Posted by King Vultan on June 19, 2004, at 23:48:18
In reply to SERZONE/NEFAZODONE - COULD I SWITCH TO TRAZODONE ?, posted by Tony C. on June 19, 2004, at 12:11:57
> Hi, I am a 7 year SERZONE/NEFAZODONE user, my question is, if I am ABSOLUTELY FORCED to give up the Generic Serzone (Nefazodone) is TRAZODONE a good Alternative ? My Pharmacist said they are pretty similar. Any input from a Trazodone user, or someone knowledgeable will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Sincerely - Tony C.
>
Trazodone is easily the most similar drug to nefazodone, and if you look at the two molecules side by side, about 2/3 of the structure is identical. However, trazodone is quite a bit more sedating and is commonly used as a sleeping aid, whereas nefazodone is not. In the insomnia chapter in my book "Psychotropic Drugs" they have them listed like this for sedation:trazodone +++
nefazodone + to ++For comparison, Remeron, doxepin, and amitriptyline (three notoriously sedating drugs) are also listed as +++. Effexor is rated as + and nortriptyline is listed as ++. You could certainly try trazodone and see if you could tolerate the sedation, but if you can't, I suppose nortriptyline might also be worth trying. This is probably the next closest drug to nefazodone after trazodone, but unlike these other two drugs, nortriptyline is a significant blocker of amine reuptake, in this case, norepinephrine. However, it is not terribly dissimilar otherwise and is also quite inexpensive.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:358095
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040614/msgs/358228.html