jjjwww off Trazodone

[jjjwww]

Hi,

I quit trazodone cold turkey on May 15th after being on it for a few years (25mg dosage). It seemed to not be helping my sleep anymore so I quit it cold turkey thinking I would have a few days of withdrawal and then be done since my doctor said it was not habit forming. I had bad withdrawals for about a month and but kept thinking it would go away. Thinks started to get better in the second month but then around July 20th I woke up one day with a bad panic attack. I decided to take a lower dose to try and reinstate so I took 12.5 mg. The next day I was puking and really sick so I thought it was an adverse reaction and quit taking it. The next 3-4 days I felt really good and did not attribute it to the Trazodone right away. After those 3-4 days I noticed similar withdrawals to when I went off it the first time. I then started thinking that my body had actually stabilized on that dose and that is why I was feeling so good and was withdrawing again. By that time about a week had gone by and I decided to take the 12.5 mg again. This time though, by the fourth day my sleep was way worse and was having many intermittent panic attacks through out the day. Last night I didn't get any sleep and decided to stay off it again as things were getting rapidly worse. Today I feel better but the anxiety is still there. I so wish I would have stayed on the 12.5 mg after I reinstated the first time cause I actually think I was stabilizing. Now I feel back at square one and the last couple months were for nothing. Any recommendations? Should I reinstate again at a lower dose? I am so confused and wish I would have never got on these meds.

[jjjwww]

Hi,

My anxiety seems to be very bad at this time after trying the second reinstatement. Should I try a short acting benzo to get me through this tough time? Or any other options for an anti-anxiety med...the panic attacks are killing me? Also has anybody ever tried NyQuil or benadryl for sleep as melatonin doesn't seem to be working anymore? I am in a very scary place right now and not sure what to do. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks

[mammaP]

Hi jj, I am sorry you are going through such a hard time. I personally don't know anything about Trazadone

so can't offer any advice but someone will be along who can help.  

 

There are some excellent topics here which can help with anxiety without medication. 

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1112-non-drug-techniques-to-cope-with-emotional-symptoms/

 

It would be helpful to staff if you could put your drug history and current medications in your signature. 

 

This link tells you how to do that. 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

You will get lots of help and support here, 

[jjjwww]

Thank you for the post! I am losing hope quite quickly...I was doing so much better just two weeks ago before reinstatement. Now I live in fear day and night and see not much hope ahead. I am trying to think of something that will help to calm my body down. My go to before when having bad panic attacks was trazodone but now that my body is rejecting it I am so lost. Not even melatonin is working and that worked easily every time before reinstatement. I am so confused and feel like I screwed up so badly...why didn't I correlate feeling better with the first reinstatement. Whats the least harmful anti-anxiety med that I could get on if anybody knows?

[mammaP]

I am not an expert and only know from personal experience but it sounds like you are in withdrawal.

The only thing to stop withdrawal is reinstatement. You probably dropped too much at once, staff here recommend

a 10%drop and then waiting to stabilise before the next drop. You have gone cold turkey a couple of times which

will unfortunately  throw your nervous system into chaos.  I did it too and learned the hard way! 

I think you may be advised to reinstate again and hold a while until you feel better then start a slow taper. 

Hang in there, it can get better. 

 

Here is the topic on tapering trazodone. 

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2883-tips-for-tapering-off-trazodone-desyrel/?hl=trazadone#entry48816

[jjjwww]

Thank you so much for the post! It is good to hear from somebody! Ok, this is the 2nd night i went cold turkey as I didn't take anything last night again but only got 2 hours of sleep and anxiety is still terrible. Should i just try something like 2mg to see if that will do it. The 12.5 mg was to much as it was causing me to get severe anxiety and angry outbursts (Something that has never occurred). I'm serious two weeks ago I was so so much better than right now but just wish I would have stayed on the 12.5 mg after first reinstatement. Does anybody else have any other recommendations? I'm scared the reinstatement wont work again cause I have gone cold turkey so many times. I'm praying everyday for some kind of relief.

[tezza]

Hi jj,

 

Welcome to SA! I'm sorry you're going through this. If I were you, I'd try the 2mg and see how it goes. You may have become sensitized to the Trazodone. If you can stabilize on 2 mg, you can taper very slowly from there.

