TRazadone

doctor perscribed this to help me sleep. I've been on Cpap since beginning of june and still not sleeping well even though I am 100% compliant and sleep hygene is very good. Doctor says that I probably have more than one problem going on (YA THINK?) so he perscribed this Trazadone which is an anti depressant that is often used in lower doses as a sleep aid. Doctor says that he doesn't want to start off right away with Sleep aids that have the possibility of addiction. He says he will try this for 2 weeks at 50 mg then if I get no real relief he will up the dosage for another two weeks and then if that doesn't work will perscribe another AD bewith the same one onth trial peramaters and only then will he go to the regular sleep medicine.
Any thoughts? Is this reasonable? It just seems like he is asking me to possibly go sleepless for another two months before he will perscribe a med that he knows will definately help me sleep.

Trazadone generally does make you sleepy. My internal medicine Dr. prescribed the same thing for me a couple of years ago, and it does help. I don't take it every night but just when I feel like I have to have help and it makes me sleepy. It isn't a magic bullet but it doesn't hurt to try it for a while because on me it works as well as some sleeping meds and it doesn't leave me a zombie the next day.

Evidently it works for some. Trazadone was the first thing a sleep neuro tried me on years ago. Ha! My first and only "out of body" experience. Thankfully, I only took half the dose she scripted! Tingling all over, not with the program at all! Klonopin was the next thing she suggested. I don't even remember the problem w/it.

On the other hand, Ambien works great for me - for 4 hours. And I don't HAVE to use it on a regular basis which is even better. I think I used it 6-7 nights in a row and then backed off and only use it on a rough night. I haven't tried the Ambien CR. Did try ONE sample Lunestra. It left such a rotten taste in my mouth it was noon or later after multiple teeth brushings, tongue scrubbings and mouth rinses that the taste FINALLY went away.

Slinky wrote:Evidently it works for some. Trazadone was the first thing a sleep neuro tried me on years ago. Ha! My first and only "out of body" experience. Thankfully, I only took half the dose she scripted! Tingling all over, not with the program at all! Klonopin was the next thing she suggested. I don't even remember the problem w/it.

Thats not fair Slinky! I didn't get a free trip with my Trazadone!

I was on ambien CR 12.5 for 16 months along with other meds for my PLMS and RLS and I slept great, or so I thought. When they did another study (4 years after the first one) we found I have OSA and I was taken off ambien immediately. The doctor explained that ambien relaxes the entire brain and therefore with OSA you should not take it.

He said Rozerem would be ok to take because it only relaxes a certain part of the brain (can't remember what part he said- sorry) and won't add to the OSA problems of breathing/not breathing.


Just be careful with any and all meds you take, especially with OSA.

Taking something that relaxes the entire brain with OSA is like taking a muscle relaxer when you have heart disease (the heart is a muscle).

Every doctor has different opinions for sure, but then a specific med works a certain way so be very careful with what you take.

Pam

Ok thanks I guess it is worth a try. I am concerned though because it is counter indicated in people with heart problems and I have a leaky mitral valve which often causes an irregular heartbeat.


PS> this is Magpie, the site isn't letting me log in again.

I have MVP too. It runs in my dad's family. He was the youngest of the 8 to die at 79 years of age so I've never worried about it. The way I understand it, MVP is very common and seldom a problem. On the other hand, Mitral Valve Regurgitation is a somewhat more serious form of MVP and can be a concern. Someone else's doctors may say different. I'm just parroting what I was told. The only time the doctors can find my MVP is if they listen whilst I'm laying down. They can never hear it when I'm upright. It was quite confusing when one would say I had it and another would say I didn't. But since I had my father's family history I just didn't think much about it. For a long time I just thought some doctors were better than others at listening. I know when it comes to hearing what I have to say there is a BIG difference in doctors! Some are good at hearing what the patient has to say, others quit hearing after the 2nd or 3rd subject or symptom.

Slinky wrote:I have MVP too. It runs in my dad's family. He was the youngest of the 8 to die at 79 years of age so I've never worried about it. The way I understand it, MVP is very common and seldom a problem. On the other hand, Mitral Valve Regurgitation is a somewhat more serious form of MVP and can be a concern. Someone else's doctors may say different.

Hi,

I have mitral malve regurgitation but now that my heart failure and cardiomyopathy are better, the regurg is on the low end of the scale. From what I was told, the regurg is more like a symptom than a cause. Also, there have recently been a number of papers in the medical journals about the link between [cardiomyopathy and heart failure] and OSA. It was my cardiologist who referrred me for sleep study.

