Dealing with insomnia - Trazadone? SSRIs?

[[St...]]

I have a question and was hoping someone with experience with anti-depressants could help me. I've been doing really well for the last few months. We moved into our house and I've made that adjustment fairly well. I've done well at my job and it's set to become permanent soon. I'm expecting an offer on Friday. Our new kitten is settling in pretty well. We're months out from getting my dad settled following losing my mom. Lots of heartache and lots of stuff to deal with this year, but overall I'm doing okay right now.

 

I don't feel depressed. I'm having trouble with energy, though. I know that sometimes that can be depression and I'm going to talk to my doctor about that. Mostly, though, I want to talk to her about sleep.

 

I've slept about 5 hours a night for the last 3 years. I've been dealing with a long, difficult withdrawal from anxiety medication. It's been harrowing at times, painful at times, but right now the symptom that gets to me the most is the insomnia. Or the lack of sleep. I'm considering two things.

 

#1 - An older anti-depressant medication like trazadone

 

#2 - A modern anti-depressant that happens to be one you take at night because it makes you sleepy

 

So I wanted to ask if anyone here had any experience with medications like this. Basically I don't want to make things worse. But I'd like to start getting more sleep. The thought of getting my career back on track after everything I've been through makes me want to address my sleep.

[Guest [Le...]]

Hi Stephen,

 

Glad things are smoothing out in so many ways after your long journey! Sorry about the loss of your mom, though - it's amazing you've been able to hold it together through all of this.

 

Last year I was given amitriptyline briefly (two-months?) for a back-related neuropathic condition. It didn't help the neuropathy, but it did improve my sleep a little bit during a time of intense insomnia.

 

Trazodone is something I was given before I ever began benzos, and it helped briefly, but really stuffed up my nose. I took Paxil after that, which helped the depression (more than the trazodone did) and was sedating enough to improve sleep.

 

Some really good news is that normal sleep with amazing dreams finally returned for me, at around thirteen months off - no drugs at all now.

 

You're making so much progress and are already so functional, I have a feeling you'll get there a lot sooner than I did.

 

Good luck! 

 

Leslie

[[Mo...]]

I started Trazodone 3-4 years ago for insomnia.  ( I had insomnia for well over five years and was only getting an hour and a half of sleep at a time before I would wake up all through the night)

I didn't want to try ambien, SSRI or any of drug that would cause intense discontinuation effects or anything that would decrease my libido).

 

My psychiatrist assured me that trazodone was not addictive, however what she failed to tell me was that while it may not be addictive it is dependency forming.

 

I started on 50 mg and it was like a miracle drug I would take it and fall asleep within 5 to 15 minutes, unlike the previous three to four hours it has taken me to fall asleep before the Trazodone. Eventually I went up to 100 mg a night before sleep and now I'm at 150 mg per night. Because the doctor had told me that these were not addictive, and I didn't understand that that did not mean that they weren't dependency forming, I thought I could just stop taking the trazodone at any time which is what the doctor had actually told me, but when I tried to do that, by the third day of not taking trazodone I was in my bed unable to move sick as a dog and withdrawing like crazy and I thought I had the flu and was laying there, finally my husband said maybe it's because you stopped the Trazodone and he gave me one Trazodone pill it was in the middle of the day and as soon as I took it within a half hour I felt fine. So that's when I realized I was dependent upon the Trazodone. And I still am dependent upon the trazodone. I don't know if it's easier to withdraw from ambien or if it's easier to withdraw from trazodone or from an SSRI .

 

I know trazodone is considered to be a relatively safe medication, but it does cause dependency. So if you don't have your prescription for a week you're going to feel terrible. And that's why I eventually plan on tapering the trazodone after I get off the benzo because right now the trazodone at least while I'm tapering helps me get a full 8 hours of sleep every night and it has for the past 3 or 4 years. I don't know if this helps you maybe you've already started taking the Trazodone. Sometimes I think taking the medication to help you through a tough time is better than not taking it.

 

It is,really hard to function on no sleep. While the Trazodone has helped me immensely with insomnia,  I wish I had know going off it would cause withdrawal.

 

I am not currently tapering the Trazodone, it will be the last thing I taper from.

 

There is always a catch-22 with most any medication.

With Trazodone,  it helps me get a full 8 hours every night, and I don't wake up groggy or have sinus issues anymore, BUT I am dependent on it.

 

Hope this helps. And my condolences for the loss of your mother. One thing to consider is that you are grieving and allow yourself time to process the grief.

 

Right now, I can totally fall asleep with the Trazodone, but I can't stop taking it because withdrawing off more than one drug at a time is too hard for me.

 

Also consider therapy to help you process your grief. I too have lost many loved ones, most of my family is deceased, I was orphaned as a child, and I know if that grief isn't processed it's difficult.