US Brand Name: Desyrel

generic name: trazodone hydrochloride

Other Forms: orange flavored solution

Class: antidepressants

1.  Other brand names & branded generic names¹

• Sideril
• Trazalon
• Trazonil
• Azonz (Finland)
• Beneficat (Argentina)
• Bimaran (Argentina)
• Deprax (Spain)
• Depresil (Philippines)
• Depyrel (Israel)
• Desirel (Thailand)
• Mesyrel (Taiwan)
• Manegan (Argentina)
• Molipaxin (United Kingdom; Ireland; South Africa)
• Pragmarel (France)
• Reslin (Japan)
• Taxagon (Argentina)
• Thombran (Germany)
• Trazolan (Belgium; India; Netherlands)
• Trazone (Indonesia; Portugal; Taiwan)
• Trittico (Austria; Colombia; Greece; Hong Kong; Italy; Peru; Switzerland)
• Torazodon (Japan)
• Trittico (Israel)
• Trazodil 100 (Israel)

2.  FDA Approved Uses of trazodone

Major depressive disorder, with or without anxiety.

3.  Off-Label Uses of

• Panic/Anxiety
• Sleep Disorders
• Bipolar Depression
• Sleep Disorders
• Chronic Fatigue
• Sleep Disorders
• Fibromyalgia
• Sleep Disorders
• Arthritis
• Sleep Disorders
• Lupus
• Sleep Disorders
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Sleep Disorders
• Eating Disorders

4.  Trazodone’s pros and cons

4.1  Pros

The antidepressant you need if you have the combination of insomnia combined with mild depression and/or anxiety.

4.2  Cons

You might just sleep a little too well.

5.  Trazodone’s Side Effects

5.1  Typical Side Effects

Sleepiness, headache, sleepiness, dizziness, sleepiness, nausea, sleepiness, dry mouth, sleepiness, blurry vision, sleepiness, sweating, sleepiness, insomnia or sleepiness, diarrhea or constipation, and did I mention you’ll be tired? Most everything but the sleepiness and, if you get the, dizziness and blurry vision, will go away within a week or two. The dizziness and blurry vision may take a little longer. If they last too long, talk to your doctor.

5.2  Not So Common Side Effects

Low blood pressure, weight gain. General cardiac weirdness, so trazodone shouldn’t be used if you have a history or family history of heart issues, at least, not without prior clearance from a cardiologist. Since it makes you sleep better, many people report vivid or unusual dreams. Like Seroquel, another medication prescribed for insomnia alone, there’s sometimes a nasty hangover the first few days after using trazodone. It usually goes away in a day or two.

5.3  Freaky Rare Side Effects

Priapism so bad that surgical intervention was required to get rid of the unending hard-on. Bob Dole shouldn’t have relied on Viagra to take on Bill Clinton, Bob Dole should have tried trazodone to go macho a macho with the president. Wait, there’s more. Not only can men get stuck that way, but women too, as it once caused clitoral priapism.

6.  Interesting Stuff Your Doctor Probably Won’t Tell You

Trazodone is best taken with food, so take it after dinner, or dessert, to ensure a quality night’s rest.
The major metabolite of trazodone is meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP), one of the nigh-infinite number of drugs sold as “ecstasy” in the US in the 1990s. Why is beyond me, as it’s a hallucinogen that gives you a migraine². Unless it was supposed to scare those party kids straight or something like that.

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7.  Trazodone’s Dosage and How to Take trazodone

The initial dose is 150mg a night, taken after dinner or “a light snack.” But, really, start at just 50mg if you want to wake up the next morning. If you don’t respond after one week, increase it to 100mg. Unlike SSRIs, people respond to trazodone rather quickly, so you can work up to that 150mg dosage after two weeks, then wait a month before increasing the dosage. After that it’s an increase of 50mg a day every four days or so, dividing the dosage, until you reach the maximum of 400mg a day.

