Trazadone Info?

My pdoc has decided that since my body is not allowing me to sleep till I finally crash (thanks bipolar), I will be taking this med starting the 1st.

I know it used to be used as an antidepressant, lost popularity for a bit, and now is used as a sleep aide also. I'm wondering just how effective it will be. He's putting me on 100mg. tablets - one per day at night.

Please no weight gain? Please? lol

Thanks in advance.

YUMMY!!!! TRAZODONE!!!!!

Of the 6 billion and 3 sleep aids I have tried, 2 have worked: Ativan, which didn't do jack for my anxiety but knocked me out cold, and trazodone, which I absolutely loved.

100 mg is a lot, though. I took 50 mg and it usually had me walking into walls about an hour after taking it. (In other words, it's very powerful.) Withdrawal was mildly tricky, not even close to anything I've experienced since, in coming off other meds.

Enjoy! BTW, I don't remember any weight gain, although since I wasn't eating at all when I was put on it, there might have been some.

Candy

Cool, it will help with my anxiety as well? Thank goodness - that plus sleep??? Sleep is highly overrated - told that to my pdoc and he just burst out laughing.....lol.

Yup, one per day at night....I have a high tolerance to meds, so that was why the 100mg.

Thanks, Candy!

I don't remember having weight gain with that, it made me sleep well and stopped my night terrors.

Thanks for answering, bebe, and welcome to the forums. Hope to see you around some more.

I need sleep badly........lol.

Trazodone was very effective for me. I don't think that 100 mg is a particularly high dose. I took 150 mg at night when I was in the hospital. Good luck sleeping!

Thanks, apislily. I need it - I'm hoping it will stop all the noise in my head and allow sleep to come.

Take care.

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Thanks for answering, bebe, and welcome to the forums. Hope to see you around some more.

I need sleep badly........lol.

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You're welcome. I'll probably be around here a lot. I need to voice myself and people don't get it at times. I had some voices too, and that stuff helped me. At first I was a lil sluggish, the doc told me to take it during the day, not a smart move on his part. I was a zombie.

I take 50mg of trazadone a night. I love it. I was told to take it right before going to bed...I had heard there was a 20 minute window for it to work. Not sure how true that is..but It works for me. I take it and then go straight to bed.

Hi Planning, Daughter has taken Trazadone off and on for years and it works very well for her. I suggest you take it about an hour before you are ready to crash and get in bed 1/2 hour after taking it. The reason I say this is that if my D fights it she can sometimes win so give it a chance. Let me know how it goes and when you have tried it for a week I'd love to tell you a funny trazadone story.

I was on trazodone years ago to help me sleep. I was put back on it about 2 years ago. I don't recall any major side effects. If there was weight gain, I would have stopped taking it. So I wouldn't worry about that. I was started on 50mg at night. After awhile it was increased to 100mg. Then 150 mg. Now I take 1-3 50mg pills as needed. Usually I end up taking 2 pills. Recently I ran out of pills. I never realized how much the med. was helping me until I ran out. I try to take it about a half hour before I plan on going to bed. And yes you can fight it if you do not go to bed soon after taking it. I also love the med., because it is cheap. I only pay the full copay when my doctor prescribes enough for me to take 3 per night. Otherwise, I pay less than my copay.

Good luck and happy sleeping.

Yeah, that's one thing I forget to tell you that you'll appreciate -- it cost me about $10-11 a month! Gotta love generics!

