Psychiatrist reviews trazodone (Desyrel) and discusses uses, dosing, side effects, and more! *** Link to Dr. Aly’s FREE “Antidepressants: A Beginner’s Guide” ➡️
An interesting fact that is unique to this medication compared to other antidepressants is that it has the potential to cause a false positive mdma or ecstasy result on a urine drug screen so make sure to be mindful of this if you have to go give a urine sample for whatever reason welcome back straight talkers today i’m going to talk about the medication tracidone
So that you can be better informed when deciding whether or not to start this medication so trazadone was first approved for medical use in the united states in 1981 and by 2018 it was the 31st most commonly prescribed medication in the united states with more than 22 million prescriptions it’s believed that transidone increases the amount of the neurotransmitter
Serotonin in certain parts of the brain in adults transcendonas fda approved for the treatment of major depressive disorder and it doesn’t have fda approval for the use in children with that being said though this medication is rarely used anymore for the treatment of depression it has a risk of over sedation and blood pressure fluctuations at therapeutic doses
So instead we mostly use it off label mainly to help people fall asleep at night and it’s a popular sleep aid because of its non-addictive properties other off-label uses include the treatment of anxiety irritability aggression and chronic headaches tracitone comes in tablet formulation and depending on what it’s being used for dosing typically ranges from 50
To 600 milligrams daily when it’s used to treat insomnia in particular the dosing is typically though around like the 50 to 200 milligram daily range and most people will take this medication around an hour or so before bedtime so they give the time to kick in and if trazadone is being used to treat anxiety or agitation it’s often taken multiple times per day
On a scheduled rather than on an as needed basis and if i’m using this medication in kids i’ll often start at a lower dose to help reduce the risk of potential side effects meaning that we start at a low dose and increase the dose gradually and slowly over time with the goal of finding the lowest effective dose once the medication has started it usually takes a
Couple weeks before you start noticing a difference and in many people it’ll take a whole one to two months before it reaches its full effect at the prescribed dose and because of this delay i often recommend starting therapy during this time because the benefits of therapy can be seen right away so the common but usually more mild side effects of trazadone can
Include things such as edema blurred vision constipation or diarrhea dry mouth syncope confusion dizziness drowsiness fatigue headaches nervousness nausea muscle aches or pains tremors sinus infections or weight gain or weight loss with that being said and despite this list sounding pretty lengthy this medication is thought to have fewer side effects and less
Weight gain compared to other serotonergic medications something that is unique to trazadone is its potential to cause priapism in males and priapism is when an erection lasts more than one hour and it’s estimated that this occurs in one out of eight thousand men and given its potential to be painful and cause permanent damage it’s recommended that you go to the
Emergency room right away if you experience this other more serious but less common side effects could include increased suicidal thoughts or actions in those under the age of 25 years old serotonin syndrome cardiac arrhythmias orthostatic hypotension and syncope increased chances of bleeding manic episodes and angle closure glaucoma symptoms from abruptly stopping
The medication can include things such as nausea sweating dysphoric mood irritability agitation dizziness sensory disturbances tremor anxiety confusion headaches lethargy emotional ability insomnia hypomania tinnitus and seizures so please make sure to let your physician know if these symptoms start to occur when you try to come off of the medication because there
Are different approaches that we can take to reduce these unwanted effects now head on over to the next video to find out more ways to live your best life you
Transcribed from video
Trazodone Review (Uses, Dosing, Side Effects, & More!) By Straight Talk Psychiatry