Trazodone Side Effects

[Crystalhiggs]

Hi Everyone

I've been on Trazodone for almost 2 weeks. After a week the doctor increased my dose from 50 to 100mg. I feel anxious and shaky most of the time and very spaced out. I was prescribed them mainly for insomnia but they're not really helping me sleep so I'm taking zopiclone too.

My world has crumbled since this started and I'm wondering when I'll get some relief! Any advice??? Please??? Xx

[gregcool]

Hi there.sorry to hear your having a bad time with your meds...i was put on trazadone months and months ago now.i was started on 25mg for insomnia and found it worked pritty good.i felt a bit more anxious then normal.they continued to increase it to try and treet my depresion.so i went up to 50mg still felt anxious ,then 100mg then 150 then 200 then 250mg the extra anxiety got worse as my body got used to the meds.give them time for your body to adjust.you might need a bigger dose for the insomnia..since iv been on the increased dose,i sleep 9 hrs every night.so worth giving it a go.

[Crystalhiggs]

Hi Greg, thanks do much for replying. Is your anxiety better now? I think I will need to increase my dose as I don't want to keep taking the zopiclone to help me sleep. I guess that's the downside of increasing - more side effects. How long did they last with each increase and I'm assuming now you dont have any problems with it?

[gregcool]

well its such a long time ago now since all my increasees,but do remember each time i felt my anxiety got worse,but after a week or so it got better,i cant say trazadone is or has ever helped my general anxiety or even my depression.i was put on 5mg olanzipine to treet my anxiety and found when i took it at night i slept like a baby,so with the trazadone and olanzipine my sleep is fine, but my mental health is no better,i foreget what its like to feel normal anymore,trazadone is a old anti depresant drug used years ago,and nowadays its used to treet insomnia,so stick with it if you can and give it a chance..you can pm me anytime if you want to chat about things,,

[Crystalhiggs]

Thank you Greg, just spoke to my gp who told me to increase to 150mg tonight. So more side effects to follow Grrr...its a rocky old road! Kind of you to reply, I know what you mean I so want to feel normal again and it's only been 4 weeks! Here's hoping all our troubles are resolved soon! :)

[gregcool]

Thanks..you might find as your body is getting used to yhe traz,that you might not get to many sife efects.try not to think about them,easy said than done,but try to except you know you will have some side efects and is totaly normal,and that they will pass in time..good luck

[Hipha]

Hello

Noticed your post and can share my experience of Trazadone. Hope this is helpful. I have had nausea for 20 months and been off work for the last 8 months. Self diagnosed anxiety 7 months ago and after prescribed sertraline had a bad reaction so my GP prescribed Trazadone 50mg to 'lift my mood' and 2mg Diazepam to help with new feelings of anxiety. I will say at this point that I did not have any anxiety or depressive symptoms before taking AD medications. I found instant relief from my nausea after taking Trazadone and Diazepam which lasts for 2 weeks where I found the nausea was returning and was increasing my dose of Diazepam to keep the nausea at bay. During this time I felt increasing anxious symptoms )tight chest and sickly ). At this point I decided to discontinue diazepam as I could see the danger ahead. Somewhere in the intervening weeks and months my original diagnosis of GAD/anxiety was lost and my GP focussed more on my mood and treated me for depression rather than anxiety. Increases in dosage of Trazadone to 100, 150 and finally 200 all resulted in increased anxiety symptoms even though I was not worried about anything apart from being off work. Looking back the only benefit I received from Trazadone was sleep; it knocked me out every night without fail. However I can now see that my anxiety increased and with it a return of persistent nausea. Other side effects were dry mouth and headaches. I was moved to Mirtazapine and can recall a very difficult withdrawal from Trazadone. In summary Trazadone did not help my condition and physical symptoms at all and in fact increased my anxious symptoms. Have you had any diagnosis of depression or anxiety prior to starting Trazadone? There are drugs out there for anxiety including SSRI drugs like sertraline and a drug call pregabalin which is emerging as a well tolerated drug for anxiety.

