bluedog1997

Guener

Trazadone is a mild anti-depressant that does work for some people as a sleep aid. I took it while on high doses of Prednisone to help me sleep and while as an inpatient in rehab. I currently have a bunch of it in my drawer, not disposed of yet, that I no longer use, even though I have issues with insomnia. At 100 mg it can make me disoriented, but at 50 mg I can stay awake through it. You, apparently, are sensitive to it, so I'd just inform your physician that you are no longer taking it. IMO it has nothing to do with your sobriety date. You may find that there are other methods that can help you, there is a forum on SR about sleep issues.

Kaily

Hi bluedog.

I was prescribed Trazadone for anxiety and to help me sleep which it did but like you it made me feel totally drugged. In fact I was so groggy the next day that I couldn't drive.

I returned all but the one I had taken to the chemist for disposal.

entropy1964

PSA:
Don't flush drugs down the toilet. As Kaily says you can take them back to the pharmacy to dispose of them...they probably flush them Just kidding. And usually law enforcement has community drug disposal days a couple times a year.

As far as Trazodone: I took it once in treatment and it kept me up. It works great for some people. Maybe ask your dr about natural sleep remedies.

bluedog1997

August252015

I took it along with another sleep med (seroquel) for quite awhile. The anxiety component was the key reason my psych had me use it. For a different medical issue, I switched my other meds to the morning and only rarely take my sleep meds. A couple nights ago I decided to take one Trazadone and I had incredibly vivid and stressful dreams that I used to have often in early sobriety. The seroquel hasn't done that to me the couple of times I have taken it in the last few months since we changed things up. I will probably stick with it when I need something.

For me these drugs have no bearing on my sobriety, as none of the others my psych prescribes do.

entropy1964

Wow I can't imagine seroquel and trazadone together. Seroquel is the devil. Well for me it is. I'm still not off it entirely. When I don't take it my sleep paralysis comes back. Even at only 12mg a night it seems to stave off those awful attacks. Ugh. Sleep. I wish I didn't need it. But then again, I love it! I just wish I didn't have to take any meds for it. Its the only drug I take but I so wish I could be drug free. Oh well.

entropy1964

Oh and Yeah, I agree with August. Necessary prescription meds (and I guess only the taker and the dr know what that means to them) have no bearing on my abstinence.

AnvilheadII

when i see trazadone, i think coma. really nasty stuff, IMO.
since this was prescribed for a specific condition, please talk to the prescribing physician, explain your reaction and hopefully you can find something else. it might take a couple tries. what works for one might not work for the next person. the only one that worked well for me started with an A.

again, no instant fixes here. sleep problems and anxiety are long-lived conditions that take time, change and sometimes medication to correct. good luck.

mariposa

August252015

I always smile a little ruefully when people talk about how potent meds are for them- I suffer, so to speak, from a high tolerance to everything. It would be nice if smaller doses or halving pills of any dose had effect! It also means that right now for my persistent back injury I've not taken any pain meds (after the one wk of Tylenol 3 when I first got hurt and couldn't walk), bc all of us agreed we didn't want to go there...and Advil is not much help.

I keep trying to figure out my sleep problems, and adjusting other variables from only having caffeine in the early am (i.e. Before 8 since I am up at five most days) to melatonin (doesn't seem helpful even w 20 msg)....naps or no naps...

I digress...at least there are good drs and multiple med options that some of us can find help in taking.

Dee74

I'd definitely go back to your doctor and recount your experience bluedog - and no - having read the details now, I don't think this has any bearing on your recovery at all.

OpioPhobe

I have taken Trazadone and it didn't do much to me. It made me feel a little foggy, but that was it. I wasn't prescribed it, and I am sure I took way more than whatever you are supposed to take.

I don't see how it impacted your sobriety. The doctor prescribed it. You took the prescribed dose. You didn't like the feeling and flushed the rest.

It isn't like you got high, took more to get higher, and then ran through a 30 day script in a few days. That was what abusing prescription drugs looked like for me.

bluedog1997

Minerva99

Trazodone works for me as a sleep aid under specific circumstances: no more than 50 MGs, taking it within 15 minutes of going to bed, and going to bed 9 hours before I have to get up.

In addition to helping with sleep, I find it can also help if I am feeling anxious at bedtime. I like that it is not habit forming.

A really frustrating this about anti-depressants is that they seem to work differently for different people I have heard people say that trazodone does nothing, that it makes them feel drugged, and that it works for them. This thread is certainly consistent with that!

Hardinge

I sometimes wonder if my alcohol abuse has given me an unusually high tolerance for anesthetics.

On two separate occasions I've been awakened during outpatient surgery when the scalpel was applied.

Not fun.

Stellar45

I've taken trazadone when I was working 12 hr night shifts for 6 months and had to sleep during the day. I felt it slowed my mental clarity for a bit but it sure helped me get much needed sleep! I could not consider someone using it as prescribed as a relapse. With that being said, I choose to stay away from other prescription drugs.
I don't think the stronger anti-depressants, anti-psychotics or pain meds would serve me well. I might tend to like them too much just like I did alcohol and then were would I be? To big of a temptation for this alcoholic.

Minerva99

Agreed. My psychiatrist, who prescribes by Lexapro, offered my Ativan to help with sleep I said no, that I didn't want something habit-forming or addictive.

August252015

Hardinge- same here w the surgery. That happened when I was 16 and had knee surgery and it was awful. Since then I have had to make certain drs understand that I need more than the typical dose base don height/weight among other criteria. As a result, I am so sick when I wake up but it's still a better trade off! I am hopeful that we never get to the situation if surgery for my back as that could be a tough one in every way.

Aliceiw

Trazadone is a godsend for me. 100mgs lulls me into a gentle sleep and there are no foggy embubbled feelings the next day like with otc meds. I love it because it seems that lack of sleep was at the root of my anxiety and depression.