benefits are significant. I had a bad relapse of CFS about 2 years ago and Dr. Klimas put me on. Xyrem works every night and is out of your system in approximately 4 hours. My sleep over the past couple of years has gone from broken to significantly improved. After about eighteen months on Xyrem, I was able to reduce my dosage and am now often able to sleep well without medication. There are very few other sleep medications which promote stage 3 and 4 sleep.... the only other that I am aware of is Remeron, which at lower doses, is used for sleep. The problem with Remeron (which I tried before Xyrem), is that similar to Trazadone, you may feel very drugged the next day.

Thanks, goldiland - I live in the UK and asked my NHS consultant first about Xyrem, because of the Nancy Klimas study on its use that she reported at a conference. He told me that it was unlikely that my local PCT (Primary Care Trust, the body that provides funding and guidance for local general practitioners) would allow me to be prescribed Xyrem. I had assumed that this was because they were reluctant to prescribe drugs that could be misused by criminals (Xyrem being of course GHB) but maybe it was a cost issue - I hadn't realised it was expensive. In the UK, the cost/benefit is worked out by a national commmittee examining scientific trial evidence and that can place limits on what can be prescribed. I'll ask my consultant about his reasons for thinking the PCT wouldn't approve it - thanks for putting this question in my mind!

 

[Alesh]

Mirtazapine is better in my opinion

Mirtazapine, another antidepressant with sedative effects, is as to my experience much better tolerated than trazodone. But still I prefer Seroquel (quetiapine) for sleep induction.

 

[goldiland]

Sasha,

GHB is a relatively cheap street drug and the FDA and the US distributor of Xyrem have very tight controls and guidelines surrounding its prescription and use. As you indicated, it is extremely expensive in the US (approximately $1500 for 2 month supply without insurance... I pay approximately $80 for that same 2 month supply with insurance) partly to insure that it will not be abused.

Dr. Klimas had me get a sleep study first to support a sleep abnormality..... most of us have alpha wave intrusion due to hypothalamic dysfunction which does not allow stage 3 or 4 sleep. As I said previously, Xyrem made a substantial difference in my health over a period of months.... I hope you are able to get it prescribed for you.

 

[lululowry]

I began taking trazadone at 25 mg and at first felt slightly drowsy the next day. However, this was far better than not sleeping and for various reasons, I was comfortable with trazadone's long track record and low cost. I now take 50 mg before I go to bed and 50 mg in the middle of the night when I wake up. It does not make me drowsy at all and I may be getting a bit of the antidepressant benefits as well. I have a family history of sleeping disorders and if I had to face not sleeping along with everything else...well, I don't know what I'd do! Thank goodness I don't have to figure that one out.

 

[JT1024]

I just recently started trazadone and it has helped me get deep sleep but it was not without experimentation. I had been on klonopin (clonazepamz) as needed for quite while. I rarely needed to take the .5 mg tablet to all asleep. I often cut it in half and it was sufficient.

Having major trouble staying asleep the last year or two prompted me to talk to my doctor at which point he prescribed the trazadone. Not wanting to have too many medications, I skipped the klonpin and took the prescribed 50mg of trazadone. I could not fall asleep for hours and then when I needed to get out of bed, I couldn't. The 50 mg was way too high a dose for me.

I've not settled into taking a half tablet of the klonopin and a quarter to a half tablet of the trazadone. It seems to work really well. While I still don't want to get out of bed in the morning, at least once I'm up, I'm really clear headed.

Hope you're able to find out what works for you!

~ JT