Is It Safe To Take Trazodone For Sleep Apnea?

Posted on Sat, 30 May 2015

Question: my mother recently passed the morning after a dr. visit for anxiety . she was given trazodone, finergin, and an anti depressant. she was also being treated at a methadone clinic, with a daily dose of .75 mg, the toxicology report determined she had .92mg at her time of passing. she had been receiving this treatment for 2 years. when the paramedics arrive I explained to them that she had been diagnosed with sleep apnea recently and they thought it was odd she was given trazodone and told to take it with a benadryl since she had sleep apnea, could this have caused her passing?

Answered by Dr. Seikhoo Bishnoi (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Trazodone is safe to use in sleep apnea

Detailed Answer:
Hello, Welcome to Health Care Magic

I am sorry about your loss, please try to remain strong in this bad phase of time. She had sleep apnea and was taking Trazodone, Phenargan and some antidepressant for sleep.

If we consider use of Trazodone in patients of sleep apnea then in various research studies Trazodone is found to have favourable safety profile in sleep apnea. Trazodone increases respiratory arousal threshold which results in improvement in symptoms of sleep apnea. So the drug is relatively safer in apnea.

Benadryl is an OTC sleep medicine. The medicine is a safe medicine and have wide safety profile. Though the medicine should be avoided in sleep apnea but I don't think the medicine would have resulted in her death.

So taking Trazodone with Benadryl may worsen the apnea but in my opinion the combination is not so harmful enough to cause death. Still to get confirmed opinion visit a doctor for medico legal advise.

Thanks, Hope this helps you, if you have more doubts you can ask again

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar