Trazodone and Headaches: What Users Say

• bob...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• November 4, 2014

For Insomnia "Gave a 9 instead of 10 because of the Traz 'hangover' when you begin (headaches, fog, laziness) - coffee and aspirin should help this. I recommend starting at the lowest dose possible and moving up. I take 50mg and it works wonders. Was on Ambien for 7 years but got tired of eating randomly, not remembering things I did, and the short amount of sleep time. With Trazodone, you will have a deep and restful sleep (6-8 hrs). Any side effects should go away within a week. Word of caution... you HAVE to lay down, turn out the lights, and close your eyes within 30-45 minutes of taking this. Otherwise, you risk missing the sleep window and could be up all night. Best sleep aid I've tried."

• Cai...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 19, 2021

For Anxiety "I really had a rough time starting trazodone. But I gave it two weeks, and wow. I now have 0 panic attacks! If I start worrying now, and get those body feelings, they completely go away once I refocus. I am so grateful that I got prescribed. The appetite suppression was rough. For the first month, or if you take your meds too late before bed, you will have a hard time waking up, headaches, and grogginess after waking. But this will all be worth it! The thought of food was nauseating and I had to live off protein shakes just to go on. But seriously, it helped me lose weight and stop my anxiety, I'm so so so beyond happy with it."

• Fel...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 31, 2020

For Insomnia "I started trazodone at 150mg for insomnia on April 22. The side effects I experienced were dry mouth, mild headache, dizziness, nervousness, and shakiness. I told my primary doctor about it, so he lowered my dose to 100mg after three weeks. I’ve been on the new dose since May 15, and I still feel the same side effects. I actually feel my anxiety getting worse as I wake up in a panic, and I can feel my heart beating fast. I love that I’m able to sleep, but I hate the side effects. I really don’t want to take it anymore, but I’m scared of stopping it. Anyone else experiencing this? Please help."

• kj2...
• January 6, 2021

For Insomnia "I was prescribed trazodone for insomnia, but I have anxiety and depression as well. I'm very wary of all medications and don't take anything for my other conditions, but after almost a week of no sleep, I finally gave in to taking this. I think it saved me. I'm finally able to fall asleep before 5 AM and stay asleep for more than a couple of hours. Additionally, I feel less anxious and dreadful upon waking up in the morning. I'm only taking 50 mg. The only side effect I've had is a slight headache upon waking up and still a little sleepy/groggy, but that goes away upon really waking."

• Fre...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• January 21, 2021

For Insomnia "Trazodone has one active metabolite (mCPP) which is a well-known anxiety-provoking agent. It also generates headaches for testing potential anti-migraine medications. mCPP leads to breathing trouble, feelings of suffocation, heart palpitations, decreased motor control, confusion, OCD, bipolar behavior, mania and alcohol cravings. mCPP is banned in 12 countries where it's only permitted for scientific research. Trazodone significantly impairs memory, verbal learning, and eyesight. I've taken this medication for 20 years and am now legally blind without a prescription. Trazodone gave me chronic fatigue syndrome, orthostatic intolerance, arrhythmia, and cerebral ischemia. It triggers seizures and heart attack in the elderly which occurred to both my parents. It decreases blood flow to the brain, causes oxidative stress, reduces sodium and glutathione levels, limits oxygen uptake, and depletes mitochondria."

• Gar...
• May 2, 2020

For Insomnia "Prior to Covid-19, I was taking 10mg of melatonin, and it wasn’t working for post-menopause sleep issues. The weekend that 'Lockdown' began, I didn’t sleep for 3 days straight and had rapid weight loss. My PCP put me on trazodone, and it was a miracle for me. Instructions said 1-2 for insomnia, so I have just been taking 1 at bedtime. I go to bed at 9 pm and get up every morning at 4 am wide awake. 40 days later, it’s not working as well, so I may increase to 1.5 and see if that helps. I’m 5’3” and 123 pounds for reference. I’ve only had 3 morning headaches, which Advil took care of, but I forgot to drink water those days prior. I could not have made it this far through the Covid-19 lockdown without it."

• Kat...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• February 26, 2020

For Insomnia "I have been taking trazodone for about a year, and it has really helped with my chronic insomnia, but it definitely comes at a price. I feel very tired the next day that doesn't really go away unless I'm drinking caffeine. The only other side effect I have had is mild headaches, but that's it. I was taking 50 mg, but now I take anywhere between 75-100 mg due to building up a tolerance. I would only recommend this drug to someone (like myself) who has tried every other type of sleep aid and it did nothing for them and also suffers from things like anxiety and depression."