 

Reevaluate in four or five days to determine if you need to stay on that dose. You might wanna keep notes of symptoms, daily. Rate the severity, this will help you much.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, jj.

 

Cold turkey is not a good way to come off these drugs. Since you've just come off, I would reinstate the 12.5mg. See this topic about tapering trazodone http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2883-tips-for-tapering-off-trazodone-desyrel/

[jjjwww]

Thank you both for the response and recommendations. I started feeling much much better today after 12 o'clock. The severe anxiety has subsided significantly. I believe the 12.5 mg was to much upon reinstatement and took a couple of days for it to come down from my bloodstream. I am going to try 2-3 mg tonight to see if I can stabilize with that and if not slowly increase to where I can stabilize. It feels so good to feel calm again and have hope for life. Thank you all for the support and recommendations and will be making a donation. I will update as time goes on.

[jjjwww]

It's weird as I took the 2 mg last night and the anxiety came back this afternoon. It seems like a love hate relationship with my body as my body is less stressed and my constipation goes away. Also my temperature goes up and some of the markers like my depression go away. But these anxiety attacks keep coming. I know they are tied to taking the medicine cause everyday I take it the it next day is when I get problems. I definately screwed up by not keep taking it the first time. I am thinking I am going to have to rough out this withdrawal long term.

[jjjwww]

Does anybody have any recommendation as to what I should do. Should I keep taking the 2 mg as it seems to be causing me bad anxiety attacks or should I just throw the pills away and let the withdrawal naturally take its place. I am really not sure what to do and am leaning towards just throwing the pills away. Any recommendations?

[Altostrata]

You may be having withdrawal from 12.5mg. A safer approach would be to reduce to 10mg and see if that helps.

[tezza]

Hi jjj,

 

I'm very sorry this is happening. It does sound like you're having some sort of reaction but no way to know for sure.

 

It takes four days of a continuous, consistent dose for the med to reach a steady level in your bloodstream. It's really up to how you feel, we always say 'listen to your body'.

 

It's possible that the 2mg is not enough and WD is what you're feeling. If you didn't take the 12.5 for four or five days, you may not know if that dose would've been ok or not.

[tezza]

Sorry, I didn't see Alto here. She's the expert, please follow her advice.

[jjjwww]

Thank you for the advice and I am just trying to think this through. These past two weeks of reinstatement and up and down with the dosage seems to have become very sensitized to the drug and every time I take a dose now the panic attacks seem to come on the next afternoon/evening. I know these panic attacks are from taking the medication and not from withdrawal cause they feel different as I get angry now when I have them and never felt that before. I honestly think it is best for me to quit the drug and let the withdrawal take its place and maybe in two months try to reinstate again if things get bad again. This way I have consistently given the body something and then trying to reinstate at that time. Have you ever heard of that working before? I just seemed to really have screwed up with sensitizing the system by the up and down doses these past two weeks. I know the first reinstatement would have worked if I would have kept taking the it the first time consistently two weeks ago but since I screwed that up I need to look to the future. Have either of you ever heard of this working or any members of this site? Any advice will give me much hope.

[tezza]

Sometimes it works to reinstate after a couple of months, sometimes not. I'm sorry I can't say for sure, no one can. That's why you have to listen to your own body.

 

I'm wishing the best for you!

[jjjwww]

Last night I didn't take a dosage as I was to scared. Didn't sleep one minute with anxiety most of the night. Now a bad depression is setting in. I am getting really scared right now. Not sure what to do or where to turn.

[Altostrata]

You need to pick a dosage and be consistent with it for at least 4 days to see what it does. Going on and off is not helping.

[Jemima]

The jumping around in dosage and going on and off the drug is most likely aggravating all of your problems.  As for waiting two months to reinstate, you'd be taking a big chance.  Reinstatement is usually successful if it occurs within one month of the last dose.  After that, it's a crapshoot.

 

There is nothing at this point that's going to make you feel better RIGHT AWAY.  If it were me, I'd take Alto's advice to reinstate 10 mg. and stick with that for at least four full days.  It may take even longer than that to stabilize after all the ups and downs. If you see some improvement after four days, keep taking that dose. You may not feel really wonderful right away, but we're aiming for just some relief from withdrawal symptoms and eventual stability.

