Hello All

My name is Oliver I’m a 33 year old male from England. I started struggling with insomnia and anxiety in December 2025. After trying lots of approaches to fix my sleep (full separate story on my insomnia journey if you would like to hear the detail) I was prescribed trazodone by my doctor in January this year.

I was desperate for some relief at the time however completely naive to what I was taking in absence of any guidance from the doctor who simply said take 1-3 tablets (50mg) each night as needed.

The leaflet said take 75mg for anxiety so I started taking 2 tablets (didn’t know you could split tablets), 100mg each night. They helped me sleep however my troubles started after about 5-6 days I started having a severe and unbearable activation period, cognitive issues, severe agitation and inner restlessness , anxiety attacks, constant crying, depression, dull body aches, even suicidal thoughts. My immediate thoughts were I needed to stop taking these tablets however after consulting with my doctor there advise was that this was normal! and symptoms would begin to subside after 4-6 weeks when the medication starts working, so I white knuckled through but did agree to reduce dose to 75mg (6th February) by splitting a tablet.

I was having trouble splitting tablets so the doctor gave me liquid suspension to get my 75mg. After a few weeks the symptoms did subside somewhat from being unbearable but I still had bad nervousness, anxiety and a dull electrical ache/sensation that would make it really difficult to relax anywhere. (Still have this today) Not educated at the time my thoughts were this was side effects from the tablets and I needed to reduce my dose, so I dropped to 50mg (10th March). I now know thanks to this site that these symptoms were likely still lingering from a sensitised nervous system after the strong activation and that this drop was too much!

6-7 days after this dose drop I started feeling bad again with symptoms of increased anxiety depression and agitation not unbearable like before but bad enough to come off work for a couple weeks. At this point my sleep was starting to become disrupted again and I couldn’t get more than 4 hours sleep. Acute symptoms let up after 2 weeks but again still felt really bad with brain fog, anxiety and agitation.

After a number of weeks of not improving i thought that the medication now wasn’t helping me sleep and was making me feel terrible (was still off work) so i wanted to stop taking it. I knew that it had to be tapered and again consulted with the doctor who said just stop CT, I asked about reducing slowly and was told if I want to taper drop current dose 25% each week for 4 weeks until off. So that’s what i did. Dropped to 38mg on 16th April, actually felt better the first week (pre withdrawal honeymoon period that became common occurrence) then dropped to 25mg on 23rd April. Then severe withdrawal symptoms started one week later, BAD. Full panic attack started things off, shaking, poor temperature control, severe agitation, brain and head buzzing, major anxiety, dizziness, disassociation, depersonalisation, loss of appetite, numbness in extremities, jaw dystonia, Anhedonia, constant urination.

I knew this wasn’t right and decided to at least hold dose to ride out the symptoms. Again acute phase started to alleviate just as we were going on holiday with my family 4 weeks later (very nearly cancelled but it was all paid for). Stupidly on holiday i completely forgot to take my trazodone with food which is what I’ve always done and also had a few beers one night (I’ve always been a casual drinker previously but has pretty much given up since I started struggling in January). Again after 7 days (honeymoon period) started to feel bad again only then realised that I hadn’t been taking with food. I immediately started again but started getting mild akathisia jerking movements and really bad nervousness again. It’s settled slightly after a week. I read that taking with food can increase absorption rates (20% for trazodone), so this was effectively a 20% drop? has anybody else had trouble with being inconsistent with taking meds with food?

At this time I stumbled across this site and SA and realised that I had been really knocking my nervous system numerous times not giving chance to settle. Is this kindling? What are my chances of being protracted now after several heavy acute withdrawals? I’ll continue to hold my current dose then follow a 10% taper when I feel up to it. Some other questions I have:

I use to run ultramarathons prior to all Thai and really enjoy running. My running has taken massive hit during this year, when I feel bad I can’t run at all I get to dizzy and exhausted. But when I have better days I want to get out, even doing a half marathon off the cuff one unexpected very good day, If I feel up to it is any running advised? Or is this just going to stress my nervous system while it recovers?

I currently have adrenaline surges upon wakening and very tough mornings with restlessness and dizziness then this seems to even out by afternoon. Why is this? Is this my cortisol response not being properly regulated?