• Anonymous
• October 7, 2019

For Anxiety "13 years ago, I was prescribed 100 mg at bedtime for insomnia and anxiety. Upon awakening, I couldn't think straight. It was awful. So I discontinued it. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to request that my doctor prescribed trazodone again at 25 mg per night. I am a long-time user of benzodiazepines. Doctors are reluctant to prescribe benzos. Quite frankly, I'm tired of the battle to get them. Not only that, my favorite is Xanax. Xanax is a brain cell destroyer. I would like to keep what's left of my mind. The trazodone 25 mg at bedtime allows me to sleep through the night without anxiety and flashbacks. No lying awake tossing and turning, reliving undesirable events in my history. My insomnia has been a lifelong condition. I have mostly self-medicated through the years. My hope is that I have found the right treatment at the right dosage. If the beneficial effects continue to last, I will stick with this."

• Anonymous
• June 14, 2011

For Depression "I recently lost my husband and I was prescribed Trazodone for depression. Before this, I was taking Ambien for sleeplessness. I am now off Ambien which gave me bad headaches. Not only am I sleeping better than ever, but my depression seems to be somewhat in check. I do not expect any miracle medicine to take away the pain and sadness of losing the love of my life, but this is more than helping with no side effects at all."

• DCh...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 7, 2013

For Anxiety "I have been prescribed trazodone for generalized anxiety disorder with insomnia. I started with 50 mg only at bedtime for a week and now at 100 mg in a single dose at bedtime. It helped me a lot with the anxiety (it calmed me down) and also it improved considerably my sleep at night. Although the sedating activity is immediate, the anxiolytic activity takes some time to show effect and requires increasing dose. I have noticed no major side effects, except for orthostatic hypotension and some headaches mainly at the beginning of the treatment. It works well as a sleep aid, but care must be taken when you increase the dose (should be done gradually increasing the dose by 25 mg). The dose of 100 mg at bedtime works fine for me. I will continue on this dose and see how things go on."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• March 8, 2020

For Anxiety "I have been taking Trazodone for chronic insomnia and anxiety now for over 3 years. It helps me fall asleep and lets me sleep quite well for about 7 hours. The only side effects I have noticed are mild headaches and slight dizziness after first taking it."

• anx...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 5, 2016

For Sedation "I was prescribed 1/2 to 2 tablets of 50 mg Trazodone to help with my disturbed sleep, and it has been a miracle! I do not know how long it has been that I have slept at least 7 hours straight without waking up several times during the night. I also have anxiety and depression and have been prescribed Effexor. The combination of these two drugs has helped tremendously thus far. It has only been a week, and I have had very mild side effects of headache, nausea, and dry mouth. Those are slowly dissipating and becoming less and less. I used to wake up with this worry feeling in the pit of my stomach, in a head fog, and fatigued. So far, those feelings have gone away. My personal problems haven't gone away, but I am able to handle them."

• BME...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• April 11, 2014

For Depression "I was in a deep dark hole into which no light or joy came, no matter what nice and kind things my family did to help. I had uncontrollable crying bouts that might occur at any time. A friend told me Desyrel had helped her, so I asked my doctor for a script. From the first dose, I knew I was on to something. Slept well, woke rested, did not interfere with intimacy with husband. Was mentally alert but took a couple of cups of coffee to get going. Did have a moderate headache that went away in a couple of hours. Suddenly, I was interested in life again, was able to resume handling our finances, organizing the house, and outings with friends. It was great. But after some time came... weight gain, edema, and stomach on fire... slept in a recliner lots. Not for long use."

• AL ...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• March 8, 2015

For Depression "Wow. A PA prescribed this for me in addition to 150 mg of Zoloft. It's a life-changer. Sometimes, I have restless legs and a slight headache, but I'll take that over depression and loss of interest any day! I sleep so well and am just generally a happy person. I was prescribed it for sleep, but it does much more than that! If you're looking for great, restful sleep or even an antidepressant booster...look no further!"

• Anonymous
• October 3, 2013

For Insomnia "Taken 30 minutes before bedtime, 50mg of Trazodone made me extremely drowsy. I probably fell asleep rather quickly, but I tossed and 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; hangover feeling."

• Ano...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 22, 2020

For Headache "I don’t recommend trazodone at ALL for headaches. It did make me sleepy, but it also made me feel a bit dizzy and nauseous, which gave me major anxiety. The next day, I woke up with a pounding headache, and I couldn’t move my head. It was terrible. It lasted 2 days. I wasn’t sure if it was the medication at first or not, so I waited about a week to try it again, and the same thing happened. I’m aware everyone is different when it comes to the tolerance of medication, but I hope this was helpful."

• Mad...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• November 25, 2024

For Insomnia "I've been on a 50 mg dose of trazodone as needed for about 4 years now, and it's been a blessing and a curse. Does it put me to sleep? Absolutely. I take one of these bad boys and I'm out like a light within an hour. But do I stay asleep? Not really. Suppose I take it at 9, intending to wake up at 6 - I'll be dead asleep by 10, but then awake at 1, and awake again at 4. Once my alarm goes off at 6 and I'm up for good, I'm so groggy (and a little dizzy and headachy) that I can barely sit up straight. Granted, I'm also waking up throughout the night when I'm not taking it, and at least the medication causes me to fall back asleep faster. But is it really worth the trazodone hangover? Is it worth actually getting a little more sleep, but still feeling like you pulled 17 all-nighters in a row? Probably not."

