Misc Does Trazadone work for sleep? Any common sides I should know about?

[Bojangles69]

I have suffered from extreme insomnia my whole life and since going on the suboxone I noticed my insomnia has actually worsened. Last week I must have made it through the whole week on around 8-12 hours of sleep it was very minimal and I was making mistakes at work due to being so tired all the time.

Anyway I hate taking a medicine to deal with the side effects from another med, but I'm not quite ready to begin tapering the sub so the dr prescribed me 50mg trazadone. I seem to hear/see a lot about this medicine on these forums, but realized I know absolutely nothing about it.

The ONE THING that urked me the most. I told the dr "I can not be prescribed benzos or anything like seroquel the will put me in a zombie state". He said "ok, and you're right seroquel has lots of side effects and benzos are very addictive, I will prescribe you a medicine that you can stop taking anytime you want to, it is not addictive at all".

THEN I go to the pharmacy, start reading the sheet, and what do you know there is a withdrawal syndrome associated with stoping trazadone. WHAT THE FUCK?! So my dr straight up lied to me? I love the guy as he has saved my life up untill now so I still can't really get mad at him, but I didn't even have any idea that trazadone is also an antidepressant? I was just looking for a simple non addictive sleep med.

So now I need to know what are the common side effects? Does this medicine actually work for sleep? And do I have depression to look forward to for the next couple weeks as all anti-ds I've taken in the past I intially would get depressed/anxious before they kick in. All I want is some sleep with minimal sides. Have come off pretty hardcore meds before like paxil and kicked opiates so I can deal with wds, guess I'm just asking how bad the wds will be and how long can they last for?

People on traz please feel free to chime in here. I'm about to swallow my first pill and want to make sure I'm not making a dumb mistake. And most of all am I gonna wake up tommorow morning feeling tired as fuck like seroquel does? Because I might was well just flush the bottle now... thanks guys.

Bo

 

[sekio]

Trazodone is essentially a Seroquel-type antidepressant/antipsychotic/tranquilizer for sleep. It's not quite as... intense, though.

Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or hydroxyzine (Unisom) may be better for you.

 

[mainvein]

i used to take trazodone for sleep and depression and it worked alright for me. i took 200mg a day. i never felt like a zombie the next day, although if i missed a dose sleep would be hard sometimes. but benadryl is definitely one of my favourites for sleep aid.

 

[chrystian_cross23]

I too suffer from insomnia an I am sure my meth habit doest hellp either, but I was prescribed Trazadone before I started meth I have a couple different experiences with them. At that point I had been on Sereqouel and Topamax. I was taking about 600 mg of seroquel a day and 200 mg of Topamax, and I still wasn't sleeping or staying asleep when I actually feel asleep. So, dr gave me Trazadone. 100mg tablets. They told me that they were very strong and to only take half.... that night I ended up taking cause I couldn't sleep. The following night the same happened. I talked to my dr and she said give it a day or two then try again, so I waited 2 days and took 2 at time an was passed out. So they for me aren't the strongest, as I was taking 600mg of seroquel and 300mg it took of trazadone to put me to sleep. I wll let you know that I am a rapid cycle r and very energetic, not sure about you. One you don't want is Ambein tho, that sh** is crazy

AS for withdrawing off ot, I wouldnt know cause I started using and haven't taken them in a while. I guess IF they do work for you jus like anything that is a sleep aid,[if you sto taking it you will have a harder time sleepin with agitation

 

[Mudvayne]

i've been perscribed trazadone for sleep, 150 mgs a night ontop of 3 mgs melatonin has me sleeping like a baby

as far as dependency goes, i'm unsure as i don't dose the drug daily though i have no cravings or feel any sort of withdrawal if i don't take it and thankfully my body isn't dependent on taking the drug in order to sleep

 

[Opaner]

Trazadone is a hit or miss medication it seems. I was RX'd to it and have had a decent experience with it. The major side effects were crazy dreams, but I guess any sleep med could do that to you.