I’ve really struggled on trazodone, even loss my job due to being constantly unwell for months and want to stop taking it but feel like I should keep things as consistent as possible for a good period of time.

Apologies A lot of questions initially but hoping some of you can offer some guidance, I will keep posting on my journey.

Thanks

Oliver

Hi @OllieDez

Welcome to the forum!

 

This is a volunteer-run, community forum aimed at helping those who are tapering and/or experiencing difficulties with psychiatric medications and withdrawl syndrome. We are not medical professionals and cannot offer medical advice. We simply offer support and opinions which you could use as talking points with a medical provider knowledgeable in withdrawing off psychiatric medications.

 

Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules and the disclaimer located here: Guidelines

 

Please make sure your signature is kept up to date with your drug history. This will allow members to see some basic information about your drug history and situation so that they may help you best. Information on how to do this is located in the FAQs section above, but here is a direct link: Update Signature

Once this is done, future posts made by you will have this signature turned on by default. For this reason please keep it clear but condensed as possible.

Please use the format outline here Preferred signature/drug history format

I'm so sorry to read about the tough time you've had recently you will find plenty of support here for sure.

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

I started struggling with insomnia and anxiety in December 2025. After trying lots of approaches to fix my sleep (full separate story on my insomnia journey if you would like to hear the detail) I was prescribed trazodone by my doctor in January this year.

Be more than happy to hear more about your initial sleep issues. Sleep issues generally for people start with some stress or other factor that makes sleep difficult for a night or two, that then often triggers an anxious response and makes sleep worse. The Chemical imbalance theory drives a concern that this is a fault in our sleep but really it isn't. Drugs for sleep are certainly not the answer. Mainly it's about understanding your brain will sleep, the more your worry it won't the more you don't sleep, so really it's just mind over matter, once you realise that your sleep issues can litterally go away! That is an overly simplistic statement and there is a bit more too it, but really thats all there is to it imo!

Unfortunately these drugs damage our sleep architecture so once you have realised sleep isn't something you choose and your body chooses it, we can still have problems with sleep that we can't really impact with mindset. In WD it's mainly about not letting anxiety cause second fear around sleep.

We have a post on it here: Sleep in WD

 

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

by splitting a tablet.

Just so you know, pill cutters are not accurate enough, you will have needed a set of scales to get this dose consistent and this won't have helped matters.

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

doctor gave me liquid suspension to get my 75mg.

This is a good solution for an accurate dose, people can react to a hard switch though and we suggest a crossover taper. The switch itself would have potentially been another destablising event for you.

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

I knew that it had to be tapered and again consulted with the doctor who said just stop CT, I asked about reducing slowly and was told if I want to taper drop current dose 25% each week for 4 weeks until off. So that’s what i did. Dropped to 38mg on 16th April, actually felt better the first week (pre withdrawal honeymoon period that became common occurrence) then dropped to 25mg on 23rd April. Then severe withdrawal symptoms started one week later, BAD. Full panic attack started things off, shaking, poor temperature control, severe agitation, brain and head buzzing, major anxiety, dizziness, disassociation, depersonalisation, loss of appetite, numbness in extremities, jaw dystonia, Anhedonia, constant urination.

As you know this was quite a quick taper, you weren't on the drug that long so you may have been able to manage but obviously it was too quick for you. Due to the hyberbolic curve of the effect on the brain of the drug, the lower doses are harder to come off, so it is really important for you to take your time tapering this last stage especially as your nervous system is a bit wobbly!

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

Stupidly on holiday i completely forgot to take my trazodone with food which is what I’ve always done and also had a few beers one night (I’ve always been a casual drinker previously but has pretty much given up since I started struggling in January). Again after 7 days (honeymoon period) started to feel bad again only then realised that I hadn’t been taking with food. I immediately started again but started getting mild akathisia jerking movements and really bad nervousness again. It’s settled slightly after a week. I read that taking with food can increase absorption rates (20% for trazodone), so this was effectively a 20% drop? has anybody else had trouble with being inconsistent with taking meds with food?

It is really important to not drink alcohol from now onwards. Not a drop.

You should take your dose at the same time each day, that way any effect food has on it is the same. Keep the variables to a min!

