Alternative to Trazadone for Insomnia?

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Ahoy-Hoy

I was hoping that someone might be able to give feedback on Trazadone. Ive averaged 3-4 hours sleep since I can remember, having a hard time getting to sleep and having an impossible time going back to sleep if I wake up during the night.

Melatonin didn't work, and a few weeks ago I was prescribed 50mg of Trazadone for Insomnia. The first week was good, but the last two I've had bad side effects, including blurry vision at night, back pain, brain fog, and a headache in the morning that lasts until mid-afternoon and Ibuprofen won't help. Do the side effects go away, or is there a different medication that I should consider? I'd rather sleep less and feel like my normal self that get a few hours extra a night but feel awful. Hoping someone can shed light on whether it is worth it to maintain the course and ride the lightening, or walk away while I'm in the early stages of usage. Thanks!

Have you tried valerian root or chamomile tea?

Well Trazodone will help you sleep, that said at least in my experience it does leave kind of a lingering 'hang over' so you can still end up feeling kind of drowsy in the morning. I was taking it for sleep for a while but, that side effect was bothersome but if you really need the sleep it could be worth it.

I'm not sure the sleep is a worth trade off. I thought Trazadone was a happy comprise between a sleeping pill and an anti-depressant that could get some seratonin flowing, but not a fan of feeling like crap. How long did you take it for?

There's an antidepressant called Mirtazapine (Remeron) which also has a sedating effect. For sleep problems you can take it at lowest dose 7.5mg at bedtime. Doses 15mg and upwards are prescribed for antidepressant effect and are actually less sedating than the low dose.
It works well for me, though some find it makes them too drowsy. It also increases appetite and make you crave carbs so one tends to gain weight. So there's a bit of a trade-off.

I also take mirtazapine (Remeron) 30 mg for sleep. Trazodone doesn’t work for me.

Thanks, I will give it a look. I obsess about my body fat percentage and base my meals around my basal metabolic rate, so that might be a no go. How much weight gain did you see? I was a very fat kid, so I keep my bfr in the 11%-13% category depending on what I'm doing or if I'm injured.

Anti-Depressants can also cause weight gain if they have histamine properties. It tampers with the metabolism. Wellbutrin has none, and is the best choice when there are concerns about weight.

How do you feel about the Wellbutrin? I've considered it.

Have you done a metabolic study? I did one through NIH. You get your RMR, BMR, how.food is processed in your system through a metabolic diet, sleep patterns, and a few other things. The biggest complaint people have is eating the same thing every day while you do it, but routine isn't exactly a problem for me

I don't think anyone tolerates SSRIs well. They only have to measure side effects during trials on a narrow timeframe, which doesn't realistically document usage by consumers. I don't know too many people that needed Anti-Depressants and got better in a 12 week timeframe. A co-worker of mine gained a ton of weight when he was on Paxil, but had to stop it when he deployed to South America for six months. Lost the weight, went back on Paxil, and since the end of October he has put on almost 50lbs. Part of that is alcohol and sugar/carb cravings, but that can also come with SSRIs.

Trazodone seemed to work pretty well for me for a couple years. I'd still be a bit sleepy during the day, but it actually worked to get me a halfway decent amount of sleep at night (unmedicated I'm lucky to get even half an hour of sleep and often get none), though we had to keep tweaking the dosage. I was on Remeron (don't remember what dose) in high school, and it made me so tired during the day that I could not stay awake through my classes no matter how hard I tried, even going to the extent of digging my fingernails into my skin in hopes that the pain would keep me awake. Recently my psychiatrist has been trying to find another sleep medicine that might work better for me since I'm still pretty tired and low on energy most of the time. Ambien and Clonapin(?) did nothing for me. Now I'm on 50mg of doxepin as well as 10mg of melatonin. It seems to be working so-so. I get some sleep at night, but I'm ready for bed by about 7 PM. When I was on a lower dose of the doxepin, it seemed to help with staying asleep but not getting to sleep - I'd fall asleep around 4 AM, but the sleep I got was more solid than what I was getting on the trazodone. Now on my current dose, I'm back to falling asleep sooner but waking up numerous times during the night. That's been my adventures with sleep meds.

I took 100mg of Trazodone for a couple years for depression & problems sleeping related to the depression. The only side-effect I noticed was that I would feel tired during the day some. I started taking Wellbutrin when I got off Trazodone but my psych lowered my dose of Wellbutrin a couple months ago cuz I was having anger issues & snapping at my girlfriend more. A lot of it was probably related to stress & my girlfriend's going through a very rough time lately & it's stressing me the hell out & she does find I'm reacting a little better after my dose got lowered. I'm also taking Haldol/Haloperidol at night so I don't get angry quite as easily & Haldol is a sedating antipsychotic that's used for sleep sometimes. Haldol doesn't help with depression so I kinda wanna try switching ithe Haldol & Wellbutrin to Seroquel/Quetiapine which is a sedating antipshychotic that can help with depression & I think Seroquel is sometimes used for sleep too. I tried Remeron a long time ago for a tremor disorder & all I did was sleep & eat during the short time I was on it. I guess it's possible my dose was too high. I'd like to get some Nuvigil or Provigil to have on hand for days when I have a lot of stuff to do but I highly doubt my docs would go for it & I don't know where to get em online. I sometimes take Vivarin which is a caffeine pill on days when I wake up early or don't get mush sleep & it helps but I'd kinda like something else on days I have alot going on or days I just feel kinda drained which is only very occasionally.

I've had good experiences with Passiflora Incarnata extract.