Trazodone for Insomnia User Reviews (Page 3)

• Elaine
• Taken for 10 years or more
• September 30, 2019

"I have taken Trazodone at bedtime for over 20 years. I have learned to adjust my bedtime dose and take from 25 to 100 mg before bed. I take it as I get into bed. I began taking it as a 30 something because anxiety and worry kept me from falling and staying asleep. Now that I am older, I need to use the bathroom during the night so do wake up but usually can fall right back to sleep. If I have caffeine in the afternoon and evening, I take the higher dose at night because I won't get a good sleep. I wake fine in the morning and do have a cup of coffee while I wake up fully. I have found if I miss taking a dose at night, I can fall asleep but not deeply. And I may have odd thought like dreams throughout the night. Also, when on the trazodone, I do not dream or at least do not remember any dreams. I believe that it is a good sleep aid and that some haven't given themselves time to adjust to it as a sleep aid."

• orang...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• May 8, 2015

"I can honestly say this medication has saved my life. For years I had been taking diphenhydramine (benadryl) and had no sleep-wake cycle and never felt completely awake. About 8 months ago I tried out Ambien and Lunesta but my doctor wouldn't let me take them for any longer than a couple weeks. Then Trazodone was recommended, and while the first night was absolutely terrible (nausea, insomnia, overslept), and I am never going back. I can take it long term, it's cheap, it makes me feel genuinely tired and not drugged tired, and I finally have a sleep-wake cycle again. It is also very calming, which helps sleep come a lot faster. I can now get up in the morning and not hate my life. Bless this drug. I don't know where I'd be without it."

• Alexs
• May 24, 2015

"Before my doctor suggested trying trazadone 50mg a night I was awake every hour on the hour every night. Now I take it right before bed and I sleep the whole night without a problem. I've been on it for about 3 years and don't have any complaints. It was a miracle for me"

• truck...
• April 24, 2015

"I am a long haul trucker. I am not allowed to take most sleep aids. Looked into trazodone, found that its legal for me. I find that it works wonders! I sleep around 7 hrs wake up refreshed and ready for the day. I've suffered with insomnia for years so I have to say trazodone is a life saver."

• rested
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• September 5, 2013

"This helps me fall asleep fast and stay asleep most nights. I wake feeling rested, without that drowsy feeling the next morning. I would tell everyone who has insomnia to take this. I take trazodone every night and have not experienced any side effects. What a lifesaver"

• Garde...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 11, 2013

"Took 100mg for the first time last night. Don't think I rolled over all night - my hip is aching this morning, possibly because I slept in one position. I slept through my alarm this morning. Three cups of coffee later, I'm still groggy. I'll try 50mg tonight and see if it works without the side effects. I'd advise starting at a low dosage and working your way up."

• Halo
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• August 27, 2020

"trazodone worked wonders for sleep at a dose of 50-100 mg for a few months, but tolerance quickly developed. For the next year, I stayed on 150 mg, all the while receiving VERY mixed results. Some nights sleep would occur within 30 min and I’d sleep 7-8 hours straight; other nights, it would take hours kick in. When it did, it was only for short periods at a time. Then there were days I didn’t sleep at all. Instead of trying something different, MD instead increased my dose to 300 mg! DON’T BE FOOLED INTO BELIEVING TOLERANCE WILL NEVER BE AN ISSUE."

• Tootz...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 8, 2014

"My psych prescribed trazadone 50 mg when I first started seeing her. I took it one time and still didn't sleep so I tossed it. A few nights ago I was so frustrated because I hadn't slept for days so I tore the medicine cabinet apart looking for anything that would make me sleep. I found the trazadone. I took one and bam I was out like a light for 8 hours. Guess I will give it another shot now!"

• xMann...
• December 22, 2016

"Because of depression I had developed insomnia. My doctor had prescribed me ambien, but that wore off real quick that it wasn't working anymore. Then I was feeling even more depressed because I was worrying about sleeplessness which led me to a viscious cycle, then I tried this Trazadone , it has been a God send for me. I feel normal again I sleep like a baby, at first, before trazadone I was sleeping about 3 hours or so. I have 50 mg and 100. I usually go with 50 and I'm a pretty big dude 250lbs. Just take it with a Lil food before bed time,if u don't it won't work as well. Good luck and be patient if your new to this drug. You have to do a Lil experiment on yourself with this before u get it right as far as in dosage and time."