 

I think you're going to find that patience is one of the more important tools for successfully getting off these drugs.

[jjjwww]

It has to be from the second reinstatement of the medications as the first withdrawal was not nearly as hard as this. I really screwed something up with my brain with all the ups and downs in the medication. I'm gonna stay off of it for now as the I am to scared to take it and every time I do my anxiety is out of the roof the next day. Right now it is not that much better as the depression and suicidal thoughts are really bad but at least the anxiety is down.

[Altostrata]

If you read the tapering off trazodone topic, you will find trazodone has an active metabolite, MCPP, that often causes anxiety the next day.

 

Reducing the trazodone dosage reduces the MCPP effect.

[jjjwww]

Alto,

I understand that but for the three years I was taking the drug I never had that amount of intense anxiety for three days as that or suicidal idealization. I believe my body is extremely sensitized to it right now (my stupid fault by doing so many ups and down and C/T) and am better off staying off it right now. I probably screwed this one up and am going to be in withdrawal for a very long time which I am honestly scared about but the thought of taking it again with the fear and anxiety seems worse to me. I really wish I would have not reinstated at all as I know I would be better off than I am right now.

[Altostrata]

It is possible you are sensitized and cannot go back on any significant amount of the drug. Unfortunately, we can't tell what would have happened if you did things differently.

 

See the Symptoms and Self-care forum for suggestions about dealing with withdrawal symptoms.

[jjjwww]

Can you cross-taper remeron and trazodone? I believe they work similarly and was wondering so one does not get the mcpp anxiety effect from the trazodone. I quit trazodone cold turkey a couple of months ago and after the second reinstatement got severe anxiety and suicidal thoughts. I went into the ER cause I got scared and was inpatient for 10 days waiting for things to calm down. They gave me remeron for sleep three nights ago and it seemed to stop my trazodone withdrawal symptoms for the nxt few days but they only gave it to me that night since it didn't help my sleep that night. I am wondering if I should try and take a small dose of remeron every night to try and stabilize on that. I am too scared to take the trazodone again because of the anxiety it caused me. Could the remeron have stopped the withdrawal symptoms? Has anybody else tried this?

[Rhiannon]

jj, I think there are forums (there used to be one called "crazymeds") where people discuss their various medications and what they're taking and how, etc.  If you don't have a doctor available to help you decide what meds to take, you might be able to find someone there who has experience with the meds you're asking about.

 

This forum is really about helping people taper off psych meds, in particular antidepressants, and supporting them in the withdrawal and recovery process.  I know it's kind of a gray area, it can seem like we do give that kind of advice, but actually that's limited to simple reinstatements and dosing schedule tips for the meds they're already on, that kind of thing.  Not so much "what should I take now to fix my symptoms."

 

Someone who has taken Remeron for trazodone withdrawal might share his or her personal experience with you if they see this question, of course.

 

Hopefully you can find a doc who can advise you more specifically.

[Rhiannon]

I'm merging this with your Intro topic. Hopefully I'm doing it right.

[Altostrata]

jjjwww, your topic title got lost in the merging. Would you like us to rename it?

[jjjwww]

Alto,

That works...thanks for the help.

[Ellen042]

Wow, jjjwww!  You've been through a lot. Know that you're nort alone.  I too am going through the throws of trazodone withdrawal.  It was giving me awful daytime anxiety and didn't help with sleep- even before I started tapering!  So I thought I'd come off it alltogether.  For one week I went from 100mg at bedtime to 50mg at bedtime.  Immediately came severe irritibility, mood swings, migraines, shaking, and wanting to jump out a window.  So last night I took my full initial dose, but now the anxiety, lethargy, and mental disorientation are back.  I can't function on the drug, off it, or tapering it.  Wish so badly I had neverstarted it.  Of course I wasn't warned that it is addictive, and my doctor downplays the withdrawal symptoms I'm going through.  This is one tough drug to stop!!!  I don't know where to go from here either.  I want to yell at everyone in my path, throw dishes at the wall, cry, take a bottle of Percocet, and jump off a bridge.  Sorry that I have no advice- just wanted you to know you're amongst company.