Posted by cmcdougall on May 5, 2002, at 17:40:24
In reply to Desyrel (Trazodone) experiences ? -questions, posted by ben on May 4, 2002, at 13:01:13
Dear Ben,
> Who has some experiences with trazodone ? I tried many ADs and my pdoc considers to try it. How is sedation comparing to other ADs ?
I've taken trazodone for years... It was the first AD I ever tried and was effective but I had to keep increasing the dose. It is VERY sedating. Only 50mg will make most people very drowsy. I eventually got up to 350mg per night and had a lot of trouble waking up in the morning. When the time came to increase the dose again, there was no way. Thats when I switched to Serzone. During the 2 years I was on Serzone, I didn't take any trazodone. I titrated down pretty quickly and experienced absolutely no withdrawal. Never had any trouble falling asleep either. My pdoc explained that a proper therapeutic dose of trazodone is very high - 400mg or more per day. That dose is so sedating that when it is used as a stand-alone AD, the patient is usually being treated in hospital.
> Can it be combined with Venlafaxine (efexor) and could it be a good combo
When my Serzone pooped-out, I started taking Effexor. The Effexor was very activating and I had a lot of trouble falling asleep. My pdoc again prescribed trazodone, but only 50mg at night. I never had ANY problems combining the two.
I now take Celexa, Adderal, desipramine, AND 50mg trazodone every night. Very rarely I will take 100mg if I'm too hyper to settle down properly.
IMO, trazodone is a great sleep aid that is safe to take in combination w/ other ADs. It is not addictive and I don't believe that a tolerance to its effects is common.
Love and luck,
Carly
poster:cmcdougall
thread:105045
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020503/msgs/105199.html