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

At this time I stumbled across this site and SA and realised that I had been really knocking my nervous system numerous times not giving chance to settle. Is this kindling? What are my chances of being protracted now after several heavy acute withdrawals? I’ll continue to hold my current dose then follow a 10% taper when I feel up to it. Some other questions I have:

That is correct all these little 'events' cause further harm once the nervous system has been upset. We call this Kindling.

We can't know how this plays out for you now, and you shouldn't think about it. You just need to learn to take one day at a time. Have a read: Acceptance is key - Why does acceptance feel impossible?

I agree you should hold your dose here and let things settle down for you and then taper slower from there. I would suggest you wait till your symptoms are 1-3/10 in severity (Wd Normal) for an extended period of time, before continuing your taper.

10% of your last dose might be ok at first, but for some that is too much, the lower we go, often the slower we need to go. Have a read:Tapering Information

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

I use to run ultramarathons prior to all Thai and really enjoy running. My running has taken massive hit during this year, when I feel bad I can’t run at all I get to dizzy and exhausted. But when I have better days I want to get out, even doing a half marathon off the cuff one unexpected very good day, If I feel up to it is any running advised? Or is this just going to stress my nervous system while it recovers?

This is completely down to you. Some people are exercise intolerant, if this is you then you may need to pull back on what you can expect from yourself. Only you can judge that. There are no rules, we just suggest keeping it to a daily walk until things have settled down for you, then if you want to try some running then you can, if you tolerate it, great, it not, then pop it on the back burner till you can.

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

I currently have adrenaline surges upon wakening and very tough mornings with restlessness and dizziness then this seems to even out by afternoon. Why is this? Is this my cortisol response not being properly regulated?

Super common! We don't know the exact mechanism of this, but it is likley as you have stated here, due to Cortisol, but yes it is common to feel better in the evening.

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

I’ve really struggled on trazodone, even loss my job due to being constantly unwell for months and want to stop taking it but feel like I should keep things as consistent as possible for a good period of time.

I am sorry. It is awful how all this can seriously impact our lives. I agree, you want some extended stablity before thinking about tapering further.

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

Apologies A lot of questions initially but hoping some of you can offer some guidance, I will keep posting on my journey.

Please don't apologize we are here for you.

In the mean time this is what I would do if I were you:

 

-Stay Hydrated 

 

-Eat a good clean whole food diet, avoiding processed foods and sugars.

 

-Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and antihistamines and any other psychoactive substances.

 

Supplements are to be avoided initially, as they often irritate our nervous systems. Try to get your nutrition through food.

 

Down the line, you may wish to introduce Fish Oil and Magnesium. Those who can tolerate them have found them calming to the nervous system. Be careful try one at a time and start low and see how you get on should you choose to try them.

 

A daily walk is very important as much as you can manage, if you can manage it. Gets you your fresh air and Vitamin D does wonders for your mind!

 

You are very welcome here and I hope you find the site supportive.

Chippy

Welcome to the forum.

My advice with the running, if you do want to keep doing it, and you can, is to not do too much, and to stop before that. Not stop when you feel bad, when you feel good, do less than normal so that you never do feel bad.

Once you've had a longer period of feeling decent for a while, you can build it back up.

Wow thanks Chippy, a great prompt response. Makes me feel better immediately that at least I’ve found a place i can share this journey.

My family and friends have all been super supportive some of who have taken psych meds but non have had reactions and feel like I have for so long as a result.

Thanks for your advise I just had no idea what was going on on previously everytime I started feeling like I was improving I’d run long and hard, maybe have the odd ‘f it night’ and have a few beers. I’ll be keeping things as consistent as possible from here.

I will follow up with a post with more specifics on my sleep journey shortly.

51 minutes ago, OllieDez said:

Wow thanks Chippy, a great prompt response. Makes me feel better immediately that at least I’ve found a place i can share this journey.

Pleasure. Glad you found us.

51 minutes ago, OllieDez said:

My family and friends have all been super supportive some of who have taken psych meds but non have had reactions and feel like I have for so long as a result.

This is great news. Happy to hear.

51 minutes ago, OllieDez said:

Thanks for your advise I just had no idea what was going on on previously everytime I started feeling like I was improving I’d run long and hard, maybe have the odd ‘f it night’ and have a few beers. I’ll be keeping things as consistent as possible from here.

Yeah drinking in particular will have set this back a bit I’m afraid. I think you’ve worked that out now though!