• Anonymous
• April 20, 2009

"I have been suffering chronic insomnia for a few years and have tried many different medications/sleeping pills/techniques. Everything I tried did nothing more than make me drowsy or uncomfortable. Trazodone however puts me straight to sleep on time every time when taken half an hour before sleeping, and I wake up having had a restful sleep."

• bl197...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 29, 2014

"I had a medical issue, followed by surgery, then severe insomnia. I took Ambien at first, and it works well, but I started sleep walking with no memory, so I sought another treatment. Trazodone was next, but after six nights of wicked dreams and a racing heart, I quit Trazodone. I now take Zaleplon for insomnia and it's the best medicine yet. Zaleplon gives me 5-6 solid hours of sleep with no wild dreams and no sleep walking."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• March 13, 2017

"I was given trazadone for insomnia. I generally don't fall asleep until early morning! I started this medication 6 months ago and am so thankful for it! I have read a lot of reviews with people saying they are sleeping 14 hours, I personally have not experienced that. I was told to start with 50 mg, didn't seem to do the trick for me. I started taking 100 mg and it works great! I thought I needed something to shut my mind down because it doesn't ever seem to shut off! It definitely doesn't shut the mind down but I have found if I do deep breathing and take the trazadone I'm usually out within 20 minutes! I have never felt dizzy or fatigued like others are saying but medications work different for everyone."

• Eric
• September 17, 2014

"My wife and I have tried the whole gamut of sleep aids. Trazodone works pretty well. It seems to cause 'funny' dreams, but other than that, it does make you sleep. The only exception we have to most peoples experiences, is we find even 12.5 mg is 'too much', resulting in an over-sedated feeling the the morning. We try to cut the tablet in 8 parts, but it is difficult. So, a 25 mg, or even 10 mg tablet would be great."

• LewisTM
• February 23, 2017

"This is my favorite hypnotic drug. I've been suffering from insomnia for at least ten years, with good stretches and bad ones. Through CBT, I've learned to worry less about sleep, but I'm still a light sleeper and would wake up many times during the night, which is a source of anxiety and a burden. Taking 25 mg allows me to sleep trough the night with fewer awakenings and less difficulty falling back to sleep. Trazodone is a tool in your arsenal, but it's not "sleep-in-a-pill": it won't knock you out like the benzos or z-drugs, and that's not a bad thing, because this effect tends to create tolerance and rebound insomnia. Also, allow one week for the effects to stabilize before drawing any conclusion."

• Chris...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 9, 2017

"I was given trazadone by my psychiatrist instead of imovane or benzodiazepines. At first I took 50mg, 1st week it was hard to get up in the morning but that got better, then I went up to 100mg and couldn't handle it (too groggy) so back down to 50mg. This med helped me for months so if you can get through the first few weeks of morning grogginess give it a try. I suffer from major depression, anxiety, insomnia and I am a recovering alcoholic."

• anon
• October 29, 2013

"Started taking trazodone as an aid to sleep, since I was upping my alprazolam to try and fall asleep, and didn't want to keep upping it (I take 1.5 mg/day). Have had trouble falling and staying asleep since I was young. Also take 40 mg citalopram for depression. Trazodone works great for me at 25 mg, taken ~30 minutes or so before sleeping, along with 0.5-1 mg alprazolam. Does have a dizzying effect, so I never take it unless I know I'm going to bed. Anything over 25 mg for me causes a hangover the next day (fogginess, tiredness), but I am petite. But it works wonders to calm a racing mind and get me to sleep and wake up feeling refreshed on 25 mg. Haven't experience other side effects, while taking mostly every day for ~ 2 years."