 

[Supeudol]

There are no fucking withdrawals from Trazodone. Been on and off it so many times, and I still use it currently. Its not like taking a fucking benzo for sleep, you don't need to worry about withdrawals. If you are worried about dependency issues, stay the fuck away from Z-Drugs, and Benzodiazepines.

Peace!

 

[mrflippy]

Trazadone is a drug i would stay away from. Comin' from someone with insomnia, it's not what you think, lol. Talk about waking up with an uncomfertable half-hards. High blood pressure, And trouble waking up. Carefulll. 50MG was always what i took, 200-400MG i would avoid.

 

[Opaner]

Trazadone is a drug i would stay away from. Comin' from someone with insomnia, it's not what you think, lol. Talk about waking up with an uncomfertable half-hards. High blood pressure, And trouble waking up. Carefulll. 50MG was always what i took, 200-400MG i would avoid.

Hahaha I didn't want to say the other side effects. When my doctor told me about the boners I started laughing my ass off. Waking up in the middle of the night is terrible when they don't put you back to sleep. For me its like the harder I fight the medication the more f**ked up I get..

 

[BIGsherm7272]

Yes, Trazodone works quite well for sleep. You will feel pretty groggy the next day during the first few times you use it, but eventually you will get used to it. It is an SARI (serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitor). It is also a phenylpiperazine compound. One of its major metabolites is MCPP, a piperazine.

 

[Bojangles69]

Alright great guys thanks a lot I was most concerned about wds but it seems from what people are saying that its really a joke for the most part dealing with them. I've taken much more addictive meds before for sleep (klonopin/soma/ambien) & it seems when most people stop this med they just get a week of insomnia so I'll continue to take it.

I took 25mgs last night was expecting a much more drowsy type of effect but it was like taking a couple sominex. Definitely not a "knock out" drug imo seems pretty weak compared to other sleep meds so I'm happy about that (somewhat). It does definitely make it harder to wake up in the morning, but I found once I actually got out of bed I didn't really have a thick type of fog over my brain. It was a little bit but NOTHING like what I get from sominex, seroquel or soma. Thats the main reason I can't take any of those drugs as even diphenhydramine has me tired as fuck hours after waking up.

Tonight I'm going to take what I'm prescribed (50mg) and hopefully I'll sleep a little better because I was still tossing and turning last night most of the night. And I never dream at night so I don't give a shit about the nightmares really. I did not notice any uncomfortable morning boners I think its because I suffer from hypertension and even on blood pressure meds my blood pressure tends to be around 160/100. It takes a lot of CNS depressants to drop my blood pressure I'm on suboxone, norvase, inderal and now trazadone and my blood pressure is still high lol. I've always been like that even 10 years after stopping methamphetamines nothing manages to really keep my blood pressure low anymore.

I did however notice that I got like 2-3 random boners throughout the day (no morning wood it was hours after waking up) and my first one seemed to stick with me for a good 5 minutes which was wierd. I mean I haven't gotten a boner in prob over a month so it definelty seems the trazodone is boner inducing. Although I don't really mind it at all my sex drive is so fucking low all the time so its good to have that reminder that I'm human and like woman lol.

Anyway I doubt the trazodone is going to become any type of solution for my insomnia so I plan on taking it for a few months untill I get lower on my suboxone than I should start sleeping again and will drop it from my regime. Was mostly worried about wds and it being one of those zombie drugs but it seems like a pretty clean drug for the most part. Thanks for the feedback!

-Bo

 

[Opaner]

Alright great guys thanks a lot I was most concerned about wds but it seems from what people are saying that its really a joke for the most part dealing with them. I've taken much more addictive meds before for sleep (klonopin/soma/ambien) & it seems when most people stop this med they just get a week of insomnia so I'll continue to take it.

I took 25mgs last night was expecting a much more drowsy type of effect but it was like taking a couple sominex. Definitely not a "knock out" drug imo seems pretty weak compared to other sleep meds so I'm happy about that (somewhat). It does definitely make it harder to wake up in the morning, but I found once I actually got out of bed I didn't really have a thick type of fog over my brain. It was a little bit but NOTHING like what I get from sominex, seroquel or soma. Thats the main reason I can't take any of those drugs as even diphenhydramine has me tired as fuck hours after waking up.

