Trazodone withdrawal symptoms

Taking prescribed trazadone resulted in an ER visit. I was told I was having a severe panic attack. Nobody knows me more than I know me. I was exposed to low level chronic carbon monoxide over a 4 year period at my former place of employment. I was first placed on Paxil which helped me to finally figure out what had happened to me, 3 months after Paxil was prescribe. My thought process was coming back. I immediately advised my physician of this. I was still unable to sleep through the nights as I experienced while employed. Always thought I was waking due to problems within clients' files (paralegal). I was put on trazodone at 50mg then upped to 100 mg. I realized I was having visions of putting a gun to my head, I couldn't breath on one occassion also. Went to ER the next day, I felt as if I was treated like a nut case and now most likely labeled as one at the hospital I visited. I decided to start weening myself off this horrible terrible drug. That night I only took 50mg and the next day woke to actually feeling human and not zombied. My energy level has returned, my bad thoughts gone, my nervousness non existant and I do not cry any longer because thoughts of ending my life left my brain. I have never ever in the past thought of ending my life.

Once I told my doctor of what I know as the cause of my ill health effects, I feel the CAUSE should have been treated (perhaps oxegen therapy - was administered oxegen at the hospital, head felt great until it was time to leave). Pill pushing when a patient advises of what caused physical and psychological ill effects are not the way to go. Perhaps a light sedative at night may have done the trick due to my sleep deprevation.

I intend to ween myself completely off this psychotic producing drug. I did not want to be put on anything that was addictive or that would produce withdrawal affects; I was assured these drugs would not produce such additional ill effects; however due to my proactiveness of my injuries I have come to realized even the doctors believe drug manufacturers. These are addictive and do result in withdrawal effects. I was and will remain a strong woman and will beat this addiction.

THERES DRUGS SHOULD ONLY BE PRESCRIBED BY PSYCHIATRISTS, NOT GENERAL PRACTICE PHYSICIANS!

this response is for "sillysally". I was so happy to read your post. I too have recently stopped my traz. and am having similar symptoms as you. My anxiety is back at a lower amount (I am on traz only for sleep problems and also on pristique for anxiety) Its been about a month since stopping cold turkey and I'm are having chest heavyness and a lump feeling in my throat. My heart palpitations have increased also. I was thinking about going back on trazadone to help with the anxiety but after reading your note I realize i need to stay off it. I am sleeping fine without it, but i do notice the difference in my daily activities without it. I know this most likely hasnt helped you any, but you are an angel sent to me and my worries. Thank you

I was prescribed Trazadone and took 200mg for about 6mths. I ran out while out of town working and that night was unbearable. I never really knew about the withdrawal effects of this med until looking it up. It took me about one week for most of the horrible side effects to disapear and now view it as a horrible medication.

After 16 years of taking trazadone, PTSD night terrors, I stopped last might by accident. The withdrawal symptoms are obvious today but I have decided to kick the habit anyway. Wish me luck..

I have been on Trazadone for about five years (100 mgs a night). It has helped with my sleep, but I want to get off it. This past year has been excruciating. I started weaning myself in February and immediately had terrible insomnia. So with a pill-cutter I have been reducing my doses bit by bit. I am down to about 1/8 of a pill pernight or roughly 13 mgs. It has been a struggle to get here. If I don't take the 13 mgs, I simply don't sleep. Even then, I am still having bouts of insominia. But if I go back to 25%, I sleep fine (which I do once in a while just to get a good night's sleep). I was never told about this possible side effect when I was perscribed it by my doctor. In my estimation the problems it has caused are far greater than the problems it is meant to solve (anxiety, insomnia, primarily).

Uh yeah, i went to the doctor the day before thanksgiving for a kidney stone and spoke to him bout my anxiety problem and he put me on 100mg tablets of trozodone but the first 2 weeks i take half before bed and after that i take a full pill, im not a big fan of taking meds and some of these stories n stuff is the reason why, i dont wanna have withdraws and end up being seriously addicted to them.. if i was to just quit after 4 days well i took one an hour ago so 5 days, would anything like months or years of taking happen to me? i am currently not working because of the economy and that doctor visit made me broke, cant really afford to see my doctor again right now.

I have been taking Trazadone 150mg daily for about 2 years for depression (previously been on other antidepressants for a long time). Trazadone was prescribed because i was having trouble sleeping too as it is a hypnotic. At first it did help but as time has gone on i am having trouble sleeping again. the doctor put it up to 200mg daily but i felt dizzy so went back to 150g. I have decided, rightly or wrongly, to stop taking it altogether, i.e. cold turkey !! as i am fed up of being on meds. After finding this site i wondered what the hell i have done as some of the withdrawal symptoms seem awful and my heart goes out to those people suffering.

I thought i would just post my experience as i am now on day 4 and feel absolutely fine, no symptoms of anything at all. this makes me wonder if they were doing me any good anyway as if they didnt alter how i felt in a good way, then presumably the downside won't be all that dramatic. Maybe i am in no way typical and all the research says that you should taper any medication off slowly, but i am a kind of all or nothing girl. I hope i continue to feel well but i will perhaps make another post say in a weeks time and let you know. Thank you for reading my comment.

