"Trazodone" Anyone using this for sleep?

[GassyJack]

anyone on Trazodone experience ringing in the ears? I started Traz about 5days ago - i only take 25% of a 50mg tab at nite. Was having troubles sleeping for months and months ever since quitting drinking (2yrs Dec) usually no problem falling asleep i would just keep waking up every hour or 2.
Since i started Traz i had some of the best sleeps .. was great!

but this ear ringing is driving me nuts. It started yesterday(Sunday) if this is just temporary and will go away as i get used to Traz then fine, i can put up with it. If not then i will stop taking traz before i get too far into it.

[myxomatosis]

wow i didnt know how common this med is. i also got prescribed it, 100 mg, at first it didnt work for me, cause i took it just once or twice. i think you have to take it a while for it too work.
it puts me to sleep now, but too much, even half a pill and when i finally sleep im out for 12 hours. thats too much, lost the whole day, just like drinking. ive tried half and even quarter pills, its good for when i cannot sleep, and will def take it over drinking.

but be careful, its powerful stuff, and whatever you do dont mix it with any alch, i did and was high out of my mind for like 24 hours.

plus im not too sure about taking an antidepressant for an extended amount of time when im not depressed, i can imagine that screwing up your head. i want to look into ambien, it sounds better for you, a med just for sleep and nothing else.

[Cleansing]

Interesting.
I've tried 100, and 1250mg, and it did nothing. I took 200mg and I fall asleep great. I wake up early enough, and don't really feel tired. I miss this med, because now I don't sleep until 3:30am and I wake up around 10:30 am. That's not a good schedule for me. I see my psych doctor Thursday, and plan to ask him for a one month supply of Trazadone just til I get settle in more.
When I was in rehab, I was on 200mg, and someone else I was cool with took 300mg. I read somewhere that 50-100mg is the range for insomnia. You guys are taking lower dosages too. So that's what I find interesting about all this stuff. But like they say, everyone's body reacts to these meds differently.

[kj3880]

Man, trazodone completely knocks me out. I tried a 1/2, then down to a quarter, but even that much made me feel like a zombie. My b/f told me it had no effect on him whatsoever when he took it years ago for sleep. It's a weird drug.

Love,
KJ

[stephnc]

I've tried it a couple of times and I wasn't happy with it...it would make me sleepy but the effect seemed to wear off before I could actually fall asleep so I'd be awake for a few hours, finally drifting off later and not really sleeping long enough to feel rested.

Just a few days ago, my dr. prescribed Elavil for sleep - it's also an antidepressant with sedating qualities - and I've slept great on it.

Ambien is my best friend and worst nightmare. I took it for years and it worked great, but the side effects were scary...I'd do things like go to the store or order products from the internet after taking the medicine, then not remember anything the next morning.

[Cornbrosia]

If your opposed to getting priapism steer clear of the trazadone. But if you take enough of it you will sleep. I have always found seroquel to be more powerful and wierd

[historyteach]

Trazadone can be a very good sleep aide.
I found it didn't *put* me to sleep, but *let* me go to sleep.
I was also able to fall back asleep if I woke up during the night, while on it.
And that was always a big issue for me - getting back to sleep.

To avoid that "hang-over" feeling in the morning,
I was told to take it 10 hours *before* I wanted to get up in the morning.
That's enough time for the body to process it,
so you don't get the groggies.

[Foamy125]

It gave me weird nightmares... i kept waking up from sleep to really weird things to an alternate world, it all felt really real, i can distinctly remember some of those dreams better then i can most of my my real memories and more vividly too and each time i would end up just ending up back in my bed feeling like i just woke up to go through an entire "dream" sequence again, having me "get up" again, till i FINALY woke up to actuality. but that was also back when i had a 5 day episode of no sleep because of some bad meds (strattera or some crap, really rare reaction...) a doctor gave me. the actual sleep they give me wasn't all that great, it felt really light, like i had been awake but sleeping, kinda like when you fall alseep in a classroom for a while, that is when it helped me sleep... If any one could actualy recomend a better sleep aid who had a similar situation... lol that'd actualy be great...

[perspective]

I know everyone is different, but I feel the need to say what happened to me while on this...

I had been on it for a couple of weeks to help me sleep (50-100 mg) and the last time I took it I ended up having difficulty breathing, chest pain, couldn't talk, literally froze when I opened the door to tell my sister to call 911, lost the grasp of my cell phone, collapsed, and past out for 45 minutes...

It scared me to the point where I'm scared to take any type of medication since (its been about 2 weeks now I think).

Also, I've heard from my sister that her ex ended up having a very painful erection the next morning that he had to go to the Dr for (I've heard of this happening to other men as well while reading things online).

[iloveme]

I have been prescibed Trazadone 50 mg as needed for sleep as well. I only had 25 mg and I experienced a groggy, stupor with mild head-ache in the morning. I probably won't use it again d/t this untoward effect unless I feel desperate.

[Slag]

I was prescribed I believe 250 mg of the stuff. I hated it......felt thick headed for an hour or so after i woke up.

I felt like I was not in control and vulnerable. I stopped taking it and I got back to my workout regimen. That helps a great deal.