Good to hear. Great attitude 😀

52 minutes ago, OllieDez said:

I will follow up with a post with more specifics on my sleep journey shortly.

Perfect.

My Sleep Journey

More detail on my insomnia pre and post meds hopefully this will help some people who start taking antidepressants for the same reasons.

I had always slept like a log with no issues my whole life 7-8+ hours interrupted sleep and actually always had an issue sleeping in and being late for work!

Then I had noticed last year I had started being woken up earlier than usual by the light coming through the curtains or the sound of the milk man doing his rounds at 04:30 or sounds of birds chirping at 05:00 etc. nothing to major but use to really annoy me (how I know now that this sort of thinking was the start of problem). I’d also had a night I didn’t sleep at all prior to a 50k ultramarathon I did in July (anticipation insomnia) I somehow still got up and completed the race, I had a few beers after and fell asleep pretty much straight away! I did another longer race in September I didn’t have this issue.

Then in October the trigger event happened my daughter, 7 years old who had always slept fine (12hours every night) for some unknown reason went through a stage where she would not sleep and keep me and my partner up all night, coming out her room several times to use the bathroom, knocking on our bedroom door, tantrums on the landing, refusing to go back to bed. This lasted 4-5 weeks and long story short, over a few nights she just decided to start sleeping fine again.

This next bit is a bit hazy with my memory as I was also suffering with brain fog however I believe I did sleep okay for a short while but slowly started loosing more and more sleep into December and Christmas time. I also noticed anxiety coming to the surface in the day over things that never got anxious over mainly seeing friends and family which was weird because I use to look forward to doing this previously.

At this point I tried everything you could think of to try and solve the sleep issue. Thinking if I could sleep okay my anxiety from being sleep deprived will go away. This included sleep hygiene methods (no screens, hot bath before bed, dim lights before bed, changed mattress and pillows, air filter in bedroom, plants in room, redecorated bedroom). Non of this worked. In January I vowed to stop drinking alcohol eat clean and up my running training to try and be healthier and sleep better. This didn’t help either and sleep and anxiety got worse, i was having numerous nights in a row of less than 3 hours sleep. (Looking back on this period I probably made things worse as I was running 30-50k a week on 1500-2000 calories a day and little sleep which likely put more stress on my system). At this point I was also reading into CBTi sleep restriction so started going bed a bit later to be more tired, but not really following it properly.

My work also started to become affected, I had a senior management position at a manufacturing company so had to be switched on between the ears everyday (still able to go to work but forgetting everything). So I went to the doctors which is where I start my journey with meds. They first prescribed an antihistamine which helped the first few nights but made me really dizzy and nauseous so stopped taking after 2 nights. After another week of sleepless nights and an anxiety attack and I went back to the doctors and they prescribed trazodone at the end of January.

As mentioned on my initial post I started with 100mg and they helped me sleep 7+ hours but got the usual hangover effect and then severe activation symptoms a week later, sleeping fine but with severe symptoms my focus was away from my sleep and just wanted to feel better and myself again. Subsequently on the 10th March I dropped to 50mg thinking this would help. After this drop (and increased symptoms) I started waking earlier and could only get 4-5 hours sleep. During March and April I followed CBTi plan online with a coach religiously with strict wake up times morning sunlight exposure, 5 hour sleep window, dim lights before bed, getting up and leaving the bed if not sleeping. I tried taking trazodone 1 hour before bed, with food, without food, Immediately before bed as well as the dose changes mentioned. I showed no signs of improvement, from this 4-5 hour sleep pattern. The main struggle I had was with the sleep restriction pattern I was using 12:00-06:00 window struggling to stay awake after 22:00 and always waking up at 05:00.

I then tried to drop to 37mg and week later 25mg. Mistake. Huge heavy acute withdrawal I felt suicidal again throughout that. But sleep didn’t change much at all really some initial bad nights but then back to the 4-5 hour pattern. I then stumbled across a Reddit thread with mentioned acceptance commitment therapy for insomnia (ACTi) really helped them mainly teachings from the the sleep coach school (YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@thesleepcoachschool8192?si=o1w7OrmOXiN2S64B).

