Gotta make this short- need to go get kids from school soon.

I've been taking Depakote and Trazadone since September. The trazadone I don't take a regular dose regularly- just one or two pills or half a pill whenever I feel like it. Friday night I took it but Saturday night I did not. Then Sunday I was completely a horrible emotional mess- crying uncontrollably, not knowing what was wrong, overreacting to everything and generally feeling like a kid again and not understanding the world- that surreal feeling. (I took all my other meds.) Then Sunday night I took it and yesterday I was fine. Last night I did not take it and now I am shakey and irritable. Yesterday at work i was so forgetful- now that I think about it. I don't like how I feel when I take it0- bad dreams, lack of good sleep.... but now if I don't take it, I feel weird and if I do I feel even worse! A couple weeks ago, I went to the movies and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I could, of course, but I kept taking my asthma meds to help- they did a bit, but not really. Now I think about it I guess it was anxiety? Can med withdrawal do that? I don't remember if I took those meds the night before the movies or not. Probably not as I was out with Christopher that night and I never take trazadone at his place. My mind starts going into those places where things seem surreal. That scares me and makes things worse. I go down a bad spiral. Then my mood swings get even MORE pronounced. i am back to worse than i was when I went on the meds for in the first place. Doesn't help that I love coffee so I thought that was making me jittery- lack of food + coffee = jitters, right? Then I realized I felt mentally not myself and thought maybe I am getting addicted to trazadone. What do you all think?

It could be the depakote as well. I am on both too. I only take the trazodone for sleep but the depakote for BP. If I don't take the depakote at the same time everyday I feel messed up too.
Don't take my word on it but it may be that as well.
Good luck and welcome.

I've had a different anti-depressant make my anxiety worse as one of the side affects. I am on Depakote too and so far no problems.

befuddled2

Dear Nathan,
Why don' t you take it regularly?
Has the pdoc said to just take it for sleep when you need it?

Mari

I tried it and she said to take it every night, not just when I can't sleep. But another one of my magic pills that didn't work. Made me have nightmares and even less sleep.

Trazadone is an anti-depressant. But you have to take such large quantities of it for any therapudic effect that most pdocs prescribe it for sleep issues.

You may be very med sensetive and are getting some kind of anti-depressant effects.

I would call the pdoc asap. They need to know what's up.

AD's make me insane with rage without the mood stablizer. It's ugly.

My Wes takes Depakote and Lamictal. Seems we always go to two mood stablizers for him. And absolutely NO AD's what-so-ever. He can't tolerate them at all.

Trazadone did nothing for his sleep disorder either.

I saw my dr. this morning. She isn't changing my meds, but agreed its probably the Depakote and had them take blood to see. Otherwise, we're going to still work on dealing with issues, but she said I'm very insightful what I've worked out so far.

Let us know how it's going. I am really interested to see what your blood work says. (my son Wes is on a really high dose of Depakote, so I am always curious how other people are doing. Every one's different, but it helps to hear how others get by.)

I never heard back about my depakote levels so I guess they are fine.

Yesterday, though, I was having suicidal thoughts- looking up the needed dosages of common drugs to kill myself. Seems that the idea of taking too much trazadone wouldn't work- just make you really miserable. Benedryl, however, would work. I tried talking with my boyfriend about it. He said he just got over 2 years of his own depression and that I should branch out to my other friends and have more sessions with my social worker. Grr. Then we went out to eat for ice cream and I told him a bit about my past with my alcoholic dad and why I get afraid and why my brain stops being logical and that when I feel very scared I don't know anything but to go to him whom I trust. That yesterday at work I could only think of suicide and that was worrying me that it didn't worry me. My car had died a few days before and that seemed to be the catalyst to this all. Now it is fixed. I tried calling my psych. dr. but got voicemails and not much help. Whenever I start feeling REALLY bad, I tend to want to hole up and not let anybody know where I am- so when I GO to him its a last-ditch help-me thing. I sometimes feel very unloved by the world and Sunday and Monday I was feeling like I missed having my family- the one I left when I divorced my ex. Our kids and us- ... we'd eaten at my ex-father-in-law's after a rehearsal near his house and that's what set it off, too. That and it seemed ten years had just flown by. Then that afternoon on the way home, my car died. All my coping strategies go out the window when I get really bad. Most of the time I can do well remembering what I'm taught, but there are days when it all is lost to me. I was just reading on this site that trazadone can make you suicidal .... is that if you miss doses? And what about Depakote? Celexa? i dont' always take those meds and I do miss them here and there.

Dear Nathan,
Take your meds exactly as prescribed. Missing the meds on a day or two here or there can cause big problems.
Listen to your boyfriend. He cares about you and is giving you good advice.
You can pull through this.
M.