Insomnia Forum Posting

Posted by Lynne on February 22, 2002 at 00:01:58:

In Reply to: Re: Medication resistance? posted by Scott M on February 21, 2002 at 19:14:43:

Just to say I fully agree with Scott. I had a very similar experience to his with medication and simply was unable to taper off trazodone, so I too ended up quitting cold turkey. To be honest, it didn't do me any harm, because at that point I wasn't sleeping with the trazodone anyway (not even 2 hours per night), so I just decided to 'tough it out'. Yes, I didn't sleep for weeks after that (but I'd been through all that before, even on meds). However, despite not sleeping I was immediately less nervous and had more energy. Fortunately I had no nasty physical withdrawal symptoms like pains and so on. So I say go for it, Scott. Read through my previous posts and see how I got off that slippery slope - it might help you.

As for LL's question, yes, you are normally supposed to taper (according to doctors) but somehow for many people it just doesn't work and you end up taking the stuff for life unless you do something drastic. Everyone has to find their own way. But I think so much of it is psychological. Maybe some people are more convinced that tapering will be good for them and help them get better (and so they do!) and others (like cynical old me!) are always sceptical and think that nothing will work (that old negative thinking again!). So it all comes down to changing your thoughts in the end and becoming a softer, less cynical, more positive person and believing in something. It can be difficult in this world, but it's certainly worth a try!

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