Side effects
The most common adverse reactions encountered are drowsiness, nausea/vomiting, headache and dry mouth. Adverse reactions reported include the following:[citation needed]
[edit] Behavioral
Drowsiness, fatigue, lethargy, psychomotor retardation, lightheadedness, dizziness, difficulty in concentration, confusion, uncontrollable laughter, sex drive increase. (Trazodone is also known to cause a "hangover effect" in patients prescribed the drug as a sleep aid: the "Trazodone hangover" generally ceases with regular use after three or four days.)
Great! I am having only the second "hangover" in my life. My first hangover is here.
I have a killer headache. I hate everyone. I am faintly nauseous (although that is better now that I have eaten). My tremor is more pronounced than usual. I am clammy and have cotton-mouth.
You know who told me not to take this? Frankie. He told me I would feel rotten. He knew people who took it. I told him I wasn't taking it recreationally. He said he wasn't kidding, he knew a girl who took it for bipolar disorder and asked my dosage. I told him 50 mg and that maybe she was crazy because she was bipolar.
Frankie was right.
I hate everyone.
I was actually petulant with SB and that is so wrong of me. He was very gracious. I am mortified.
Right at this moment I hate the Pentagon Channel. They just sent me this email
17 Oct 08
(Eastern Times)
0500 - AFRICOM Ceremony: GEN William Ward, Commander of U.S. Africa Command, speaks at the AFRICOM Establishment Commemoration Ceremony in Stuttgart, Germany. (Live, VoD) Encore presentation at 0900hrs
I want to see that, but they must know I can't possibly get up at 0700, much less 0500 when I am taking all these drugs. What are they thinking?
Oh, other possible side effects?
Priapism
retrograde ejaculation - Jennifer wants to know if that means it will be like it was in the 70s.
Tremor - great I already have one!
Headache - check
ataxia
migraine
akathisia
muscle stiffness - check
slurred speech - Good Lord!
slowed speech
vertigo
tinnitus - does that go well with my otosclerosis?
tingling of extremities -that could actually be useful
paresthesia
weakness
complex partial seizures
and rarely, impaired speech, muscle twitching, numbness, dystonia, euphoria, and involuntary movements.
That is a partial list.
What am I supposed to do with a 4 hour erection?
In my experience with chemo, I sometimes felt the "cure" was worse than the disease. The corticosteroids were awful. Make your own decisions. It's common to get angry with people you love when you are dealing with with such a tremendous affliction. Is there an alternative treatment?
ReplyDeleteComment: I told him 50 mg and that maybe she was crazy because she was bipolar. Although I Wikied the following info for brevity, the analysis is accurate.
Maggie, bipolar individuals are not crazy, but are highly creative. Bipolar disorder most commonly affects people with higher-than-average have higher-than-average intellect.
Many famous historical figures gifted with creative talents may have been affected by bipolar disorder. In many instances, creativity and psychopathology share a common set of traits, such as a tendency to "think outside the box." As a consequence, creators will commonly exhibit symptoms often associated with mental illness. The frequency and intensity of these symptoms will vary according to the magnitude and domain of creative achievement. At the same time, these symptoms are not equivalent to out-and-out psychopathology.
I know people who have bipolar disorder aren't crazy. It was a sarcastic conversation with Frankie. He was blaming the girl's eratic behavior on Traz, I was pointing out it was more likely due to her underlying diagnosis.
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear Maggie. I hear people call others with bipolar disorder "crazy," which annoys me. Knowing it was you making the comment, I should have known better.
ReplyDeleteChanging the subject: I hope you get to go to Maine. A slow bus trip up the coast and a nice B&B may help.
I wish I could, but I simply couldn't justify the expense. Once again, this week I worked much less than normal. It was a holiday week, so I should have worked between 32 and 37 hours. I worked 22.
ReplyDeleteSo Maine is out.
Damn! I was hoping you could get away and treat yourself. The work situation must be so frustrating for you. I hope you can have a serious talk with your doctor and change your medication so you feel better.
ReplyDeleteI took my first trazedone dose last night, part of a new diagnosis and regimine for bipolar. I'm talking 100 mg of the stuff. I can't walk straight, I'm hungover worse than I ever was after the crazy college days. Oh, the right ear just got tinnitis as I type this, and sinuses are so congested. I'd almost rather suffer from the bipolar.
ReplyDeleteAnd now it makes sense... I'm on day 3 of the Traz and it turns me into a bitchy zombie. The second day I slept through my alarm and had the worst craving for McD's breakfast sandwiches and the cotton mouth is awful.
ReplyDeleteToday the sinuses were killing me but I thought it was allergies. Around noon it was magically better.
Is this something that subsides?
I realize this post is nearly a decade old, but I feel like commenting. I'm currently taking Trazadone for sleep. Luckily I work from home and I can spare the two hours necessary to recover from this cursed hangover. If I have an early meeting or appointment, I make sure to wake up two hours before I need to be anywhere near useful. How I miss my darling Seroquel. I have major depressive disorder, compounded by a lovely anxiety disorder and insomnia, and Seroquel was the best drug I've ever taken for it. That is, until I was improperly, and haphazardly, weened off of it so as to be put on a newer drug for reasons that are still unclear to me. I developed tardive dyskinesia that presented as lip licking (TD is a movement disorder for those of you lucky enough not to know what it is). I went through six months of sleeping from four am to ten am as a result of both no longer being on Seroquel and my psychiatrist not doing his job correctly. I was put on Trazadone right before I fired him and reported him to the state medical board. Years later, I'm growing tired of waking up feeling nauseous, lacking muscle coordination, with an inability to concentrate and general malaise. There aren't words to describe the incredibly terrible feeling this drug gives me in the morning. It is a hangover but nothing like I had back in my partying days. I'm slowly weening myself off of it with the help of my new psychiatrist. Tonight I'll go down to 62.5 milligrams (a 50 milligram pill plus one that's cut in half).
ReplyDeleteFor everyone out there: If a drug isn't working for you or causing side effects that are lowering your quality of life, tell your doctor and demand to try another. Doctors are human beings, which makes them as fallible as you or I; they are not gods! Take charge of your medical care by doing research, becoming an expert on your conditions and knowing what you're putting into your body. Being proactive about your medical care is the best way to ensure that you're getting the best care that you can.
Dear Unknown,
DeleteI don't think I saw this when it posted. Or maybe I replied privately.
But if I never replied, I apologize.
I am so sorry you went through this for as long as you did. I am not shy about speaking up to my health care team.
I dropped this med like it was a hot rock. I wasn't on it long enough to need "weening off".
They put me on Lorazepam. My son Frankie also warned me about lorazepam. He said it made people hostile & erased the memory of fighting. He knew people who took it recreationally & woke up in jail for assault. He said they were called "beans".
But this time he was wrong. All they do is shut off my brain so I can sleep. My problem was that I would try to go to sleep & my brain would be doing 80 mph in a school zone screaming "I have cancer! How will I pay bills? Who will take care of my responsibilities? I'll never have grandchildren!"
And for the last 10 years Lorazepam has let me sleep.
It was how I stopped from howling like a banshee when my Frankie died four years ago.
I know it's bad for many people, but it saved me. I would never have made it this far fighting ny cancer without regular deep sleep.
So, to wrap up, if you see this, I hope things got better for you.