[FaultyWiring]

I used to use this in lieu with Paxil - a bad combination... my doctor pulled me from it because of it's well known risks. I'll never touch the stuff again.

[TwelveSteps]

Thanks for everyone's replies in this thread -- I was prescribed 50mg Traz last month after my doctor advised me to stop taking Ambien as it's not intended for long-term use and was starting to lose effectiveness.

She suggested I try half a dose for the first night but I decided to take the full 50mg -- I was having really bad anxiety that day anyway -- and had a crazy reaction! Extremely vivid dreams, some disturbing, like I have never had before. At one point I had an unbelievably realistic dream that I woke up, sat up in bed, and watched a stranger came into my bedroom and sit down on my bed, I could swear I was awake but then finally *actually* woke myself up by screaming. I talked to my doctor and she suggested I try it again with the half dose, but I've been kind of afraid to!

Anyway I did a lot of web research the next morning to try and get more information on nightmares with this drug, and so just wanted to add my two cents on it for the benefit of anyone else who might have had this experience.

GG

[Severian]

My Trazedone experience was similar to TwelveSteps. Felt really stoned, but had troubole falling asleep. Then I had horrific nightmares and woke up screaming and sweating. Then felt hungover the next morning.

[El Gato]

I've been taking 200mg for a few months. I'm asleep within 20 minutes and stay asleep until the bladder demands attention. It's been a wonder drug for me. I slept no more than 1.5 hours at a time for over a year before trazodone.

[loveon2legs]

I love it!! I just started taking it and it slowly puts me to sleep..and I stay asleep!! no groggy feeling here either!!

[keepinon]

omg..i took 50 mgs last nite and slept for 3 hours..wth? I am so addicted to ambian it was like I was taking a placebo arggg!

[Nightwolf]

I assume this drug is seemed fairly safe, for use with recovering alcoholics.

Would that be fair to say?

Thanks for any thoughts...

[locobill]

I also had no idea so many people have tried Trazodone.

I have experienced taking it for about 2 years now. I take 300mg at nighttime, right before I lay down and try to sleep. In the beginning it did make me feel a little "out-of-whack". For example, if I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go to the restroom, I would feel like I was about to pass out standing up; dizzy-like. However this did go away after the first few weeks.

Besides the awful taste of the pill, I really never noticed any "hang-over" like effects or tiredness throughout the day (besides the usual laziness).

My biggest surprise is that I didn't build a tolerance toward Trazodone, like I did with Lunesta and Ambien, after only taking those a few weeks.

Anyways Trazodone has my vote, hope this was of some help.

[Alexan]

I can attest to the erection part after having taken one 50mg tablet of Trazodone which my doctor prescribed for sleep even though it is an anti-depressant. It was kind of crazy.... instead of being able to sleep I was trying to get around the discomfort of a completely non-sexual erection that hurt a little.

I have since taken it but I will split it up into fours like the other person up here and only 25% of that entire 50mg pill, alongwith some OTC Robitussin (Diphenhydramine HCL) type stuff.

I'd love to hear any other recommendations.

Originally Posted by perspective

I know everyone is different, but I feel the need to say what happened to me while on this...

I had been on it for a couple of weeks to help me sleep (50-100 mg) and the last time I took it I ended up having difficulty breathing, chest pain, couldn't talk, literally froze when I opened the door to tell my sister to call 911, lost the grasp of my cell phone, collapsed, and past out for 45 minutes...

It scared me to the point where I'm scared to take any type of medication since (its been about 2 weeks now I think).

Also, I've heard from my sister that her ex ended up having a very painful erection the next morning that he had to go to the Dr for (I've heard of this happening to other men as well while reading things online).

[aunteileen]

Trazadone is the only drug I have ever used that puts me to sleep and lets me sleep through the night. I have not been able to fall back to sleep if I wake up for the past 23 years. I have had vivid or scary dreams since I was at least 4 years old and they are less on Trazadone.

My problem is Dry Mouth (Cotton Mouth) and Blurred Vision. I quit taking the meds a week ago I thought were causing the problem, but now I a worried it may be the Trazedone. Anyone else with this problem?

[emvee25]

I was on trazodone for a while, but it really didn't do much for me. It would help me go to sleep, but I'd still wake up after a couple of hours and frequently had difficulty going back to sleep. It also caused other digestive tract problems, which I won't go into, but you get my drift. . . After three months or so, I quit taking the trazodone primarily because it wasn't solving my sleep problems and I'd just as soon not take medications at all, especially if they aren't solving the problem. . .

[mkb87]

I was on 300 mg for about a year for depression and insomnia (two of the 150 mg trapezoid-looking tablets). It worked well for me (as far as the sleep aid part) when I remembered to take it and was not taking anything else, as this was during the time when I was still using. However, I started on 50 mg and ended up working my way up to 300 mg over a period of a couple of months.

I wish I was still on it! If I had insurance now, I would be!

The only negative side effect I had was a temporary groggy feeling for about 15 minutes when I first woke up and of course the wicked cotton mouth feeling in the morning. Had to keep a water bottle next to the bed for that reason.

[Willybluedog]

Trazadone did not help me at all, but most of my problems are caused by chronic pain so the only thing that really helps me sleep is vicodin or darvocet but I refuse to take that unless it is really really bad.