Day 14 of my Trazadone cold turkey. Please see post above. I can honestly say i have had nil symptoms of any kind. This is great news for me but i still dont understand why. Well i am off them for good now i will not go back on antidepressants especially for sleep problems. There is a lot of info out there about how to sleep better and i shall be tracking them down. I do hope that all of you who are trying to cut down or cut out these tablets do so successfully and without too much stress. Thank you for readingt my post. Best wishes.

I am having these same symptoms and was contemplating dire measures and still feel crazy though trying to convince myself i am just feeling the effects of not takng the trazadone for the last week. Take it to sleep although i do suffer anxiety and depresson which is under half way decent control with effexor xr. thought i could sleep on own and now i feel like i am a complete failure in not being able to even sleep on my own. drugs suck and life without them sucks. hope to get through rhis. crying my eyes out. feeling like a complete fool. daughter's fiancee is dead for less than a month and i am crying over my pitiful life. sad very sad what kind of mom am i?

I have been on Trazodone (100mg) along with Mirapex (1.5mg) to help me sleep for fibromyalgia and restless legs syndrome for over 10 years. I recently was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachiachardia syndrome and was asked to participate in an NIH study through my neurologist's lab. I agreed but I had to go off all of my meds (more than listed above) for one week prior to the study. I no sooner went off of them (couldn't sleep at night, of course) and noticed a markedly difference in my emotional and physical well being. I all of a sudden had suicidal ideations (just learned that combination of words) and everyone around me told me I was depressed. I didn't feel depressed-anxious, yet, but not what I considered to be depressed. Within two weeks of going off of the medication for one week and then slowly going back on it, my doctor convinced me that I really did need more help for my mental health and I spent a week as an inpatient on a psychiatric floor of a hospital. It was a very humbling experience and now, almost 3 weeks later, I am just realizing how bad I really felt. Since then I have also been in the ER twice with one hospitalization for medical issues. Going off all of my medications, really goofed up my system even though my neurologist doesn't think that I should have had any reaction, physical nor emotional, from going off of them cold turkey. I know that some of you experienced severe emotional effects after going off or lowering your dose of Trazodone, but could this really be responsible for my abrupt suicidal feelings?

Sometimes doctors prescribe an antidepressent that causes insomnia. Then to counter the insomnia they prescribe trazadone to take at night before bedtime in addition to the antidepressent that you take in the day. The problem is that trazadone has side affects for some people worse than having the insomnia and is very hard to get off of. It is addictive in that it is easier to stay on trazadone rather than get off it. Horrible anxiety, extreme insomnia, wierd thoughts can occurr when you quit taking it as well as sweats. Toughing out the withdrawl is hard but for me it was worth it. So don't blame yourself or think you are going crazy when you are coming off trazadone. I did it cold turkey and the first week was the hardest. In retrospect, tappering off might have been a wiser choice.

Sometimes it takes a month or more for your body to adjust to an antidepressent and during the adjustment time you may have insomnia. I personally think doctors may prescribe trazadone to make you satisfied by eliminating the insomnia in order to keep you on the other antidepressent they prescribed for your ultimate good, not knowing that trazadone will in the long run make things worse for you. After your body has time to adjust to your antidepressent the insomnia may go away on its own. It usually takes about 2-3 months for your body to adjust to an antidepressent. If you need help with the insomnia caused from your antidepressent and can't wait out the adjustment period, I would not reccomend trazadone because it is so hard to get off of later. You should talk to your doctor about your concerns if he prescribes trazadone or you want to get off of it .

I started with 50mgs moved to 100 mgs because 50 didn't seem to make any difference for me. Taking 100mgs made me so hungover the next day I want to go down to 25mgs. Is that safe?

I also take 10 mgs of Buspar for anxiey and find that it helps more than the trazadone for depression!

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I could not agree with you more. I had only been on Traz for two weeks for sleep disorder. My new (and now former) doctor, an Internist no less, in a large clinical group of doctors, wrote my prescription up "as needed for sleep," and neither the physician nor the pharmacy told me about withdrawal from sudden discontinuance. I was concerned about taking an anti-depressant because I have anxiety and hypomanic issues, and secondary depression caused by 40+ years of chronic pain. The Trazadone had no effect at 25 mg, but when I reached 75 mg. it was like pouring gasoline on a fire-- my insomnia was worse than it had ever been, I was having episodes of extreme anxiety and debilitating mental confusion (not good for an accountant during tax season) so I quit abruptly and almost immediately became violently ill (I'll spare the scatalogical details). I didn't know what was happening to me until my wife suggested I Google "Trazadone" and sure enough.



The physical withdrawal symptoms abated after 7 - 10 days (and I had only been on the drug for 2 weeks). The psychological symtoms did not abate till almost a month later. I am off Traz, and feeling normal, but from what I've been reading about people's experiences, (over 808,000 hits when I Googled "Trazadone withdrawal") the side effects are potentially far worse than "advertized" or than "recognized" by the medical community. I was a zombie for 4 weeks.

>;)
I took my first dose of Trazadone 50 mg for sleep last night and had the most HORRIBLE night ever!
It is commnly used for sleeping disorders' insomnia' however it had just the OPPOSITE affect on me.. I was WIRED and anxious the entire night with suicidal ideation and extreme heart palipitaions! I almost went to the ER! I am still feeling the affects of it 12 hrs later and have felt very faint and confused!
This drug was a all time evil for me and will discontinue use immediatley!
I have found some relief in Ambien, however have had to incease the dose after several years from 1 mg to 4 mg at bed time.
Best of luck on Trazedone, it does not work for everyone!