Trazodone and Anxiety: What Users Say (Page 3)

• Sus...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 27, 2021

For Anxiety "I’m sharing this hoping it will help fellow sufferers of anxiety and depression. I was on Trazodone 50 mg for 22 years. Looking back, it only ever took the edge off things. I withdrew from them 17 months ago very slowly, and I was doing fine until I contracted the coronavirus. Then, anxiety, sleepless nights, etc., kicked in, so the doctor put me back on them. Big mistake. For 7 months, I suffered greatly, nothing helped. My anxiety was a shocker, so I decided to withdraw once again slowly. When I was down to a quarter of a tablet, I was rushed into the hospital with arterial fibrillation of my heart. They suspect it was the Trazodone, as it can cause tachycardia in some. I am happy to say I’m free of it and now on Mirtazapine. What a difference! It is an amazing tablet. I’m very sensitive to all meds, but no side effects from this. I’m a week in on taking it, and I feel myself again-not completely there, but mostly at peace with myself. I’ve trawled sites looking for reviews, so I thought mine might help someone. Good luck x."

• Joa...
• February 9, 2021

For Depression "On Trazodone for bipolar 2. Went to the ER because my depression was terrible. Told the nurse that I was having trouble sleeping. She said her husband takes it and loves it, that it has a very short half-life, and doesn’t make you groggy in the morning. She gave me the 50 mg. I am highly sensitive to meds. Also on Klonopin as needed. My dreams are pretty messed up, but it does induce sleep for me. I wake up groggy, but coffee wakes me. For the entire day, I’m alert and awake, but not moving or exercising, eating like a savage, horny as can be. After reading reviews, I’ve decided to call it quits after a few nights. Was hoping this would be my miracle drug because I’d been on so many other things in the past but never this one. I feel stoned on it like I have no filter and just say whatever comes to mind. Just feel strange and even a bit paranoid about certain little things. Sure does lift my mood though, even though I’ve been a total cow today. Bye-bye, Trazodone."

• Moa...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 22, 2019

For Sedation "Trazodone doesn't work?! I have suffered from insomnia and anxiety for 8 years. I drink one cup of coffee in the AM. I have no alcohol or drug use. I was prescribed 50 mg. I took one, and 5 hours later, nothing. Not even the slightest bit drowsy. Took another tab. Still nothing. I slept fitfully for a few hours ...the same way I do when I take nothing. However, I woke up with the worst anxiety. My pulse was pounding so fast I could see it in my neck. Anyway, after two days of trying, I won't be taking this medication again."

• Sig...
• August 17, 2016

For Insomnia "Trazodone was useless for my sleep issues. It actually made my insomnia worse and caused debilitating anxiety, which I found out after was probably due to the active metabolite of this drug, which is a substance called mcpp, which is very activating and is known to cause anxiety and panic attacks. I would urge anyone considering using this medication to research it in detail before deciding if the risks are worth the benefits."

• Mic...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• September 1, 2022

For Anxiety "Avoid this drug at all costs. I have a panic disorder, which is quite severe. One of the worst symptoms is agoraphobia, which was bad before I took trazodone. Now I do not leave the house whatsoever. Firstly, does this help your condition? In my case, no, it made it far more severe and has set me back months, possibly years. Are there side effects? Yes, with a capital Y. You may end up with a heartbeat that feels like your heart is about to burst out of your chest for 4-5 hours immediately after taking it, so forget sleep. The minutest of movements, and your heart continues to pound rapidly. You will feel weak, lightheaded, dizzy pretty much all the time. I was nauseous, had extreme photosensitivity, seizures, a break from reality for two days. I was doing and saying things I do not remember, unfortunately. The NHS provided very little help. The worst thing is it made me-and I still am-suicidal. Avoid this awful drug."

• Mik...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 9, 2020

For Insomnia "Absolutely horrible medication. Literally felt like poison. I took it, and I felt like it was going to be the end of me, the room was spinning, my heart was beating so fast. I felt “brain zaps” (the feeling of electricity pulsing through your brain). I also felt major anxiety and nausea. Do not take this medication!"

• Bea...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• April 29, 2021

For Depression "I have been on Trazodone for about 30 years. I have bipolar II. I take 100 mg, it helps with my sleep, but if I wake up in the middle of the night, I cannot go back to sleep. It does not help with depression too much. I also take Depakote and Xanax to help with mood swings and anxiety. I have taken just about every antidepressant medicine on the market, nothing seems to work. I spoke with the head doctor today and asked her to up my Trazodone back to 200 mg. Thought I was doing so good, and I have to go back up. I sit and cry half the day. I'm so sad. Been in the hospital 5 times for thoughts of suicide. Just don't know what to do, but I'm staying on my Trazodone."

• sal...
• July 28, 2016

For Insomnia "I have been taking trazodone 50 mg for about 4 years... At first, it worked great... went right to sleep and woke only once a night... then it started to slowly not work... I didn't experience many side effects... but now, in the past week, have been not sleeping... getting up 5 times a night and a lot of nervousness and restless legs, also crampy muscles... I am going back to the doctor to seek other remedies... just wondering if anyone else has gotten the irritability and nervousness... not being able to sit or lie still?"

