hollywoodfreaks Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 I am caught between a rock and a hard place. I am so sick of Trazodone making me sleep for 10-11 hours every night. It is so difficult to get up in the mornings. I can hit the snooze bar for as long as two hours before finally fully waking up. As soon as I hit the snooze I fall back asleep pretty much immediately. I have been using this medication for sleep (due to insomnia) for almost four years now. I've tried Ambien and Lunesta, but I get no effects from them. They're like sugar pills. If I lower the dose of Trazodone chances are it will lose its effectiveness. It's always been like that--a certain dose knocks me out cold, but if I take just a slightly lower dose I won't be able to get a full night's sleep. There are times when just 25mg knocks me out and there are other times when 150mg does next to nothing. I'm SO SICK of riding this rollercoaster. Lately I've been taking 50mg, which usually makes me sleep for 10-11 hours and I wake up with a headache and feel so sluggish and tired all day. I'm going to try 25mg but frankly I'd be shocked if it works. It just doesn't work like that for me. I had a sleep study done, but they told me I slept normally. I was on all of my meds for the test, including Trazodone, which is what they wanted. I slept for 7 hours and had normal sleep architecture. I was pissed when they told me there's nothing wrong with my sleep, because if my sleep was normal I would not have hypersomnia or insomnia or some other sleeping problem 365 days a year. Is there anything else I can try? Or am I screwed? I have the kind of insomnia where I can fall asleep, but wake up after 4-5 hours and can't go back to sleep. If it happens for more than one night in a row I feel terrible and can't function. I NEED at least 8 hours of sleep, but I DON'T NEED 11. Bleh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daisy Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 I have the EXACT same problem with Trazodone, which is awful, because it's the only sleeping pill that has ever REALLY worked for me. I even tried it again about a week ago, but I was sluggish all day long, and I had a VERY intense headache all day. I was prescribed 50 mg, which worked for me most of the time, but the side effects were awful. I tried splitting them into 25 mg, but those did nothing for me, along with other sleep medications. I completely understand where you're coming from, except I can't fall asleep, but I tend to stay asleep until morning once I do. I'm taking Temazepam now, and I like it. It's not as effective as Trazodone, but it is better than other things I have used for sleep. My pdoc tells me that it keeps people asleep at night, and I have not woken up once in the middle of the night on it. I have been on it since January, so that's pretty good. Without a sleeping pill, I would usually wake up repeatedly about once a week. I don't know if it would work for you, but for me, it has been the middle ground between the useless sleeping pills and the great one that makes me unable to function the next day. Maybe I'll try 25 mg tonight just to see how it works. I have about a 3 month supply of 50 mg that I didn't get to. It would be great if I could actually USE them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodfreaks Posted July 16, 2009 Author Share Posted July 16, 2009 Hi Daisy--What kind of drug is temazepam? I've never heard of it before. I've been feeling exhausted after taking 50mg traz and sleeping for 10 hours, so I've tried 25mg a few times, and guess what--I wake up in the middle of the night and don't sleep that well!! Shocker. So frustrating. No matter how little or how much sleep I get, I just always want to go back to bed. Always so tired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkendHour Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 Trazodone is hit or miss with me. Either I get knocked the hell out and end up pretty much sleeping all day... or it does nothing at all. This is all with the same dose. My pdoc now has me at 300mg a night because of the fact that some nights I still get little or no sleep. Edit.. removed mini rant I hope that you find something that works for you hollywoodfreaks, be it another dose or another med all together. I know how much it can suck when you get to little/to much sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daisy Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 Hi Daisy--What kind of drug is temazepam? I've never heard of it before. I've been feeling exhausted after taking 50mg traz and sleeping for 10 hours, so I've tried 25mg a few times, and guess what--I wake up in the middle of the night and don't sleep that well!! Shocker. So frustrating. No matter how little or how much sleep I get, I just always want to go back to bed. Always so tired. Temazepam is a benzo, but from what I understand, it's pretty much only prescribed for sleep. My pdoc has me take it with 1 mg of Xanax (which probably wouldn't help you, since you don't have a problem going to sleep initially). There are higher doses of temazepam, which I would like to try, but I just got a 3 month prescription! It's not perfect, but it is better than the other things I've been on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodfreaks Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 heh, now I'm taking 50mg (same dose) and waking up after 4 hours of sleep. Body chemistry is so bizzare! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayteana Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 hollywoodfreaks, Hi! I just want to make sure I'm reading correctly. This has been going on for four years, and in that time you're tried Ambien, Lunesta and Trazodone? No other meds for sleep except those three? Was the Ambien the CR or No? ~ May Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodfreaks Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 Thanks for replying, Mayteana. Yeah, those are the only three things I've tried. Well, I've also tried Xanax, but that only helps with falling asleep, which I don't have much a problem with. I did take melatonin briefly as an adjunct when I was trying to get by with less trazodone, but I don't think it really helped. I don't think the Ambien was the CR. My trials with Ambien and Lunesta were very brief as my insurance will only cover a certain number of pills per month (i.e., less than 30--very weird). So I took them for a few days, got sick of the insomnia and went back to traz. I've stuck with the traz because it gets the job done--I have the kind of insomnia where I just wake up after 4 hours and can't go back to sleep. Traz eliminates that problem, but it often does TOO good of a job, resulting in oversleeping, a hangover/fatigue/sleepy feeling and a headache. I just cannot stand