[Elana05]

My doc just prescribed Trazodone to me for sleep. Has anyone tried it - or continue to take it? Does it work for anxiety at night, or make you groggy? I usually take herbs (Valerian) for sleep but need something a bit stronger.

[skeksi]

I take Traz every night and it has changed my life! I am able to fall asleep and stay asleep, so my life works much better now. Starting at the low dose is ideal, as many people need just a bit to aid in sleep.

I did have grogginess in the morning for about two weeks after starting the med (and subsequent increases in dosage), but then that faded away.

Good luck!

[Eros' Psyche]

I take 50mg Traz every night and I love it.

In the past I've tried Ambien (put me to sleep fast but I'd wake up throughout the night regardless), Rozarem (sp?) (this is more to regulate your sleep cycle, not necessarily help you to fall asleep; it gave me bad headacnes) . . . I've also tried all of that over-the-counter stuff (tons of it, most, if not all, of which didn't help).

With Traz you don't usually get knocked out fast like Ambien does to you, rather you go down easy. It's the only sleep aid/drug (it's also an antidepressant) I've tried that actually prevents me from waking in the middle of the night (which is my real issue). I used to wake up 3-4 times a night, now it's only 1-2. I only feel groggy in the mornings when I take my Traz dose too late. So you might want to take it at the same time every night, and not too late. I'm not much of a drinker; I'll have a couple of glasses to get a nice buzz. But I've noticed that ever since I've been on Traz, I get kinda emotional when I have a few drinks.

A word of caution: If you decide to take it EVERY night, be very careful, as stopping the drug completely (after taking it regularly for a period of time) can result in really bad discontinuation syndrome. It happened to me. I wrote about it in someone else's thread about Traz (scroll down or maybe to the next page of posts, you'll find it).

[swallace]

I take Trazadone, only I don't take it every night - only when I feel very awake and I don't think I'll be able to sleep unless I do take it. I also only tend to take it before midnight or so, because if I take it much later I'm already past the point of capacity to sleep (in which case it takes me probably as long to fall asleep with trazadone as without, but these nights are slowly disappearing). Of the meds I've tried, this is definitely the most effective - I fall asleep very fast, and I don't feel groggy at all in the mornings. I can also more regularly fall asleep without trazadone now. I'd definitely have a positive outlook on this prescription - it really helped me, and I feel better now than I have ever felt in my life. Yay sleep!

[Elana05]

Thanks everyone... This info is really helpful.