trazodone (as an antidepressant) experiences?

[bleeeeeep]

well, as an aside, i decided i'm going to exhaust every single option i have before making a firm decision to ctb/stay alive/whatever. i'm having a psychological evaluation soon, which will hopefully be helpful and not awful and traumatising!

i am currently on 30mg of fluoxetine, tapering to 20mg starting tonight, then going down to 10mg in order to begin on a different medication. my doctor strongly suggested trazodone, but i also have the option of trying sertraline and citalopram if trazodone doesn't work for me. so i was wondering if anyone here happened to have experience with trazodone as an antidepressant? i searched and noticed it was mostly spoken about as a sedative (which is good for me anyway!) but was curious to hear whether it actually helped to lessen suicidal ideation, anhedonia, etc. i'm slightly concerned about starting a new medication but i really am fed up of being like this, i will try anything at this point. like a last ditch attempt at recovery. :)

 

[Capsicum_Corral]

A shrink at the VA had them send me bottles of Trazodone for sleep. Ugh, it was awful stuff, in my experience. And antidepressants made me feel like a fake person. I'd rather feel like shit than be on that stuff. Went through around 15 to 20 different drugs, and it was pretty horrible. Wellbutrin was where I ended up, but finally had to drop that to feel real again.

This may not work for everyone, but just riding it out finally worked. It took 'a few' years (less than 10 or so), but for whatever reason feeling awful and dwelling on stuff just began to fade. I developed some hobbies that probably helped too. Obsessively growing plants and playing video games helped take my focus off of my real life woes.

Good luck with the PE.

 

[bleeeeeep]

A shrink at the VA had them send me bottles of Trazodone for sleep. Ugh, it was awful stuff, in my experience. And antidepressants made me feel like a fake person. I'd rather feel like shit than be on that stuff. Went through around 15 to 20 different drugs, and it was pretty horrible. Wellbutrin was where I ended up, but finally had to drop that to feel real again.

This may not work for everyone, but just riding it out finally worked. It took 'a few' years (less than 10 or so), but for whatever reason feeling awful and dwelling on stuff just began to fade. I developed some hobbies that probably helped too. Obsessively growing plants and playing video games helped take my focus off of my real life woes.

Good luck with the PE.

thank you! sorry to hear it wasn't much use :( i also get that with antidepressants, this is the second time i've been on prozac and it's really good at making me feel like a zombie, no sense of self and no personality to speak of. i had to come off it cold turkey last time because it became so uncomfortable. i'd really like to try and ride it out but unfortunately an attempt at that is what led to me having to start taking medication again

 

[ThriveOrDie]

A shrink at the VA had them send me bottles of Trazodone for sleep. Ugh, it was awful stuff, in my experience. And antidepressants made me feel like a fake person. I'd rather feel like shit than be on that stuff. Went through around 15 to 20 different drugs, and it was pretty horrible. Wellbutrin was where I ended up, but finally had to drop that to feel real again.

This may not work for everyone, but just riding it out finally worked. It took 'a few' years (less than 10 or so), but for whatever reason feeling awful and dwelling on stuff just began to fade. I developed some hobbies that probably helped too. Obsessively growing plants and playing video games helped take my focus off of my real life woes.

Good luck with the PE.

I had a similar experience with antidepressants…I felt like a zombie. I was unable to feel anything. I lost my empathy. I tried trazadone for sleep and it gave me anxiety. But I believe it is worth a try OP. Drugs affect people differently. My brother's entire family is on Lexapro and they love it.

 

[Sides]

Tried Trazodone for sleep to help get off benzos (Valium, Xanax).

Hated it. Made me pass out, but groggy in the morning. Feeling icky, for lack of a better word. And no relief from anxiety like Valium. Tried to get used to it for a while to make my sleep apnea better, eventually got sick of it and said fuck it and doubled down on the benzos.

Some people love it, though, so you never know. That, in essence, is the problem with all these mind-bending drugs...they either work or don't work effectively for different people, and the only way to know is to try it and find out.

Just throwing darts at a dart board and hoping one hits the bullseye. And psychiatrists get paid $400 per hour for that.