I've taken sleep meds for many years due to a chronic insomnia issue. They started with Dalmane back when I was in college and then tried Trazadone about 16 years ago. I'm one of those people who seem to have odd reactions to lots of meds .... Trazadone kept me *awake* all night (I have the same reaction to Benadryl). I've tried Lunesta (no luck) and my most regular med is Ambien. My sleep doc knows I take it and doesn't like it because it can aggravate OSA due to relaxing the muscles at the back of the throat so the tissues collapse (and close) more easily (clonazepam can have the same effect). However, they let me keep taking it because sleep deprivation that severe would leave me unable to work. So I take Ambien 5 nights/week and skip it for 2 on the theory that if I have two crummy nights I can survive that and don't want to take it too long. I once took it for 30 days straight and had a totally miserable night or two when I stopped it.

Mindy

Thanks everone for your feedback. I do have a leaky mitral valve which was observed dring a stress echo. The leak was not severe at that time but I have not had a cardio exam in quite a while now.

I used the trazadone for the first time last night and I did sleep a tad better but was not refreshed when I awoke this morning. I had to laugh when doctor told me that one of the side effects could be daytime sleepiness.

So far there are no major problems so I will stick with it until I determine it isn't helping or that it is hurting me in some way. I would just love to get 5 hours of un interupted sleep a few times a week. Is that really too much to ask???

magpie wrote:Thanks everone for your feedback. I do have a leaky mitral valve which was observed dring a stress echo. The leak was not severe at that time but I have not had a cardio exam in quite a while now.
....
I would just love to get 5 hours of un interupted sleep a few times a week. Is that really too much to ask???

Hi Magpie,

When a mitral valve is leaky, it can be rather clearly heard via stethoscope. That's how they evaluate mine when they don't need to do an echocardiogram for anything else.

No - good sleep shouldn't be too much to ask, but, unfortunately, for some of us it's a real problem. Mine got messed up initially because of ptsd and that still lingers. I hate taking meds for sleep but will until I find something better. When I don't get enough sleep, I'm a real bear (just ask my co-workers ... they're amazingly good about putting up with my irritability).

Mindy

magpie wrote:Thanks everone for your feedback. I do have a leaky mitral valve which was observed dring a stress echo. The leak was not severe at that time but I have not had a cardio exam in quite a while now.

I used the trazadone for the first time last night and I did sleep a tad better but was not refreshed when I awoke this morning. I had to laugh when doctor told me that one of the side effects could be daytime sleepiness.

So far there are no major problems so I will stick with it until I determine it isn't helping or that it is hurting me in some way. I would just love to get 5 hours of un interupted sleep a few times a week. Is that really too much to ask???

They diagnosed my MVP after an echo and stress test. That was the first I had heard of it and hadn't been diagnosed up till that time and I was 45! I was a little surprised really but once they told me it fell into line with some things I had noticed.

As for getting 5 straight hours of sleep....it isn't to much to ask but may not be in your cards. I personally sleep pretty well now with CPAP but generally wake up at least 2 times during the night and turn over more than that.
I can't complain to much because I am still sleeping BETTER!

Yep mine was never picked up on before my stress echo either but it was very visable once I asked them to look for it. It runs in my family with my father and two sisters having it also. Only one sister was diagnosed as a kid and then they got her records mixed up with another sister so my sister without the murmer was treated with kid gloves while my sister with the murmer was allowed to do all she wanteded and had many more chores than the sister who was wrongly diagnosed.

As far as sleeping better... that is a relative term. quite honestly I couldn't sleep worse than prior to Cpap if I tried. I adveraged about 2-3 hours a night with many interuptions and a sleep latency from a min of 16 minutes to a max of 5 hours. There was no stage 4 sleep and only very minimal stage 3 and fem most of my sleep was stage one. I have not idea how my sleep archetecture has changed if it has but I do average about 4-5 hours of interupted sleep a night with two or theree very terrible nights a week of 2-3 hours.

The doctor says that it is not uncommon for people who have more than one disorder to not show significant improvement with Cpap alone. I amhoping that once we "train" my body to sleep again we won't need the sleep medications. One can hope...

Anonymous wrote:The doctor says that it is not uncommon for people who have more than one disorder to not show significant improvement with Cpap alone. I amhoping that once we "train" my body to sleep again we won't need the sleep medications. One can hope...

Yes, Magpie, I do believe that is true ... and it also works in reverse. I've had about 6 or 7 conditions that can all cause fatigue and yet none of the treatment seemed to work. Now that I'm CPAP, I've noticed my brain "fuzz" has dramatically improved (better oxygen levels) and fatigue is a little better after a month. I hope it will improve further because I don't want to find anything else wrong!!

Mindy

Mindy I can relate. I hate going to the doctor because I never get a clean bill of health. A simple physical for elbow surgery lead to three months of followups. The plus was that I did get my sleep study and now am hopng to see improvement in my overall health with continued sleep therapy.

magpie wrote:The plus was that I did get my sleep study and now am hopng to see improvement in my overall health with continued sleep therapy.

Me, too!!!

Mindy