Posted by Sad Panda on May 16, 2004, at 9:12:22
In reply to Re: No TCAs for me » Sad Panda, posted by erik98225 on May 16, 2004, at 2:04:04
> > What doseage & for how long were you taking Doxepin & Trazodone? It takes a month to get use to Remeron. The antihistamine knockout effects fades away, but sleep still comes very easily when you want it.
>
> I was on 50mg Doxepin for 3 months. I was on 25mg Trazdone for one day.
>
> The trazodone disaster happened about 3 months ago when I came crawling to my pdoc, desperate for "a way to fall asleep without beer". He suggested Imipramine, at which point I launched myself into a heated discussion of tricyclic side effects and specifically asked for "something that's not an antihistamine". He said that trazodone is unrelated to the trycyclics and wouldn't cause those effects.
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> I took the 25mg of trazodone, and I was OUT within two minutes. You literally have to be already lying in your bed when you take that stuff.
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> The next morning, I discovered to my horror that trazodone causes all of the antihistamine side effects and more. I was dizzy and faint when I woke up to turn my alarm off. The entire day I literally had to struggle to keep my eyes open. The entire day I felt extremely depressed. I had dry mouth and heart palpitations. I flushed the rest of the trazodone down the toilet that afternoon and I was cursed by these side effects for three more days without taking any more trazodone.
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> Too high a dose, you say? Well, 25mg is a HALF of the smallest tablet available. Cut it any smaller and all you'd get is dust.
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> Apparently, any drug that remotely resembles an antihistamine affects me in an extremely bad way -- which is annoying, because I have really bad allergies in the summertime.
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> I then went back to my pdoc and told him about my not-so-good experience with trazodone, and asked "is there anything like alcohol without hangovers and liver damage". He said "yes, there are benzodiapenzines, but they are addictive."
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> Then, I asked him, "what would you give me if I was coming to you with JUST A SLEEP PROBLEM?" He said "we don't prescribe Ambien and Sonata unless your mom just died and you have final exams tomorrow." Because they are addictive.
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> Then, he asked if I'd ever tried Melatonin. I told him that I tried it about a year ago because it was touted as "all-natural" and "no hangover". Well, guess what -- I was cutting the tablets into quarters and eighths and still getting a trazodone-style hangover.
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> Then, he said "from the melatonin, or the beer you washed it down with?" (I don't think he's ever tasted a beer)
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> At that, I went apesh_t. "I DIDN'T WASH IT DOWN WITH BEER! EVERY SLEEP MEDICATION I'VE TRIED WAS IN AN ATTEMPT TO FALL ASLEEP WITHOUT BEER!"
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> All this was prior to starting Paxil, the only medication that's ever done anything helpful for me.
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> BTW I am 23, male, and 175 lbs.
>
>
> > You can use Benzos for sleep only if the benzos are treating anxiety. The sedative effect goes away very rapidly, but for most people the anxiolytic effects stays. If your sleeplessness is purely from anxiety then benzos will relieve that anxiety & allow you to sleep naturally. If your sleeplessness is due to an over active mind, then beenzos can only be used for a few days.
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> That is the point. It's not a question of being tired or not, it's a question of am I worrying too much to fall asleep.
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>Trazodone isn't a antihistamine, Doxepin, OTOH, is. Something they have in common is they are both strong Alpha-1 NE blockers which causes the orthostatic hypotension side effect that most of the TCA's & AP drugs have. I would still recommend a trial of Remeron, it has no A1-NE blockade, so you won't get dissy & fall over. I would start you at 7.5mg. Your Doxepin dose was way too high, 25 mg is generally enough for sleep.
Benzos for sleep probably is a bad idea for you, if you got yourself in to trouble drinking too much beer, you will have the same problem benzos.
Cheers,
Panda.
poster:Sad Panda
thread:347048
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040515/msgs/347375.html