• Jim...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• April 28, 2022

For Sedation "I took trazodone 150 mg for 8 years. My new PCP asked me if it helped me sleep. I told him it has become ineffective. He stopped it that day without tapering me. I didn't know it was also an SSRI. I can't take what I call regular SSRIs because I always had side effects. Two days after I stopped, I couldn't go to sleep until 3 a.m. I had vivid dreams and felt like I wasn't sleeping at all. By 6 a.m. I would wake up like clockwork with a mild headache and very nervous until I got out of bed and had a cup of coffee. The doctor told me this doesn't happen with trazodone. I moved two months later to Nevada. It's been 9 months since I was cut off from trazodone. I still can't go to sleep until 3 a.m. I still have the vivid dreams while I am sleeping and still wake up at 6 a.m. without seeing the time, with the same mild headache and nervousness. My new PCP told me I have discontinuation syndrome and it can last up to a year since I took it so long. It's been hard for me to do anything and wish this would go away."

• she...
• October 14, 2010

For Insomnia "I take 150 mg of trazodone for sleep, anxiety, and depression. It helps with the anxiety and depression, but not sleep, I wake up a lot or can't sleep after 3 hours of sleep. I have been on it almost a year."

• rol...
• September 30, 2009

For Fibromyalgia "I had to cut the doses in half. I felt like a maniac and very anxious. I'm taking it at bedtime in combination with Gabapentin, I feel a lot better, but I don't really know which one is responsible. I think both."

• PTS...
• January 13, 2018

For Insomnia "Before Trazodone, I could only sleep for 3 hours at a time and wake up feeling anxious, heart racing, sweats, etc. After about one week on Trazodone, I now can sleep through the night or maybe only wake up once in the middle of the night, but no anxiety and can immediately go back to sleep. It’s definitely worth a try."

• Hal...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• April 20, 2023

For Insomnia "I was put on this in the psych ward for insomnia and depression. It seemed to help at first, but then I started to get very bad side effects like rashes, diarrhea, headaches, worsened anxiety, depression, and just so much more. It really does not help me at all, besides making me sleep for seriously 12 hours a day. I will wake up at 6:00 pm sometimes because it knocks me out that hard, which makes me more depressed because I missed half of the day. They upped the mg to 100 mg even though I said it makes me feel bad just to see if that would 'help.' Well, let me say it hasn't helped. My anxiety and OCD are so bad now. I am always unmotivated and depressed. Everyone I met in the hospital who took it also had weird side effects from this medication. I would try it, and if you start to feel terrible, immediately tell your doctor you are not interested anymore and be stern about it."

• Nop...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 26, 2021

For Insomnia "I was prescribed Trazodone for sleep since my current Mirtazapine was causing me to gain a ton of weight. My very first dose of Trazodone gave me the experience of never taking them again. I became extremely panicky, like I was going to have a panic attack. Anxiety all night long. It definitely did not help me sleep at all. Dry mouth galore, made me extremely thirsty. I don’t like the feeling I had on this med, so I have stopped at one dose. Not worth it to continue. I’ll go back to Mirtazapine and just deal with the weight gain."

• hox...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 12, 2016

For Insomnia "Everyone reacts differently. I tried Trazodone twice - most recently for the past month to help with insomnia issues. Dosage was 25 mg, temporarily raised to 50 mg, then back down to 25 mg. It is not a drug that I found to have a powerful, noticeable effect - it sort of acts in the background, and when you drift off to sleep, it aided that for me. My problem was that at some point in the early AM, I would awaken (2:30 or 3:00) and feel terrible with anxiety. After a couple of weeks, I also sensed a gloomier/dark mood and eventually had to stop taking it. One random side effect - chapped lips and skin below my nose. It works for many, just not for me. One positive effect - seemed to assist with constipation issues."

• Anonymous
• July 13, 2009

For Fibromyalgia "Just began taking trazodone for fibromyalgia about 1 week ago. Some nights I sleep better, others, I wake up jittery and can't fall back to sleep. Pain has subsided slightly. If others are taking it for fibromyalgia, please post opinions."

• Mar...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 26, 2021

For Insomnia "I remembered back in April I was prescribed this drug to help with my insomnia, so I decided to take this pill 7/24/21. It worked, BUT I had the worst side effects. I woke up with a pounding migraine, blurry vision, and dizziness. My migraine didn’t go away for hours, and I slept all day 7/25/21. Because I slept all day yesterday, I didn’t get ANY sleep today 7/26/21. I’ve been up since 7 pm 7/25/21 and haven’t gone back to sleep. I’ve been up 14 hours straight, and I’m mentally exhausted but not physically. I’ll never take this drug again. The crazy part, when I took it back in April, I didn’t have the side effects I had recently. The only side effect I had back in April was anxiety, my heart rate was fast, no migraine, no dizziness, no blurry vision. I stopped taking it because of the increased heart rate. Maybe my dosage was too high, it was 100 mg, but yeah, never again will I take this medication."

