# The Trazodone Experience



## MaidMarian (Feb 18, 2009)

Do any of you take Trazodone to help you sleep? I started it about a week ago. It helps somewhat with the insomnia, although not as well as I had hoped. My jaw and neck muscles are really tight all the time, too, which makes my head ache. Anyway, I was just curious to know others' experience with this medication. Thanks .


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

do you take this along with another medication, or just on its own?


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## robotaffliction (Jul 24, 2009)

trazodone is generally prescribed at a lower dose for sleep than depression. it's sometimes avoided for men, rarely (albeit at higher doses usually) it causes priapism, an erection that won't go away  it's usually indicated for sleep as an alternative to hypnotics which are believed to be associated to possible dependency issues. i think the dose is often 50mg for sleep, taken at bedtime. i'm not sure why some doctors are unaware of this, but remeron (mirtazapine) is useful for sleep too, but trazodone is usually the one they are more familiar with (speaking for personal experience). may be the shorter half-life of trazodone (3-6 hours?) compared to remeron, but for some people like me the longer half-life of remeron is good for maintaining a full sleep. 

i didn't think trazodone would work as well for me for sleep as remeron, and just from checking wikipedia there is apparently a metabolite of trazodone called mCPP that may cause some rebound anxiety in some people in the morning after taking the dose, but i dont recall feeling this effect. it was definitely sedating though.

the thing that i thought was quite funny (this is male-specific though) was that i thought i might have had the early manifestations of priapism at even the low dose (like the late-night version of morning wood!), and when i told my (somewhat odd) doctor about this, he replied "did you try masturbating?"... creepy  anyways, i was switched to something else and i thought lunesta (eszopiclone) or remeron (mirtazapine) were the best for insomnia.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

I think the main reason doctors more often prescribe trazadone over mirtazapine is because trazadone has less of a weight gain bourdon. 

I think that trazadone is rarely prescribed as a single treatment for depression though (althought it may be prescribed alone for insomnia), and is used mostly as an augamentation strategy since it can sometimes reverse the insomnia and sexual dysfunction associated with SSRIs.


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## MaidMarian (Feb 18, 2009)

jim_morrison said:


> do you take this along with another medication, or just on its own?


I take Zoloft, too.

I was on Remeron in 2003 because of insomnia. It worked great but, as one poster mentioned, it had the ugly side effect of weight gain. I gained 10 pounds in a very short time, and I had never had a weight problem before. So, I quit taking it because I would rather be exhausted than overweight :roll. I think I know what you mean about the short half-life of Trazodone. I sleep well for about 4 hours, then after that I can't really get back to sleep, even though I feel tired.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

it seems possible that your jaw muscles might be tight from jaw clenching associated with zoloft, rather than with trazadone, not sure though.


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## MaidMarian (Feb 18, 2009)

jim_morrison said:


> it seems possible that your jaw muscles might be tight from jaw clenching associated with zoloft, rather than with trazadone, not sure though.


Thanks for the feedback


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