Candy

LOL I knew you meant to mention that Candy. That is why I mentioned it for you Teamwork is what it is all about.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful information. I'm so looking forward to this. Wednesday is coming and I'm going to be first in line at Walgreens!!! lol

I can only say I too was prescribed traz for a trial thing from my pdoc (along with my mood stabilizer) to see if it would help me with the bipolar sleep issue, I tried it and got a terrible headache, almost migraine status, so I stopped it, doc said it was okay, and gave me Ativan instead for when I have those nights. Ambien, the sleeping pill was short lived, and gave me killer headache and constipation the day after.
If I am not mistaking Trazadone is also known as Desyrel??
My advice is if it doesn't do much for you, do not hesitate to call your pdoc, he or she may give you an alternative, it is not good for us "bipolars" to lose sleep, cause we do burnout, and that can be a nightmare.
I wish you lots of luck with this, and please know you can hang out here anytime, there are a lot of terrific people here to talk to

Take care,
DE

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{DE}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

I've missed you lately. Thanks for the info.

I took my first dose last night and it worked wonders. I actually got 9 hours of sleep - that's right, 9 hours.............!!!!!!! I still felt tired this morning, but it's a beginning.

I've always been up for a couple of days with about 2-3 hours of sleep, and then I crash. Hopefully no more.

Thanks, Roe!!

Mary Alice xoxoxoxoxoxox

Ah, I remember when I first was DXed with Bipolar-II (mild) triggered from a marital thing, I slept only 2 hours a night for almost 8 months, fueling more hypomania, then the pdoc's meds hit me, wham, like a flyswatter, ha!ha!
The mood stabilizer(s) hit the target but occasionally I get those damn sleepless nights and feel crappy or weird the following day, but things have improved.
I wish you my sincerest wishes for luck with this, once things get back in a good sleep/wake cycle for you, you should do great

((((((((((((( Planning )))))))))))))

Take care,
DE

trazodone is wonderful. I take 50 mgs (heh, a lot less than your doc perscribed to you), and I fall asleep within 15-20 minutes. I almost never wake up drowsy in the morning (as long as I don't take it really late at night and have to wake up early the next morning).

Well, tonight (or this morning actually), I know no med will help. I feel like I'm wired and there is no way it will work............grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. These episodes have to stop, somehow.

I don't want to take the Trazadone nightly, since Sept. I've been careful because I know how I am. Plus I don't want to get too dependent on them for sleeping. But tonight I wish something would work.

Hi Cat-eye,

I unfortunately have a high tolerance to medications, so that is why the 100mg. My pdoc told me I could break it in half to start with, but he knew that wouldn't really work.

I think I was still tired because it made my body finally get some real sleep. No dreaming, no nothing........just sleep. It was awesome!

Hey Planning, take the drug and sleep. It probably won't be forever. Remember the story I was going to tell you? Sometimes my poor daughter is sleeping so soundly she pees a little bit before she wakes up. This of course is mortifying for her but it's just the med doing what it oughta . Good luck, sleep is one of those very necessary things to do.

Your poor daughter..........lol. Thankfully, I don't need it every night although last night was a doozy - couldn't sleep till 3:30am.

{{{{{{{wisewoman}}}}}}}}}

You will get wonderful results from the trazadone. It is what I take to make me sleep. I am also bp. It works well and you feel refreshed as long as you time your pattern. Everyone needs a different amount of sleep, so just adjust your sleep time a litle if you need.

January

I take 50mg of trazodone (Desyrel is the brand name) every night. I couldn't sleep without it. I also commonly prescribe it for my patients. It is an older antidepressant at doses of 300mg - 600mg a day. However the amount of sedation at those doses is prohibitive. Some patients tell me it makes them sleepy so they can fall asleep, some tell me it just helps them stay asleep. It is cheap in generic form and usually prescribed in doses 50 - 150mg for sleep. It is not habit-forming and people do not get tolerant to the effects requiring higher and higher doses. However, a significant percentage of my patients report feeling hung-over in the morning, so it's not for everyone. It is usually the first thing I try for sleep problems (I always start at 50mg - they can be prescribed in the 100mg tablet and broken in half to save money).

Love my Trazadone. I am on 100-150 per night. As long as I take 45 minutes to 1 hour before i sleep, it works well. What I need to learn to do is take it at the same time (11 PM) every night so I am not up til dawn.