TRAZODONE user's. I need some advice

[juniemarie]

For years I have taken only benadryl to sleep. I did a sleep study several months ago, and it showed I was not getting good sleep. They called it insomnia even though I go to sleep and stay asleep, apparently its not deep?? sleep.
I decided to try Trazodone and my experience is very mixed. I have felt a lot more rested when I get up in the morning. The problem is now(just since the traz) I can not get to sleep. I was taking it around 9:30 in the hope of getting to sleep by 10:30 or 11:00, and I find myself tossing around until1 or 2 ! The last couple of nights I tried taking it with the benadryl, my thinking being the benadryl would put me to sleep and the trazodone would give me refreshed sleep. No luck.
Any ideas as to how I can make this drug work for me, since I am getting good results in some ways? I have heard it takes a while for it to start working, but 5 hrs! Thats crazy It would mean I would have to take it at 5:30 pm..........and it will make me feel sleepy but when I go to bed, sleep wont come.

 

[flybro]

Hi,

I have no idea about TRAZODONE, but I have found that red dyes and yellow dyes in meds, foods and drinks can create a very similiar problem as you are experiencing.

 

[juniemarie]

Well the Traz is white and in my whole life I have never had this happen until the traz. no matter what I was eating

 

[Marylib]

Junie Marie

Have you actually tried taking it at 5:30? Seems you are saying you did, but still could not fall asleep? Sorry if I am not getting this right.

At any rate, how much are you taking?

 

[kolowesi]

sleep meds

For years I have taken only benadryl to sleep. I did a sleep study several months ago, and it showed I was not getting good sleep. They called it insomnia even though I go to sleep and stay asleep, apparently its not deep?? sleep.
I decided to try Trazodone and my experience is very mixed. I have felt a lot more rested when I get up in the morning. The problem is now(just since the traz) I can not get to sleep. I was taking it around 9:30 in the hope of getting to sleep by 10:30 or 11:00, and I find myself tossing around until1 or 2 ! The last couple of nights I tried taking it with the benadryl, my thinking being the benadryl would put me to sleep and the trazodone would give me refreshed sleep. No luck.
Any ideas as to how I can make this drug work for me, since I am getting good results in some ways? I have heard it takes a while for it to start working, but 5 hrs! Thats crazy It would mean I would have to take it at 5:30 pm..........and it will make me feel sleepy but when I go to bed, sleep wont come.

Hi, Juniemarie,

My doctor prescribed both clonazepam and trazadone. I take 0.5 clonazepam (generic klonopin) and 50 mg trazadone.

I also take 2 mg melatonin, 200 mg oral progesterone and 4 mg tizanidine (generic zanaflex). This cocktail knocks me out and keeps me asleep.

I have enough pain that I can't go back to sleep in the middle of the night unless I take the tizanidine; if you don't have pain, you could skip this, but if you do, it blocks substance P. I can get by usually without other pain meds.

I went for at least 3 years with no stage 3 or stage 4 sleep, and maybe it was a lot longer. I have to use a CPAP machine, and I have pituitary dysfunction, causing ACTH and cortisol to be very low (and many other hormones as well). I think many of us have cortisol too high at night, which makes it really hard to fall asleep. Now my cortisol is low all the time, but a few years ago, it was high at night, low in the morning, and normal mid-day.

Someone told me, or I read somewhere, that healing happens when we are in deep sleep, and that's why I decided to take the clonazepam. It is hard to get off of, thus I only take a half a dose. You might get by with even less.

I believe Cort has a research paper on the site that shows what a dozen of the top CFS/ME docs use to help patients sleep. Almost all of them use more than one prescription drug. I will try to look for it tomorrow!

Good luck with this.

Kelly

 

[juniemarie]

No have not taken it at 5:30 yet, mainly because it does make me sort of drowsy and I dont want to feel that way so early in the day. I am taking 50mg , which is more than doc said to take. He said 25mg, but I increased it thinking it would work better but seems to keep me up even longer lol not sure about that. Tonight I took it at 8:00. Its 9:00 now and I am feeling drowsy but have a feeling when I get in bed , it will be the same thing. I dont know if I should take my benadryl or not???

 

[kolowesi]

juniemarie article about sleep meds

http://www.aboutmecfs.org/Trt/TrtSleepPrescrip.aspx

 

[Lily]

If you have taken Benadryl for years, the withdrawal from the Benadryl could be keeping you awake. Trazadone is frequently prescribed with Ambien (Zolpidem). Ambien is fast-acting, but of short duration and Trazadone is slow-acting, but of longer duration so they make a good combo. This combo is often given when trying to get off Benzodiazipines like Benadryl.

