Have you been struggling to get to sleep and your doctor recently prescribed you Trazodone.
If so then this video is for you. We are going to go over the best way to take it, and review
the most common, as well as some rare, but more concerning side effects that you need
to be aware of.
Hi there, I m Dr. Erik Richardson a board certified Family Practice physician. I d like to welcome you to FamilyMed, a channel that
focuses giving you practical and accurate medical information to help you and your family.
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Today we are going to be talking about Trazodone, this is a medication that has been around
for a long time. In fact it s original and main use that it was approved for is to treat
depression. It s been used in the United States since 1981 but it never really took off as
a great option for depression. The main reason is that it had a bad side effect. It made
everybody very sleepy. So as often happens now with medications, we physicians start
to use a side effect as something beneficial and hence why it s used mainly now as a sleep
aid. Trazodone belongs to a class of medications
called Serotonin Antagonist and Reuptake Inhibitor. In the realm of depression it works on the
Serotonin system to provide some relief there. It also the effect it has on the different
serotonin receptors that gives it the sedating effects.
Trazodone comes in a tablet form starting at 50mg, all the way up to 300mg. Most people
dose it for sleep anywhere from 25mg to 100mg although some may go higher than that. Most
people do well taking it anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour prior to going to bed.
Trazodone overall has been shown to be effective in helping you fall asleep, although it is
not without issues. Just like any medication, it can work really well for some, and for
others it either doesn t work or causes side effects that they don t like. Overall though,
most people tend to do well with it. Anytime you are considering a medication you
always should weigh the advantages and disadvantages that may come. For Sleep in particular, having
a sleep aid can be very helpful however, it s always best to work on your own natural
ways to try and get to sleep before reaching for a medication. If you are looking for ways
you can try and get a better night sleep without having to rely on medication, check out my
video here on some natural steps that you can take to get a better night s sleep.
So let s go over some of the advantages of using Trazodone as a sleep aid. The first
of which, is that overall, it has been shown to be effective for many in helping get you
to sleep and stay asleep. But besides that, one of the biggest is that it is cheap. It
s been generic for a long time so is much less expensive than some of your newer sleep
aids. Trazodone is also not felt to be as addictive
as other medications that are used for sleep. Unfortunately many are still using benzodiazepines
such as Xanax and Valium to get to sleep. These can be very addictive and actually disrupt
the beneficial, restorative phases of sleep, so Trazodone may be a good option to avoid
that. That being said, if you are on trazodone for a long time you still don t want to stop
it abruptly however you can t get addicted to it.
We also find that it is somewhat safer to use the older we get. Many sleep aids are
dangerous to take when you start getting above 65. You need to be careful with Trazodone
as well but it is felt to be a little safer. And finally if you have sleep apnea, it is
felt to be a better choice for many who have this condition, as it doesn t seem to interrupt
some of the important phases of sleep. So for most, it s a medicine that when you
take it, it does the job. You get to sleep and don t have to toss and turn for hours.
If that is your experience with the medicine then it s a success. However, this isn t the
case for everybody. There are some things that you need to watch for and possible side
effects that you may notice. So the first thing that we are going to go
over are the most common side effects. If you are going to have a problem with this
medication, the most common things that you may see are first of all, it can make you
sleepy. Hopefully that s the case but for some it may work too well. It can also make
you feel dizzy, it can give you fatigue, or a sense of nervousness. You can have a dry
mouth and sometimes some nausea and vomiting. The excessive sleepiness may seem obvious
and maybe for you, you would relish the opportunity to feel sleepy but the problem is, and this
is usually the main reason why people don t like it, it that they can wake up feeling
really drugged out and groggy in the morning. In some people that feeling can last into
the next day. There are some more serious conditions though
that you need to be aware of and watch for. The first thing, is that Trazadone carries
what we refer to in the United States, as a black box warning. This is a special designation
that the FDA requires if there is something especially concerning that you need to watch
for. It does carry a warning about possible suicidal thoughts, especially in young adults
and children. This is the same warning put on most other antidepressant medications.
This is certainly not something common and usually is found with those who are being
treated for depression, but it is something that you need to be aware of.
We also warn people of the risk of certain cardiac rhythm problems, Low blood pressure,
increased risk of bleeding, it can unmask bipolar disorder in some and put them into
a manic episode. It can cause low sodium levels in some and rarely cause issues with a painful
persistent in men. And lastly, as we mentioned earlier, if you stop it all of
a sudden after being on it a long time, it can also cause some withdrawl symptoms. All
of these more serious side effects are rare but your chance of it happening does increase
the higher dose you go. Overall Trazadone can be an effective tool
in helping you sleep, when everything else has failed, however because of some of these
risks it may not be the first treatment many reach for to help with getting you to sleep.
In the recent guidelines from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine they recommended
that you try other sleep aids before reaching for Trazodone. I do use it in my practice
and it can be very helpful. It is something that we watch closely if we feel that it is
something that my patient should be on and so should you. There is no one size fits all
approach to medicine so make sure you are working closely with your doctor to see what
the best thing is for you. Sleep can be very illusive for many. There
definitely are things that you can and should do that do not require medication. However,
when those things are not working and you need something to help you sleep, then trazodone
can be an option. It is not without it s issues and certainly isn t going to work for everybody,
but if your doctor thinks that this may be a good option for you then hopefully you feel
a little more informed on the things you should be watching for.
Ok, so that s it for Trazodone, I hope found it to be helpful. If so, do me a favor, go
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