Trazadone & CKD & Gfr dropping

[Cbailey]

Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone has had adverse affects from taking trazadone for sleep? My primary care prescribed this med for when I occasionally have sleep problems. I would take 50mg for a few times a week at the very most. My ckd has went from a gfr of 45 to 32 in a years time. Kidney disease is heriditary in my family, and I generally eat well, exercise and hydrate. I'm just looking for the culprit. I see my neph every 6 months and have been diagnosed for 5 years. I generally go down by just a few points and have never dipped down this low. Thank you!

[jodaer]

I took it years ago and didn't have any side effects, but I also didn't have CKD at that time. What does your doctor say? Check out Drugs.com and see what they have to say

[Cbailey in reply to jodaer]

Hi Jodaer, drugs.com just say that if you have renal impairment to use this drug cautiously. I guess it metabolizes in the kidney and is hard on the kidney to excrete? IMy primary care prescribed this, and my neph new about the medication. I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I’m starting to feel like everything my drs say, I have to double check, research, then double check again. I kind of feel like nephs are always like, I’m so sorry, just keep on doing what you are doing, and I’ll see you in 6 months??

[userotc in reply to Cbailey]

I think your find at drugs.com probably answers your query ie it has the potential of kidney effects at excretion (note it's metabolised in the liver like most/all drugs).

This again highlights the danger of drug use. And, if I'm being fair on medics (I get criticised by some on here otherwise!), they only know what they know and that's drugs.

You must have the same neph as mum as he says EXACTLY the same!!

Re your eGFR fall, my mum's dropped to 46 recently after steadily increasing from 36-76 over 5y. Her neph didn't help with this rise but we believe drug-free, natural treatment did. And 1 possible cause of her reversal is the slip of taking Benadryl for a couple of days (though her slip with hydration is more likely).

[Appolonia]

Hi, I have been taking Trazadone fo many years for sleep disorder. It works well for me, however I started taking it well before I knew I had CKD. If I had to venture a guess, I would say that years of HBP & eating badly probably affected my kidneys the most. I am currently at Stage 3A, but have labs next month.

[Cbailey in reply to Appolonia]

Thank you for your reply. I guess I’m just trying to figure out why my numbers have changed so drastically over this last year, My ckd is inherited. My mom, aunts, and grandmothers have all had it and passed, my mother is still living and on her second transplant. I’d say other than going vegetarian, I do eat well and take care of my body.

[Hidden in reply to Cbailey]

Are you by any chance taking aspirin or other NSAID on a daily basis for pain? My wife was taking Ibuprofen for her hip joint pain and and her kidney function dropped quite a bit.

[Cbailey in reply to Hidden]

I don’t take any other medications.

[Appolonia]

I eat a plant based diet nearly everyday with a bit of chicken sprinkled in a couple of times a week ( my nephrologist told me this would be ok.) I do miss chicken, but of course it's animal protein which I try to avoid. It has been a hard adjustment for me & I am sure many others in this group. Best of luck to you on your kidney journey, just keep in mind that everyone is different & eat according to your labs.

[Cbailey in reply to Appolonia]

Appolonia, did you see a big difference in your labs when you went plant based? I do limit my protein and my sodium.

[Appolonia in reply to Cbailey]

Yes, I raised my eGFR from 49 to 57 & my Creatinine down a bit from 1.1 to 1.0.

[Tabookitty5]

I have not had problems from that medication but I don’t use it daily. I used miralax almost daily for a couple of years and THAT was stupid but I have limited bathroom access and it was helpful for getting my bowels clean IN A HURRY but it has caused long term electrolyte imbalances/corrections and this seems to have kick started my kidneys getting to stage 3 BUT IMPROVED LABS starting just 3 weeks ago turned things around and continue to improve with better eating and more natural bowel activity/more time in the bathroom again.

These days, the eff dee yay tells doctors what to prescribe based on NO MEDICAL TRAINING in the USA now so the patient health and symptom relief has been bumped down the priority list and is now OPTIONAL in healthcare. So yeah, using the internet for our own safety is necessary for preventing possible medication interactions. Especially with so many herbal and botanical products now being available widely over the counter without having to be approved by the FDA. FDA approval no longer has much weight in medicine management due to financial biases. In my opinion.

[Starcatty]

I have stage 3b and have used trazadone for about 20 years for sleep. It may or may not have caused CKD, I will never know. I now take THC cannabis for sleep and it works so well that i don't use trazadone very much. I still have to take meds for fibromyalgia so it's hard to take care of the kidneys when you have to take meds. I guess I just try to limit them as much as i can. I am sure a lot of CKD patients have to take meds that are not good for the kidneys but it isn't mentioned much in the forums. And also, the people who are on the forums are more health-conscious anyway.

[Boxster2]

Granted i am in stage 2 but my doc advised its safe for me and have taken it every night for two years since my diagnosis and holding pretty steady with gfr and proteinuria so ne negative effects for me so far.

[Blackknight1989]

Some new studies show that this is shown to significantly increase the risk of AKI and ERSD in stage 3 and below CKD patients. Recommends further studies.

It should be noted that anything you put in your mouth(body) should be discussed with your primary kidney doctor on both the safety for you specifically and if they can cause worsening and lasting kidney damage. As someone who was diagnosed stage 4 on 12 February 1996 and then had AKI on 16 February 1996 due to a mistake by an ER doctor I strongly recommend never starting a jew med or diet or drink or anything that you put in your body without a discussion with your nephrologist. CKD is life altering but doesn’t have to progress to ERSD quickly and all the additional negatives that go with the end of this disaster like an increase of a significant CVD event increase of over 85% in the first 6 months of dialysis. But only if you take care of your CKD now. On the NKF site (US and others) they give a specific recommendation of “there are no supplements we would recommend any CKD stage 3 ever take.” Several supplements raise the risk of AKI over 60/75%. I was 29 in ‘96 when that happened to me. I spent 6 months in the MICU in Baptist Hospital Little Rock, AR. I had sepsis teice oist all toenails had a feeding tube and was on a ventilator for 4 months. Creatinine was 11.9, BUN 560 it was horrible and I believe I am only here today due to the unfailingly grace and goodness of God the Father. If that happened to me today I would surely die. So why would you take that chance? Just teally be careful!

Trazadone:

accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatf...

[Cbailey in reply to Blackknight1989]

My neph knows I’m taking it and has regularly prescribed it to other patients. I just don’t always trust what the drs say and wanted to see what I could find out here.

[Blackknight1989]

I think I read that in your OP and I didn’t mean to infer any difference just that you had a right to be questioning the safety of that med for CKD. Also, I wanted to post some evidence for if you needed or. I wish you my best!