Trazodone?? Anyone?? Help!!

[branbran]

I finally got in touch with my daughter's therapist a school, after several messages and the good ole redial button. Maybe some of you remember my post titled "I'm so mad I could spit", regarding my daugher's Residential Treatment Center (RTC) changing her medications without my knowledge nor permission. My daugher wasn't entirely correct when she told me they took her off all of her medications and put her on sleeping pills instead. She is still taking her Geodon and now they are adding Trazodone, which according to her therapist is a mood sabilizer??? with a sleep agent. Well according to my research it IS used for sleep, however I couldn't find anything that stated it is used as a mood stabilizer. Anyone have any experience with this drug or know anything about it? Any info would be greatly appreciated as I am a nervous wreck about it.

 

[Stella Johnson]

I'm almost positive that is what they gave me once when I had a bunch of dental work done. I was so out of it I didn't know I had been laying there for 9 hours. (my rear hurt but the rest of me was fine)

I haven't heard of anyone taking it on a regular basis though. I always thought it was only a tranquilizer. I seriously doubt it is a "mood stabilizer" unless you count passed out as a stable mood. :surprise:

Steph

 

[Sara PA]

Trazadone is an antidepressant though not an SSRI. It has all the same warnings as any other antidepressant. It most certainly isn't a mood stabilizer. No one in the profession should make that mistake.

Trazadone is commonly used as a sleep medication.

 

[Wiped Out]

My difficult child was on Trazadone for sleep. As Sara said it is not a mood stabilizer but an antidepressant. It worked well for sleep but we eventually switched to Clonodine because we didn't want him on any antidepressants.

 

[flutterbee]

It's an antidepressant - tricyclic, I believe - with sedative qualities. I took it once and was a zombie the next day. But then, I've always been a bit sensitive to medications.

 

[Sara PA]

It's not a tricyclic either. It's one of those odd ones, doesn't fit any major category.

 

[branbran]

Thank you all so much. I knew my daughter's therapist was wrong!!! In all the research I did nowhere did I see the words "mood stabilizer". My daughter does have trouble sleeping at night, however I told her therapist that maybe if they actually treat the Bipolar she might just get some ZZZs. I am just so frustrated with this whole medication maze, I'm sick of knowing more than the doctors!!! My daughter was supposed to be put on a new mood stabilizer in May - 5 months later still no mood stabilizer not to mention I have yet to actually speak to the psychiatrist, that probably has something to do with the fact that there hasn't been a steady doctor on staff since my daughter got their in February. I have left several messages for the doctor to call me, via my daughter's therapist, not very nice ones either, I have complained to whoever will listen, I have asked several times if I could call the damn doctor myself but due to the fact that the one they have now is only covering, until they hire one there is no extension for him. I don't know what else to do. I had a bit of an argument with the therapist today and basically told her I am fed up and I find it ridiculous that my child has been in their care for 8 months - 8 MONTHS and I have not spoken to anyone with an M.D. at the end of their name. So she said she would have the doctor call me, the very same thing she has told me a hundred times before!!!! Let's see if I actully get a call back before this year is up. I want to try my daughter on Tegretol, everything I have read about it sounds like it could possibly be the right fir for her. Of course that will only happen if the F*****G doctor ever calls.

Thanks again, pretty sad that you guys are more knowledgable than my daughter's Residential Treatment Center (RTC)!!! I'll keep you posted.

 

[DammitJanet]

Antidepressant...chemically related to Serzone. Works on the same brain chemicals on the same pathway.

 

[nlg319]

I have been taking Trazedone for about 3 years now prescribed to me by my psychiatrist. My understanding is that it is an old antidepressant that was found not to be very effective in treating depression but was found to be helpful with people that have difficulty sleeping through the night. It is not a "sleeping pill". I do not have trouble falling asleep but without Trazedone, I wake at 2 or 3 in the morning and cannot go back to sleep. I have never had any problems with it.

Just my personal experience...

 

[Steely]

Just wanted to comment on your daughter medications and bi-polar. My son is on Lithium, which was THE only medication to stabilize the moods, but he still had trouble sleeping. We finally added Ambien, and although there are a million reasons why not to use an addictive sleep agent like Ambien, that in combo with a mood stab has really done the trick. Sleep deprivation can trigger a mood instability, so the sleep has to be addressed as much as the mood. It has taken us 10 years to get to this combo, but I do have to say that it is working. in my opinion, do not be too hesitant to try a sleep medication, but also, in my opinion, she also needs a mood stab.

Also, FWI, my Ex was on Trazodone, and it made him a much more stable person. His sleep patterns regulated, and his anger was less, so it is not a total wash of a medication.