 

[lmon]

The night I took it I had a stuffy nose and sweaty and couldn't sleep. It permanently made my clit more numb after one use and I can't feel orgasms at all. Yet he dr said that would be safer than a sleeping pill. Yayyyy

 

[poisonedminds]

Stay away from this. I took this pill for three days. I had the worst, most traumatic and realistic nightmares of my life. I also developped palinopsia (a vision problem) from taking Trazodone, and almost a year later it still hasn't gone away.

 

[bleeeeeep]

Stay away from this. I took this pill for three days. I had the worst, most traumatic and realistic nightmares of my life. I also developped palinopsia (a vision problem) from taking Trazodone, and almost a year later it still hasn't gone away.

this sounds horrible. i've been on it for just over a week now and am having the same problems with realistic and absolutely terrifying nightmares - they are awful, i'm sorry you had to deal with them too. the side effects for this thing are quite intense in so many ways. onto the next medication i go!

 

[tiredofthisgame]

I have also taken trazodone but for sleeping purposes and I can agree about the nightmare parts. I was even having hallucinations before sleep. Not sure if it was because of other drug combinations but I decided to not take them anymore. The side effects for me were a bit too much.
You said you're having or already had a psychological evaluation. I hope it went well!!! (Completely random here but i adore moomins and used to watch them a lot as a kid and even during high school to relieve exam stress - love your cute profile!! )

 

[Sherri]

Hi there, it didn't work for me, but it might work for you, as our bodies are all different, hope it works for you. Keep us posted. There are a lot of alternatives.

 

[bleeeeeep]

I have also taken trazodone but for sleeping purposes and I can agree about the nightmare parts. I was even having hallucinations before sleep. Not sure if it was because of other drug combinations but I decided to not take them anymore. The side effects for me were a bit too much.

the nightmares are just awful, so vivid and they last for what feels like eternity.. i'm sorry you had to deal with them too. also, thank you for your sweet comment <3 i still love watching the old moomins cartoon on youtube!

Hi there, it didn't work for me, but it might work for you, as our bodies are all different, hope it works for you. Keep us posted. There are a lot of alternatives.

i'm sorry it didn't work for you, but i appreciate your kindness, thank you sherri <3

my little update: i decided to stop taking it, i took it for two weeks and the nightmares etc. were just too much. even though i didn't take it long enough for it to 'start working properly,' i didn't think having even more disturbed sleep was worth waiting for a potentially beneficial effect. it did make me lose my appetite though, which was kind of good for me because i have struggled with binge/restrict cycles and such before. something else i noticed was that it made me feel really angry and a bit aggressive. i don't know whether it's because i happened to read that that was a side effect and so i just started feeling that way, or whether it actually made me feel that way. anyway, i didn't enjoy it. now i am going to be trying sertraline : )

 

[Sherri]

the nightmares are just awful, so vivid and they last for what feels like eternity.. i'm sorry you had to deal with them too. also, thank you for your sweet comment <3 i still love watching the old moomins cartoon on youtube!



i'm sorry it didn't work for you, but i appreciate your kindness, thank you sherri <3

my little update: i decided to stop taking it, i took it for two weeks and the nightmares etc. were just too much. even though i didn't take it long enough for it to 'start working properly,' i didn't think having even more disturbed sleep was worth waiting for a potentially beneficial effect. it did make me lose my appetite though, which was kind of good for me because i have struggled with binge/restrict cycles and such before. something else i noticed was that it made me feel really angry and a bit aggressive. i don't know whether it's because i happened to read that that was a side effect and so i just started feeling that way, or whether it actually made me feel that way. anyway, i didn't enjoy it. now i am going to be trying sertraline : )

you don't have to thank me, listen I take a new generation of anti depressants mine are called Viorxetime 20mg. I started to take this when all rest failed. I had horrible efects with trazodone including nightmares and other weird stuff. Ask your doctor what he thinks of the ones I mentioned to you, they really worked ver good. I'm still here after 2 years. It's an new generation meds, Viorxetime 20mg. See what he says, I come here to kill myself and still I am here. Good luck and let me know sweetie,

 

[fruit-loops]

Viorxetime

do you mean Vortioxetine?

 

[Sherri]

do you mean Vortioxetine?

I was translating from my mother tongue so that's sounds about all, I've Taveira from Prozac to 15 other brands onlynthis worked for me at 20mg. It's the newest type of anti depressants. As your doctor, at Thais time you have nothing lose sweetie.