Prazosin for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder User Reviews (Page 4)
Brand names: Minipress
Reviews for Prazosin
- Liz...
- September 25, 2017
"I feel like this drug has helped with my nightmares and PTSD. My dreams are much more vivid and more detailed, but I'm not being chased or dragged anymore in them. I am retaining more water than usual."
- Biz...
- Taken for 1 to 2 years
- July 8, 2023
"I was initially put on Prazosin about a year ago for sleep disturbances, nightmares, intrusive flashbacks, as well as to help lessen the physical effects of C-PTSD throughout the day. At first, in the first month, I didn't find it to be as helpful as I had hoped. Dr. recommended allowing time for levels of Prazosin to reach its peak, which is a full 4-5 weeks. I'm thankful I stuck with it and would absolutely"
- Wol...
- Taken for 1 to 6 months
- July 9, 2019
"I've been on this drug for the past two months and have finally hit 3 mg (my goal is 4), and while I still have vivid dreams, they're not as nightmarish, and I don't wake up with instant anxiety nearly as often. I've found it to be super helpful, although having low blood pressure can definitely make me dizzy at times. Definitely can be worse if you take it while super drunk."
- NoO...
- Taken for less than 1 month
- September 10, 2016
"After 30 years of night terrors, among other life traumas, and almost a year of doctors saying, 'You have MDD,' attempting suicide, cutting, and other anger, anxiety, and social issues. I learned yesterday that I have PTSD, social anxiety, depression, etc. I was taken off two propranolol and hydroxyzine, and they were replaced with prazosin and risperidone. Although last night was only my first night taking prazosin, and I was told to take it alone. Well, I did that around 9 pm, stayed up for about two hours after taking it, finally getting sleepy around 11 pm or close to it. I got up off the couch to go to bed a little off balance. Abruptly awoke at 1:30 am, more off balance, and cannot go back to sleep. Not sure if I had a nightmare, but anxiety is high."
Are you taking this medicine?
Your review helps others make informed decisions.- Hal...
- Taken for 6 months to 1 year
- February 21, 2021
"I started taking prazosin to help my nightmares caused by PTSD. It does help me not feel as panicky or wake up having a panic attack, but the side effects never went away for me. I’ve been taking it for 9 months, and I still feel faint every time I wake up in the morning, even though I’m only taking 1 mg at night before bed, and I’ve never increased the dose. It’ll make me nauseous if I don’t eat before taking it, and I’ll have full hangover symptoms the next day. Talking to my provider ASAP to switch to a new medication."
- Ale...
- Taken for 2 to 5 years
- June 18, 2019
"I was on Prazosin from 2015-2018. I found it minimally helpful. At first, I had no nightmares or panic attacks. Within 3 weeks, I quickly reached the max dose of 35 mg. I have had PTSD since I was a child and in and out of institutions since I was 15. I would not recommend this medication to any of my friends."
- Bar...
- Taken for 5 to 10 years
- March 9, 2021
"Started out in 2014 at 1 mg and now it is 2021 and I am at 7 mg. This drug has changed my life for the better. I very rarely have night terrors or nightmares since I have taken them daily since 2013. I do have night sweats still, but I can handle that. REM sleep is about 2 hr and 09 min nightly."
- Anonymous
- Taken for 1 to 2 years
- August 10, 2021
"I was hit by an SUV while running. Due to brain trauma, I couldn’t sleep more than a couple of hours, I did not go into REM sleep. I take it at night. It is magical. I never take any drugs, they knew that and highly recommended I try it for a week. I slept 8 hours every night. Do not take it during the day. It is not something you take for anxiety specifically. What it does is allow your brain to rest at night, creating a healing for trauma. It will make you lightheaded at first if you stand up too fast out of bed, but that will subside after a week. It does not make you groggy, not a sleep aid, it just puts you into deep sleep once you are. I do have PTSD and it helps by giving me rest, it is not a mood-enhancing drug. To me, it truly does exactly what drugs should do: help you heal."
- Vet...
- Taken for 1 to 6 months
- November 19, 2019
"I was initially prescribed 2 mg prazosin prior to bedtime for PTSD nightmares. It worked for a couple of hours, but upon awakening and going back to sleep, the nightmares continued. It was not recommended to me that I take it during the day, only at night. Again, the first hour or two falling asleep, it is beneficial. If you wake up and go back to sleep, it doesn’t work."
- AS-...