I watched a couple videos and something just clicked and really resonated with me I realised I’d been looking at this insomnia problem wrong the entire time it was an anxiety problem and insomnia was the symptom, i was scared of being awake in the night and my brain has recognised that as a perceived threat which paradoxically keeps you from sleeping. Daniel’s (the sleep coach) teachings are to let go of any effort you have to try and sleep and really accept that being awake is okay. (Easier said than done I know)

For those that are suffering with sleep, I’m going to repeat this as you have to believe it. Being awake at night is okay. The more you are bothered by it the more it happens. When you befriend wakefulness at night you teach your brain that being awake is not a problem and when it doesn’t see a problem it doesn’t wake you up as an insomniac. I appreciate particular people reading this will be not sleeping due to withdrawal and that can’t be helped (these are called sleep disturbances) but if you don’t react to this the sleep will return. (Again fully appreciate this can be for a long time for some reading this)

Theres a lot more to the teachings than what I’ve explained but for me I was in a position where I had tried everything and nothing had helped, I was off work unwell not sleeping much so I thought, f**k it let’s just be awake tonight and I’ll do what I want with no intentions of making sleep better. The next 2 nights i slept 7 hours all way through! But the kicker was I felt no better as a result 😂 there’s a lesson in that with the acceptance piece. The next night I woke up early at some point (don’t know exact time as stopped keeping track of time) and decided to watch a film in bed as part of trying to make the most of being awake I didn’t get back to sleep that night but after that night every time I wake up early I was always able to get back to sleep.

Currently my sleep isn’t to bad, I usually wake once or twice in the night but manage to get back off for a little while or wake up a little early. Don’t get me wrong I still have many nights with not much sleep but it’s better than before. I’m still taking 25mg of trazodone but only taking that now to try and stabilise internal buzz/ restlessness, dizziness and anxiety symptoms. I will taper off when I feel like the time is right.

While it hasn’t solved all my problems I feel like I’m less bothered by my sleep, and that’s really helped me. I hope it can help others, if you struggling please go the link above and try to resonate with the Daniel’s teachings there is loads of content for free, and many success stories involving AD and Benzo use as well guidance videos about using medications AD and Benzos with sleep.

Hope this helps.

17 hours ago, Luke said:

Welcome to the forum.

My advice with the running, if you do want to keep doing it, and you can, is to not do too much, and to stop before that. Not stop when you feel bad, when you feel good, do less than normal so that you never do feel bad.

Once you've had a longer period of feeling decent for a while, you can build it back up.

Thanks Luke, I thought exercise would be helping, even earlier in the year pushing harder than normal to try and get that usual post run feel good buzz. All I care about now is feeling better if that means pulling back on running I’m fine with that.

I could never run during difficult patches anyway, looking back I took it to far when having better patches.

Currently haven’t run in a while as not felt up to it. Trying to find motivation to get out walking has been difficult enough.

Oliver

@OllieDez

Thank you for this post! Awesome work!

For me you have hit the nail on the head. What you described is exactly what I went through. You basically gain a sleep anxiety. I agree the way through it is to stop caring if you sleep and accept that your body knows what it is doing!

As you also touched on, sleep in WD is difficult due to the drugs/injury, and we can't control this either, so we can get our 'second fear' taking care of as you described so well, but due to the injury sleeping may still be difficult. Sometimes we won't sleep, but if we accept that this is due to the injury/drugs and not us, and the brain will get enough sleep and we can't control sleep or WD, then I think we are in the right place with sleep from a mindset perspective.

I'm going to link your post in our sleep thread if that is ok?!

47 minutes ago, Chippy said:

I'm going to link your post in our sleep thread if that is ok?!

no problem.

One more question if you don’t mind, after each dose drop I’ve done I always feel better for the first 5-6 days until withdrawal kicks in (because my dose drops have been to much). Given this and my initial activation reaction to taking the meds is it likely that I have adverse reaction to the meds which is keeping me feeling bad?

Or is it my nervous system that needs more time to stabilise, I’ve been on 25mg for nearly 6 weeks now and still having strong symptoms.

Any advice on particular syringes to use would also be welcomed.

6 minutes ago, OllieDez said:

One more question if you don’t mind, after each dose drop I’ve done I always feel better for the first 5-6 days until withdrawal kicks in (because my dose drops have been to much). Given this and my initial activation reaction to taking the meds is it likely that I have adverse reaction to the meds which is keeping me feeling bad?

