Trazodone Half Life, How Long Does Trazadone Stay in Your System?

What is Trazodone?

To better understand the effects of mixing Trazodone and alcohol, let us look at “what is Trazodone?” and “can you mix trazodone and alcohol?”. Trazodone is an FDA-approved antidepressant for treating major depressive disorders [1]. Brand names include Desyrel, Oleptro, Trittico, Molipaxin, and Trazorel. It is a prescription drug that can be used as part of combination therapy with other medications or psychotherapies or used by itself for depression treatment. Trazodone can also include treatment for the effects of alcohol withdrawal, anxiety treatment, medications for schizophrenia treatment, and uncontrolled movements resulting from side effects from other medications. Trazodone is not FDA-approved for sleep disorders because it lacks sufficient clinical data to justify its use as a sleep aid.

Do not use this medicine if you have used an MAO inhibitor in the past 14 days. A dangerous drug interaction could happen. MAO inhibitors include linezolid, isocarboxazid, methylene blue injection, phenelzine, tranylcypromine, and others. Tell your doctor if you also take opioid medicine, stimulant medicine, herbal products, or medicine for mental illness, depression, Parkinson’s disease, migraine headaches, serious infections, or prevention of nausea and vomiting.

What is Trazodone Used for?

Trazodone administration is via orally through the mouth. It may be taken after meals to decrease postural hypotension and lightheadedness. Trazodone may be available as immediate-release (IR) tablets, prolonged-release tablets, and in some cases, injection and oral drops solutions. It can take one to two weeks before trazodone starts to work, but maybe four to six weeks before you feel the full benefit.

Trazodone should not be used in patients with a history of heart disease or a recent heart attack. This medication can cause or worsen QT prolongation (a disorder of the heart), which can cause an irregular heart rhythm that can lead to seizures, fainting, or even death.

Trazodone is also used for off-label treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, fibromyalgia, and bulimia because of its serotonergic receptor antagonism and serotonin reuptake inhibiting effects. This prescription drug has also been used for post-traumatic stress disorder treatment if the first-line treatment use of SSRIs does not show efficacy. The dose of 50 mg to 200 mg of Trazodone has been demonstrated to reduce episodes of nightmares as well as improve sleep habits in studies involving PTSD patients [2].

Skip To:

• Trazodone Half Life, How Long Does Trazadone Stay in Your System?
• What is Trazodone?
• Can Trazadone Be Addictive?
• Can You Get High on Trazodone?
• Trazodone Addiction Statistics
• Trazodone Drug Fact Sheet
• Factors that Affect How Long Trazodone Last
• What is the Half Life of Trazodone?
• How Long Does Trazodone Stay in Your System?
• Trazodone Blood Testing
• Trazodone Urine Testing
• Trazodone Saliva Testing
• Trazodone Hair Testing
• Fastest Way to Get Trazodone Out of Your System
• False Positive Test With Trazodone
• Combining Trazodone and Alcohol
• Treatment for Trazodone Side Effects and Alcohol Abuse 
• 6 Most Common Trazodone Addiction FAQs

Learn More:

• Trazodone Side Effects
• Serotonin Antagonist
• Tramadol Serotonin Syndrome
• Anxiety Medication and Alcohol
• Depression Treatment
• How to Help a Friend with Depression?
• High Functioning Depression
• Connection Between Alcohol and Depression
• Prozac and Alcohol
• Lexapro Withdrawal 

26,210,731

Estimated number of prescriptions in the United States (2020)

Source: NCBI

5,294,364

Estimated number of patients in the United States (2020)

Source: NCBI

Factors that Affect How Long Trazodone Last

Trazodone half life is between five and 9 hours. This means it will take your body (on average) around seven hours to eliminate half of the drug.

In a healthy adult, a single dosage of Trazodone can remain in the body for one to three days. 

