AboutEric Brandt Expertise I am a practicing pharmacist.On my drug information website, I have answered hundreds of questions to date. The articles posted on my site include Parkinson`s disease. depression, menopause, diabetes, sleep and aging, congestive heart failure, calcium channel blockers, thyroid hormone replacement therapy, ADHD, multiple sclerosis an more.
Experience I have experience in retail as well as hospital pharmacy pracice. Currently working in a hospital pharmacy. I am experienced in drug information. Over the last 6 years I have developed a successful web site for drug information.
The addressfor my drug information website is http://www.druginformation.bc.caThere you can read articles on varios areas of health interest. You can also leave me questions which I will personally answer. I also have a free health information newsletter called The Caplet. To subscribe send e-mail to
thecaplet-subscribe@topica.com
I am currently taking 100 mg of Trazodone (Desyrel) to help me maintain sleep through the night. It has been a life saver for me. I can now sleep profoundly for 8 hours straight and sometimes more. I am now trying to get pregnant and wonder if I should keep taking this medication for obvious safety reason should I succeed in getting pregnant. Also if I should stop, should I do it now, or wait for a positive pregnancy test, considering how long it might take for me to get pregnant... (I'm 34 with PCOS...)I started reducing the dose and at a little less than half the dose, I am back to waking up at 5:30 am (on a Sunday!).
Thank you so much for your help!
Answer Hi Marie Jo,
Accorsing to the manufacturer
"Since the safety and use of trazodone in pregnant women has not been established, it should not be used in women of childbearing potential unless, in the opinion of the physician, the expected benefits justify the potential risk to the fetus. Since trazodone and/or its metabolites have been detected in the milk of lactating animals, it should not be administered to nursing mothers unless the potential benefits justify the possible risks to the child."
I also found the following study:
A multicentre prospective controlled study to determine the safety of trazodone and nefazodone use during pregnancy.
Can J Psychiatry 2003 Mar;48(2):106-10 (ISSN: 0706-7437)
Einarson A; Bonari L; Voyer-Lavigne S; Addis A; Matsui D; Johnson Y; Koren G
Motherisk Program, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8. einarson@sickkids.on.ca.
OBJECTIVES: Trazodone and nefazodone are phenylpiperazine antidepressants. Currently, there are no adequate, well-controlled studies on the fetal safety of these drugs. Our primary objective was to determine whether the use of trazodone or nefazodone during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk for major malformations. Secondary outcomes of interest included rates of spontaneous and therapeutic abortions, rates of premature labour, and birth weight. METHODS: Pregnant women from 5 centres who had been exposed to these drugs (n = 147) were enrolled in the study during their first trimester. We compared the women with 2 groups of women who took either other antidepressant drugs (n = 147) or nonteratogenic drugs (n = 147). All the women were followed up after delivery to ascertain pregnancy outcome and the health of the baby. RESULTS: We have completed 147 follow-ups. There were 121 (82.4%) live births, 20 (13.6%) spontaneous abortions, and 6 (4%) therapeutic abortions. Of the live births, there were 2 (1.6%) major malformations. In all cases, drug exposure occurred during the first trimester, with 52 (35%) of the women using these drugs throughout pregnancy. The mean gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (SD 4.2), and the mean birth weight was 3306.34 g (SD 655). We found no statistically significant differences among the 3 groups in any of the endpoints of interest that we examined. Of the sample, 58 women were exposed to trazodone, and 89 were exposed to nefazodone. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that these drugs do not increase the rates of major malformations above the baseline rate of 1% to 3%.
Discuss these with your doctor before you make a final decision.
Thank you for using Allexperts
Please subscribe to my free newsletter The Caplet
To subscribe send e-mail to
thecaplet-subscribe@topica.com
More informatioon is available at http://www.topica.com/lists/thecaplet
and at http://www.druginformation.bc.ca
Sincerely,
Eric Brandt, B.Sc. Pharm
