OK, I'm home and ok. Thank you all for your concern. I told you all instead of family! See how much you all mean to me? Anyway.....It's seems I probably have an inner ear infection and an on Meclazine for the vertigo. Also the stress is causing my heart to race. I asked a question and stumped the dr, lol! I told him that long ago I had a problem with Elavil which caused Tacycardia. Now, I had been taking Trazadone at night to sleep for a long time. Recently (3mos) I increased it to 100 mg. Today I realized it had been 3 mos since the problems with my heart began. So was I right in mmy foggy brain that Trazadone was part of the tricyclic family? YES! He had to go research, but yes, so I am weaning off the trazadone and beginning Ambiem on Monday. Plus for 3 days he added an extra dose of Valium, good for the nerves and vertigo. OOOOOHHHHHHH Wellll........Just woke up, feel tired but no heart pounding and dizziness under control . Thanks for all your concern. Susan
So relieved that it wasn't serious...phew the things we do to get a break..... Kidding aside, welcome back, and glad you found the cause of the problems. I have had too many ER trips where nothing is found, and was just a false alarm..Hugs
I guess my recent health problems are a testament to the stress we caregivers build up and keep inside. Wasn't I just the one saying that we need to vent in order to stay healthy? Easy for me to say!
Glad to hear your feeling better....Stress will do a number on your body...I should say it has on mine...never had a High blood press. problem, until about 6mo. ago.now I am taking Benicar, and Norvasc...that is the only med, that I take, not too bad for an 80 year old... Take care Susan.
Meds are working well, inner ear is doing better, less dizzy. Valium is nice, but I think I may be having withdrawal from the years on Klonopin. I had not thought of that until today. I feel shaky and restless. Anyone with this experience.???
Many people attempt to taper off Klonopin by switching to Valium. It is not recommended. You will go into withdrawal on the Klonopin and introduce a new medication on top of that which will probably have side effects of it's own. Susan-there is tons of other information. Just Google Klonopin withdrawal. Nora
Talked with the on call doc this am. He put me right back on the klonopin and said we can deal with weaning me off of it at a much later date. I can't even begin to tell you all how awful I felt. I thought I was going to lose my mind. It was awful. I have never been through anything like this before. Thank you all for your loving support.
Susan L, thought you might like to know how your post helped me. I have been having a racing heart, too, and feeling really lousy, especially when I wake up first thing in the morning. I've been taking Trazodone 25 mgs. at bedtime along with Tylenol (as recommended by our University's Pain Clinic), so last night I experimented and took 1/2 the dose of Trazodone with the idea of coming off it by the end of a week. Feel a whole lot better! I'd read that as we get older, lower doses of drugs are required, but it took your post to start me thinking about it. So, thanks!
Susan, I am so sorry to hear about your problem! I'm glad you are better. Mary75, I'm also glad you benefited from the knowledge! We help each other even when we don't know that we are! How great!
Mary, I am so glad some good came out of my experience. The ER Doc told me that Ambien had much less side effects. I start that tomorrow. DH has been taking it for a couple weeks, much better off the Trazadone too!
Susan L, so glad you are better. Drugs can do crazy things to us. Some people never have a problem with one drug amd another person can't tolerate it. Trazodone caused my dh to become wired and "over the top". It put him in the hosp to have meds checked. He reacts the same way to codene. Instead of making him drowsy, it kept him awake!!. Gave up the Trazodone, problem solved. WHo knew?? We rely so much on health professionals for our care and in the process, become educated "undoctors". Don't know enough to get paid like one but just enough knowledge to ask questions (sometimes). We second guess so much of this and yet should listen to our "gut" more often. I took Ambien for years. Thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Hope it works the same for you. Good luck
It's so strange, ever since starting Trazadone my husband has been MUCH more alert. Watching movies through and getting at least some sense out of them, reading captions on cartoons, etc, more oriented outside the house (but inside the same confusion). And no sundowning. That's all to the good!