• Mar...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• July 11, 2016

For Insomnia "I have been on and off trazodone for months, even years. Nothing but positive feelings from me, sure, it took tweaking the dose from 50 mg to the current 150-300 nightly, as my day goes. Stress-wise, most nights I get 5 or so peaceful hours of sleep, can wake to pee, and go right back to sleep. No headache later. Bye."

• adi...
• December 13, 2015

For Insomnia "Alright guys! If you are thinking about starting the use of Trazodone for your insomnia, go ahead and take it without a second thought. It definitely changed my life a hundred times better. I was having mild insomnia, but it then progressed to severe insomnia, and I had to break the loop. Natural supplements don't do the trick when your body is used to sleeping so little. Take Trazodone and slowly wean off when your body starts sleeping better. And yeah, no side effects (the first week was bad headaches and grogginess, but they go away)."

• Shi...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 3, 2019

For Depression "I take this as a mood enhancer/sleep aid alongside my antidepressant, Zoloft. Within an hour of taking this medication, I need to sleep. If I wake up within 3 hours of taking it, I get extremely dizzy and begin to stumble around. If I do manage to sleep after waking up, I wake up with a terrible headache and brain fog. If I don’t wake up after taking this medication, I sleep very soundly but still wake up a bit disoriented (brain fog)."

• Jbo...
• June 22, 2017

For Insomnia "I suffer from anxiety/depression and recently started taking Zoloft. I was having sleep issues prior and even worse sleep issues after taking Zoloft. Been on just about all the sleep meds there are out there except for Trazodone. The doc prescribed it, and the first several nights my sleep was rocky, and I'd get up in the morning with a pounding headache and some dizziness and confusion. I stayed the course for a couple of weeks, and I do have to say it works great! I was on 50 mg for a week, and the doc told me to increase to 100 mg after a week. I never had to do that, and now I only need about 25 mg for it to take effect and allow me to sleep. I believe a lot of people lose patience 'cause I'm guilty of it. I would recommend staying on the course."

• LJa...
• August 25, 2020

For Insomnia "My doctor's been trying to get me off Ambien for chronic insomnia because of supposed side effects with long-term use and prescribed me trazodone. But trazodone either made me very drowsy the next day when I took the full dose or didn't get me to sleep for very long when I cut it in half. Since it takes longer to work, taking half a dose in the middle of the night was useless. I also had bad dreams many times, some nausea, my nasal passages seemed to get constricted, making breathing not so smooth, and gave me slight headaches. With all that, I became moody. I never had any of these issues with Ambien. I will say that when I did fall asleep with trazodone, I slept well and hard. But out of the week I tried trazodone, I had only one full night of good sleep. The other nights were pretty miserable, mainly because I couldn't get enough sleep."

• Nic...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 18, 2023

For Anxiety "Prescribed 50 mg for anxiety and depression for a 28-day period. I didn’t find it helpful, it made my depression worse, and I started to have panic episodes for the last 2 days of use and stopped it. Please consider this drug with caution, as the withdrawal symptoms are truly awful… panic symptoms, palpitations, nausea, headache, tinnitus, and gastrointestinal disturbances, these still persist after 6 weeks of cessation."

• Anonymous
• May 29, 2013

For Insomnia "Been on it for over a year. I take 0-100 mg a night as needed, but typically it's 100. After the first two weeks, I've had few side effects (at first, there was dry mouth and headaches, as my body adjusted to it). Once I take it, I have to keep myself occupied for an hour or two, not yet trying to sleep, but still relaxing, watching TV, reading, etc., until the medicine takes effect. When that happens, it's very clear. I can pretty much shut my eyes and fall asleep within minutes. The only downside is that my already detailed and abundant nightmares are very much heightened and are often disturbing, which makes me wake up feeling disturbed but not drowsy. Would recommend."

• The...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• March 9, 2023

For Anxiety "Trazodone made me worse. The anxiety, depression, and feeling of being overwhelmed were bad before, but after, they got worse. Before, I could drive and, on better days, meet friends in cafes. Now, I can’t leave the house alone. My husband takes me everywhere. I’m gripped with irrational fear 24/7. Dreams take me to childhood places that I don’t wish to revisit, not that I dream much on 3-4 hours of broken sleep per night. I was on 25 mg for 12 nights, 50 mg for 8 nights, 100 mg for 19 nights, and 125 mg for 4 nights. A week after increasing to 100, I knew I’d struggle with this and the next increase, but I stuck with it. When I saw my GP, I was experiencing very bad insomnia, had no appetite, had palpitations (bradycardia 38 bpm, tachycardia 174 bpm for up to half an hour), internal tremors, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, etc. It was reduced by 25 mg every third night, but I was in crisis by day 7 of the reduction, so I took lorazepam to calm me down. Avoid at all costs or start slowly and think hard before increasing the dose."