• Kristy
• September 6, 2020

"On trazodone almost 10 years now and recently my hair started to fall out. I read anecdotes online of this happening to people years after starting TZ. Some hormonal reactions take a long time to develop and I can't trace my hair loss to anything else. I've been on 100mg this whole time, at times taking 150 because once in a while with 100mg I still won't get to sleep until like 5am. I cut down to 50 and still got to sleep, 25mg was hard to sleep, but after cutting to 0 I cannot sleep period so I'm going to stay at 25mg for a while and hope my sleep readjusts. I hate having to take this. If you can't sleep naturally please find natural means. 0.3mg melatonin is all your body needs per night to fall asleep. Drugs are addicting prescribed or not, and they can permanently change your neuropathways so you need them when you didn't before taking them. I don't know any other side effects I've had but there could be some I just don't even realize are from the medication as I have other health issues."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• January 1, 2015

"I've been on Trazodone for more than four years. Started for insomnia during my PhD program. I'm a woman, 5-10, 170, and work out five days/week). I need between 100-150 mg to get this medicine to work, but I have never had the hangover the next morning. Most sleep aids knock me out for days - that's never been an issue with Trazodone - I would not have finished my PhD or survived my first year as a full-time professor without it."

• mozu
• September 19, 2015

"I'm a poster child for this drug. I had severe insomnia in my early 30s (i.e., NO sleep for three nights running without a sleeping aid), and various Rxs were of little help. I started out on 150 mg. and in the early part of the many years I've been taking it I whittled it down to 12.5 mg, a quarter of a 50 mg pill. A ridiculously small amount, but I've tested it and know it's not a placebo. It works perfectly for me%u2014I'm drowsy within 10 minutes of taking, sleep through the night, and I'm never fuzzy in the morning. Highly recommend."

• Anonymous
• October 3, 2013

"Taken 30 minutes before bedtime, 50mg of Trazodone made me extremely drowsy. I probably fell asleep rather quickly, but I tossed-n-turned throughout the night! I also experienced very strange dreams. Twelve hours after taking the medication, I awoke feeling very groggy, off-balanced, and had a headache; hang-over feeling."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• October 22, 2014

"I have epilepsy, so sleep is a really important component of control, but I have issues with insomnia. I already take a lot of pills so I didn't want another, but my neurologist (whose specialty is actually sleep) suggested Trazodone because it doesn't alter sleep architecture and is non addictive (something I wanted to avoid). This is by far the best sleep medicine I have tried, and I have tried Ambien and Lunesta. I guess I've also used my Klonopin, but I'd rather not take anything addictive very frequently. My dose is around 50-100 mg per night - depending on how tired I am."

• Texas...
• October 5, 2014

"My daughter has suffered from insomnia (waking up in the middle of the night and not going back to sleep) for 2 years. Natural remedies didn't work well, nor did Benadryl. She finally tried trazodone at 25 mg. at 11 pm. She slept very soundly, but she felt very sedated (couldn't function) until 3:30 the next day. The next night she tried 12.5 mg., woke up at 8:30 and wasn't completely alert until 11 am. She tried 12.5 mg. again last night, was too tired to wake at 8, got up at 8:30, and was fully alert by 10. Tonight she'll try less than 1/4 pill so that she can wake up at 7:30 and be fully alert by 8:30 or 9. She weighs 110 pounds and most prescription meds make her extremely drowsy."

• Pharm...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 26, 2016

"Took 50 mg last night to help me with my nighttime awakenings. I did not have any side effects and slept for over 8 hours! Best night of sleep in a long time. My plan is just to use this for a short period of time to get me through some stressful life events and then taper off. I am a pharmacist and looked at all the possible side effects before taking this medication. I must say, nothing adversely affected me and I happy for this. Sleep is so important to me and this helped so much."

• Eilee...
• November 8, 2016

"I have suffered from insomnia for years since going through menopause. I used to have to have a couple glasses of wine to fall asleep -- without that I would stay up all night reading -- trying to get tired -- and wind up finishing an entire book. I have been taking this medication for about a month and it's working as prescribed for me. I get drowsy after 30 minutes or so and sleep through the night. I wake up energized and ready to go. I hope it continues to perform as desired. I think I can agree with the dreams -- no nightmares, just dreams which I remember to some degree. I sleep so good that I don't move unless my dog does.... LOL"

• tnr
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• August 29, 2013

"I started trazodone 5 years ago during an acute episode of depression. I take Cymbalta as a maintenance against depression. Trazodone at 50 mg is very effective for me - it takes about 45 minutes to kick in. I get 7-8 hrs of sleep and do not feel groggy the next day. I can also split the 50 mg tablet and take 25 mg and get decent sleep - not as deep but still restful. I take trazodone every night and have not experienced any side effects in over 5 years."