Trazodone as sleeping aid, Serotonin antagonist or agonist??

[G1986]

Hi everyone.

25mg Trazodone at night, seems to help me falling asleep and staying a sleep, improving deep sleep as well. I have used it occasionally for a couple of years maybe couple of times per months, but lately I have been using it for 10 days straight already. I'm not sure it is a drug that can build up tolerance or create dependency from it. Peter Attia uses it on his sleep stuck at night, every day.

What I'm getting a bit confused about it, is if the drug is a Serotonin agonist or antagonist, in other words, does it raise or lower Serotonin? some studies shows it does, some other it does not.

What do you guys think of its long term use to improve sleep?

 

[Sebastian B]

Trazodone is extremely toxic, as shown in the LiverTox database: Trazodone - LiverTox - NCBI Bookshelf

 

[G1986]

Trazodone is extremely toxic, as shown in the LiverTox database: Trazodone - LiverTox - NCBI Bookshelf

thank you for posting. As a sleep aid, I would be more concerned about becoming dependent on it. I would assume Liver issues may arise when depression doses are used.

 

[Sampa]

thank you for posting. As a sleep aid, I would be more concerned about becoming dependent on it. I would assume Liver issues may arise when depression doses are used.

This. I have extensive experience prescribing trazodone at 25-50mg for sleep , never had any issue with liver . ( i am also using it for 6 years nonstop).

 

[LaVonne]

thank you for posting. As a sleep aid, I would be more concerned about becoming dependent on it. I would assume Liver issues may arise when depression doses are used.

Thanks for posting that study! I've used 25mg off and on and my doctor told me it was completely harmless. Needless to say when I tried to stop it I had horrible rebound of my insomnia. I reported this to my doc and he hemmed and hawed and finally admitted that you can become dependent on it.

 

[G1986]

This. I have extensive experience prescribing trazodone at 25-50mg for sleep , never had any issue with liver . ( i am also using it for 6 years nonstop).

thanks for your feedback, I'm curios to know if you or your patients ever tried to not take it, if they were still be able to sleep.

 

[G1986]

Thanks for posting that study! I've used 25mg off and on and my doctor told me it was completely harmless. Needless to say when I tried to stop it I had horrible rebound of my insomnia. I reported this to my doc and he hemmed and hawed and finally admitted that you can become dependent on it.

thanks for reporting your experience, what is on an off for you in terms of frequency? were you eventually able to adjust after stopping Trazodone?

there was a discussion about Trazodone for sleep in another forum. It was mentioned that, if you have trouble sleeping now and you successfully take Trazodone for it, but never address the root cause of the insomnia, once you don't take the Trazodone things will just go back the way they were before, not that we become depended on Trazodone.

 

[LaVonne]

thanks for reporting your experience, what is on an off for you in terms of frequency? were you eventually able to adjust after stopping Trazodone?

there was a discussion about Trazodone for sleep in another forum. It was mentioned that, if you have trouble sleeping now and you successfully take Trazodone for it, but never address the root cause of the insomnia, once you don't take the Trazodone things will just go back the way they were before, not that we become depended on Trazodone.

There was a time where I used it for about 5 months every night. Then, I went cold turkey and tried not to use it for more than 10 days in a row. I went on Ray Peat diet back in September and my sleep got worse at first, but now it's been about 3 months where all I've taken is honey, salt, oil, and 3,000mg of glycine. I sleep straight through the night averaging 7+ hours a night. My goal is 8 hours and I will be using Georgi's test for adrenals to see if there is something I can adjust. My insomnia was HORRIBLE! For 14 years! I am SO grateful something is finally working.

 

[G1986]

There was a time where I used it for about 5 months every night. Then, I went cold turkey and tried not to use it for more than 10 days in a row. I went on Ray Peat diet back in September and my sleep got worse at first, but now it's been about 3 months where all I've taken is honey, salt, oil, and 3,000mg of glycine. I sleep straight through the night averaging 7+ hours a night. My goal is 8 hours and I will be using Georgi's test for adrenals to see if there is something I can adjust. My insomnia was HORRIBLE! For 14 years! I am SO grateful something is finally working.

I'm glad things are working better for you now