8.  How Long trazodone Takes to Work

Like Remeron, two weeks for depression, one-to-two nights for sleep.

9.  How to Stop Taking trazodone

Your doctor should be recommending that you reduce your dosage by 50–100mg a day every 3–5 days if you need to stop taking trazodone.

10.  Comments

Trazodone is the official antidepressant of Sleepy-bye Land. It is rarely prescribed as monotherapy for depression these days. It’s mostly an add-on antidepressant in case you have insomnia combined with your depression and/or anxiety, or prescribed as a sleep aid. If you respond well to SSRIs and you’re not sleeping or are otherwise agitated, trazodone might be a good addition to your cocktail to make sure you sleep. And sleep. And sleep. If you’re going for the combination of antipsychotic and antidepressant, trazodone with Seroquel if you want to wake up any time this week. We’ve come across one person actually taking this combination and she has one hell of a time getting up every morning.

11.  Discussion board

Crazy Meds’ Desyrel discussion board

12.  Your Comments About and Experiences with Desyrel

Tell us what you think about Desyrel (trazodone)

I was recently put on Trazadone(300mg) and Seroquel(150mg) for treatment of insomnia and anxiety while kicking alcohol. The combo knocked me flat asleep and I’ve been getting full night sleeps for the first time in a decade or so. Pretty much every thing crazymeds says is true: —vivid crazy-ass dreams for the first week —definite hunger pangs after taking (even right after dinner) —sleepy, hangover-like feeling in morning —full-night sleep —blood pressure lowers dramatically after taking —sometimes get RLS (restless leg syndrome) All in all, I’ll gladly trade the cons for the pros of getting a complete sleep. It’s been almost 3 weeks, so I’ll post back in another couple weeks as I begin to taper off these meds.

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Enter your own Comments & Experiences with Desyrel here.
You must be a registered member of the Crazy Meds Talk forum to post a comment on this page.

13.  Full US PI sheet, Global SPCs & PILs, check for drug-drug interactions

Desyrel Full US Prescribing Information / PI Sheet

Check for drug-drug interactions

14.  Bibliography

Physicians’ Desk Reference Edition 56 Maria Deutsch & Anu Gupta, Drug Information Specialists, et al. © 2002. Published by Medical Economics Company.

Instant Psychopharmacology 2nd Edition Ronald J. Diamond M.D. © 2002. Published by W.W. Norton

The Complete Guide to Psychiatric Drugs Edward Drummond, M.D. © 2000. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Healing Anxiety & Depression Daniel G. Amen, M.D., and Lisa C. Routh, M.D. © 2003. Published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Mosby’s 2004 Drug Guide David Nissen PharmD, Editor.© 2004. An imprint of Elsevier.

¹ The term "branded generic" has three meanings:
1) A generic drug produced by a generics manufacturer that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company that makes the branded version. E.g. Greenstone Pharmaceuticals makes gabapentin, and they are owned by Pfizer, who also own Parke-Davis, the makers of Neurontin.
2) A branded generic is also a generic drug given a 'brand' name by the manufacturer (e.g. Teva's Budeprion), but otherwise has the same active ingredient as the original branded version (Wellbutrin).
3) A branded generic is also a generic drug given a 'brand' name by the manufacturer (e.g. Sanofi-Aventis' Aplenzin, which is bupropion hydrobromide) and uses a salt of the active ingredient that is different from the original branded version and other generics (Wellbutrin, Budeprion and all the others are bupropion hydrochloride). We aren't sure if that really makes a difference or not. The FDA says they're the same thing. As usual, the data are contradictory, but most evidence indicates that the FDA is right and the differences are negligible.
For our purposes a "branded generic name" refers to the second and third definitions.

² It's probably responsible for the hangover you get the first few times you take trazodone. And you'd have to take a shitload of trazodone, probably a dangerously high amount, to get the ecstasy with a migraine effect.

Date created 25 Apr 2011 - 12:58 Page Creator: JerodPoore Last edited by:

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