From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Leaving Trazadone
Date: 18 Aug 92 22:12:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.1992Aug18.221245.23324
Distribution: na
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA

In article <1992Aug18.201238.10162@Warren.MENTORG.COM> tal@Warren.MENTORG.COM (Tom Limoncelli) writes:
>My best friend in the world is on trazadone for her depression.  She
>knows she can't stay on it forever, but is terrified of leaving it.

BTW, it's spelled trazodone.

Why does she know she can't stay on it forever?  Who told her this?  If
it has worked so well, and continues to work well, what possible
advantage might there be in instilling fear that she might relapse due
to her drug therapy coming to an end?  The only concern I can think of
has to with pregnancy.  It's generally desirable to avoid drugs if
possible, during pregnancy, but there are few cut-and-dried rules.  If
someone becomes non-functioning or suicidal when off drug therapy, this
has to be weighed heavily against the desire to have children or bring
a child to term.  Most antidepressants are not primary teratogens, and
might be given during pregnancy if the situation demanded it.

>Before she was on it she suffered from angoraphobia (sp?)

Angoraphobia is a fear of expensive sweaters.  Agoraphobia is
a fear of going outside the house or in very public places.

>and severe depression that ruined her college career.

In other words, a severe, disabling constellation of symptoms.

>How long can people usually stay on trazadone?

Indefinitely, if necessary.

>How do people usually get off of it?  (therapy?)  Is there a standard
>procedure or are there many techniques?

Weaning from any antidepressant drug depends a lot on the person's
disorder and their severity of symptoms.  In simple, uncomplicated
depression which had responded well to drugs, it is not unusual
after a year or so to start reducing the daily dose slowly over
a period of weeks or months, until the person is no longer taking
the drug, all the while keeping tabs on their mood.  If the depression
recurs or becomes deeper, generally the dose is increased, and the
experiment is terminated.

Now, there are some people who simply cannot interrupt their
medication, because the severity of their symptoms, and an attempt to
reduce or stop the drug effectively incapacitates them.  In such cases,
since the whole point of therapy is to help them function, if there's
no other reason to stop the drug, whyever would you bother?  Sometimes
a person has to stop taking a drug and switch to another because of
drug interactions or bad side effects, and in such people, this might
even require hospitalization.  I have no way of knowing whether your
friend is in this category or not; this would have to be discussed with
her doctor.

>I've asked her to talk to her doctor about this, but there is a long
>wait to get an appointment (which is another problem I'm trying to help
>her solve).  I'd like to at least get an idea of what she's in for.

Why not start with the assumption that she's not "in for" anything.
Getting off the drug is only one option, and not necessarily the
best one.  That would have to be a clinical decision taken by your friend
and her doctor.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
Newsgroups: sci.med