[SADnomore]

Hi, Crystal! ... If I can ask, what was the reason you were started on the Trazodone? Anxiety, Depression, or for sleep? How long have you been taking Zopiclone?

I am taking Effexor (an SNRI) for depression, and it is working well for me. I am now taking Trazodone for sleep, as I needed to stop Zopiclone. For starters, even if you do stick to the prescribed dose, it is still addictive. My doctor wanted me off it. It is also well known to actually contribute to depression, which is my primary problem. I had hoped Trazodone would help with anxiety, but am grateful that it works for sleep. I screwed up my courage and did a straight switch. Two weeks ago tomorrow. After 6 years on Zopiclone, I find Trazodone amazing. I could not go a single night without Zopiclone in all that time, or I would lie wide awake all night, uncomfortable and in distress. Trazodone works very differently than Zopiclone, I have found, but it does work.

The reason I'm sharing all this is because you cannot expect to have Trazodone work for sleep as long as you are still taking the Zopiclone. The hypnotic zop works in a much more "druggy" fashion. It knocked me out. If I got up to use the washroom after taking it, I'd stagger and bump into walls. In the morning a hangover effect persisted, even after all these years.

Trazodone works much more naturally, not as dramatically. I take it on an empty stomach and within half an hour I turn out the light and settle myself comfortably and begin relaxation breathing and progressive relaxation from my toes slowly on up. Trazodone works to keep me calm and make me drowsy, and usually I am asleep before I have finished relaxing my arms. You have to work with it like that. But it does work if you do. Hangover effect yes, but if I take it early enough that will help.

In my opinion, honestly, as long as you are continuing with Zopiclone, it isn't going to work effectively for sleep. I know that reducing your Zopiclone will cause anxiety as a withdrawal symptom. There are many people in the same bind on NMP. The anxiety is why slow reduction so rarely works with addictive drugs. It quickly becomes too much to bear.

I concur with Hipha that increasing and increasing the Trazodone isn't going to help in your situation. I suggest a straight switch now from Zopiclone and the tips I've adopted. I concur also with Gregcool, you really should give it a chance. Trazodone by all accounts doesn't help anxiety, but on the other hand, there is no reason for it to make it worse, either. I feel better just because I'm getting good sleep now. Try it on its own and give it time for start up side effects to subside. I'm making it work at 50 mg and won't be increasing.

Look into something else for the anxiety hun, and hey, when you find something non-addictive that does the job, let the rest of us know, lol! If you get or have gotten depression at all along with your anxiety, I can recommend Effexor, but only if you know you will be on an antidepressant long term.

Good luck, big hugs! :bighug1:

---------- Post added at 22:16 ---------- Previous post was at 22:05 ----------

Hi, Hipha!

Sorry you've had such a struggle! How are you doing on Mirtazapine, any better? Wondering if it's possible that your miseries actually stem from an undiagnosed condition such as a problem with your thyroid levels? Virtually all of the symptoms common to those treated with antidepressants can also be caused if one is hypothyroid. There is a small panel of bloodwork that can be run to see if that's the real issue, and then antidepressants would not be needed and a thyroid supplement would help instead. A lot of doctors go for the psych meds instead of testing for a physical cause, even though there are a number to be ruled out first! :doh:

[Hipha]

