Trazadone

@mmwagner46: It sounds like you're doing what you can! Gym memberships are expensive but there are some discounts, or even free memberships, afforded to seniors if you're in that category so may be worth checking into. Although even something as simple as walking can provide excellent benefits: improve cardiovascular health, strengthen muscles and bones, aid in weight management, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Lately, I've been taking advantage of my local mall opening early to walk, along with my dog, before they open to the public for shopping. It's a great way to get some exercise in no matter what the weather (and save money by just window shopping!), even helps to de-stress a bit. **I just saw your comment that you don't have a desire to walk - I totally get where you're coming from as I agree it can be boring! But that was one of the things I enjoy about mall walking: It's in a controlled environment, always something different to see, and people to meet. Do you have a local mall you could possibly look into for this type of activity?

I know that last one can be challenging; fortunately, Mayo Clinic has some free guidelines for this: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/stress-management/about/pac-20384898.
Do you think any of these might be helpful?

grammato STOP doing research on your medication all the time, it does not help you. If your Dr put you on them & you wish to find out more ask your Dr. beside just by taking a few pills for a short time is not going to cause any problems
we all take med of some sort and yes lots of med are not always good but with out trying them first you won't know. but first ask your Dr he should be able to help you there but Stop doing research all the time

@razorsharp: I do believe we are on the same page here about checking with your personal prescribing health care provider about your specific medications - whether it's the dosage, duration and potential interactions with other medications, among other concerns. You do have a good point that many times medications are trialed and found not to be helpful and it's definitely advisable to discuss with the provider the steps to discontinue at such a time. Some meds can be stopped abruptly and some need to be tapered to prevent adverse reactions. You're absolutely correct that a provider can guide their patient accordingly.

Occasionally, as you've likely seen here on Connect, people have questions, reactions, general feelings or emotions they'd like to share with others to get their input or hear more about any similar experiences and how they've managed them. There's something to be gained by the peer-to-peer exchange in this type of forum.

The reason you likely see I've referenced some research in my responses is I'm doing so not just as a peer and current Mayo patient myself, as referenced in my bio (you can click on my profile to view that), but as a Mayo Clinic Connect mentor. You can find out more about this role here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/about-connect/tab/volunteer-mentors/
We can draw on our personal experiences - as patients and several of us with past backgrounds in the healthcare field - to welcome new members, contribute to discussions and provide resources.

If you've found anything objectionable in any of my responses, please let me know so I can correct them. Ideally I've helped to explain some of those responses. Has this helped to clarify?

No I'm not here to tell you what you do or look at the link you sent to me because my son when he found out I had Cancer of the Liver & Pancures he started doing all sorts of research about it & it drove me nuts but if you like doing it that is up to you & I wish you well

Hi
I was on it for a couple months 12.5 mg it does work well and it actually really helped my sleep apnea. But I found that it made me have a lot of nightmares so I went off at now I'm just doing melatonin and actually it's working I only do 1 mg because I also take so Loft for depression but 25 mg

My doctor told me that after age 50, Benadryl is contraindicated for anything other than a severe allergic reaction. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-drugs-like-benadryl-linked-to-increased-dementia-risk-20150128812

I do take 50 mg Trazadone for sleep and have had no side effects.

@sue417
I was just on another group posting about taking trazadone and it causing very vivid and deep dreams. The poster was talking about having his pulse rate go up and down during his sleep and he takes trazadone.

When I was aon trazadone I had tremendous deep and vivit dreams. I mean really deep and vivid. I would remember then when I woke up. I talked to my psychiatry medication specialist about it and was told raises your serotonin and very vivid dreams.

I mean I had some really some so vivid that I thought they happened when I woke up. Sometimes upset. I asked the poster to talk to the doctor who prescribed the trazodone if he could be having such vivid dreams that could be causing his pulse rate to rise and fall so much.

I do not take trazodone any longer on a daily basis. My prescription now is take as needed. But before I was put on it I could not sleep. I was prescribed Ambein but did not work my mind kept racing. Trazodone kind of put brakes on my racing mind and went to sleep.

Research can't hurt as long as you read both sides of the conclusions. Many times they conflict. So you try it and see how it affects you personally. Research has been done on all the drugs approved by the FDA; and that's what we get.

Nonsense. You should know as much about your meds as possible.I keep track of my meds and run a full check on interactions any time I start a new one. I have picked up some interactions that were serious. Upon reporting reporting them to my doc, she has been grateful.

@srush
What I do is when I am prescribed something I do research on it. Anything that bothers me I got back to the subscriber who prescribed it and asked questions.

Example, I was prescribed one medication that carried a side affect to another I was taken. I found this out by doing research. I contacted my PCP who ordered it and was advised that he knew of the contradiction but in my case it would not affect me as my condition was different and no problem. Then said I apologize I should explained that to you I know you research your medications.

The thing with medications everyone is not going to react the same. One will have side affects another will not. One will have significant side affects another will not. I find this out with statins. I did get some muscle pain but was advised to take co-q-10 and slowly the pain went away.

I read post where others have had really bad side affects with statins but that should not deter taking them if prescribed. Just do your research and if any of the significant side affects occur check with your doctor who prescribed it.

Another example. I was prescribed a medication by my heart failure doctor. He did not go over the side affects. I started having pain, tendernous, headaches. I read the drug information provided and sure enough was common side affects. Then I researched the drug and found the degree of side affects I was experiencing were in fact at a level of being allergic to it.

I contacted my heart failure doctor and he agreed and switched my medicaions. From my experience researching your medication can provide a good understanding of it's purpose and side affects you should be aware of. If those side affects are significant then check with your doctor about them and also explain you researched it as well as reading drug information.

We are all individuals and research will give you a wide information. Just make sure your research is from widely known medical institutions or medical information. What I do is research on WEBMD, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, etc. and get a good feedback of why it is prescribed, what to be concerned with, side affects that are significant if you have them. And then if singificant contact my doctor who prescribed it.

I know when put on Entresto and Carvididol I felt horrible. I was told to try to hang in there for a couple of weeks and what I was feeling was common side affect. I worked through it and sure enough about 2 weeks in the fatique and feelling terrible went away. My EF which was main reason on it stablized with the medicaion and has never gotten any worse where it was going down and down.