It does sound like an ADR to me, this is common, you get a few days relief as your body 'thanks' you for less drug, and then of course the WD symptoms kick in.

It is a very nuanced understanding what your 'WD Normal' is, we suggest rating your symptoms out of 10, so 10 being the worst you can imagine and 1 being mild. If symptoms are 1-3 for a prolonged period of time we would call that WD normal. Understanding what symptoms and severity of symptoms are due to the ADR and what are due to WD is something you'll get a feel for. It becomes a little balancing act between going slow enough to minimise WD symptoms, holding if you get them, then reducing slower next time, and reducing frequently enough to relieve symptoms you feel are down to the ADR. What we do know is that ADRs tend to be dose related, so as you reduce you should start to get more relief from them.

11 minutes ago, OllieDez said:

Or is it my nervous system that needs more time to stabilise, I’ve been on 25mg for nearly 6 weeks now and still having strong symptoms.

How long to hold is up to you. As you haven't been on the drug very long and you think you are having an ADR so you could start to consider if a small reduction is worth trying. Something tiny like 1%. This might help you tell how things are for you at the moment. If you respond well it confirms the ADR and definitely points to you needing to keep tapering, but doing this balancing the WD symptoms after each cut. Learning to read what your body is telling you is really important, it knows best!

Some find using the Brass Monkey Slide the best way to handle tapering with an ADR. Micro Tapering

You can set the rate lower than 10% and you get a 2 week hold to let those symptoms settle down.

If things are still pretty rough for you, and you think that they are WD symptoms holding is probably for the best. Ultimately you need to work out what your base line symptoms are, you use this to work from to inform when to taper and when to hold.

16 minutes ago, OllieDez said:

Any advice on particular syringes to use would also be welcomed.

Not specifcally. Any needless syringe is fine. It's good to use all the same brand syringes if you are using more than one for making up a dose. So for example if you measure some water with one size, the drug with another and the dose with a 3rd, you want to make sure they are the same brand so if you change brands the relative proportions will be the same and your dose will be consistent still. Clear Nail varnish over the markings can be a good idea to protect them.

Do you want to explain your process at the moment so we can check it makes sense and help you make the smaller reductions?

We also have the topic here you might want to read: Using Manufactured Liquid Antidepressants

On 6/6/2026 at 9:11 AM, OllieDez said:

Thanks Luke, I thought exercise would be helping, even earlier in the year pushing harder than normal to try and get that usual post run feel good buzz. All I care about now is feeling better if that means pulling back on running I’m fine with that.

I could never run during difficult patches anyway, looking back I took it to far when having better patches.

Currently haven’t run in a while as not felt up to it. Trying to find motivation to get out walking has been difficult enough.

Oliver

Everyone is different.

If you stop, and then when you feel able, slowly increase activity, that should help you to evaluate whether it affects you significantly or not.

Some light activity when you can manage it, like walking, is likely good for you. It won't make you better but it's beneficial for your health and wellbeing and hopefully manageable.

I’ve been taking 25mg for 7 weeks now and after a few hiccups on holiday (drinking and not taking with food) things have started to look a progressively better so was planning on making my first drop to 23mg. However last few days I’ve seemed to have gone backwards very severe anxiety adrenaline rushes early morning around 3-4am. Makes the every morning really tough with body sensations and started dry heaving, it still seems to become a little better in the afternoon. But I’m really struggling again. I’ve been religious with my diet, only walking for exercise.

I still don’t know if this is an ADR, kindling or withdrawal… should I still drop dose or wait for this bad patch to pass? I would say symptoms were getting to a 2-3 and now at 6-7.

Edited June 17Jun 17 by OllieDez

I'd strongly recommend avoiding drinking alcohol. I've seen reactions to that range from not a lot, to minor setbacks to very serious ones. It's just not worth it in this.

Maybe give it another week and see how you feel then, and come back and discuss? Perhaps it's a small blip you're in now and you can taper sooner, perhaps you need a bit more time to fully stabilise.

1 hour ago, OllieDez said:

should I still drop dose or wait for this bad patch to pass? I would say symptoms were getting to a 2-3 and now at 6-7.

I would hold here until you see a prolonged period of symptoms at 1-3/10. Long holds help stablise you for a taper, worth considering IMO.

