Reason For Fogginess, Knotted Muscles On Back, Weakness, And Anxiety After Taking Trazadone?

Posted on Sun, 16 Feb 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 16 Feb 2014 Answered on

Sun, 9 Mar 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I have been using Clonazepam as a sleep aid for 7years1mg to 2 for really bad nights. I recently saw a Psychiatrist, who thought that this was not the right drug for me and told me to go on 1/2 per day and 50MG of Trazadone to help me sleep. I am now foggy and the muscles across the top of my back are knotting up and my body feels weak and heavy. I am aslo extremly anxious. A friend who is a Psychologist told me I may be coming off it too quickly and the her patients do a much slower drawing down. Advice?

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (-4 hours later)

Brief answer...your psychologist friend is absolutely right. Detailed answer... Hello, Thanks for the query. CLONAZEPAM belongs to benzodiazepine group of drugs and is known to cause dependence and addiction after such a prolonged use. It is never quit cold XXXXXXX or reduced in dosage as drastically as you have been prescribed because of severe withdrawal symptoms,it produces. Your symptoms are of severe withdrawal symptoms. The best way to detox or come out of this drug is not to reduce the drug by more than 10% or 1/8th at a time and continuing it for 2 weeks and then reduce by same amount. This way your body doesn't get the shock,although it would take many months in doing it. The best for you would be take your original dose and discuss with your doctor about it.If somebody has to really quit taking such tupe of drugs,then it should be medically supervised. I hope it helps,however you may revert to me for any further query. Best of luck Thanks

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