- Taken for less than 1 month
- February 17, 2023
"I have severe PTSD from childhood and teenage abuse and thought I was handling things okay. However, every day I'd white-knuckle my panic attacks/PTSD dreams until the afternoon when I take my Valium. It was awful. Every dream I had was a trauma dream, I was waking up super early due to these dreams. I would have multiple panic attacks during the day that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Strong disassociation as well. I had tried Prazosin years ago at 1 mg for nightmares, but my former therapist talked me into getting off of it as 'dreams are important.' After all this pent-up anxiety, I finally made an emergency appointment with my psychiatrist and told her everything. She put me on 2 mg Prazosin twice a day for three days and then go up to 2 mg Prazosin three times a day. She also prescribed some Serax to help with morning panic attacks. The Prazosin has been amazing, and it's only been about a week. It literally destroyed any trauma dreams and helps me during the day also. Lifesaver for PTSD."
- R J...
- Taken for less than 1 month
- September 24, 2022
"Excitedly reading positive reviews, I felt sure prazosin was just the thing for my chronic PTSD - nightmares making me dread sleep, anxiety, depression, paranoia - and it would improve my BPH and hypertension! “Silver bullet” (as someone wrote) for ailments ruining my life! But I was badly mistaken - for me, more a “wrecking ball”! Took 1 mg prazosin before bed for a week, and every time, an hour or so after dozing off, I'd wake up gasping for breath, hot prickling all over my body, loud tinnitus, heart pounding out of my chest, with nausea and blurred vision. Blood pressure would then be around 160/100, HR 75 (before prazosin, only about 135/85, HR 55). Couldn’t go back to sleep until I took lots of acetaminophen, amlodipine, and Xanax (really trying to taper off, but prazosin ruined it). I'd get up in the morning with bad swelling in calves and ankles (much worse than usual, only amlodipine). Truly happy for people for whom prazosin is a great help, but it’s definitely not for some of us!"
- Han...
- Taken for 6 months to 1 year
- October 31, 2021
"I noticed an almost immediate change in my nightmares and sleep disturbances when I started taking prazosin. I still dream, but not the terror-filled nightmares from before. I also feel like my anxiety has greatly decreased during the day. I was able to discontinue my other anxiety medication and just use the prazosin. Great medication so far."
- Mai...
- Taken for 1 to 6 months
- October 11, 2020
"I took prazosin for about a month and found I felt most disturbed after waking up from my dreams, given the loss of time I felt from not being able to recall my dreams. It felt like somebody reached into my brain and took my memory from me. I also increasingly passed out as I took it, even at a low dose."
- Air...
- Taken for 5 to 10 years
- September 3, 2022
"Began taking prazosin since spring of 2013 and haven't or will I ever stop taking it. At 1 mg a day, it lowered my bad temper I had from being Security Forces and deployed to Afghanistan during my 6-year career. Since late 2013, I started taking 10 mg a night to prevent nightmares. This drug works for nightmares so long as I do not consume caffeine within 4 hours of sleep. I've begun taking 5 mg in the daytime recently for anxiety and stress, especially uncontrollable obsessive thoughts. It also lowers my blood pressure, which is great because I've been hypertensive since coming back from Afghanistan. The VA will often prescribe this as a first-line drug for PTSD because it has no side effects in my case. Great drug. Can't live without it."
- AJA...
- Taken for 2 to 5 years
- June 20, 2022
"Great for non-combat PTSD and nightmares, but developing side effects over time. I developed terrible insomnia and was getting low-quality sleep of an hour or two a night if I was lucky. A daily 1 mg dose solved that problem quickly. I love that I sleep a solid 7 to 9 hours a night. Rarely do I have a nightmare anymore, weird dreams, yes, but no nightmares. An added bonus is that I also have low blood pressure now, which is so welcome from the previous usual state of stress and frustration. It helped with me letting things go and relaxing a lot more. Because of the negative consequences of consuming the drug with alcohol, I chose to give up alcohol because I was so desperate for sleep, I don’t regret it. I love the feeling of knowing exactly when I’m going to fall asleep and waking up well-rested. It may be in my head, but I feel like the prazosin made this a little easier too. Side effects 2 years in: tiredness, low energy, and slight depression, but still would choose to take it."
- joe...
- Taken for less than 1 month
- April 29, 2022
"The first time I took this med, I experienced very odd dreams, which woke me up questioning, what the heck is this all about? Also, I woke up several times during the night with a crazy rapid heartbeat. No way I will ever take this med again."
- Jul...
- Taken for 1 to 6 months
- May 17, 2022
"Absolutely horrid medication for PTSD! I had normal BP prior to starting prazosin. It lowered my BP too low; dizzy, blackouts, passing out just from standing, caused constant heart palpitations and pains even when resting! Night terrors worsened. Raynaud's became extremely painful and hasn't gotten better since stopping the prazosin!"
- Jas...