Tonight I'm going to take what I'm prescribed (50mg) and hopefully I'll sleep a little better because I was still tossing and turning last night most of the night. And I never dream at night so I don't give a shit about the nightmares really. I did not notice any uncomfortable morning boners I think its because I suffer from hypertension and even on blood pressure meds my blood pressure tends to be around 160/100. It takes a lot of CNS depressants to drop my blood pressure I'm on suboxone, norvase, inderal and now trazadone and my blood pressure is still high lol. I've always been like that even 10 years after stopping methamphetamines nothing manages to really keep my blood pressure low anymore.

I did however notice that I got like 2-3 random boners throughout the day (no morning wood it was hours after waking up) and my first one seemed to stick with me for a good 5 minutes which was wierd. I mean I haven't gotten a boner in prob over a month so it definelty seems the trazodone is boner inducing. Although I don't really mind it at all my sex drive is so fucking low all the time so its good to have that reminder that I'm human and like woman lol.

Anyway I doubt the trazodone is going to become any type of solution for my insomnia so I plan on taking it for a few months untill I get lower on my suboxone than I should start sleeping again and will drop it from my regime. Was mostly worried about wds and it being one of those zombie drugs but it seems like a pretty clean drug for the most part. Thanks for the feedback!

-Bo

Nothing like some afternoon wood, hopefully you'll get one next time your in the sack with a nice broad eh? ^_^

 

[DMFNR]

I was prescribed trazodone for awhile while trying to deal with a very similar situation to your own. Suboxone for me does very well as far as allowing me to live a normal life with no discomfort and very rare and mild cravings for full agonist opiates. I tried trazodone for a month, and for me it was not very helpful. It would make me drowsy but not necessarily put me to sleep. As a fellow insomnia sufferer I'm sure you know what I mean, after a few days of no sleep you can be completely exhausted, but once you lie down to bed all of a sudden you're ready to go. I've had much more luck with amitripyline and for me the side effects were much more bearable. Trazodone actually made me feel rather depressed after taking it over a few weeks, and when I took it at bed time it would make me feel generally uncomfortable and restless along with the drowsiness. One of the most annoying side effects I had, which was mentioned by a few people above, was the involuntary erections it cause at bed time. I'm talking long term painful boners that a wank or fuck could not cure. In fact, these boners made both of those things rather painful. Many times I would be restlessly squirming around in bed with one of these "trazodone boners" and I would have a painful ejaculation for no reason. Sometimes when I did fall asleep I would suffer nocturnal emissions, which are rather embarrassing at 24 years old, and very uncomfortable if I'm somewhere I don't have a change of boxers.

Amitripyline worked pretty decent for me, and might be a decent alternative to try if trazodone doesn't work out for you. Seroquel is a very good knockout drug, but sleeping 12 hours and then feeling exhausted and shitty all day every day is no way to live, and seems to be a rather big stick for curing insomnia. As you stated you want to stay away from benzos, and probably should steer clear of Z-drugs as well even though they're less abusable than benzos some people still find them enjoyable and addictive. I'd say your best bet would probably be an over the counter anti-histamine. Diphenhydramine knocks me out just fine, but sometimes the side effects can be a little rough, and I've never tried hydrazine as mentioned above so I can't comment on that. I would look for a OTC sleep aid containing doxylamine succinate. This is what I currently use personally, and I find that it does do a very good job of putting me to sleep and keeping me asleep, and I feel a lot less shitty in the morning when I wake up, and the after affects are completely wiped out by a cup of coffee or an energy drink.