 

[juniemarie]

Kolowesi
Thank you for the link and your experiences. I checked the link and notice that there are the sleep initiators and the sleep prolongers. Trazodone is on the prolonger list. That makes sense. I dont know why the benadryl which has always been an initiator category for me is not helping with that when I take the trazodone?? Very mysterious these sleep things.

 

[juniemarie]

I took the benadryl for the last 2 nights and tonight with the traz. We shall see what tonight has in store for me. Why would the benadryl stop doing what its always done....put me to sleep. Seems like the traz and the benadryl would be a good combo????

 

[Lily]

It must be that the combination isn't working for you for whatever reason, especially if Benadryl was still working for you before you added the Trazadone. Hard to tell. Maybe Trazadone just isn't a good fit for you. Trazadone and Klonopin both kept me awake all night when I tried them. With the Trazadone I felt tired and kept expecting to fall asleep but didn't. After the second night I figured it just wasn't for me. With Klonopin, it worked just the opposite and hyped me up instead. I certainly didn't give that one a second chance.

I would seriously think of talking to the doc about trying Ambien with the Trazadone and try to ditch the Benadryl. I hope you find something that works for you.

 

[juniemarie]

Lily I think you are right. I dont want to give up the trazodone because I can really tell how rested I feel in the morning. I have not felt that in years. But cant handle the rolling around bright eyed for hours at night..........yesterday I posted that I took it at 8. I was not able to get to sleep until 3

 

[Frank]

75mg Trazodone and 1.75mg Klonopin does the trick for me

 

[Hysterical Woman]

Hi Juniemarie,

Many great suggestions from the people on the list for you. Please let us know how you make out. Simply taking magnesium glycinate at bedtime really works for helping me sleep.

Take care,

Maxine

 

[August59]

Just as some feedback. My sleep doctor is a big believerin trazodone. His biggest advice in taking it is that it must taken around 3 hours prior to going to sleep. The reason being is that it's half-life is pretty long and it has a sort latency effect on it's ability to promote the deep sleep that people need from it. I can tell you this too and that it has a pretty high intolerable side effect, in that it causes some pretty severe allergic reactions. As for me it the swelling of the nasal passages. He has great succes with Trazodone as long as they don't have the reactions and that it is taken 3 hours prior to bedtime.

 

[juniemarie]

August59 I takes about 5-6 hrs before it makes me drowsy. I am going to keep working on ways to use it because the benefits form it are too good to give up on it. As far as the nasal congestion goes, I also had that. What I do to help, is to keep a little tiger balm on bedside table and also an Olbas sniffer thing. They are herbal and you get them at a health food store. Vicks may do the same. I usually start off the night with inhaling and then put some on a tissue under my pillow in case I need more later. It has completely gotten rid of the stuffy nosething.

 

[Lily]

August59 I takes about 5-6 hrs before it makes me drowsy. I am going to keep working on ways to use it because the benefits form it are too good to give up on it. As far as the nasal congestion goes, I also had that. What I do to help, is to keep a little tiger balm on bedside table and also an Olbas sniffer thing. They are herbal and you get them at a health food store. Vicks may do the same. I usually start off the night with inhaling and then put some on a tissue under my pillow in case I need more later. It has completely gotten rid of the stuffy nosething.

That's interesting - sounds like you are a little allergic to the Trazodone, which the Benadryl would have counteracted......hmmmmmmm.

 

[juniemarie]

Its a common reaction to Trazodone, which I have been able to avoid with my nightly regime.

 

[Sasha]

Trazadone and Klonopin both kept me awake all night when I tried them. With the Trazadone I felt tired and kept expecting to fall asleep but didn't. After the second night I figured it just wasn't for me.

Lily, I have just been prescribed Trazadone in the last few days and my doctor told me that it would take about a week to kick in. Maybe a couple of nights wasn't long enough for you to have a chance for it to work?

 

[Sasha]

As far as the nasal congestion goes, I also had that. What I do to help, is to keep a little tiger balm on bedside table and also an Olbas sniffer thing. They are herbal and you get them at a health food store. Vicks may do the same. I usually start off the night with inhaling and then put some on a tissue under my pillow in case I need more later. It has completely gotten rid of the stuffy nosething.

Juniemarie, thanks so much for posting this - regardless of medication I've found for years now that if I lie on my side my nose gets bunged up. I tried Vicks like you suggested (I used the vapour rub by putting a blob under my nose) and it works a treat. I can lie on my side now for the first time in years, which is a much better position for me to try to get to sleep. Thanks!