Posted by Ritch on December 20, 2002, at 19:57:27
In reply to Re: how to quit desyrel/trazodone?, posted by toodlebug on December 20, 2002, at 9:52:09
> >
> > Is there any other reason you want to stop the trazodone besides a general desire to get off of meds? I guess what I am asking is.. do you think that if you got off of the trazodone long enough you wouldn't require it for sleep anyway?....
> >
> Since I never had to take trazodone until two years ago, it seems like I should be able to quit taking it. I have always been prone to problems initiating sleep, but not every night, so if I go off the trazodone I might still occasionally need to take an Ambien or something, but no trazodone. (The trazodone just helps me stay asleep.) I am worried that Celexa/Effexor/Prozac may have permanently messed up my sleep. I just want to sleep like I used to-- eight hours without waking up in the middle of the night and without being groggy in the morning! Actually, if that were possible on trazodone I wouldn't mind staying on it too much (although it would bother me some), but as I said I am not sleeping well with it anyway. I wake up after 5-6 hours sleep which leaves me quite tired. The ony alternative seems to be sleeping 9 hours and waking up groggy!
>I wouldn't worry about permanent damage with sleep and that kind of thing. One thing I have found through years and numerous SSRI meds/dosages is that generally they (including trazodone) always disrupt sleep in some qualitative/quantitative manner. If I take a dose of an SSRI too close to bedtime I will have a tough time getting to sleep. If the dose is too high and the half-life of the SSRI too long, I will have disrupted sleep (early morning awakenings, med-induced), which will result in the daytime drowsiness you note. You *might* find that with a reduced dose of Trazodone your sleep quality might improve. I was prescribed traz. to help get to sleep from Prozac induced insomnia years ago, and if I was very stressed out the traz. didn't help very much. Just curious, but when you were on Effexor what dose were you taking and what time(s) of day were you taking it? I ask, because I have found if I take an SSRI (like Effexor) first thing, and take a low-dose of a short acting one, I sleep a lot better, generally.
poster:Ritch
thread:132541
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021217/msgs/132677.html