the way undersleeping makes me feel so I'd rather have overkill than insomnia. I can function better on oversleep than undersleep, but sometimes the hangover is just ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayteana Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 If you get the chance to switch again, the CR might work better then regular Ambien. The controlled release is the form more for your type of insomnia. If you went with a benzo, was the Xanax you tried the immediate form or the XR? If a benzo was going to help it would be something like the XR or Klonopin, one of the longer lasting types. There is a theme here. If you fall asleep fine, but staying asleep is a problem - in theory you would do better with something that is made to stay in your system longer. Melatonin is a funny beast. It's pretty much only going to work for people who's problem is that their body isn't making enough melatonin on it's own. It's supposed to be better for resetting the sleep clock then for actual insomnia - which if you can fall asleep at a decent hour probably isn't your problem. Melatonin is usually a good shot with Rozerem - who's mode of action is increasing amount of melatonin the system can use. One puts it in the body, the other makes sure the body is using it. If that combo doesn't work then the problem has jack shit to do with melatonin. No idea why they would have you take trazodone for a sleep study. The rest of your normal meds, I can see - but usually the point is to see what your sleep looks like unaffected by any type of sleep aid. Sleep aid's are only recommended for people who's insomnia is of the type that they won't get any sleep without a sleeping pill of some sort. Trazodone can improve sleep architecture to some degree, so I really don't get that one. I also don't get why if this has been going on for years - your doc didn't try anything else. Unless he/she is of the mind to not fuck with what works (Trazodone), even if it doesn't work perfectly. Does the insomnia vary any when you're on different meds? ~ May Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodfreaks Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Hi May, As far as I can tell, the insomnia problem remains the same regardless of what meds I am on. Thanks for the ideas on stuff I can try. The Xanax I used was immediate release. I'm also mystified as to why they would want me to take trazodone for my sleep study. I should mention, though, that they were testing me for narcolepsy, not insomnia. I don't know if that makes a difference. I guess I'll just have to wait 10 years before my insurance will cover another sleep study. Ugh. As far as my doc goes, we have tried the Ambien and Lunesta. The problem lies mainly with me. After several failed trials of other medicines I had given up and just learned to live with it. But I'm sick of it and ready to try something else. I'm pretty sure he will want to prescribe Seroquel. Not sure how I feel about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Emperor Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Maybe this sounds stupid, but my p-doc had me on 15mg of Remeron for anxiety, I stopped taking it because it just didn't work for that, but what it DID do was knock me the hell out at night. It's more effective for sleep at lower dosages. It's an anti-depressant, but I don't know that it falls into any specific category of AD. I don't know what category it falls into. That being said, if I had taken an even smaller dosage, apparentyl that would have been even BETTER for sleep. Nothing in my life ever really knocked me out like the Remeron did. When I first started taking it, it was IMPOSSIBLE to stay awake past two hours after the time I took it. Eventually I became more used to the sedation thing and it wouldn't quite knock me out anymore, but it did make sleeping MUCH easier. Also, I would wake up absolutely fine. I don't know if it's that way with everyone who takes it, but I could wake up after 6 hours of sleep and feel energetic enough to go jogging. It was weird, don't know if that was a typical reaction or not. The major complaint about Remeron seems to be about weight gain. You take it, then about an hour later you feel like you smoked a bunch of weed and have the munchies like crazy. I didn't eat much more than usual though, and didn't gain any weight on it. I had no side effects at all. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayteana Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 The Xanax I used was immediate release. That's usually is the one people try. Just checking since you have the XR in your sig as one of your regular meds. I'm also mystified as to why they would want me to take trazodone for my sleep study. I should mention, though, that they were testing me for narcolepsy, not insomnia. Thank you for mentioning that! That makes it ten times the fuck worse. Standard procedure for a narcolepsy test is usually that they run you through the overnight polysomnogram, which 90 minutes to three hours after they wake you up is followed by an Multiple Sleep Latency Test - a series of planned naps that usually runs until mid to late afternoon of the next day. Are those the tests you're talking about? The short explanation for why that's worse: Trazodone is a medication that can FIX what it is that Narcolepsy does to your sleep. I'm pretty sure he will want to prescribe Seroquel. Some people really like Seroquel for sleep. Maybe this sounds stupid, but my p-doc had me on 15mg of Remeron for anxiety It doesn't. Low dose Remeron is known for knocking your ass out. It's an anti-depressant, but I don't know that it falls into any specific category of AD. I don't know what category it falls into. Atypical AD The major complaint about Remeron seems to be about weight gain. Increased appetite is one of the other things it's known for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodfreaks Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Yeah, for the sleep study I did the overnight thing and then the multiple sleep latency test. They told me the results to the MSLT were what they would expect of a normal sleeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spork Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Trazodone worked for me in the past. I hated the foggy wake up. And I felt slow in the morning because of it, as I recall. I couldn't just jump out of bed, ready to roll. Now am on Xanax and Lunesta for sleep. Maybe I should ask for Trazodone back? My sleep meds seem to have quit working for me. Have you asked p-doc for alternatives to Trazodone, and explained that the long amount of sleeping hours is really not acceptable to you? Just a thought... Good luck to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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