Hello Sadnomore

Mirtazapine has not helped my anxiety and I believe has helped establish it. I am now on 45mg for 3 weeks and I feel more anxious than when on 30mg. It has helped smooth out my mood but still feeling down. Lots of stress in my personal life is not helping and difficult to separate the cause of my symptoms from Mirtazapine or genuine stress. I never felt anxious about situations before taking meds but now have anxiety about many normal situations. I have an appointment with my GP today where I will push for a prescription of Pregabalin as recommended by my pschyiatrist. He also stated that Mirtazapine does not cause anxiety but I disagree; i know my body and mind better than anybody else. Interesting point about thyroid issues. I asked for a test of my thyroid which came back 'normal' although can I trust that they have performed the correct analysis? There are many physical / organic illnesses that could be the root cause of my illness but all of my tests have come back normal. Diagnosis of a nervous system problem was made by a friend in the absence of anything else! My GP is clueless and I only get 20-30 minutes with a psychiatrist. I do think that my symptoms are worse when i have stressful issues on my mind. I have another post related to Mirtazapine and pregabalin open and will keep updating that rather than hijacking this post for Trazadone.

[Crystalhiggs]

[QUOTE=SADnomore;1409102]Hi, Crystal! ... If I can ask, what was the reason you were started on the Trazodone? Anxiety, Depression, or for sleep? How long have you been taking Zopiclone?

I am taking Effexor (an SNRI) for depression, and it is working well for me. I am now taking Trazodone for sleep, as I needed to stop Zopiclone. For starters, even if you do stick to the prescribed dose, it is still addictive. My doctor wanted me off it. It is also well known to actually contribute to depression, which is my primary problem. I had hoped Trazodone would help with anxiety, but am grateful that it works for sleep. I screwed up my courage and did a straight switch. Two weeks ago tomorrow. After 6 years on Zopiclone, I find Trazodone amazing. I could not go a single night without Zopiclone in all that time, or I would lie wide awake all night, uncomfortable and in distress. Trazodone works very differently than Zopiclone, I have found, but it does work.

The reason I'm sharing all this is because you cannot expect to have Trazodone work for sleep as long as you are still taking the Zopiclone. The hypnotic zop works in a much more "druggy" fashion. It knocked me out. If I got up to use the washroom after taking it, I'd stagger and bump into walls. In the morning a hangover effect persisted, even after all these years.

Trazodone works much more naturally, not as dramatically. I take it on an empty stomach and within half an hour I turn out the light and settle myself comfortably and begin relaxation breathing and progressive relaxation from my toes slowly on up. Trazodone works to keep me calm and make me drowsy, and usually I am asleep before I have finished relaxing my arms. You have to work with it like that. But it does work if you do. Hangover effect yes, but if I take it early enough that will help.

In my opinion, honestly, as long as you are continuing with Zopiclone, it isn't going to work effectively for sleep. I know that reducing your Zopiclone will cause anxiety as a withdrawal symptom. There are many people in the same bind on NMP. The anxiety is why slow reduction so rarely works with addictive drugs. It quickly becomes too much to bear.

I concur with Hipha that increasing and increasing the Trazodone isn't going to help in your situation. I suggest a straight switch now from Zopiclone and the tips I've adopted. I concur also with Gregcool, you really should give it a chance. Trazodone by all accounts doesn't help anxiety, but on the other hand, there is no reason for it to make it worse, either. I feel better just because I'm getting good sleep now. Try it on its own and give it time for start up side effects to subside. I'm making it work at 50 mg and won't be increasing.

Look into something else for the anxiety hun, and hey, when you find something non-addictive that does the job, let the rest of us know, lol! If you get or have gotten depression at all along with your anxiety, I can recommend Effexor, but only if you know you will be on an antidepressant long term.

Good luck, big hugs! :bighug1:[COLOR="blue"]

---------- Post added at 22:16 ---------- Previous post was at 22:05 ----------


Hi there, I have been taking zopiclone for 5 weeks. I want to come off it. But it's the only thing that gives me sleep! So I'm scared now. Trazodone was prescribed for sleep, it has worked occasionally for a couple of hours! I wasn't anxious or depressed beforehand! But now I think it's kicked in as an AD as I'm more relaxed and happy. I'm seeing the doctor later, I don't want to be addicted to Zopiclone! Just want to sleep at night! Thanks for your reply! X