- Taken for less than 1 month
- November 1, 2021
"Been taking this medicine for PTSD, 1 mg at night. After just a few days, I started having severe memory problems. They were so bad, I thought I was showing early signs of dementia, and also my hands started having tremors. I stopped taking the medication, and my memory and shakes are almost nonexistent. It may take a little while longer, as I just stopped 2 days ago. This is just my experience, and it may be different for other users of this medication, but I would not recommend based on my experience. Also, if taking, make sure you stand up slowly, as I nearly passed out and fell and hurt my shoulder."
- Jam...
- August 16, 2021
"Anyone suffering from nightmares or night terrors should try talking to your doctor if it is suitable for you. Prazosin has stopped me from waking in a terror, kicking and punching, screaming at the top of my lungs from the traumatic dreams I was having. At 25 mg, I do not have any dreams. As I lower the dose, the dreams start. This drug is one of those that have saved my life."
- fyr...
- Taken for 1 to 2 years
- February 10, 2021
"I was given prazosin 2 mg to start, which was then increased to 5 mg before bed. I never felt that it helped with my sleep but kept at it. After about a year, I had a medical evaluation where I was told I should increase my dosage. I did so to 10 mg, and my life immediately went bad. I learned through research that some people are not improved with it and, in fact, worsened by prazosin, I do believe I'm one of them. I'm currently at 2.5 nightly, and again that seems like it's doing nothing."
- CEM...
- Taken for 10 years or more
- April 26, 2024
"C-PTSD and anxiety disorder from long-term mental/emotional abuse in a relationship. Had not only nightmares but daymares as well that rendered me nonfunctional. Was put on a relatively low dose prazosin (maximum 2 mg) and first the daymares dissipated, then the nightmares. When the doc attempted to increase dosage, I lost balance from even getting up out of a chair, so they dropped it back down again. Nice to have a doc responsive to feedback. (I am typically very sensitive and responsive to low doses of medication). Was on it daily for many years, then weaned off to see if C-PTSD symptoms were manageable and found only rare occasions of nightmares and no more daymares. Started using it only as needed. I am back on a low dose now after divorce more for anxiety, trauma, and hypertension. Much better sleep but still titrating for hypertension. Only up to 2 mg daily. Even 2 mg makes me feel woozy and I'm hoping over time that side effect will dissipate. Prazosin has been a huge help and a lifeline med."
- Tku...
- Taken for 2 to 5 years
- January 13, 2020
"I'm now on 1 mg of prazosin at nighttime along with 200 mg of trazodone at nighttime. And yet it doesn't help me to fall straight away. Usually, I need a bit of mother nature to do the trick. I will add that they have me on quite a bit of different pain meds. Only one is actually a pain med. The rest just add to the amount of pills I have to take every day."
- Tri...
- Taken for 1 to 6 months
- May 8, 2022
"CPTSD (also have anxiety and non-responsive depression), nightmares, night terrors, sleep paralysis. Never a 'good sleeper' as a kid. Bad side effects from drugs for sleep increase side effects. Immediately, prazosin 1 mg helped with dreams, no longer stuck in a loop BS. Finally free my own mind back. Doctors do, and they kept pumping up dosage despite my objection I was having erratic BP and high HR plus arrhythmia. Two days ago, collapsed in a supermarket after a light walk for 2 hours. Bent over, stood up, went down like a rock, felt like I was dying, not a panic attack dying, but I don't know what was happening dying, muscles useless and spasms all over, cold and blue lips. Ambo trip to hospital found nothing in bloods and cardiac. But while I was there, I did some bending over and found HR decreased then escalated rapidly. I assume it was dehydration and bending over. Took three days to recover, mind is still a mess, I'm exhausted. Staying at low dose for now. Sleep is GOLD, but no more of the other."
- ssr...
- Taken for 1 to 6 months
- July 9, 2022
"It helps. I’m on 2 mg, and it helps me not remember the dreams in the morning, so I’m not stuck thinking the dream was real and in psychosis in the morning. It makes me less scared while I sleep and helps reduce the nightmares. I still have them, but not terrible, and I have more regular dreams now. But it makes me horrifically tired in the morning. I take a lot of naps. It’s hard to wake up. I shake a lot, and my heart beats faster, it feels. Worth it for the nightmare relief compared to when I forget to take it."
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"I take this for my PTSD and the PTSD-related nightmares, and I’ve been on it for about a month now, and I can absolutely tell a difference. I have only had maybe one dream about my abuser when it used to be every night. I take a mood stabilizer as well, so I think that helps me too, but taking this before bed has definitely reduced my nightmares and night terrors. I also have Raynaud’s because I have lupus, and it helps with that too. I love this medicine because it helps several things for me. Give it a try."