But this is not the same for everyone. How long does Trazodone last in your system? There are many factors that influence how long this drug can stay in your system, including:

• Dosage: The higher the dose, the longer Trazodone metabolites remain in your system. Smaller doses are generally, excreted faster than larger doses.
• Age: Some studies show the half life of Trazodone is longer in older adults.
• Weight: Body mass and fat can affect how fast the drug metabolizes and how it’s stored in fat cells.
• Frequency of use: Taking the drug over an extended period of time means it will take longer to leave your system.
• Last time taken: Certain tests can detect it only after a few hours or days of taking it. Others can detect it after three months.
• Genetics and metabolism: These influence liver function and the enzymes that metabolize Trazodone.

Another variable to consider is the type of drug test. Read on to learn how long the medication can stay in your urine, hair, blood, and saliva.

False Positive Test With Trazodone

The false-positive test result is possible with the Trazodone drug. This happens when a drug with a similar chemical structure is fragmented into a component that is similar to the targeted drug. Unfortunately, the screening test sometimes fails to differentiate an antidepressant, such as Trazodone, and crystal methamphetamine. Although Trazodone is not a prohibited substance, one thing to know is that one of its by-products, the meta-Chlorophenylpiperazine, is a powerful hallucinogen and an abused stimulant. In a standard drug test, this compound has the cross-reaction with amphetamines, and this leads to a false-positive result.

Trazodone is among antidepressant drugs that are highly prone to false-negative results. This result can be affected by several factors such as the quantity of the drug ingested, dilute urine, and the duration between ingestion of Trazodone and the time of testing. 3 out of 6 patients who took Trazodone tested falsely positive for meth. Consuming 3 micrograms per mL of Trazodone could already yield a false-positive result, owing to the active metabolite mCPP as this has a similar structure to MDMA (ecstasy).

Combining Trazodone and Alcohol

Drinking alcohol while taking Trazodone can be dangerous. Trazodone may amplify some of the effects of alcohol, which can lead to dangerous levels of intoxication and even overdose and trazodone and alcohol death. Trazodone is in the category of SARI drugs (serotonin antagonists and reuptake inhibitors), with other members being phenylpiperazine, etoperidone, lorpiprazole, and mepiprazole. Unfortunately, a growing trend among antidepressants, particularly Trazodone users, combines them with alcohol to create a relaxing effect.

You should not mix Trazodone and alcohol for several reasons. Alcohol is a central nervous system (CNS) depressant that acts on the neurotransmitters in the brain, particularly GABA. GABA is an inhibitory transmitter that blocks or inhibits communication between neurons in the brain, promoting relaxation, calm, and sedation. Combining anxiety meds and alcohol can worsen the side effects of the medication.

Alcohol is one, if not the most abused substance in the world. Many are familiar with the adverse effects of alcohol intoxication, such as impairment in reaction time and judgment, poor coordination, blurred vision, and decreased alertness. Therefore, when taken together, trazodone and alcohol recreational use can lead to severe sedative symptoms and impairment because both Trazodone and alcohol are working in the brain to produce similar effects.

Dual Diagnosis Treatment

Alcoholism and mental health disorders often co-occur. In many cases, traumatic experiences can result in a mental health disorders and substance abuse. Dual diagnosis rehabilitation treats both of these issues together. The best approach for the treatment of dual diagnosis is an integrated system. This strategy treats both the substance abuse problem and the mental disorder simultaneously. Regardless of which diagnosis (mental health or substance abuse problem) came first, long-term recovery will depend largely on the treatment for both disorders done by the same team or provider.

Medication-Assisted Treatments

Medication-Assisted Treatments (MAT) for alcohol use and mental health disorders are commonly used in conjunction with one another. This includes the use of medications and other medical procedures. During your rehab, the staff from your treatment facility will help you identify what caused your addiction and teach you skills that will help you change your behavior patterns and challenge the negative thoughts that led to your addiction. Sometimes, the pressures and problems in your life lead you to rely on substances to help you forget about them momentarily.

Contact one of our helpful treatment specialists today if you or a loved one are struggling with long-term substance abuse, Trazodone side effects, and other co-occurring mental health conditions such as depression. We Level Up NJ can provide information on dual diagnosis and detox programs.