Anything you take to put you to sleep can cause a dependency. Not necessarily physically dependant, but if you take something to put you to sleep on a regular basis it will be quite hard to fall asleep for awhile if you stop taking it. Most prescription sleep medications are older antidepressants that cause drowsiness, hypnotics that acts similarly to benzos, or even atypical anti-psychotics in the case of Seroquel. These type of drugs all alter your brain chemistry in such away that tapering off of them is usually advisable as the brain might take a bit to return to its natural state and discontinuing them suddenly can lead to some major discomfort or even be unsafe. They also tend to become less effective over time leaving you back at square one. This is why I recommend something like a sedating anti-histamine in the short term and during that period try to really focus on sleep hygiene. Make sure you change out of your street clothes in to your underwear or some sort of pajamas, start some sort of routine at bedtime (which you should try to make happen at the same time of night as often as possible), stay away from decaffeinated beverages close to bedtime, find some sort of relaxing activity to do before bedtime, make sure you're in a quiet and dark environment, turn off the TV or any other source of stimulation, use your bed only for sleep and sex, etc.

Something I found quite helpful as a recovering junkie was keeping a journal and writing in it at the end of every day. As cheesy as it sounds, it sort of allowed me to put my worries and concerns on paper at the end of the day and out of my mind. Sometimes in recovery we have so much anxiety and stress racing through our minds due to situations we got ourselves in to while using it makes it hard to relax or go to sleep. Things like debts, legal trouble, and family problems aren't great things to have running through your mind at the end of the day. It's time for sleep, those things can be dealt with during the waking hours, every human being deserves those precious few hours of peace and relaxation. Another thing that I forgot above, maybe find a therapist our counselor to talk to about any issues you might have. It doesn't even have to be about drugs, if you're stable on suboxone you might be dealing with the issues that led you to use in the first place. We've learned that the chemical solution is generally the wrong one and should be the last resort, not the first as it was for so long. Our first instinct to deal with insomnia is to find a way to medicate it away. Sleeping aids should always be used short term to get a person back in to a healthy sleep cycle except in very serious cases. We need to focus on getting ourselves back to how we we're naturally, kind of like being reborn and having to deal with life on its own terms again. Sometimes something as simple as insomnia can be related to a lot bigger picture than just what happens as bed time.

Sorry about the long post, I feel for ya as I've dealt with the same thing for quite awhile and it is very frustrating. I wish you luck, and wish telling you that you'll get through it and you'll sleep comfortably and soundly soon enough would put your mind at ease enough that you fall asleep at night, but I know the issue is much more complicated and way shittier than that.

 

[Flabu]

Trazadone made my nose stuffy and drove me crazy

 

[Oxide]

Trazadone always left me with the most unpleasant groggy drugged up feeling in the morning. Sometimes I felt like I could just sleep all day the next day. I had to quit taking it because although I slept, I couldn't shake the "hangover" in the morning for an hour or so, and I hated that.

I switched to doxylamine + melatonin. Leaps and bounds better. Much less groggy too. If the regular 25mg dose of doxylamine (unisom) leaves you too sluggish, you can reduce the dose by half without losing any of the sleep-power. Neat stuff.

To answer the OP's question: Yes, it does work for sleep. But there are much better choices over the counter in my opinion. Doctors push that stuff on everyone seems like, hah.

If you didn't like seroquels hangover, meet trazadone. also known as: seroquel-lite.

 

[Doug2113]

I heard that tricyclic antidepressants made your thingy shrink. I started taking some trazadone and amitriptaline my mom had left over for when my dad lost his job to help sleep, but someone told me that it makes it shrink so that was the last of that lmfao. Any truths to that? lol

 

[nicoale418]

ok just my opinion, trazadone is awful! I hated taking it when i was put on it for sleep. It made me have awful, awful headaches in the mornings along with the hangover feeling that i would suffer from all day long. I was taking i think 50mgs, and after 4 days of taking it, i ended up having a seizure from it. But everyone has different side-effects from it, these were just mine and wanted to share.

 

[Brian242]

To me, the most troublesome side effect is a limp dick. Impotence too.

 

[Seattle_Stranger]

I got a script of trazadone. One single dose made me intensely depressed, as did my roommate who also took one. Tried again the next day, made me extremely depressed again. Called my doctor and yelled at her. Made her script me ambien, then I got rid of her.

Having said that, try melatonin! Or exercise.

 

[xxsicknessxx]

Yes it works. I was allergic to it. My legs swelled up like 10x size of my normal leg and I got blisters all over my feet and blood vesels popped all over my legs from it. Once off I was fine. Just a warning.