But he almost never even DOZES during the day, and I think he's quietly awake during the night. Right now, I'm happy with the arrangement - he takes neurontin too, and namenda.. so we're in a holding pattern in pretty good shape.
briegull my DH does better like that on the neurontin. pleasant disposition, sleeps well and hes shown some cognitive improvement since on it at higher doses. divvi
Briegull-- When my DH was given Trazadone "to help him sleep better and longer," he went from 4-6 hour segments of sleeping to 1-2 hours repeatedly in 24. Up and down like a yo-yo. There is no "good sleep" doing that. Ironicall, Dr. had made 3 other med changes at the same time. Returned the psych meds to previous levels, but sleep was still off. Then, when I reported that, his initial instruction was to double the dose of Trazadone. I immediately questioned that with the caseworker relaying the instructions. She re-checked, and I was told to take him off trhe Trazadone. It took about 1 1/2weeks for him to return to "his normal" sleep pattern: Up from between 2 and 4-7am then down until 10:30-11; then up about an hour. Down from 12:30-1 until 3-4. Up then until 6:30. Down until sometime between 11-2. Then up until 7. Much better than down at 6, up at 7:45, down at 8:15, up at 10, down at 11:15, up at 1:30, down at 2:30, up at 4; down at 5:45, up at 7, down at 8:30, up at9:45, down at 11, up at 12:30, down at 1:45, up at 2:45, down at 3:30, up at 4:45, down at 6.
Carol, that sounds like me and my hot flashes - at night I can clock them at every 45 minutes. Dammit, when I started taking estrogen after my ovaries were removed in 1983 (!) I thought I'd MISS all that - surely one doesn't get hot flashes at 73!! (I stopped on Jan. 1 this year) But I do!
I don't really CARE how much my husband's awake during the night; I don't sleep in the same room, and he doesn't get out of bed. I've removed all the things he can reach from the bed except cough drops and kleenex, so he can't try to dress himself while in bed; usually the most he does is just carefully carefully fold up his damp chux and a blanket or two and then when I go in in the morning he's chilly.
I'm fortunate that I don't have to get up at any set time except once a week, so I just get the paper and read until he wants to wake up.
Carol, our husbands are almost on the same schedule! However, I can alter it if I take him somewhere or he goes on a long walk with my grandson. Drugs that are supposed to help him sleep, wake him up! It is SO weird.
Then, in another month, he might revert to staying awake almost 24 hours a day for a week or so, or sleep most afternoons and evenings and wake up at 3 a.m. and be ready to get up!
For the last few months, he and your husband are in the same pattern.
DH can be up when he needs to be or wants to be, but follows that time with a bigger nap. I don't mind when he's up or down . I'm getting about 4-5 hours a night regardless. But the short burst naps the Trazadone caused meant he wasn't as sharp thinking as his usual. I was missing sleep because of it. He's on my case fo my abbreviated sleep and then, on a night I manage to get to bed earlier(1 am) because we have to be up for a trip to the store earlier (pick up at 8, ready 10 min. ahead), he comes in and gets my coat from the closet at 3:15 and wakes me up doing it. When he thinks of something that needs doing--he has to do it then (afraid he'll forget).<grrrin>
Trazodone is both an anti-depressant and sleep aide. It is used for
* Clinical depression with or without anxiety * Chronic insomnia[6][7][8] (in some countries, this is an off-label use) * Fibromyalgia, to control sleeping. * Control of nightmares or other disturbed sleep * A sleep aid (with a reduced risk of dependency)
[edit] Other off-label and investigational uses
* insomnia * panic disorder[9]
When I was taking it for depression, I had to be into bed within 15 minutes or I was so dizzy I could hardly walk and I would be out quickly. The feeling reminded me when after a surgery they gave me morphine for pain - my head was spinning and I had vivid nightmares. Trazodone didn't give me the nightmares thank goodness. If you google it and read under the Wikipedia explanation you will find it can have the reverse side effects you experience: confusion, agitation, insomnia, etc. With areas of the mind being damaged, having the reverse happen does not surprise me. It also will cause weight gain. I gained average 5 lbs a month and was over 200 before I went to a new doctor that took me off of it.