• Wid...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 9, 2016

For Sedation "I was given trazodone by mistake in the hospital after hysterectomy. I normally take clonazepam for sleep and asked for that but was given trazodone instead. One of the worst nights of my life. I was anxious and unable to sleep, and whenever I closed my eyes, I had visions of gory dismembered body parts that would not go away (like a vision of hell or something, crazy). It went on all night long, never experienced that before. I only took it that one night in the hospital (didn't find out 'til later it was the wrong drug). Evil, evil drug. At least for me."

• Sno...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 11, 2021

For Insomnia "My neurologist prescribed Trazodone for insomnia and depression, which she believed would help with my chronic migraines. I started taking it on 12/1 (currently it’s 12/10). I am on the lowest dose (25 mg) and was going to slowly increase to 100 mg, but my neurologist decided it would be better to keep me on 25 after reviewing my side effects. First night I took it, I was fine for about 15-20 minutes. Then my anxiety ramped up. I was spaced out and dissociated. Couldn’t focus on anything or speak/think coherently. I had several panic attacks brought on by this. My anxiety subsided in about two hours (took the meds at 10) when I became too exhausted to panic. Passed out at 1, slept for 8 hours straight. Since then it’s gotten worse. Haven’t slept a full night. Side effects I’ve experienced since then: extreme mood swings, heightened anxiety, worsened depression/suicidal ideation, worsened migraines, daytime drowsiness, worsened dizziness, decreased appetite."

• Kat...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 26, 2018

For Sedation "On my 5th day of trazodone, jittery at times. Started sleeping, then it stopped. Most people say it takes 10 days to work, so I am hanging in there. Removed depression fast, but heard this drug can give you euphoria also. Need my sleep, so will give it a few more days..."

• Tra...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 18, 2021

For Sedation "I was prescribed trazodone 50 mg to help me sleep better. It made me have suicidal thoughts, increased my anxiety by a lot, and made me have panic attacks more than once every day. It basically made me not want to live, which, you guessed it, is not very good for a drug supposed to help me sleep. I got off of it, and the side effects lasted for about 2 weeks, but I was on it for only two weeks. Not everyone reacts the same to drugs, but considering the horrible side effects it had on me, I could not recommend it less."

• SMP...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 26, 2021

For Insomnia "Prescribed 50 mg of Trazodone due to experiencing significant insomnia issues for 1 week. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, the Trazodone either knocked me out for 4 to 6 hours or resulted in feeling a rush of adrenaline that kept me awake. Primary physician recommended partnering the Trazodone with 10 mg of Lexapro. Limited success when partnering Lexapro and Trazodone and frequently required me to take a 2nd 50 mg tablet of Trazodone in the middle of the night to fall back asleep. Discontinued Lexapro and started taking 50 mg of Zoloft 4 weeks ago and increased the Zoloft to 75 mg two weeks ago. I found this combination the most effective pairing of prescriptions. I have been able to fall asleep pretty consistently without taking Trazodone. After not taking Trazodone for 3 consecutive nights, I felt very anxious today and my primary recommended that I wean myself off Trazodone over the next couple of weeks."

• Jim...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• March 7, 2022

For Sedation "I was taking trazodone for 8 years for insomnia. After a few years, it became ineffective. I kept taking it because I can't take any other sleeping pills. I didn't know trazodone is also an antidepressant. I can't take what I call regular antidepressants. I stopped trazodone 9 months ago. I have been having headaches, brain fog, and anxiety for 9 months now. It's called discontinuation syndrome. I call it a living nightmare. I am worried it will never go away."

• Lil...
• March 31, 2021

For Insomnia "I am writing this review at 4:30 AM. I have COVID now for about two weeks. I started getting insomnia about 4 days ago. My doctor prescribed trazodone. I took the first 50 mg at 9 AM and the second one at 11:30 AM. It made me so wired up, jittery, and more stressed. I am tired, but my mind is going 100 miles an hour. I just opened up the bottle because I was sure the pharmacist made a mistake and instead of trazodone gave me Adderall. I checked one of the pills and it’s stamped with big letters Pliva 433. It is from Major Pharmaceuticals. Then I googled and found these reviews. It seems like you are on hardcore drugs."

• Lil...
• March 31, 2021

For Insomnia "I am writing this review at 4:30 AM. I have COVID now for about two weeks. I started getting insomnia about 4 days ago. My doctor prescribed trazodone. I took the first 50 mg at 9 AM and the second one at 11:30 AM. It made me so wired up, jittery, and more stressed. I am tired, but my mind is going 100 miles an hour. I just opened up the bottle because I was sure the pharmacist made a mistake and instead of trazodone gave me Adderall. I checked one of the pills and it’s stamped with big letters Pliva 433. It is from Major Pharmaceuticals. Then I googled and found these reviews. It seems like you are on hardcore drugs."