Started to feel somewhat stabilised during the last couple weeks and was considering continuing with the taper, I was then refilled my liquid trazodone from the pharmacy which was a different manufacturer. Didn’t think much of it, I initially felt much better almost 0 symptoms for a couple days however I’m on day 5 now and I have started to have strong WD symptoms again (my typical pattern 5/6 day pattern).

Looking on SA I’ve seen it mentioned it can cause upset with people. So I guess another learning and I’ll have to ride this out and not change manufacturers again.

Anyone with any experience this?

10 hours ago, OllieDez said:

Started to feel somewhat stabilised during the last couple weeks and was considering continuing with the taper, I was then refilled my liquid trazodone from the pharmacy which was a different manufacturer. Didn’t think much of it, I initially felt much better almost 0 symptoms for a couple days however I’m on day 5 now and I have started to have strong WD symptoms again (my typical pattern 5/6 day pattern).

Looking on SA I’ve seen it mentioned it can cause upset with people. So I guess another learning and I’ll have to ride this out and not change manufacturers again.

Anyone with any experience this?

This is very common, we suggest doing a crossover taper, rather than a hard switch to a new brand. If your symptoms are too bad and you can get your OG brand still you consider going back which might ease things for you.

Stabilised on new manufacturer of trazodone, flare up in symptoms only lasted 4-5 days which was nice. Also as an unexpected turn I appear to feel better on the new manufacturer in comparison to the previous. I’ve asked the pharmacy to keep me on this manufacturer but they say they get what there given…. Would be good to hear if anyone else in UK has trouble with keeping on one manufacturer.

Held for a couple weeks then decided to drop from 25 to 24mg to test the waters. Currently at day 5 since the reduction and I have noticed my symptoms flare up today. Hoping severity or duration isn’t to going to be to bad as it’s only a 4% drop but will see how I get on in the coming days. I’ve previously felt symptoms peaks around day 7-10 days after reduction.

Edited Sunday at 10:41 AM5 days by OllieDez

20 hours ago, OllieDez said:

Stabilised on new manufacturer of trazodone, flare up in symptoms only lasted 4-5 days which was nice. Also as an unexpected turn I appear to feel better on the new manufacturer in comparison to the previous. I’ve asked the pharmacy to keep me on this manufacturer but they say they get what there given…. Would be good to hear if anyone else in UK has trouble with keeping on one manufacturer.

This is good to hear, did you just straight switch in the end then?

I think if you are on a generic version of a drug it can be a challenge to keep the same brand, being on the brand name generally means you won't get switched providing the drug doesn't get discontinued. Perhaps if you ask your GP to request that brand on the prescription this may help, but then again you may still be at the mercy of what they have in stock. Considering how destablising switching can be for some, it is a real issue that it's not recognised more by pharmacys the problems of switching patients around.

Hi Chippy

Yes did a straight swap as had no choice with little liquid left in my oral solution. As mentioned initially felt much better, then 5 days later felt symptoms come on, that lasted about another 5 days then settled which felt much better hence decided to start my slow taper. Luckily after numerous calls and conversations the GP did update my prescription to detail the same manufacture (syrimed) each time. The local pharmacy have since stocked up on that for me so grateful for that.

Since my drop to 24mg had my usual pattern of 5 day window followed by uplift in symptoms. It’s been 10 days since the drop and thought I was coming out the other side with things slowly settling down but yesterday had a sudden and intense anxiety surge (not full panic attack but not far off) in the middle of the day out of nowhere and continued all last night waking up numerous times. Not had that since doing the big drops earlier in the year… so feel pretty rubbish at the moment with symptoms of complete loss of appetite, inner agitation, muscle jerks, sleep distruption, Tinitus. Anxiety and depression are not to bad at the moment, I’m just feeling upset that a 4% drop is effecting me this much. I had come to terms with a slow taper but this is suggesting it will be much longer.

Guess I’ll hold 24mg from here and see what happens.

One question I did have is after seeing some comments on SA some people said they noticed a pattern where they felt withdrawal when they got to the end of their oral solution due to it being open for some time. I didn’t notice that on the bottle it says used within 1 month of opening! My last bottle I used for nearly 2 months. How does everyone else manage their oral solutions? Once down to low quantities are you throwing it out after 1 month?