Oh, no. I started taking Trazadone about two weeks ago and I've gained about 3 pounds. I've taken low doses of antidepressants for a long time, and I've always (until this time) asked the doctor not to prescribe anything that would cause weight gain. About 1 1/2 years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes. Weight gain is not good.
As I said above, I started taking 50 mg. of trazodone a day in early April. For the last two weeks, I've been shaky and dizzy, weak, not been able to concentrate, had a headache, and had a slight fever (it was 101 once, but mostly it's been 99.2 or 99.3). Does anyone know if trazodone can cause these symptoms - especially the fever? I asked the psychriast who prescribed it , and she said it wouldn't cause them at the low dose I'm on, but I'm having no luck finding out what is causing the them. She said not to quit taking it, because that could cause more symptoms and confuse the issue. I have to get to feeling better. This is ridiculous.
Janet, I would gradually cut it off if it was me, and at the same time see my pcp for a different med and also to check out fever. I don't take meds that appear to be causing me complications on top of what I already had. I can't imagine trazodone causing a fever. But, I am no Doctor.
Thanks. I saw my pcp last Friday, and he ordered a CBC and metabolic panel. The "rule" there is that a patient shouldn't call about lab results for 10 days. I called a couple of hours ago and asked if they had the results, even though it hasn't been 10 days. The nurse I talked to said she would get my file and call back. Yeah, but when? It's irritating.
I'm taking a Spanish class and have missed the last three meetings. I think I'm going to miss this afternoon too. I know I'm lucky to still be able to get out twice a week for a class. The people in the class are members of my church and good friends that I hope not to have to lose contact with as DH gets worse, so I'm trying to maintain the relationships now.
Janet I took trazadone for yrs, DH took it for 6 mos and we both were switched to other meds by our doctors (different drs) without any weaning down. I had to stop because of a rapid heart rate. Jim, with FTD, needed to stop because of nigtmares. Good luck
Don't you just HATE the people who say they'll call you back? and then don't? I make a point of either saying, I'm going out, I'll check back with you around 4:30.. or calling anyhow around 4:30 and saying, I was out, did you try to reach me?? I refuse to wait for them. If I were stuntgirl I would have gone crazy long since from hanging around waiting for the phone to ring.
Thanks for the information. The nurse finally called back and said all of my blood tests were fine. She told me not to stop the trazadone without seeing the doctor. I have an appointment on Monday. I may cut down on the trazadone regardless of what she said.
I have decided not to be a slave to the telephone. I have jumped up from the 'floor' just to answer the phone, or run across the house to answer the phone, carried it outside with me 'just in case' it would ring, taken it to the bathroom when I take baths or 'potty'.... ad nauseum.
Now, I simply do my best to answer it, but if I have to jump and run, I don't. My children know I'm always home and if I don't answer the first time, hang up and call me back. I'm coming..just didn't get there in time.
Nancy, get caller ID and then you don't have to rush. It is even better to miss the call cause then you see who was calling. I also like it cause my LO soetimes answeres when I am unavailable and then does not know who called. Also, the home care helper that comes a few hours a week does not take very good notes and sometimes misses a call cause they are outside. Costs a little more but probably worth it. I had cancelled it a few months ago and missed it so much that I am now getting it hooked back up.
As most of you who have read here for a while know, the day my husband was diagnosed, we went from the neurologist's office to the cell phone places and I bought cell phones for my daughter, my husband and myself that had Chaperone service with my husband being the "child" and my daughter and I being the "parents" so we could always find him by address and map in less than two minutes. Because my husband couldn't take messages while we were at work, we taught him NOT to answer the house phone and let the messages be recorded so we would know who called. I told the doctors, pharmacy, office, close friends and family to call us on our cell phones. That way I get the calls whereever I am, and if I'm in a meeting and have it on vibrate, I get the message and can call them back. After two years, our house phone rarely rings! I keep it for my DSL Internet connection, basically!