Trazadone

I'm nearly off valium and my doctor gave me trazadone to help.

I'm worried about taking this.

Does anyone have any experience of this drug? Is it addictive? The doc said it wasn't but I don't trust these doctors where I live. One told me Clonazepan was only a little addictive.

JimmyT

 

Congratulations on your taper--very impressive time period 18 mg to nearly complete.

 

Trazadone is not addictive. It is the safest sleep aid and has mild sedative effect at low doses, typically 50mg. Some use up to 100 mg. The low dose at 50 mg is best for sleep.

 

It is an old antidepressant which is rarely used for depression and doses were very high. It is the go to drug for most doctors these days to help with sleep.

 

I have used it for many years (shift work/migraines) and often stopped using from time to time with no issues.

 

In fact, I take it now at 50 mg about 30 minutes before bed. I am at 3.2 mg V. And will likely use well after my taper.

 

With your taper almost complete, Trazadone will be very helpful. Perfect timing by your doctor.  Let's know how it works for you.

 

Cheers

 

 

Trazadone is not addictive, your Dr. is correct.  It is a very good medication, for depression and also very helpful for sleep.  I could not get through taper without it. 

"Not adictive" doesn't mean anything. In medical speech it just means it doesn't cause cravings. It does, however cause physical dependancy and discontinuation syndrome upon stopping (all drugs do, which is why you don't stop e.g. beta-blocker cold-turkey, even though some people are able to do it), and has to be tapered. As you might well know by now, many "non-addictive" drugs have far worse withdrawals than most "addictive" drugs. So be careful. The fact that others had luck with it may not translate for you. Be aware that trazodone can also have some nasty side-effects, e.g. priapism. Trazodone's metabolite mCPP is nasty dysphoric, depressive, and anxiogenic substance, so using trazodone too much to help with benzo withdrawal can backfire.

My sister has been unable to get off Trazadone.  Addiction is very different from chemical dependency.  Have you checked out www.survivingantidepressants.org?  I'm not trying to talk you out of Trazadone but just because it was not a problem for some doesn't mean it will be for you.  Be fully informed, then make your decision. G.

I'm nearly off valium and my doctor gave me trazadone to help.

I'm worried about taking this.

Does anyone have any experience of this drug? Is it addictive? The doc said it wasn't but I don't trust these doctors where I live. One told me Clonazepan was only a little addictive.

 

JimmyT:

 

You asked for personal experience. Two of us gave you our feedback.

And the two latter comment gave you their opinion.

 

Call you doctor and have him/her review all your concerns.

 

Often a simple query on BB per doctor prescribed aids becomes a less than valuable source of information. Like reefer maddnes.

 

Please let us know what your doctor has to say.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello. I found it to be addictive and had a helluva time tapering off of it. It gave me a hangover in the morning among other things. If I was a male I definitely would not take it. Read about it. Let me know if you have questions.

 

Becky

I was prescribed Trazadone but talked to some people about their personal experiences before taking it.  I quickly decided that adding on another drug with more symptoms and possibly pretty serious withdrawals, was in my situation continuing the cycle of drugs to treat drugs that got me into this mess in the first place. 

  Antidepressant withdrawals are every bit as horrific as Klonopin withdrawals in my experience.  Yeah, not noticeably sleeping for a month really sucks, but I cannot even imagine having yet another drug to recover from right now.  I sleep a few hours nightly now and I’ll sleep well someday after I recover from all the drug withdrawals/dependencies I was prescribed.

  Attempting to medicate my way out of med withdrawal symptoms did not go well for me.  Everyone will have their own unique experience so I’ll just promote information + caution as your best strategies to getting out of benzo prison  and avoiding other Rx shackles that could possibly aid in binding you to benzo hell. 

  Going to the surviving antidepressants site and checking the success stories for ones pertaining to trazadone will likely provide some pretty in-depth personal accounts.  Given the recent reemergence of trazodone with psychiatrists for sleep aid use during benzo withdrawals, there is a good chance that you will find pro and con personal account results of this Rx shift. 

  Informed personal advocacy when making a decision with your Doctor will probably be the best method for achieving quality personal healthcare.