Anybody taken or taking Trazodone?

I've been having trouble sleeping through the night for the past few weeks (I keep waking up). My psychiatrist prescribed 50 mg of Trazodone to help me sleep through the night. She said I could play around with the dosage (1/2 pill, 1 pill or 2 if I need). I'm kind of freaking out because I start a new job on Monday, and don't want to be groggy, sleep through my alarm, etc. I'm also on Alprazolam (Xanax), Bupropion (Wellbutrin) and we're tapering me off of 50 mg of Topamax (for weight loss). She wanted me to go off Topamax cold turkey, but I got wigged out, so we agreed to do 25 mg for a week and then quit.

meds when i left the hospital the first time- It was added just for the sleep inducing properties- it does work pretty well for that, but it also had a tendency to make me kind of dull the next day- also had some pretty intense and fantastic (not in the good way) nightmares while on it. It was much cheaper than the Ambien that they had me on in hospital- and something they felt better about using over a long period of time.

I was on xanax with it- (jeez, be careful coming off that!- the first 24hrs i was worshiping the porcelain throne,- was back in the hospital which was a good thing, it was no easy time.)

Have you ever been on any sleep meds? Do you tend to be sensitive to meds? I believe i was on 75mgs- which went up to 125 at times. Sleep has never come easy to me- Trazadone has been around awhile, which is good,- not too many surprises with it.

Has your PDoc mentioned the kind of ...'rebound' insomnia that sometimes comes with xanax? Mine really has tried to encourage me not to use the 'quick' in/out anti-anxiety meds- in favor of longer lasting ones like valium, but personally, i'd rather have the relief when anxiety peaks, and be more ...?... 'myself'- the rest of the time. The way my PDoc explained the benz-o's (xanex,atavan) is that they are in your system for a very short time ..4-6 hrs, and after they leave the system, there is a rebound effect that sort of keeps the anxiety/hypervigilant-> medicate, mellow->rebound-anxiety/hyper-> medicate cycle going.

I don't know that this has been much help- of the many meds i've been on, Trazadone was really pretty ok- If you could take the xanax at bedtime sunday nite, maybe you could get a few hrs of good sleep??- I understand how you wouldn't want to try something for the first time the night before a new job- if you try it tonite or sat. nite, you'll have a pretty good idea of how it is going to affect you- When used for sleep, it works the same night as you take it. - I think as an anti-depressant, it needs to get to a therapeutic level, but i'm not sure.

Hope you get a good nite sleep, and that your new job works out well.

peace,
blu

I've found that it gave me a pretty hung-over feeling the next day, but it's been a few years since I was on it. I would take her advice and start with a 1/2 pill and see how that affects you. It definitely helped me sleep, though.

I also take alprazolam and bupropion right now, as well as Topamax for migraines.

Good luck! Hope it works for you.

It was good in that I slept very deeply and soundly (well, as soundly as I could with untreated sleep apnea), but I always felt lethargic and hung over the next morning. It also used to stimulate my appetite, and I'd get serious night munchies from it, too.

I'm taking Ambien now, and it's much "cleaner" as far as side effects. I still get the munchies but not as badly. That's part of the reason I keep a bunch of grapefruit in the fridge at all times-- one before bed seems to do the trick.

Topamax for weight loss (My PCP prescribed SSRIs, which made me gain about 50 lbs, so my psych. changed my RXs to the above-mentioned pills and added the Topamax). Now, I'm tapering off the Topamax and will stop completely after Friday night.

I've been doing the 1/2 pill thing and still wake up occasionally; I'm a little afraid to try the full 50 mg (since I started a new job today, and don't want to oversleep?!); if it continues to happen, perhaps I'll try going up to 50mg Friday and Sat. nights and see how I do.

Thanks for the luck! :)

that the anti-depressant would increase my activity and that my sleeping would get more normal. I'm going to hang out and keep trying this for a while. :shrug:

Good luck to you! :hi:

It gave me wild dreams.It did help my sleep tho but the effect did not last.So I quit taking it.Did not do much for mood or trauma symptoms for me.. I did get withdrawal symptoms. If you do too taper on the Trazodone and taper back off slowly if you find it doesn't help you.
Oh, it caused me some nasty cottonmouth for a few weeks.
If you go on it and dry out, get oasis or some other fake spit spray at a drugstore.

Also be aware of the dreams,expect them for the first week of nights you take it to be vivid weird and even kinda disturbing.Than the dreams taper down. I kinda got a kick out of them myself. Artistic ya know.Lastly I found it increases the appetite for sweets slightly.

Otherwise it's an ok drug when it works, the effects that were useful to me faded so I don't take it anymore.Been on it like 3 different times in my life under 3 different shrinks.Trazodone pills are made in a distinctive trapezoidal shape in the bigger milligram sizes which makes them hard to swallow sometimes. So drink lots of water,It's a very awkward shape designed by idiots or artists with no regard for the fact they will be swallowed..

I've had trouble sleeping all my life and trazodone helps so much! I've really been lucky with it and I've never slept this well. I do have withdrawals when I go off it, but I try not to go off it! It doesn't make me woozy in the morning, either. Good luck with it!

Wellbutrin gives me more energy, so I take those doses as early in the day as possible.

with breakfast, along with .25 mg of Xanax. I take another .25 mg of Xanax with dinner.

I have always had sleeping problems, and it helps me a lot of the time. Lately, it hasn't been working too well, but I can play around with the doses. I started off on 50mg pills, which helped me, but I developed a tolerance to it over time, and worked my way up to 300mg. That didn't work, and instead of going up, I decided to take 150, and that's where I am now. I don't have a problem with feeling hungover, but I always feel tired. I don't notice it any more when I do take it and when I don't. I'm also on lithium and Seroquel. I tried Ambien CR, but that did nothing for me. I would rather have my dirt cheap trazadone rather than that expensive stuff that doesn't help me (but I know it's a godsend to some). I hope that it's working for you :)